Research in the field of early childhood education has been revealing more and more about just how impactful that time period can be, but what's not clear is how the process in general is influenced by public policy.
Advocates, business leaders again call for more pre-K funding
Updated Feb 19, 2021;
Alabama’s state pre-K program has come a long way in a decade.
In 2012, a group of state educators, advocates and parents kicked off a 10-year campaign to expand the state’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program, which began in 2000, and reach more students. At the time, only 6% of Alabama’s 4-year-olds had access to a high-quality, educational program.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed 2021 budget, currently under consideration by the legislature, includes an additional investment of $24.4 million in First-Class Pre-K, for a total of nearly $150 million. That would increase the number of staff and sites available, and allow an estimated 3,000 children on waiting lists to enroll, bumping access up to 44% of Alabama 4-year-olds.
Raimondoâs education legacy: an ambitious agenda, but incomplete goals
The Rhode Island Governor pushed for free tuition at community college and expanded pre-K programming, but fell short in trying to improve reading proficiency
By Dan McGowan Globe Staff,Updated February 2, 2021, 7:51 a.m.
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Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo speaks to the media after a private meeting to discuss issues of regional importance with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in October 2019.Steven Senne/Associated Press/file
PROVIDENCE â Gina Raimondo had been governor less than two years in September 2016 when she made a bold promise to children in Rhode Island.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
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The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) announced new federal funding to expand Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) in the 2021-2022 school year.
Presently, the state s Pre-K program provides free education to 1,848 four-year-old children in 16 Rhode Island communities.
“Pre-K is an incredibly powerful tool for student success and Rhode Island continues to be a national leader in early learning and high-quality early childhood education,” said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
“The pandemic has set back our children’s learning and development, especially our youngest learners who are at a fragile developmental stage. We are grateful to our Federal Delegation for advocating for funding to support children during this difficult time and to Governor Raimondo for awarding these funds to RIDE to expand a program proven to increase equity in our educatio
Many California parents dreaded returning to remote learning last fall, but they did it anyway, holding onto hopes of going back to campus at some point during the school year.
But for those whose children were just entering kindergarten, the decision to commit to distance learning was a far tougher choice: Wrangling a 5-year-old in front of a computer screen for several hours a day requires constant supervision, technical assistance and cajoling, an impossibility for many working parents, particularly essential workers and those juggling multiple children.
Faced with the rigors of distance learning, some kindergarten parents decided to keep their children in preschool, a safe and familiar option that allowed the in-person interaction that small children crave. Affluent parents may have also opted to send children to private schools, which often have the larger campuses and smaller class sizes that make in-person instruction safer. Low-income families may have opted out of schoolin