Story in the Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio Republicans have introduced a bill that would include in the"core" requirements for getting a high school diploma four years of math, instead of three, and require that science courses be lab-based. Democratic Gov.-elect Ted Strickland, according to the story, "voiced concern about increasing high school requirements before improving education in pre-K and elementary school." Here's the link

In Ohio the governor doesn't want to make kids take more high school math until they've had a chance to attend preschool. In Oregon, state Supe Susan Castillo says she supports spending $65 million to bring fullday kindergarten to the schools with the most poor kids. (It'd cost $100 million for fullday K. statewide and she says she supports pre-K too but there's only so much money.) If you want to create more engineers, she writes in The Oregonian, "you need to introduce kids to math and science when they're 5 and 6." It'd be fun for a reporter to go to a kindergarten and write about those "college-prep" math and science lessons. link

The new report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Work Force is nothing if not bold. It paints a grim scenario of a drastically reduced standard of living for many Americans if the nation doesn't get better at building a skilled workforce. Essentially, the report says the U.S. needs to move in the direction of successful education systems around the world: more investment in pre-kindergarten, and getting most young people well-prepared for college or trade schools by the 10th grade. Lots of recommendations and well worth journalists' attention. The commission report says the recommended changes in the system would save about $67 billion a year it says about a third of that money should be spent on a system of high quality pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Time magazine, Tom Friedman in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune
all covered it. (Update: NYTs coverage is here and Christian Science Monitor is here.)

The Washington Post had a frontpager Sunday about the rapid spread of the elementary school version of the International Baccalaureate program. I really like how the story takes the reader inside this program and these classrooms and gives one a very clear sense of the instruction and expectations.

Here's an excerpt:

The program seeks to mold students, from preschool age on, into "transdisciplinary" and bilingual scholars who can deliver a major academic project by fifth grade and then move into deeper studies in secondary schools and beyond. (IB middle schools also exist.) Critics wonder whether it's all a bit much for a student demographic that still receives scratch-and-sniff stickers on written work.

The story quotes a mother, speaking about her husband's motivation for enrolling the kids in IB: "He was like, 'Our kids are going to an Ivy League school, and we need an education that's going to get them on the right track.' "

By the way, I'm collecting statements and references to how preschool will get kids on track for 1. The Ivy League. 2. Science Careers 3. To Become Doctors. Please send in your nominations!

My call for stories in which sources claim that getting into the "right" pre-school or kindergarten is an express ride directly to 1. The Ivy League. 2. Science Careers 3. To Become Doctors. prompted Hechinger Institute Assistant Director Liz Willen to send me a story she did last spring for Bloomberg News. The story had the obligatory only-somewhat-tongue-in-cheek quote about the pre-K-Harvard link. But it also had this perspective quote from William Fitzsimmons, Harvard's admission director: ``You have students who are home schooled, students who have gone to any kind of school you could imagine and even students who have spent no time at all in their lives in a formal classroom who end up getting into Harvard,'' Fitzsimmons said.

Editorial in the Akron Beacon-Journal called on new Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to invest more money in the state's Early Learning Initiative. The editorial said "Preschool is a 20-year workforce development plan."

The Charleston Gazette of Charleston, West Virginia had a perceptive editorial the other day, urging the state to accelerate and formalize efforts to fulfill a commitment to having universal pre-kindergarten available to all 4 year olds by 2012. The editorial took note of a political dynamic that I've rarely seen mentioned but is something journalists need to keep in mind. The editorial said:

The payoff from investing in early childhood education requires patience, because it takes 20 years to measure. Who will still be in office to take credit or to feel the satisfaction of the effort? That’s all the more reason why West Virginia should waste no time in boosting the potential of every new mind born here...

Missed this in February but it's worth linking to now. Fed Reserve Board Chief Ben Bernanke spoke to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and extolled the economic returns of high quality pre-kindergarten.

Although education and the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process, starting early in life is crucial. Recent research... has documented the high returns that early childhood programs can pay in terms of subsequent educational attainment and in lower rates of social problems, such as teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency. The most successful early childhood programs appear to be those that cultivate both cognitive and non-cognitive skills and that engage families in stimulating learning at home.

It's a long journey from kindergarten to high school graduation and even longer to adulthood. Those of us who think a lot about how kids get off to a good start on life's road sometimes forget about the bumpiness and dead-end exits along the way. Starting off in the right direction with a smooth-running vehicle full of gas does not mean one is assured of arriving at his destination safe and sound. Three good stories over the weekend are good reminders that, as important as it is to give kids a proper start, it doesn't necessarily assure them of a smooth ride through school or life.

Erin Einhorn and Carrie Melago of the New York Daily News worked backwards from interviewing a young man about to graduate from a New York high school who is headed to Carnegie Mellon to major in physics. They tracked down his kindergarten teacher, still in the classroom, and she led them to the class of children identified as gifted that she taught in 1994. Their story shows that pregnancy, violence, family instability, large, impersonal schools, uncaring teachers and many other unforeseen bumps in the road can make the ride rocky even for kindergarteners who are bright and ready for school. One girl who overcame the violent deaths of both of her parents to make it to graduation with the help of an iron-willed grandmother had this to say: "You have to have family support," she said. "You have to have a good relationship with teachers. You have to have motivation within yourself. ...And you have to have hope." Part three of the series is here.

Dale Mezzacappa, the veteran education writer for the Philly Inquirer who took a buyout sometime back, returned with a terrific profile of a class of 112 6th graders who had been guaranteed a college education by a rich Connecticut investor. George Weiss spent millions, mentored them, gave them tutoring, jobs and contacts and more. Now, 20 years later, Mezzacappa fills us in on where they ended up--and the news is mixed. Less than two-thirds of them graduated high school (twice the rate of other poor African Americans in Philadelphia from that year) and 20 earned bachelor's degrees.

Sara Rimer of the New York Times had a front-page profile that looked at the friendship of two very different girls, who became one another's support system through high school. Their friendship helped them get to graduation with good
grades and glowing recommendations--despite trials rivaling those of Job. Again, the point's the same: a great preschool experience is certainly a good start--a full tank of gas in a car that runs, as it were. But teachers, friends, resilience, luck, opportunities, family stability and so much more are required along the way.

(By the way, all three have audio, slide shows and other stories that add to the printed stories. At the NY Times site you can watch the commencement address given by Queen, one of the two girls Rimer profiles.)

New American Media, the California non-profit collaboration that provides news and commentary to ethnic-focused media and offers various services to help those outlets make money, has a Q&A with David Kirp, author of the pro-Universal Pre-Kindergarten book "The Sandbox Investment." The questioner mostly asks good questions but the premise of one is questionable. The questioner can't understand why the U.S. doesn't invest more in preschool because, as she says, "so many people in America go to college, so many more than in other countries, and education is stressed so much in this culture." It's true that Americans overall are more likely to have completed post-secondary education. But the trend on this is downward. Among 25-34 year-olds the U.S. is 17th among the countries that are part of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. Other nations are improving on this measure while the U.S. has been stagnant for many years.

Thanks to Russo's This Week in Education just read a Q&A with David Kirp, the author of "The Sandbox Investment." Newsweek also touched down on the growing state investment in preschool here. Kirp made similar points here and here.">here and here.

Kirp's political analysis is compelling but he sometimes loses his footing and overpromises. Perhaps it was the editing of the Q&A (the media does this!) but he seemed to be saying that a dose of high-quality pre-kindergarten would solve all ills for all children. Journalists (and their editors) love quick fix, silver bullet, utopian policies but they ought to be a little more skeptical. (Not so skeptical that they assume a presidential candidate's emotions are a campaign trick, like the Queen of Nasty Maureen Dowd, but just a little more.)

I admire the way Jay Mathews, the Washington Post's education columnist and reporter, takes on the real stuff of education and does so in a plain-spoken, non-wonky, real-world way that is always interesting. Good example is a column he did focusing on Levin and Belfield's new book (see previous entry). A book on the
economics of education sounds daunting but Jay lays some of the important ideas out quite well. He notes, for example, that Levin and Belfield calculate that providing the equivalent of the Perry Preschool Project from 40 years ago to 100 children would produce an additional 19 high school graduates.

Teachers College Prof. Henry Levin and Clive Belfield of Queens College (formerly of TC) are getting attention for "The Price We Pay: Economic and Social Consequences of Inadequate Education," an interesting book they edited that tries to calculate the costs to the economy of school failure. It's worth checking out because part of it tries to find interventions that actually work and then tries to figure out if they are cost effective. (Of course that calculation gets into all sorts of non-quantitative stuff like values, one's philosophy regarding the role of government and society's obligations to its members.) For example, the economists calculate that offering preschool the quality of the legendary Perry Preschool Project of 40 years ago to 100 children would produce an additional 19 high school graduates. But the study concludes that a high school reform program called First Things First provides far better bang for the buck.

Charles B. Reed, who oversees 46,000 faculty and staff and 450,000 students on 23 California campuses, weighed in on the future of the littlest Californians in an op-ed piece that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News.

Reed has his hands full managing young adults at the country's largest senior system of public higher education. His plea, though, was aimed on giving a better beginning to those he hopes will become future students. Reed noted that solid pre-kindergarten programs can pay long term dividends in the years to come -- and that only about half of eligible, low-income, preschool-age children in California receive a publicly subsidized pre-K start.

Reed noted two recent reports on this issue worthing taking a look at: the first from the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence and a second was convened by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

The report found that the achievement gap in the K-12 years begins when kids first enter kindergarten class -- and that those who start behind, stay behind. "Without a strong beginning, these children can only grasp at an elusive dream,'' Reed writes.

Ann Doss Helms of the Charlotte Observer posed some interesting questions in a Sunday story on Bright Beginnings, a pre-kindergarten program in Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools with a big promise -- to transform the lives of at-risk children and help them succeed later on.

Her story found the $23 million a year program has not kept its promises and that the school system cannot say what its academic impact has been. The Chief accountability officer of the district told Doss Helms that analyzing the success of the pioneer class -- now high school freshmen -- isn't on their radar, at a time when long-term research on the impact of public pre-kindergarten is lagging. A sidebar to the story shows how little data a researcher hired to analyze the program has received.

As states and governors consider investing public funds in pre-kindergarten, it's critical for journalists to follow-up the way the Doss Helms has done and hold the programs and public officials accountable. The questions her story poses -- including what factors determine and shape a student's success, and what influence a strong pre-kindergarten program might have -- must be part of the public dialogue.

Following up on the attention paid to the new Bill Gormley study of the effects of the state's $7,000 per year prekindergarten program I came across this ABC television report from May. It shows the power of television when done well. I particularly liked the video of a kindergartner who had attended pre-k writing letters (steady, clear, nicely formed) while, on a split screen, a kindergartner who had not gone to pre-k tried to do the same. (wobbly lines, some unrecognizable letters, slower).

The ABC report quoted candidate Obama saying he supported pre-k because it would return $10 for every dollar invested. I've now come across economic returns estimates of between $2.36 and $17 for each dollar invested. (See Clive Belfield's report as well as this oneby Steve Aos at the Washington State Institute for Public Policy.)

Not sure where Obama's number comes from but what's important is that each of these studies makes different assumptions, uses different methodologies for evaluating costs and savings, and covers different time periods. Point is that even the lowest estimate shows a better than one-to-one return. That return has to be evaluated against the returns from other social interventions, some of which are highly targeted and others, such as public schooling in general, that are universal.

With all the learning and socialization that needs to take place in kindergarten, it's hard to imagine a school district getting caught up in a struggle over how long a child's hair can be. It's even harder to imagine a child being ordered to learn in isolation because of his hair.

Yet that's exactly what happened in rural Needville Texas, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle, The paper has been following the case of a five-year-old American Indian boy who was kept out of class for several months because of the length of his hair.

The school district maintained the boy had violated the school's dress code, which forbids boys from wearing their hair long. The boy was told he could wear his hair in one long braid tucked into his shirt, but when he arrived wearing two braids outside his shirt he was ordered to attend classes in isolation.

It took the involvement of a federal judge to rule that the Needville School District had violated state law and the U.S. Constitution by punishing the boy for his religious beliefs. The boy's father maintained that the part-Apache Indian child considered his long hair sacred, and held to a tradition of not cutting it except during major life events.

The case drew the interest of the American Civil Liberties Union after the boy was suspended for not complying with a school's dress code policy that required short hair. The boy's parents had sent him to school in braids. The ACLU lauded the judge's decision.

A recent television report scratched the surface of the many issues journalists ought to start exploring when looking at the planned expansion of the federally funded Early Head Start and Head Start.

The story reported on the lack of qualifications of Head Start teachers in Orange County, Florida and noted that many teachers involved in Orange County's Head Start program may not be qualified. The story also cited recent test scores showing that Head Start students were falling behind others in the state and nation "in all the critical areas that help prepare them for elementary school.''

It did not delve into what will be a critical issue in the coming years as Head Start teachers will be asked to be certified with at least a bachelor's degree. The issue comes at a time when Head Start should face scrutiny by journalists and the public after President Barack Obama pledged an expansion of Early Head Start and Head Start using $5 billion in federal stimulus money.

EarlyStories has noted that few journalists bother to visit Head Start centers and report on their quality or effectiveness. A recent conversation with W. Steve Barnett of NIEER yielded some excellent questions and points journalists might think about when covering Head Start.

Barnett, Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University, suggested that reporters take a look at the extensive research available on Head Start, including a study by Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Ohio University, which concluded that Head Start produced few sustained educational benefits.

The study, Barnett noted, had "numerous methodological flaws and has been roundly criticized.''

Other studies are quite mixed; Barnett said the best long-term studies suggest "modest positive benefits across a wide range of outcomes including mortality and health."

Barnett urges journalists to take a look at the ongoing Head Start Impact Study, a nationally representative randomized trial that he said provides the most rigorous evaluation to date of Head Start’s effects.

Initial results from the study released in 2005 found very modest gains from participating in one year of Head Start, "with the largest impacts on parent reports of their children’s literacy skills and receipt of dental care,'' Barnett said in an email to EarlyStories. He added that while the results may be strong enough to justify the cost of Head Start on purely economic grounds, "even the most generous assessment of the results finds that the impacts on language and mathematics are disappointing and compare poorly to the impacts of other large scale preschool education programs as the programs providing the rationale for Head Start."

Barnett wants to know why the federal government has released no further findings from the study -- a question journalists may want to pose. He added several more good questions. For example, it how much of the Head Start budget is spent at the center level and classroom level and how much goes to particular aspects of the program’s mission such as: education in the classroom, health related services, and services to parents?

The Orange County story did not attempt to answer this questions, but it managed to create a dialogue in the community about what qualifications Head Start teachers -- who in this case earned little more than $13 an hour -- should have. In addition, it raised questions about the value of the program and the quality of what learning is -- or is not -- taking place.

With a big week looming in health care reform, many questions remain about the fate of President Barack Obama's early learning initiatives.

Susan B. Neuman, a former assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education in former President George W. Bush's administration, acknowledges in a piece for Roll Call that while her affiliation with the Repulican party has been lifelong, she wants her party to support student loan reform in part because of its impact on early education.

Neuman, a professor in education studies at the University of Michigan, comes out pushing hard for student loan reform and expressed her hope that the Senate passes it for many reasons including the $10 billion for the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

"This fund will promote improvements in early learning standards and ensure students in the next generation have the skills that they need for kindergarten and the rest of their education," Neuman wrote. "The fund is targeted to at-risk children because the science is very clear that the first five years are where we can make a difference with this group. While serving in the Bush administration, my belief in the benefits of early education became even stronger. Economists, business leaders and child development experts agree that smart investments in early education are essential to closing the achievement gap."

Republicans, Neuman says, "need to be part of the solution, and this bill aligns with their core beliefs."

Neuman's push comes at a time when all eyes in Washington and across the U.S. are watching health care reform this week. Early Ed Watch noted last week that the fate of Early Learning Challenge Grants may depend on what becomes of President Barack Obama's health care plan and the bill Democrats may be ready to send to him by the end of the week.

Stay tuned.