Staci Hupp of the Dallas Morning News did a comprehensive job of examining a new certification system for public and private preschools in Texas. She included many different voices, including parents and skeptical preschool operators.

But based on what I could find out about the certification system, the story makes it seem a bit more scientific than it probably is. Centers apply for certification and then submit information about the center's teachers and learning environment. Children from the center are tested in kindergarten and their scores, combined with the self-reported information, determines certification. Susan Landry of the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development, which developed the certification system, is quoted saying it will be able to identify classroom practices which predict kindergarten success. Attributing causation in education is a very, very tricky thing.

Secondly, the story had only a smidgeon of (one graf, down low) context. States are spending more on preschool and so are trying to find ways to measure quality. Head Start has been struggling with accountability for several years now using tests and the tests, which were not useful for centers or anyone else, are likely to go away in the Head Start reauthorization. Several states give letter grades. Also, Florida tests kindergartners and judges the preschools they attended by the results. Most observers think that method is badly flawed.

Sharon Lynn Kagan of Teachers College gave an excellent overview of early childhood education and accountability and assessment at the Hechinger Institute seminar for editorial writers in June. She offered a really nice image, saying that, regarding assessment, early childhood education is moving from caring teachers who wore smocks and carried cards in their pocket to write down loving observations about children to be "highly standardized, highly regulated, and much more consistent." She said she didn't think that was necessarily bad but that it's difficult to do and that the necessary assessment tools do not yet exist. Would have been good to talk to someone like Kagan for this story.