Early Ed Watch

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the fullest picture yet of his vision for a birth-to-8 education system in remarks yesterday at the opening of the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children...

Over the past several months, I have spent a lot of time talking to early childhood stakeholders about collaboration, and today the Early Education Initiative is releasing a policy brief based on that reporting...

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education released the application and notice of final priorities for the Race to the Top competition, a $4.35 billion grant program that rewards states that have shown the most commitment to and progress on education reforms to improve student achievement...

One of our favorite cognitive scientists, Daniel Willingham, is introducing a new recurring feature, "Hall of Shame," on the Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog...

It occurred to us recently that readers might be wondering about the status and outlook for the Student Financial Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) legislation currently pending in Congress that would, among other things, establish a new Early Learning Challenge Grant program to support...

Last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act, a comprehensive literacy bill designed to overhaul the federal role in supporting literacy from preschool through high school...

A report last week from a new group called Mission: Readiness featured a very troubling statistic: 75 percent of young Americans cannot join the U.S. military because they are too poorly educated, have a criminal record or are overweight...

Lawmakers included funding for voluntary home visitation in the health care reform bill passed by the House on Saturday night. The bill authorizes a five-year, $750 million grant program to help states develop in-home services to help pregnant women and mothers of very young children...

A symposium in Arlington on Tuesday brought together some of the most well-known researchers in the field of early childhood to dig into a tough and timely question: How do we help young children in the United States who know very little English...

The Washington Post's "Answer Sheet" just published a commentary I wrote about how to improve children's grasp of math in the early years. It's a call to parents to build math moments into the morning routine, just as book reading is part of the bedtime drill...

Data from a survey of kindergarten teachers in California's Santa Clara County adds to the mounting evidence that kindergarten readiness is not as simple to define as you might think...

As a recent TIME cover story notes, California is a state teeming with problems: Facing a 35 percent budget gap earlier this year, the state teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. It has a notoriously dysfunctional legislature and the nation's fourth-highest unemployment rate...

"The interesting thing about education reform is that we actually do know what works," former Prime Minister Tony Blair said during an event at the Center for American Progress yesterday...

There are significant differences between the various health care reform bills currently moving through the House and Senate, but here's one thing they all have in common: each would provide a substantial infusion of federal funding for home visitation programs that provide information to pregnant...