Articles in the Preschool Education category

Teaching the way we’re taught

Our friends at the New York Times have a forum called Room for Debate, and this week’s conversation centered around teaching the teachers.  In other words, the forum focused on education degrees, the way teachers are taught, and the endless hoops that they are often told they need to jump through before stepping in front of a classroom.  High teacher quality is among the most important ‘reforms’ coming from the Department of Education, but as you can see, many teachers are the biggest critics of the degrees they are often forced to pursue (at least if they want a pay increase).  Among BoardBuzz‘s favorite quotes from one teacher:

I believe that the best preparation for teaching is a combination of pedagogy and a strong apprenticeship — a marriage of traditional preparatory and alternative certification programs. All new teachers would benefit from a year of full-time work in the classroom beside an experienced and effective teacher. We learn by practicing — even the best surgeon in the world is useless until he has proven his skill on the table.

And in a related story, Jay Mathews at the Washington Post spotlighted a well respected teacher who teaches social studies in Prince George’s County, Md., and practiced law until he “got sick of it” and wanted to teach at his alma mater.  His tale is strikingly similar to many who posted on the New York Times story, and we can’t help but wonder how many thousands of similar stories could be told around the nation.  Does an education degree really mean a good teacher will follow the piece of paper?  In a society that is changing jobs more often than ever, and teaching a generation of students that will likely change jobs even more often than that, how do we teach today’s teachers well?  Are methods from the 1960s (or before, even) the best way for 21st century teaching, not to mention learning?  If we expect that from the students, it starts with the person leading them, doesn’t it?

As school leaders, what do you think?  How can we alter the way teachers are taught to prepare students well, teach effectively, and not be forced to brow-beat prospective teachers into strigent rules that are often difficult to follow.  Leave a comment to tell us how you would change teacher prep.

Kevin Scott|August 24th, 2009|Categories: NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education, Teachers|

Early childhood and higher ed, two great tastes that taste great together

What do early childhood education and higher education have in common? In a surprise move last week, the House introduced legislation that would overhaul college student loans and at the same time provide funds to help states improve their early learning programs. The bill, H.R.3221, would also provide funding for school modernization.

NSBA sent this letter  to the House Committee on Education and Labor, which marked up the legislation today,  to support facilities funding in the bill; increase federal investments in early learning programs; and to ensure local school districts are involved in developing and implementing quality programs.

Thanks to preschool advocates on NSBA‘s Pre-K Legislation Committee who helped  contact Committee members urgining them to increase federal investments and strengthen school districts’ role in early learning development.  We will continue to need a strong voice from school board members when the legislation goes before the House floor.

Click here to read an analysis of the bill.

Katherine Shek|July 22nd, 2009|Categories: Educational Legislation, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|

Time to play

In some New York classrooms, teachers are taking on new roles as they become cave-dwelling hunters or silly musicians with tambourines or drums on their heads. BoardBuzz learned of these actions from a USA Today article which reports on the critical need for children to have more time for free and creative playing.

Two years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics, endorsed creative and spontaneous play as a vital, but endangered cause, and recently free-play advocates are stressing the seriousness of the issue, as the article mentions.

Among the speakers at last week’s Wonderplay conference was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education “could be the next global warming.”

Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America’s children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.

“Play equals learning,” she said. “For too long we have divorced the two.”

Compared to the 1980s, the average American child is receiving eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time a week because of factors including parents’ reluctance for their child to play outside alone, the shortening of recess at school, and a stronger emphasis on formal lessons and learning in pre- school.

The demand for play time is not just for added fun. As psychologist Michael Thompson mentions in the article, “Diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.”

So why, are pre- K teachers acting like a cavemen or playing around in music class? To lead by example, of course, so children will follow suit and learn the important lessons of fairness and kindness through social interaction.

BoardBuzz thinks free play time is great for developing pre- K students and wants to remind you to check out the article and the Center for Public Education’s Web site for more information on the importance of pre-K learning. You should also check out the Center’s report on recess. So, who wants to play? We know we do!

Andrew Paulson|November 20th, 2008|Categories: NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|

Pre-K could become talk in Congress

Early childhood education advocates could see promising activities on Capitol Hill in the upcoming 111th Congress, given President-elect Obama’s education initiatives and a slew of new faces headed to Congress who’ve had early ed records or pledged to support federal investment in preschool programs, according to this blog from the New America Foundation.

This is good news for NSBA’s Pre-K Legislative Committee, which will gear up for a potentially exciting session in Congress. Some of the new Senators mentioned in the blog include: Virginia‘s Mark Warner, who expanded the state’s preschool initiatives as governor; Nebraska‘s Mike Johanns, who as governor increased funding for pre-K; New Hampshire‘s Jeanne Shaheen, who voiced support for more federal funding for state preschool programs. Her advocacy could be boosted by the fact that New Hampshire is one of only 12 states with no publicly funded pre-K programs.

Andrew Paulson|November 18th, 2008|Categories: Educational Legislation, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education, Student Achievement|

Putting the little ones back on the agenda

With all the worries about the economy, two wars, and the final throes of what has seemed to be an endless presidential campaign, Congress might have been forgiven for temporarily setting aside issues relating to getting our youngest Americans ready for school. Which is why BoardBuzz was so happy to get a notice from Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Kit Bond (R-MO) about a briefing they were hosting to refocus the attention of Capitol Hill on the early educational needs of children. We were even more delighted when we arrived at the standing-room-only briefing room — proof that interest in early childhood is not going away. According to Pre-K Now, one of the event’s conveners:

“By their co-sponsorship of today’s briefing, Senators Clinton and Bond underscored their commitment to reintroducing the Ready to Learn Act, in the next Congress. The bill aims to improve the quality of and expand access to voluntary preschool programs by providing funding for states through a competitive process and allowing governors to build on pre-existing early childhood systems.”

In kicking off the briefing, Governor Bredesen of Tennessee emphasized that the most benefit conveys from pre-kindergarten programs that have high quality. He stated that an appropriate role for the federal government is to co-fund state-designed programs, but only if they meet specified quality indicators. We also heard from Jerry Weast, superintendent of Montgomery County schools in Maryland, who attributed his system’s notable success at narrowing achievement gaps in large part to their investment in high-quality pre-K.

Certainly the most emotional punch came last when we heard from the 2006 National Teacher of the Year, Kimberly Oliver Burnim, who many BoardBuzz readers may recall was a great hit at NSBA’s 2006 annual conference in Chicago. Burnim related the heartbreaking story of one little girl who came to her kindergarten class so full of hope and excitement only to see her spark snuffed as it became apparent that she was not on par with her peers. The reason, according to Burnim, was that this child had not had the same experiences other children had coming in. Her remarks reminded us that, yes, communities and schools all benefit in the long-term when we invest in pre-kindergarten, but at the heart of the issue is doing what is good and necessary for children.

School board members get the connection between getting kids ready for school and their own success as education leaders. For two years, the Center for Public Education has been working in partnership with three state school board associations — Kansas, Ohio, and Texas –to help school boards become engaged in early education in their states. The Center’s pre-K initiative, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, was recently renewed for another two years and has expanded the partnership to include state associations in Alabama and Kentucky.

Among other pre-K resources, the Center sends out a monthly e-newsletter that addresses very practical pre-K policies and implemetation issues for those working to expand high-quality pre-K in their states and districts. You can sign up for the Pre-K Primer here.

Also check out NSBA’s early education advocacy page and its Pre-K Legislative Committee to keep up on what’s new in federal early ed activities. See here for some of the pre-K bills introduced by members of Congress.

Andrew Paulson|October 6th, 2008|Categories: NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|

Read for the Record!

BoardBuzz is very excited to annouce Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign! Children and adults are reading together at homes, schools, libraries, stores and more with the goal of setting children on the track for success in both school and life.

Since 1933, Jumpstart has worked toward the day that every child in America can enter school prepared, but the current reality is that many children in low-income communities do not have appropiate books in thier homes to begin to succeed.

Read for the Record aims to fix this inequality; Because the number of books in a home is the strongest indicator of a child’s future reading ability, the campaign asks individuals or groups to buy a book to open the world of reading for children. All proceeds go directly to the Jumpstart program,which matches adult readers with children for a full year before they enter school.

This year’s book is Corduroy by Don Freeman, and the Pearson Foundation, both a founding partner of Jumpstart and a sponsor of Read for the Record, is providing more than 100,000 copies to children in low-income communities.

BoardBuzz encourages you to learn more at the campaign’s web site. Are you reading for the record and incorporating time to read with children? Let us know and leave us a comment… we’d love to know how you are taking part!

Andrew Paulson|October 1st, 2008|Categories: Announcements, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|

Pre-K not quite a priority yet

Last week, BoardBuzz was pleased to see Congress recognizing the critical role that early childhood educators provide in the preparation and advancement of our nation’s youngest students. (Check that out here) But, an article in The New York Times reminds us that opportunities for Pre-K still have room to grow and expand.

New York is one of eight states (and D.C.) in the country that has adopted some variety of a universal pre-kindergarten program. In 1997, New York passed legislation to provide Pre-K classes for all four-year-olds,but ten years later only 38 percent of the state’s four year-olds attended Pre-K classes.

But, while Pre-K offers an opportunity for cognitive and personal development and the chance to level the playing field for children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, it seems that some districts aren’t finding it necessarily practical:

Few school administrators dispute the benefits of pre-kindergarten, but many say it is impractical to provide it to every child.
In Smithtown, for example, Mr. Ehmann said that even if his district could find the money, it would have to contract with community groups to provide pre-K classes because there is no room in the schools, which would mean hiring administrators to oversee those locations, adding costs.

And…

In Westchester County, the affluent Bronxville district decided not to pursue a pre-kindergarten program for about 100 students because, as Superintendent David Quattrone put it, “the vast majority of parents prefer to use the private programs in our community.” He also cited financial and space constraints.

Despite these challenges, BoardBuzz knows that the benefits of early childhood education can’t be ignored, and the article does show the positive impact Pre-K can have:

“I’m disappointed by the slow progress, especially since over the last 10 years, there’s been even more evidence of how useful universal pre-K is in closing the achievement gap,” said Maria DeWald, president of the New York State Congress of Parents and Teachers, which has long advocated for universal pre-kindergarten.

Time, money, and space are all challenges for making Pre-K an available priority, but it’s great to see some states working on it. For more information on the benefits of early childhood education, be sure to check out the Center for Public Education.

Andrew Paulson|August 28th, 2008|Categories: Educational Finance, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education, School Boards|

Higher ed law underscores pre-k initiatives

Preschool was definitely on the mind of Congress when it reauthorized the Higher Education Act before adjourning for the August recess. Early childhood educators will get a boost in training and financial support under the new Higher Education Opportunity Act (H.R. 4137), which was signed by President Bush on Aug. 14. The law includes the following components related to preschool:

Teacher Quality Partnership Grants – authorizes $300 million in grants to eligible partnerships, which can include high-need early childhood education programs or school districts and higher education institutions, to strengthen pre-service trianing and professional development for new early childhood educators.

Loan Forgiveness – offers loan forgiveness of up to $2,000 per year of employment (up to five years) to early childhood educators who work in an eligible preschool program in a low-income community. They must have completed a baccalaureate or an advanced degree in early childhood development or early childhood education or a related field.

Early Childhood Education Professional Development and Career Task Force – provides competitive grants to states to set up the statewide task force charged with improving the quality of early childhood education workforce.

NSBA is pleased that the law recognizes the critical role early childhood educators play in children’s future success and the need to invest in their preparation and advancement. These higher education initiatives will help early childhood educators to meet higher standards, which are critical to helping to ensure high-quality early learning experiences for our nation’s children. For more information on preschool, check out NSBA‘s Pre-K Legislative Committee and updates on issues here.

Andrew Paulson|August 19th, 2008|Categories: NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|

Television takes away from toys

That’s right, even just background television can take away from a young child’s play time. Though children might not be able to understand the television program, a USA Today article reports on a recent study that shows that background television could be a disruptive influence.

While blocks, dolls, and toy cars are fun, play time is important because it helps children develop different cognitive skills. Solitary play time, that is. With just a TV on in the background of the room, the study noticed that there were some distracting effects:

In the new study, researchers say the disruptive effects were “real but small,” amounting to a few seconds in many cases. For instance, kids played about 90 seconds less in the half hour with the TV on — they looked momentarily at the screen, then went back to their toys.

But researcher Daniel Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, says he’s concerned the effects could be cumulative.

“It’s that situation that I’m most concerned about, when you look at TV as being a disruptive influence hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year,” he says.

BoardBuzz knows the importance of early childhood education, and in one survey the article mentions 14 percent of parents said the TV is always onin their homes. So BoardBuzz wants to remind you to turn off the TV when it’s not being watched. While it keeps playing, you might be wasting energy and distracting your child from one of the most important parts of their development… playtime! For more information about Pre-K, check out the Center for Public Education.

Andrew Paulson|July 15th, 2008|Categories: Announcements, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education, Student Achievement, Wellness|

Is Preschool the Next Hot Topic in Election?

If education ever surfaces as a serious topic in this election, the stars appear lined up for pre-K to be the issue of choice, according to some panelists who spoke at the ED 08 Blog Summit last week. It’s no surprise since pre-K is less controversial than K-12 and the two democratic candidates have each outlined some details of their early childhood education plans. Not to mention that pre-K legislation is likely to move forward in Congress this year independent of NCLB, see here.

But it won’t be long before the new administration and new Congress have to deal with the elephant in the room – NCLB. More school labeling and sanctions next year will likely stir dissatisfaction at the state and local levels.

Andrew Paulson|May 19th, 2008|Categories: Educational Legislation, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Governance, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, Preschool Education|
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