Despite lots and lots of early ed news I've been offline, running the Hechinger Institute after the departure of several staffers....also have been very busy with seminars for journalists, which is our main activity. I blogged a bit earlier on the talk Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredeson gave at the Hechinger seminar end of June, discussing the political challenges he faced in expanding his state's investments in early childhood education. The governor also explained that he thought it was better for states to emphasize quality and expand slowly rather than go big but cheap all at once. Tennessee's program meets 9 out of the 10 quality indicators that the National Institute on Early Education Research uses to analyze state programs. Look for more from EarlyStories and, as always, let me know if you see good stories in early ed being covered well, not being covered well-enough, or not being covered at all.....