Friday, August 31, 2007
U of M research shows what works in early education.
More about the early childhood study that I mentioned on Wednesday...
Though interest has mounted in the good that early childhood education can do an at-risk child -- and an at-risk state -- doubters have persisted. Skeptics often claim that the educational gains preschool imparts don't last, or that only a few expensive, elite, hard-to-replicate programs can give at-risk children a real advantage.
Not so, says new research led by University of Minnesota professors Arthur Reynolds and Judy Temple, published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. They've been following into adulthood nearly 1,000 low-income minority children who attended a Chicago school-based preschool program in 1985-86.The results are heartening: Compared with a similar-demographic cohort of children who did not attend preschool, but -- significantly -- had the benefit of all-day kindergarten, the preschool alumni were better off on a wide range of measures. More had finished high school, and were enrolled in college. More had full-time employment and health insurance coverage. Fewer had been arrested for felony crimes. Fewer reported "depressive symptoms," a marker for mental health issues, or physical disabilities.
Those results were produced not at an exclusive country day school, but Chicago's Child Parent Centers, a public school program that has functioned for 40 years inside or adjacent to urban neighborhood elementary schools. Its cost per student is $5,000 -- not cheap, but not nearly as steep as tuition at many private preschools.
What makes the Chicago program effective? Researcher Reynolds attributes its success to several things, all of which have implications for Minnesota as it charts its own early education course:
• It identifies and enrolls at-risk students, those already deemed to be lagging in either skills or learning opportunity at age 3.
• Literacy is emphasized. Other skills are imparted to 3- and 4-year-olds too, but learning to read is job one.
• Parental involvement is intensive, and integral to the lessons. Parents are taught how to continue their child's learning at home.
• A unified approach for age 3 to grade 3 makes possible a seamless transition between preschool and elementary school.
• Certified, well-educated teachers staff the program. That assures a high-quality, stable staff."This package is hard to beat," said Reynolds. With the results it is producing, it should
also be hard for Minnesota policymakers to ignore. Thanks to researchers like Reynolds, Minnesotans don't have to simply throw well-intentioned money at preschool programs or all-day kindergarten and hope for good results. They can -- and should -- invest in what works.
Read entire article.
Hope you have a good weekend and Labor Day holiday... I will be back on Tuesday.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
A study recently released by the University of Washington suggests that infants who are exposed to "smart baby" DVDs and videos to promote early childhood language development actually have a lower vocabulary than children who hear stories and have books read to them.
Vocabulary and letter recognition at an early age are essential building blocks for reading. Librarians and early childhood educators have long advocated that infants and toddlers be introduced to books, stories and alphabet games—not on television but in person, in the home or library. At the Chicago Public Library, we recommend that parents and caregivers start reading to children at birth, and the library provides books, educational tools and lap-sit story times free of charge to help reinforce that message.
Twenty-five percent of a child’s brain is formed at birth and from that moment on, talking, singing and reading aloud to the child develops the remaining 75 percent. Without a foundation in books and letters, children start formal schooling already behind their peers and struggle to catch up.
Read to your child for at least 20 minutes a day every day, and your child will enter preschool and kindergarten ready to read. Armed with only a library card and the desire to spend a few moments each day with your child and a book, you can ensure that reading will become a lifelong habit and a pleasure for your child.
This should come as no surprise. There is no substitute for your involvement in improving a child's literacy. So turn off the television and pick up a book...
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The question isn’t whether we can afford to do early childhood intervention. It’s whether we can afford not to.
Yet another study has produced the same answer: no.
The study – led by Arthur J. Reynolds, a University of Minnesota child development expert – followed youth who’d been enrolled in Chicago’s Child-Parent Centers. They were mostly disadvantaged inner-city children: The centers were first established by the Chicago school system in 1967 to give preschoolers from poor families a better chance of success.
These preschools offered much more than even Head Start and other high-end conventional preschool programs.
They enrolled 3- and 4-year-olds and assisted them through the second or third grades. Their teachers had college degrees with special training in early childhood education. The staff expected parents to be involved in the classroom; they also supported those parents by helping them find jobs and connect with social services.
The results are in, published this month in the Archive of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The Chicago Longitudinal Study examined the subsequent histories of more than 1,000 children who’d attended a Child-Parent Center kindergarten in 1985 and 1986. Born in 1980, they are now in their late 20s.
By almost every measure, they’ve outdone children of similar backgrounds who hadn’t been in the program. More graduated from high school; more are employed full-time; fewer are depressed; fewer have been arrested on felony charges; fewer have landed in prison.
All this not only helps them; it helps the rest of society. Children who are well-prepared for school are more likely to graduate from high school, get full-time jobs and pay taxes; they’re less likely to need remedial education, drop out of high school, get pregnant too young, commit crimes and run up criminal justice costs.
Reynolds says the reduction of social welfare costs have already far outstripped the $5,000 a year needed to keep these children in the Child-Parent Centers. “By the time they’re 65, a conservative estimate would be a 10-to-1 gain,” he said.
The Chicago Longitudinal Study tracks earlier, more limited studies that also showed demonstrated big gains among poor children who got first-rate early childhood education. Hard-headed economists have estimated that society’s investment in this kind of program produces an annual rate of return of about 16 percent.
The Chicago study has shown, once again, that we need to be working to improve and coordinate existing early learning efforts.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, recently spoke at the Governor's Summit on Early Childhood Development in Virginia. Here is an excerpt:
It is worth noting that the skills that have become most valuable over time seem to be general skills that come with higher levels of education -- as opposed to the very specific skills gained through experience in a particular job or occupation. This is an important distinction. It means that more than ever, the path to economic success lies in education rather than in on-the-job experience. And if these general skills are the key to success, it follows that a lack of skills presents a formidable barrier to success -- for an individual, a community, a state or a nation.
What does this have to do with early childhood? I mentioned that acquiring skills improves one's ability to acquire further skills. Could this logic extend back to the earliest investments in human capital -- those that occur between birth and age 5? I believe the
evidence indicates that the answer is yes.Economists like to think about investment in terms of rate of return, and there is reason to think that the rate of return on early childhood investment could be particularly high. Like any investment in human capital, some of the return accrues directly to the individual in increased lifetime earning ability. But a substantial share of the return -- perhaps as much as three-quarters of the total -- is a broader, social benefit coming from such sources as reduced costs of remediation and other special services in primary and secondary school, as well as from the reduced incidence of the array of social problems often associated with low educational achievement.
There are many explanations for the apparent high economic returns to early childhood education, but a key difference between early childhood investments and investments at primary and secondary education levels is the potential for compounding. That is, enhancing early childhood development appears to improve a child's ability to learn at later stages. This means the return on early education comes not just from the direct effects, say on the development of cognitive ability, but also from the fact that these early investments increase the productivity of later educational investments.
Read the entire article...
Mr. Lacker is not the first economist to propose this return for early education. Minnesota's very own Art Rolnick was one of the earliest voices raised about the economic value of early childhood spending.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Here is a double resource... both a website and an e-mail group that can provide lots of activities for the children in your care.
Childcareland is a group for pre-k teachers and child care providers. The group sends worksheets - file folder games etc.. that deal with ages 2-6 and concentrate on kindergarten readiness skills Alphabet - Numbers - Shapes - Colors. Please do not send attachments into the list without list owner permission. Copyright protected material is not allowed. The list also does not accept advertising ... off topic jokes ... forwarded messages. Join group.
The website is also a place for child care providers ... pre-k teachers ... kindergarten teachers ... daycare providers ... homeschool teachers ... parents ... and anyone who works with children to make friends and find support in what is often a rewarding but stressful career. Educational activities, folder games, printables, and more at childcareland.com.
Hope you find this resource uselful...
**The weather in Minnesota has been nice, but I'm sure bad weather will be back with us before we are ready. We may have snow days in Minnesota, but at least we don't have to deal with this.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Really like this blog entry...
I love and appreciate the time, patience, talents and dedication of childcare employees and childcare business owners. If you haven’t thanked your childcare provider lately, it might be nice to remind them you really appreciate them today.
If you are a parent who is feeling guilty about having your child in daycare while you are working, I would suggest spending a few minutes on your lunch break peeking in on them while they are hanging out with their fellow childcare buddies. Chances are pretty good that your kid is having a blast!
When you these little kids all together in rooms with furniture just their size, playing with more toys than you would ever want in your home at one time, it is something funny to see. While you are at work feeling guilty, you child is dancing and reading and destroying other people’s books! Together they learn to share, walk in a line and sit in a circle and play duck-duck-goose. In daycare, kids learn manners like ”no hitting”, “no biting” and taking turns. Daycare also teaches kids trust, respect and mind other adult authority.
You also get to enjoy the cute arts and crafts that your child brings home from “school” without the mess. Honestly, would you really make those cute little crafts at home? Would you really allow the use of tempra paint in your house? Do you even know where you would buy it in the first place? How about laminated place mats? Do you really see yourself making laminated construction paper place mats? But, that art sure looks cute in your cubicle!
Believe me, daycare is NOT hell on earth for children. It is actually really fun! And, kids learn some really valuable skills that may benefit you in ways you may never think of! Take for instance, learning to take a nap on the floor in semi-loud and semi-bright conditions. That ALWAYS helps when you get stuck in an airport or when you are at a wedding reception that will never end and your tipsy husband refuses to leave because you lost at rock/scissors/paper and got to be the designated driver for the evening! Who knew?!?!?!
Our country’s employers, parents, grandparents and children need and want quality, safe, reliable and affordable childcare. And, not only is okay…it is GREAT!
Quality childcare is in high demand and there are amazing people and wonderful companies that are meeting that demand with flying colors. In addition, there are a good many people working in Washington, DC in an effort to improve the access and availability of affordable, quality childcare nationwide. I hope that childcare becomes an election issue in this long and already tedious presidential election campaign.
Couldn't have said it better myself...
Read the entire entry.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Most parents and teachers are concerned about the school readiness of America's youngest children, says a new study by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. . But for those parents who may worry that their children don't know the alphabet, numbers or colors before kindergarten, the findings may come as a surprise. In fact, teachers say they value social skills - such as following rules and directions, and being able to play and share well with others -- over academic skills as a better predictor of children's success in school.
Few parents (25 percent) and teachers (7 percent) describe U.S. children as being extremely or very prepared to learn upon entering kindergarten, PNC found, meaning that they know the basics like counting, spelling their names and that they are prepared to listen in class. Nearly three of five parents (57 percent) and two-thirds of teachers (66 percent) say that U.S. children are only somewhat prepared.
"Teachers and other experts in early childhood education agree that children are more likely to succeed in school if they have the social skills to participate and learn while in the classroom," said Eva Tansky Blum, PNC's director of Community Affairs and the PNC Grow Up Great initiative. "A focus on developing these skill sets and improving the limited access and uneven quality of preschool education today will provide children opportunities to develop the tools of learning needed to succeed in school, and life."
Read entire article...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
In May 2007, the Freedom to Breathe Act was passed by a bipartisan majority of the Minnesota Legislature and signed into law by Governor Pawlenty on May 16. The law, which takes effect on October 1, 2007, greatly expands the reach of the MCIAA by extending secondhand smoke protections to customers and employees alike in virtually all indoor workplaces, including restaurants, bars and private clubs.
The 2007 Freedom to Breathe Act has specific implications for home-based child care centers. The owner of a family home or group family day care provider must disclose to parents or guardians of children cared for on the premises if the owner permits smoking outside of its hours of operation. Disclosure must include posting on the premises a conspicuous written notice and orally informing parents or guardians. These new provisions go into effect on October 1, 2007.
For more information on the Freedom to Breathe Act of 2007, visit the Minnesota Department of Health at http://www.health.state.mn.us/ or http://www.freshairmn.org/.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Check out this website for all your needs!
August is over half done! Once again, the summer seems to have flown by and the first day of school is just around the corner. As exciting as the beginning of the school year is, it can be equally as stressful. To reduce some of this stress, try starting early and get as much done as you can now, so you won’t have to worry about it the night before the kids arrive.
If your brain is still on vacation at the beach and you’re having trouble thinking of ideas for new, fun learning activities, do not worry…just take a deep breath and check out this great website we found for both teachers and daycare providers: http://www.first-school.ws/
This site offers a wide array of fun things to do with children between the ages of 2 and 6 years old. These activities are especially great for helping younger children prepare for their first time attending preschool, child care, or day care, and it also offers suggestions to parents and teachers on how to comfort them during this transition. From lesson plans, worksheets, and flash cards, to printable crafts, posters, and tips, this website has everything you need to start the school year off right. So stop procrastinating, get out those unfinished lesson plans, and get going to make this year even better than the last!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Well, I got home last night from the National Association of Family Child Care Conference in California. I had a great time. It is always fun to get to gether with professionals who have similar experiences and issues. Especially when they have the same passsion and dedication to early childhood care and education. I hope that you can join us next year in Chicago.
I will talk more about the conference later, but have a resource for you to look over today...
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2007.
The report offers detailed and condensed statistics describing the status of children and families in the United States. It examines multiple factors connected to demographic background, family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health of our nation's children. To view this report click here.
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2007.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Here's something on the web for you to check out... A new monthly podcast series, produced by FPG Child Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will provide parents, child care providers, policymakers, and early childhood professionals with the latest research findings in early childhood development. Each episode will feature an interview with a researcher to learn more about a study recently published in a peer-reviewed journal.
For more information and the current issue, "Can child care impact risk of depression?," go to http://www.fpg.unc.edu/news/podcasts.cfm
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Well, I'm off to California....
Will be flying out early tomorrow morning to Anaheim, California for the 17th Annual NAFCC National Conference Sponsored by the National Association for Family Child Care, and hosted by the California Association for Family Child Care. This year's Annual Conference is titled Family Child Care: Foundations for the Future.
The conference, held at the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, will feature distinguished keynote speakers and address how to improve the quality of the field and discuss modern early childhood education practices. Believe it or not, I am one of this year's "distinguished speakers" and will be presenting a pre-conference class as well as two workshops during the weekend.
Looking forward to the trip and to see people that I haven't seen since last year's conference!
Friday, August 10, 2007
The report, released today, comes from a project that began in 1993 in which almost 500 children were tracked from age five. This report covers their progress to age 16 but there are plans for a further report when the participants are aged 20.
The "Competent Children, Competent Learners" project found that the quality of teaching at age five still influenced children's reading and maths skills 11 years later.
The report indicated children whose mothers were highly educated did better academically at age 16.
Children who went to top pre-schools – where teachers responded to individual children's needs and frequently joined in activities – also outstripped their peers' achievements in their teenage years.
Read entire article...
Thursday, August 09, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (8/6/2007) -- Minority preschoolers from low-income families who participated in a comprehensive school-based intervention fared better educationally, socially and economically as they moved into young adulthood, according to a report by University of Minnesota professors Arthur Reynolds and Judy Temple. The study is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Reynolds is a child development professor in the College of Education and Human Development and Judy Temple is a professor in the department of applied economics and in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Reynolds’ research group discovered that by age 24, children who were involved in preschool programs were more likely to finish high school, attend four-year colleges and have health insurance coverage, and less likely to be arrested for a felony, be incarcerated or develop depressive symptoms. For example, the preschool group had higher rates of high school completion with 71.4 percent finishing high school compared with a 63.7 percent finish rate among those in the non preschool group. Those who attended preschool also were more likely to have health insurance with 70.2 percent having insurance compared with 61.5 percent of those not in preschool. Those children in the program also had lower rates of felony arrests with 16.5 percent compared with 21.1 percent and lower depressive symptoms with 12.8 percent compared with 17.4 percent.
Read entire article...
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Baby development videos like Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby are little more than snake oil and can actually slow a toddler's learning, a new study has found.
For every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants aged eight to 16 months understood an average of six to eight less words than those who did not watch them, the study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, found.
For toddlers aged 17 to 24 months, the DVDs had neither a positive nor negative effect.
Read entire article.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Despite studies like Dr. Reynolds' that demonstrate the effectiveness of early childhood interventions, prisons are more likely to get adequate funding than preschools, writes James Forman Jr., J.D., of Georgetown Law School, Washington, D.C.,
"In our country, when we run out of prison space, we simply build more," he writes. "The result is that we have the highest incarceration rate in the world despite being the nation's wealthiest country. Early-childhood education, on the other hand, is woefully under-funded.""The findings from the Child-Parent Centers should not surprise us," he continues. "They prove that a well-designed and well-executed early-childhood education program can make a significant difference in the life outcomes of children from low-income households. They also show that no single intervention is enough: good early-childhood education needs to be accompanied by (among other things) adequate health care and needs to be followed by quality K-through-12 education."
Such programs could, among other benefits, reduce the number of prisons and prisoners in the United States, Forman concludes.
... Sad, but true.
