As federal lawmakers consider reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this brief makes the argument for a robust early education component in the effort to provide high-quality programs in the fight for equal educational opportunities for all children.
The 2010 State of Preschool Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten programs during the 2009-2010 school year.
The report includes information on national trends in public preschool programs, state profiles with detailed program information, and comprehensive appendices of survey and program data. The report emphasizes the need for effective, high-quality early education programs which provide critical support to a child’s development. The data also shows that the recession had a significant impact on state funding for preschool programs in the 2009-2010 school year.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Contact: Keith Rushing
202.347.7960
[email protected]
As ESEA Reauthorization Approaches School Districts Should Focus on Equalizing Resources For All Students
Since the release of the documentary Waiting for Superman there has been much media coverage and public discussion surrounding issues raised by the film. The film poses charter schools as a panacea—even though they serve less than 4% of America’s children, and research shows the vast majority don’t outperform public schools. These Talking Points are a tool that can help you reframe the discussion in your community and networks to create an echo chamber focused on systemic solutions that will provide a fair and substantive opportunity to learn for all children, not just a few.
Since the release of the documentary Waiting for Superman there has been much media coverage and public discussion surrounding issues raised by the film. The film poses charter schools as a panacea—even though they serve less than 4% of America’s children, and research shows the vast majority don’t outperform public schools.
Tools you can use: This toolkit can help you frame the education debates/discussions in your community - to focus on systemic solutions that ensure all children have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn, instead of solutions that may be popular with some but lack a positive track record and are not scalable.
Tools you can use: This toolkit can help you frame the education debates/discussions in your community - to focus on systemic solutions that ensure all children have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn, instead of solutions that may be popular with some but lack a positive track record and are not scalable.
Nearly a decade after federal law was enacted to ensure that low-income students and students of color had a fair shot at being assigned to strong teachers, students in high-poverty schools are still disproportionately taught by out-of-field and rookie teachers.
No one disputes the critical need for action to improve low-performing schools. There is no question that thousands of schools across the country can and should do better—that both internal and external obstacles get in the way of delivering what we have always promised to all our nation’s young people: a free and excellent public education.
For many years, parent and community-based organizations have led the way in calling for dramatic action to improve low-performing public schools. The Department of Education, through its “Blueprint” for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and the already-implemented Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants (SIG) programs, has also called for substantive intervention, and has offered significant federal resources to improve low-performing schools.
