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  Last Updated on 10/03/2008

Preschool, Head Start, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten

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• Preschool - click here.

• Head Start - click here.

• Pre-Kindergarten - click here.

• Kindergarten - click here.

Featured Resource

Bridges4Kids/Early On Review: The Complete Book of Activities, Games, Stories, Props, Recipes, and Dances for Young Children

The Power of Music in the Learning Process - “Giddy-up horsy, let’s go!” John says, and we all go galloping around the yard singing. Little voices join in as Josiah overtakes me on his imaginary horse.

Build Solid Foundation with Early Childhood Programs - Investing in our youngest children is the best economic development tool we have as a state and nation. Don't take my word for it, ask a brain researcher or a Nobel Prize winning economist.

Commentary: Investing in Young Minds is Good Business - From the moment of birth to the time our children enter the formal years of schooling, their tiny brains are like sponges soaking up knowledge. This scientific fact should make every sensible person take pause and ask, why do we not begin the formal investment in education until a child is five or six years of age?

Governors Push Access to Preschool - Heeding studies showing that investing money in kids before kindergarten increases their chances of graduating and staying out of jail, nearly half of governors this year are pushing for -- and many are getting -- more funding for preschool education.

Study Says Trained Preschool Teachers Pay Off - Publicly funded preschool programs that have well-paid, college-educated teachers improve children's language development and math skills, according to a study in Michigan and four other states.

Using Art to Teach Children with Special Needs - Using art as a means of teaching increases a child's chances for success---and makes the experience pleasurable as well.

Opinion: Little Kids Need Good Teachers Too - Early education is the next frontier of public education reform. We know now, more than ever, how important quality preschool programs are to preparing city children to succeed in school and to helping families rise out of poverty.

MO Preschool Programs Struggle For Funding - Studies show that children start learning at birth and that those who participate in high-quality preschool programs do better academically in the short term and in the long run. But preschool often faces an uphill battle for funding.

Can Today's Preschoolers Save Tomorrow's Social Security? - When poor children are provided access to high-quality preschool, research shows they perform much better in school, experience higher graduation rates, and tend to stay out of trouble with drugs, alcohol, and crime. As adults, they would enter the workforce at higher skill levels, earning larger salaries and paying higher taxes into the system. According to economist Robert G. Lynch, a national, high-quality, early childhood development program which serves all three- and four-year-olds who fall below the poverty line, will target the very 1.6 million youngsters who, as they grow up, would otherwise cost taxpayers most, leaving more money for other programs including the Social Security program, which some experts project will begin facing financial difficulties in the year 2018, about the time when the first class of today's preschoolers would enter the workforce.

Getting Every Child Ready For School: A Foundation For Success - Preschool access is just the beginning of getting every child ready for first grade. A new report from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) outlines four successful strategies: (1) Offer pre-kindergarten to all children who are at risk of academic failure, not just those from families living in poverty; (2) Strive to meet quality standards; (3) Ensure that all children have a school-readiness assessment before they enter first grade; and (4) Continue to place a priority on programs that encourage vaccinations and health insurance for children.

More Nursery School Children Going Online - Before they can even read, almost one in four children in nursery school is learning a skill that even some adults have yet to master: using the Internet. Some 23 percent of children in nursery school -- kids age 3, 4 or 5 -- have gone online, according to the Education Department. By kindergarten, 32 percent have used the Internet, typically under adult supervision.

TN Tennessee's Pre-K Plan: Start Small and Learn - Tennessee is closely studying other states' preschool programs to ensure its new expanded program, likely to become a reality this fall, is implemented smoothly. Like Georgia, Tennessee will try to serve as many children as possible, keep classes small and give parents choice between public and private centers, but it will probably move more slowly.

OH Preschool Gives Edge to Kindergartners in City's Schools - Half of Cincinnati Public Schools' kindergartners enter school lacking fundamental early reading skills necessary to succeed academically, according to a groundbreaking report on kindergarten readiness.

MI Education Not Tracking School Readiness Program - Children participating in the Michigan School Readiness Program were receiving a quality education, but the Department of Education was not taking steps to ensure that was always true, according to a report released Wednesday by Auditor General Thomas McTavish.

CA A New Day for L.A. Preschools - Although the Los Angeles Universal Preschool Program begins with a modest $9,149 payment to the Union Pacific Children's Center of the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, it represents the start of an ambitious countywide system that over the next decade will enroll 100,000 pre-kindergarten children — or 70% of the 4-year-old population — regardless of family income. Universal preschool is the most notable program to emerge from First 5 LA, a nonprofit formed to use tobacco tax revenue to fund early childhood development, health and education programs. With backing from filmmaker Rob Reiner, California voters in 1998 approved a 50-cents-a-pack tax to fund such efforts. The agency is staking much of its credibility, as well as millions in public funds, on the success of its preschool effort.

FL State May Let More Public Schools Offer Pre-K Classes - Public schools, largely written out of Florida's new pre-kindergarten program, might be back in the game as state leaders scramble to make room for all 4-year-olds who could enroll in the free pre-K classes, officials said Thursday.

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MI Head Start in Oakland County: A Fresh Start for Kids, Jailed Moms - The Connections program brings them all together.

Head Start’s National Reporting System Fails Our Children - Here’s Why. While assessment is important, Head Start's National Reporting System is antithetical to many of the program's core principles, say Evelyn Moore and Raul Yzaguirre. [Free login/registration required to view this article.]

U.S. Head Start's Top Official Under Fire - A group representing most of the nation's nearly 2,600 Head Start programs is calling for the resignation of the top Head Start official in Washington, who was in Las Vegas last week investigating the Economic Opportunity Board.

FL Report Indicates Florida Head Start Programs Successfully Prepare Children for School - The Florida Head Start Association's Research Committee has released a report entitled "A Portrait of Our Head Start Children's Outcomes." This report documents the accomplishments of over 10,000 four-year old children served in Florida Head Start programs during the 2002-2003 program year.

National Head Start Association Statement on New Study Detailing Major Shortcomings of State Pre-K Programs - NIEER Report is powerful indictment of proposals to "dismantle" head start and turn it over to states.

(RESEARCH) Head Start Comprehensive Services: A Key Support for Early Learning for Poor Children The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) - The fourth in a series of analyses of Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data found children enrolled in Head Start programs are more likely than comparable low-income children:

* to receive screenings for certain medical conditions
* to receive preventive dental care
* to be up-to-date on immunizations.
CLASP recommends that any Head Start reauthorization proposals should retain requirements for programs to assess family needs and support families with comprehensive services. The brief is available at http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1075300806.3/HS_brf_4.pdf.
 

Brain Child: Financing Early Childhood Education - Tasha Mora grew up amid nightly gunshots, drug deals and filth. The 24-year-old mother of four says a public investment in her early childhood got her out of her Austin, Texas, ghetto and into a kid-friendly suburb with her husband and children.

Brain Child: Early Head Start Gives Extra-early Boost to Toddlers - Amy Lee looks like she is watching her youngest son play. But really, she is watching him develop his mind. He is 2 years, 8 months old.

Michigan Head Start Association
115 W. Allegan Street, Suite 520
Lansing, MI 48933
Phone: 517-374-6472
Fax: 517-374-6478
Web: http://www.mhsa.ws/

Policy Brief Serving America's Youngest: A Snapshot of Early Head Start (PDF) - A policy brief by the Center on Law and Social policy, entitled Serving America's Youngest: A Snapshot of Early Head Start Children, Families, Teachers, and Programs in 2002, offers the first detailed examination of Early Head Start PIR data from the most recently available program year, 2001-2002.

Policy Brief: The Future of Head Start (8 pages; PDF) - The Bush administration is proposing that control of Head Start be turned over to state governments that promise to meet a series of conditions regarding school preparation, comprehensive services, and public accountability. The purpose of this brief is to review the arguments for and against giving greater control of Head Start to the states and to make recommendations about Head Start policy.
 

U.S. Secretary Thompson: School Readiness Act of 2003 - Statement by Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Regarding Passage of the School Readiness Act of 2003 (H.R. 2210)

U.S. House Passes Bill to Loosen Head Start Regulations - The House early today narrowly approved legislation to revamp Head Start, a preschool program dating to the 1960s and intended to help nearly a million poor children with literacy, math and, in some cases, health and nutrition services.

U.S. House Head Start Bill Vote Statement - Statement from Sarah Greene, President/CEO of the National Head Start Association, July 26, 2003.

Head Start Bill Jump-Starts Debate On Program's Future - Legislation supporting most of President Bush's vision for Head Start was formally introduced in the House last week, kicking off what is likely to be an intense debate in Congress about the future of the nearly 40-year-old preschool program for poor children.

Early Head Start Applications: New Funding Opportunities for Head Start

U.S. Head Start Reform Still Undefined - The Head Start reauthorization bill upcoming in the House will probably contain key Bush administration reforms, though not exactly what the White House has proposed, a House Republican said yesterday.

TX Hispanics worry about Head Start proposal - The already low number of Hispanic children served by the federal Head Start program could diminish even more if the changes proposed by the Bush administration come through, several Hispanic advocate groups said.

Save Head Start; It Helped Save Me - My father, a high school dropout, claimed to love my mother, but he had funny ways of showing it. On one occasion, he shot her.

U.S. Proposal would shrink Head Start, some fear - Restructuring plan would give states more control over funding.

U.S. Fresh Start for Head Start - Since 1965, the federal Head Start program has helped preschoolers in poor and at-risk families get an educational leg up. Originally part of President Johnson's War on Poverty, Head Start now has a yearly budget of nearly $7 billion, and it assists nearly 1 million children.

U.S. Cheating Head Start - House Republicans are doing a great disservice to the 900,000 poor and minority children enrolled each year in Head Start, the early childhood development program.

Non-Profit Quarterly Warns of Civil Liberties Erosion and Threat to Head Start - "I heard that the successful 38-year-old network of Head Start programs, which the current administration is trying to creatively dismantle, has been warned to shut up about it. I hate to say I told you so...."

U.S. House to Begin Work on Head Start Reauthorization - Last week, in response to President Bush's call for action to improve early childhood education, many of my colleagues on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and I unveiled legislation that would strengthen the academic components of the federal Head Start program for disadvantaged children and encourage states to maintain or increase funding for early childhood education.

Some Fear Head Start in Jeopardy - Mary Richard — and thousands of Head Start parents and advocates nationwide — fear that President Bush's proposed changes to the federally-funded child development and school readiness program will leave it in shambles.

U.S. Proposal would shrink Head Start, some fear - Restructuring plan would give states more control over funding.

U.S. Fresh Start for Head Start - Since 1965, the federal Head Start program has helped preschoolers in poor and at-risk families get an educational leg up. Originally part of President Johnson's War on Poverty, Head Start now has a yearly budget of nearly $7 billion, and it assists nearly 1 million children.

U.S. Cheating Head Start - House Republicans are doing a great disservice to the 900,000 poor and minority children enrolled each year in Head Start, the early childhood development program.

IN Head Start Association Opposes Bush Plan - The Indiana Head Start Association has this reply to President Bush's proposed changes in the early education program: no way. The Bush administration is suggesting that Head Start be shifted from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education.

Starting Early, Starting Strong - “We asked them at what age should a child’s education begin.” The researchers expected that most would mention kindergarten. But one hundred percent thought that education must begin earlier.

U.S. Administration Addresses Concerns About Head Start Testing Plan

U.S. to Review Head Start Program - Bush Plan to Assess 4-Year-Olds' Progress Stirs Criticism.

MI Metro parents wait for openings in Head Start - Economy blamed for upturn in list to join.

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Questions about financing, school sites already surfacing - Pre-K Plan Raises Issues [source]

U.S. Pre-kindergarten Enrollments in Public Elementary Schools - A new study looks at pre-kindergarten enrollments in U.S. public elementary schools -- how many students were enrolled, how many schools offer pre-K classes, what kinds of schedules services are offered...

EDC Releases Study On Early Education Partnerships - Study finds state and local leaders see partnerships key to quality, accessibility.  A new study of early childhood education programs across the country explores different ways states and local early education programs have used their funding and resources to improve child care services.

MI State Superintendent Tom Watkins Calls For Statewide Early Start Pre Kindergarten

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The Early Reading and Mathematics Achievement of Children Who Repeated Kindergarten or Who Began School a Year Late - Taking a broad view of child development, this report explores how children's literacy, approaches to learning, and general health status at kindergarten entry relate to their spring kindergarten and first grade reading and mathematics knowledge and skills based on statistics from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K).

What Children Know: Kindergarten Reading & Math - What reading and mathematics knowledge and skills do children demonstrate in the spring of first grade? Do children's knowledge and skills differ by certain child, family, and school characteristics? When children begin kindergarten, 67 percent recognize their letters. By the spring of kindergarten, most (95 percent) know the letters of the alphabet. At kindergarten entry, about one-third (31 percent) of children understand the letter-sound relationship at the beginning of words and about one in six children (18 percent) understand the letter-sound relationship at the end of words…

INSPIRED Project - Kindergarten Readiness - Wren recently concluded, "Although they started out with different performance levels, by the end of the year, African American students, Caucasian students, and Hispanic students were performing approximately equally. Thus, there is some evidence that the INSPIRED project is helping to 'level the playing field' for disparate groups of students."

AZ Governor, Lawmakers Seek Compromise on All-day K - Emboldened by a more conservative majority this year, Republican lawmakers have a new plan of attack on all-day kindergarten, Gov. Janet Napolitano's top legislative priority.

AZ All-day Kindergarten Offers Best Return on Investment - Voters in the Paradise Valley Unified School District recently approved a budget override that will fund full-day kindergarten. Gov. Janet Napolitano has said she is making the availability of similar programs throughout the state "the centerpiece of my legislative agenda."

Brain Child: Universal Kindergarten Offered in Many States - One 4-year-old entered Mandy Deal's pre-kindergarten class this school year not able to name different colors or shapes and not knowing her own last name. Now the child can do all those things, plus write her first and last name and count to 20.

Is it Better to Wait a Year For Kindergarten? - Kate Van Slyck was set to send her 4-year-old to kindergarten in the fall. Sam's birthday is one day before Virginia's Sept. 30 cutoff, but she was sure he would be fine - a little awkward socially, perhaps, because he'd be younger than everyone else, but all right.

NC Kindergarten Waits For Some Students - The choice for Russ and Linda Davison was not an easy one. Their 4-year-old son, Noah, was scheduled to start kindergarten this year. With an October birthday, though, Noah would be among the very youngest in the class. They decided to do something that would potentially transform Noah from a follower to a leader: They kept him back a year, enrolling him in a private junior kindergarten instead.

Kindergarten — not soon enough - Controversial in '82, early education now seen as must.

Click here for a list of over 60 websites related to Preschool and Kindergarten.

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