So, what kind of teaching makes a difference? And, by extension, what should journalists who visit pre-kindergartens look for? They should look for instruction to be woven into activities that give children "choices to explore and play." No drill and kill called for. Pianta says what works is:
– explicit instruction in key skills (teaching matters)
– sensitive and emotionally warm interactions (relationships matter)
– feedback (how'm I doing?)
– verbal engagement/stimulation (talk, talk, talk, words, words, words)
– a classroom environment that is not overly structured or regimented. (they're kids!)

Too often journalists fall into the trap of thinking that instruction is boring and borders on child abuse. In fact, learning can be joyful and fun, even for 4- and 5-year-olds. So, let's stop with the false dichotomies between teaching and play.

University of Virginia Prof. Robert Pianta has a piece in the new edition of Education Next that says high quality teaching in pre-kindergarten can close achievement gaps between emotionally troubled children and the children of mothers with little education But Pianta writes that in the schools studied only about a quarter of the four-year-olds in the schools studied are lucky enough to get high quality instruction and emotional support. He also notes that just as in K-12, standard measures of teacher quality -- degrees and experience -- are not reliable proxies for quality and tend not to be consistently related to gains in achievement. So, he writes, classroom performance matters more than credentials and courses taken.

The three-part series in the San Antonio Express-News on the transformation of kindergarten is now available here. I like a lot about the series. All of its pieces were meticulously reported and instructive, in the sense that they gave readers insights into the dilemmas and decisions of educators in trying to figure out what's best for kids. It was not sensational in any way but it was interesting and filled with real examples. Different viewpoints were offered but it didn't feel like the "he said-she said" stuff that I often see. I also liked that the reporters talked to a lot of kindergarten teachers who seemed like they were given the freedom to express their professional opinion.

Word to principals and supes who try to "gag" teachers and administrators to prevent them from talking to reporters (OK, that phrasing is probably oh so five years ago, but forgive me, I only hang out on a college campus....) You don't get this kind of coverage that explores the issues you deal with all the time, and that helps parents and policy makers understand those issues, unless you provide access to your classrooms and trust your teachers....

Inside Pre-K, a new blog written by a New Jersey pre-k teacher named Sophia Pappas, debuts. Journalists planning to visit a pre-k class should read some of Sophia's very detailed descriptions of vignettes that depict what her four-year-olds are learning. The blog will help journalists formulate questions and develop their skills of observation.

Howard Blume has a good, sophisticated piece in the Los Angeles Times that profiles an elementary school in Compton that seems to be making it. Compton is thought of in California as a stereotypical, struggling, minority community, with all that connotes. But Bunche Elementary School has test scores on par with those in Beverly Hills, Blume reports. And he gives us some snippets of demanding lessons, illustrating the school's expectations. (Though I'd like to have gotten some sense of how teachers are actually teaching. Conversation? Lecturing? How do they help students acquire learning behaviors?)

Such celebratory pieces often are unquestioning. Blume notes that it's a bit difficult to judge the school's gains, because its early success has attracted successful students from elsewhere. (I don't think this is a problem at all. A bigger group of successful students gives less engaged and accomplished students role models and changes the school culture. But it muddies year-to-year comparisons.) He also acknowledges that the highly structured program and strict discipline at the school may not fly in middle class schools. He reports that Bunche still suffers from high turnover among the young, bright Teach for America teachers it hires. Still, one gets the sense that the high expectations at the school make a big difference.

Good piece in the San Jose Mercury News that I missed described a program offered by De Anza College that provides free college classes for child care workers in child development. The program highlights one of the real stumbling blocks to raising the quality of child care and preschool: a lack of affordable training available to a low-income workforce and a lack of financial incentive for bothering. Good to see journalists highlighting the issue. More attention to it will be needed if the current Head Start reauthorization proposal passes. As written, the reauthorization legislation would require that more Head Start teachers have bachelor's degrees.

This op-ed column by a former president of the American Bar Assn. includes particularly compelling descriptions of why and how well-prepared and skilled pre-kindergarten teachers matter. Some of the insights here would be useful to those reporting on the Head Start reauthorization bill, which in its current form would require more of the teachers to gain college degrees.

The Education Writers Assn. Web site has a new "issue brief" by Linda Jacobson that looks at the pros and cons of locating publicly funded pre-k in public schools or centers. The "brief" has some good experts and background information and notes that teacher unions have pushed for locating public pre-k in the schools, anticipating that teachers will be better paid and will be union members. But the brief notes that school-based programs often are limited to just the school hours, making them inconvenient for paretns. It also notes that one critic, Bruce Fuller of the University of California, Berkeley, doesn't want pre-k in schools because he fears they'll be too academic and focused on getting kids ready for kindergarten. Head Start "grandfather" Ed Zigler, in my recent interview with him, strongly favors having all pre-k in public schools.He also wants schools to offer pre-k all day and also after school, to serve working parents' needs.

Education Week's Linda Jacobson offers a well-reported, thoughtful roundup of the issues facing Head Start. [free registration required] Journalists in states where state-funded pre-kindergarten is expanding should set this aside electronically or in hard copy as a reference document and story list. How is the expansion of pre-k creating competition for Head Start? What is the culture clash in Head Start centers that also receive state money? [Hint: preschool teachers have to be persuaded to brush the teeth of four-year-olds.] Is the expansion of state pre-k causing greater racial and economic isolation in Head Starts? Is gentrification in cities undermining Head Start programs? Are Head Start programs failing to serve children speaking Spanish, African languages, Asian languages? No shortage of good stories.

The Associated Press and Washington Post report that the House of Representatives has passed by a more than 7-to-1 margin a Head Start reauthorization bill that increases spending by $500 million, increases enrollment, boosts salaries, and expands services. The bill also sets a goal for increasing the percentage of Head Start teachers who have gone to college and raises the income ceiling for eligibility. It also ends the controversial National Reporting System for monitoring program quality and bars programs from using religious beliefs as a factor in making personnel decisions. The Senate is working on similar legislation. The AP reports the White House opposes the bill. The Post puts a finer point on it, saying the legislation rejects the Bush Administration's main effort to make the program more academic.

One of the greatest challenges of education policy and, frankly, education journalism, is that accurately measuring education quality is very difficult. So, instead, we pay attention to what's available to us: spending, class size, teacher experience, teacher test scores, graduation rates, college-going, test scores. All of those are proxies for what really matters--the interactions between teachers and students. But how do you measure the quality of those interactions? How do you measure whether they will help children not just learn facts but understand, think, question, grow in their confidence as learners and speakers and do-ers?

I had a chance the other day to listen in to a "webinar" put on by two of the great minds on preschool quality--Robert C. Pianta of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University and Barbara Bowman, the Chief Early Education Officer of the Chicago Public Schools and the founder of the Erickson Institute in Chicago. (The event was sponsored by Pre-K Now and a link to the slides for the call as well as the slides for previous calls with experts on a variety of topics can be found here.
Bowman made the point that children have a "natural predisposition to develop" and they do so through exploration of their senses, relationships, language, play and self-regulation. But school learning is different. School learning requires what she called "decontextualized language," meaning, for example, the words for categorization of objects. School learning also involves symbolic skills, small muscle control, social skills, complex grammar, a large vocabulary, clear enunciation and other things. The point is that those who say "kids learn naturally" are right. They do develop and learn some things naturally. They're programmed to, though at different rates. School learning is different. And it requires intentional, thoughtful, planned learning opportunities and interactions. What a useful way to break down that old teaching vs. development argument! It's also useful for journalists, to help them better understand child development and schooling and how they are similar and different.

Bowman's point also leads right into what Pianta had to say. Pianta's research involves lots and lots of observations of classrooms. His observations have led to the development of a scale that measures the quality of teachers' interaction in pre-school and kindergarten classrooms with their children. Pianta says that scale predicts quite accurately how much children learn. Unfortunately, it also demonstrates that the quality of those interactions is often not very good. Pianta wrote a piece in the journal Education Next a while back. In that piece, he asserted that only about a quarter of the pre-k classes and classes studied provided students with the high levels of emotional and instructional support needed to maximize learning.

Fortunately, however, Pianta and his colleagues have developed some training tools that help pre-k teachers get better. He asserts that it is the skill and knowledge of the teachers--not their degrees or certifications--that matters. In fact, his data show no correlation between degree attainment and teacher performance. What does matter is training and professional development tied to knowledge and skill about teaching in actual classrooms. A "webinar" caller asked about that. If there's no connection between B.A. degrees and children's learning, the caller asked, doesn't insisting on college degrees for preschool teachers just raise the cost of those programs?

Advocates for higher quality such as Libby Doggett of Pre-K Now acknowledge that the evidence that children who have teachers with more formal education learn more is ambiguous. But she said in response to the caller that degrees have to be required if the teachers are to be paid a professional salary and be regarded as professionals. In other words, it's about positioning pre-k as part of the formal education system, which requires formal degrees and credentials. That may be the right strategy. But one hopes that somewhere along the line the teachers, whatever formal degrees they have, also get the kind of training Pianta is talking about.

Leslie R. Williams, a Teachers College faculty member who made a long list of contributions to the field of early childhood education, died over the Thanksgiving holiday. Professor Williams had been a Head Start teacher and trainer for tribal programs in South Dakota, founded the Rita Gold Center, which is a day-care and pre-kindergarten lab school at Teachers College, and co-founded the Early Childhood Encyclopedia Project, which resulted in The Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education. She also co-founded the All-Day Kindergarten Network.

Jeff Solochek of the St. Petersburg Times started off the new year with a fine example of journalism that mixes perceptive close-in observation of a classroom with a sense of the broader set of policy issues that surround pre-kindergarten. Here's an excerpt that in just a few paragraphs captures the mix of fun and academics that the best teachers achieve.

Hector approaches carrying a peg board where he's fashioned the letter E. He proudly holds it up for [the teacher Brenda] Roberts to see. She offers him praise, and more. What sound does E make, she asks, kicking off an impromptu lesson. Whose name in the class starts with E? After a few more questions comes more encouragement.

"Thank you, Hector, for making that for me," Roberts says. "I love that E."

No sooner does she turn away than Ruth appears, smacking rhythm sticks together, seeking her moment with the teacher. "What sound are you making?" Roberts, ever smiling, asks. If the noise irritates her, you can't tell.

"Choo-choo train," Ruth responds.

Roberts starts dancing. "You make that sound, girl," she says, making chugging sounds as Ruth happily keeps the beat.

I'd urge reporters to look at that passage carefully. The children are certainly enjoying themselves. They're also learning skills that will prepare them to read. Those who pooh-pooh pre-k by saying "why can't we just let them have a childhood" and those who say "let's teach those kids their ABCs!" should be challenged. Clearly, those goals don't conflict.

Katy Murphy of the Contra Costa Times writes a blog called "The Education Report" about happenings in the Oakland (CA) Unified School District. The hook for an item she posted on full day kindergarten was a letter written by a parent whose son attends a public elementary in the (very) pricey neighborhood of Montclair, up in the hills above the city. The parent wrote a letter asking the district to let Thornhill (and other schools, if they wish) out of the district's policy to offer full-day kindergarten. There is a strong class angle to this. Families in which both parents work, or who don't have transportation, and many others welcome full day kindergarten for the academic boost it is meant to provide. But some affluent parents, whose children have rich and varied learning opportunities, and in which mothers (or fathers) don't have to work, don't see the need for it. (Kindergarten teachers, by the way, often oppose all day classes.)

I used to cover the Oakland schools many years ago and I know that many Thornhill children are "flats" children (black and Hispanic) bused into the mostly "white" and "Asian" hills. If those children were sent back down the hill on a bus, to homes where no parent is home during the day, it would create quite a burden. I went on the site GreatSchools and found this comment from a Thornhill parent: "The school is not economically diverse and does not at all embrace cultural differences. If you are not a montclair stay at home mom, you and your child will feel like the bused in outsiders. The classist, superior attitudes are ever present."

Many of these pre-k issues cut along class lines. It's a good thing for reporters to keep in mind.

Thanks to Sara Mead at Early Ed Watch for alerting me to a fascinating article on math education for young children by Herb Ginsburg of Teachers College and colleagues published by the Society for Research in Child Development. Ginsburg is well known in early ed circles for his research in this area and this article pulls a lot together--the math understandings children develop and use naturally, the lack of training pre-k teachers receive in how to build on that knowledge, the fact that many in early ed resist the idea that math skills and knowledge can be taught in developmentally appropriate ways and much more. So much of the talk about education up to grade three focuses on socialization, dispositions toward learning and on preliteracy skills and knowledge. This article convincingly shows that math should be on the table as well, and not just in the form of giving kids blocks to play with (geometry!) or pieces of macaroni to glue on paper in the shape of numbers (hands on!). But the article also is blunt about the obstacles, one of which is resistance to the idea that teachers should "engage in deliberate and planned instruction, an activity some think is developmentally inappropriate."

For journalists, it would make a great feature story to find a pre-kindergarten or a K-2 class where good, developmentally appropriate, content rich math education is occurring. This article (and interviewing Ginsburg) provides a sense of what to look for. Also in this newsletter are commentaries on math education by two other great sources for journalists on teaching and learning in pre-K-grade 3 classrooms: Deborah Stipek, dean at the Stanford ed school and Robert Pianta, dean of the ed school at the University of Virginia.

Or as USA Today's Greg Toppo says in an email: "What not to do as a kindergarten teacher." This teacher ought to be voted off the island. But, since the police determined what she did wasn't a crime, she probably possesses the immunity idol.

The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell, whose new book on successful people, "Outliers: The Story of Success, is atop the New York Times' bestseller list, writes in this week's edition about how hard it is to tell in advance who is going to make a good teacher (or NFL quarterback.) All the usual proxies and requirements--certification, advanced degrees, cognitive aptitude--do not seem to predict classroom success, he argues. Yet, given that improving teacher effectiveness is critical to improving educational outcomes for children, Gladwell says teachers should go through a demanding weeding-out process, similar to what's used to choose financial advisors. Only those who hit certain benchmarks will be kept on.

It's a fascinating article, even if it does seem, as much of Gladwell's writing does, overly simplified and wide-eyed at ideas that are commonplace, especially to experts in the field. The best part was a passage featuring Robert Pianta, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Gladwell reports the commentary of Pianta and a colleague as they watch videos of good teachers and weak teachers. How instructive that would be!

Go to the jump for an excerpt:

The Akron Beacon Journal took an in-depth look this week at a possible solution to really bad behavior in early childhood. Meltdowns, screaming fits, hitting and all kinds of irrational toddler behavior can change the classroom dynamic and undermine everything a teacher is trying to do.

The story by John Higgins focused on a possible solution: a pilot program that places a behavioral specialist in the preschool to help the staff learning coping techniques. Higgins also did a good job at describing the despair of parents whose children have trouble adjusting to preschool settings.

One caregiver Higgins interviewed described getting three or four calls a week from parents whose children have been kicked out of multiple pre-school settings and don't know where to turn.

The story Higgins described is one reporters in any state can find without much digging. Children in state-funded preschools are more than three times as likely to be expelled as children in grades kindergarten through 12, according to a 2005 study by the Yale Child Study Center. A follow-up study was released last year.

Stories about out-of-control kids make good copy, but taking it further and focusing on ways of dealing with the problem -- as Higgins' story did -- are just as important. Are teachers getting enough support? Are child psychologists and behavioral specialists able to change behaviors? What works? If nothing is done, are the kids who have been kicked out of multiple pre-schools creating problems once they get to kindergarten and first-grade?

EarlyStories keeps a close watch on the way journalists cover -- or ignore -- early childhood issues. The majority of stories we see tend to focus on funding battles, so it comes as a nice surprise when we come across stories that take us into classrooms. It's especially critical at a time when federal stimulus dollars will funnel $100 billion into early childhood education, public schools and colleges -- the largest one-time amount earmarked for education in U.S. history.

Ryan Blackburn of the Athens Banner Herald in Georgia this week wrote the kind of story that allows the public to get a sense of what is happening inside a pre-kindergarten program and why it might be important. The story included an interview with the teacher describing exactly what students should know by this time of year -- for example, they should be able to recognize small from large and be able to name the things they see in at least 30 pictures.

The small, but nonetheless important detail gives the public a sense of what students should be learning in pre-k, and it describes how the teacher is tracking the progress of each student to decide if they need extra help in a summer program before they start kindergarten.

"In kindergarten, there's less self-directed play, called center time, than pre-K students are accustomed to,'' Carolyn Wolpert, an Early Reading First coordinator, told Blackburn. "There's also more math and science concepts they must learn, so the more chances they get to prepare for the first day of class in the fall the better off they'll be.''

So now the reader can understand what children need to be ready for kindergarten. For another illustration of how critical the early years are, check out Maria Glod's Washington Post story about student performance on on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams, showing that nine-year-olds posted the highest scores ever in reading and math in 2008.

But as Sara Mead over at Early Education Watch notes,"the real test is whether the today's 9-year-olds will sustain their pre-k and elementary school learning gains into middle and high school. It's too early to say with any confidence that they will (our middle and high schools do need to improve their performance) but it's also much to early to assume they won't. Educators and policymakers must work to continue to build on the improvements we have made in the preK-3rd years, by expanding access to quality pre-k, full-day kindergarten, and implementing aligned, high-quality curriculum and instructional programs across the preK-3rd continuum..."

That gives journalists a charge: visit these classrooms and find out what the teachers are trying to accomplish. Follow up, and see how the children who attended the programs do when they get to kindergarten, and ask teachers if they have noticed a difference. Ask for studies, and try to find out if school districts are tracking progress -- and if so how. All this will go a long way toward helping the public understand what happens during these critical early years.

Science Daily reported some interesting results of a study this week that could have important consequences for kindergarten students who are struggling to pay attention. The study that appeared in the June issue of the medical journal "Pediatrics,'' found that children who can't keep up in kindergarten are more likely to do poorly on standardized tests in high school.

"The Impact of Childhood Behavior Problems on Academic Achievement in High School," analyzes data on approximately 700 children from kindergarten until the end of high school.

"In our study, a child's inability to pay attention when they start school had the strongest negative effect on how they performed at the end of high school — regardless of their IQ (intelligence quotient)," lead study author Joshua Breslau, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and a researcher with the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities, told Science Daily. In a fascinating footnote, much of the research was done by his mother, Dr. Naomi Breslau, who was researching the long-term effects of low birth weight more than 20 years ago. Naomi Breslau conducted a random sample of 1,095 diverse children, with 823 participating in an initial assessment of IQ and classroom behavior as they passed their sixth birthdays; follow-up assessments were conducted at ages 11 and 17, Science Daily reported.

Joshua Breslau noted that addressing attention problems early in life could keep some children from entering "a downward spiral of failure."

The message for parents and teachers? Don't ignore signs of inattentiveness in young children, said study co-author Julie Schweitzer, a UC Davis associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) researcher at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, in an interview with Science Daily.

And what story ideas might the study provide for reporters? EarlyStories can imagine sitting in a kindergarten classroom, observing the explosion of energy and enthusiasm as the children play number and letter games and listen to stories. (That's all still part of most kindergartens, hopefully)

Who is listening attentively and who isn't? Could a reporter draw conclusions and become concerned about a fidgety boy or sleeping girl? Maybe not, but a well trained teacher could (and should). How concerned are teachers about the children who are fading in and out? Do they know the difference between a child who might be just tired out or overexcited on any given day?
And what, if anything, can they do with this information to make sure the child gets the help they need?

Not all studies break news for journalists, but many are worth reading if only to learn more about they mysterious and fascinating ways little minds work in a country where more than half the high school students don't graduate in four years. What happens -- or doesn't happen -- in the early years is enormously important.

EarlyStories spends a lot of time urging journalists to go out and visit pre-kindergarten and early childhood programs to see first hand what is, or is not happening. We came across a article that takes this advice even further with some thoughts on why pre-k teachers turn over so rapidly.

Valerie Carver notes the reason is they aren't paid enough -- their average salaries are less than $22,000 a year -- and don't earn enough benefits to deal with the demands of the job.

Some states also require that they hold a bachelor's degree; those who don't will make even less. There are different schools of thoughts and a good deal of research and solid recommendations on this topic for journalists, who should take a good look at what teachers are, or are not doing, when they visit programs -- and ask what kind of credentials they have.

The reason high turnover rates are a concern, Carver notes, "is that preschoolers have poorer outcomes and less stability. Studies show consistently that high turnover lowers the quality of preschool altogether - not good news for these crucial and delicate years."

For years, educators have believed that very young children were not capable of learning math. But a new book finds that children in public and private preschools, including Head Start and other programs aimed at low-income children, should be spending much more time receiving high quality math instruction. Reporters can request a copy at from the Office of News and Public Information.

The report is a terrific starting point for journalists who are interested in how math is taught for young children. It concludes that activities around math should include mathematical reasoning, measurement and spatial thinking, and suggests that teachers receive professional development to help implement a strong early childhood math curriculum. Teachers College experts Sharon Lynn Kagan and Herbert Ginsburg contributed to the report. Ginsburg developed an early math education program called "Big Math for Little Kids,'' that he is now evaluating, and has long pointed out that most preschools either don't teach math or instruct children in a narrow range of math content.

Journalists who visit early childhood programs should ask about math instruction and ask to see a curriculum or for an explanation of what concepts are being taught and why. According to Ginsburg, "...there is a growing consensus that early childhood math education is not only necessary....but should be comprehensive. It should include play with materials and objects that set the stage for math learning, teachable moments, in which teachers in which teachers observe kids in spontaneous situations that can be exploited to promote learning; teacher-guided projects of complex topics—like figuring out how to create a map of the classroom; and deliberate instruction using a planned curriculum to actively introduce math concepts, methods and language. This curriculum is not, of course, a textbook, but a carefully sequenced set of exciting activities. "

EarlyStories spends a great deal of time commenting on the way early childhood education is covered by journalists, and pointing out new ways to think about the issue and get inside classrooms for visits. Now there is a new guide available with a wealth of resources all in one place: "Covering the Pre-K Landscape: New Investments in Our Littlest Learners,” the newest publication from the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. The 20-page publication includes guidance for covering all aspects of the rapidly expanding pre-k landscape, from Head Start to state-sponsored pre-k programs.

Barbara Kantrowitz, staff editor for the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, edited the guide, conceived by the Institute's director Richard Lee Colvin and written largely by longtime former Education Week assistant editor Linda Jacobson, along with Karen Springen, formerly of Newsweek and Hechinger Institute staff.

Kantrowitz notes that the guide is important because education reporters for years neglected coverage of preschool in favor of k-12 or higher education issues. But in the last decade, early childhood education has jumped to a prominent place on the national agenda with huge increases in state and federal spending for the littlest learners. The Obama administration is accelerating that trend, by allocating billions for Head Start and other programs that reach young children. Suddenly, preschool is on the front pages. What brought about this dramatic change? And what’s the wisest way to spend the new federal dollars?

A major message is the importance of skepticism when covering preschool. Policy makers and advocates often cite studies showing that every dollar spent on preschool returns as much as $17 in savings on future social services. The guide points out that much of this research was conducted on high-quality programs and many preschools today do not meet those same standards. There’s a useful list of things to look for in assessing whether a preschool is doing a good job (and signs that the school is failing its students). The publication also includes a rundown of experts and research studies to guide further reporting. The publication was funded with a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

To request a copy, email Hechinger@tc.edu.

The waning days of summer have made at least one expert nostalgic for more play time. Stuart Brown, founder and president of the National Institute for Play, (yes, there is such a thing) blogged in the New York Times about the importance of play, and he particularly lamented the amount of time spent in front of electronics:

"Physically engaging play is actually more fun than the virtual sort, and the enlivenment one gets from it can transcend the allure of sedentary life in a two-dimensional, electronic world,'' Brown wrote.

The whole concept of play is ripe for exploration in the post No Child Left Behind Era. It's always interesting to hear the shifting views of educators. Also, in a time when schools are being forced to make budget cuts, playground time and sports can suffer. What will the impact be on learning? And what do schools consider play -- is it just free time, or purposeful, part of the learning experience of early childhood activities? Are big changes in store for playtime? Do parents want their children to have more playtime or less so they can learn more? All these questions can be incorporated in back to school stories.

EarlyStories has heard journalists say they don't know how to figure out what is happening when they visit an early childhood classroom. In a room filled with toys and toddlers, it can be difficult to tell what kind of learning, if any, is happening.

That's why it was so refreshing to read the excellent piece by Cathy Grimes of the Daily Press in Newport News, Virgina, which described in great detail how one school district weaves assessment of its littlest learners in its early childhood centers.

The topic, in the era of No Child Left Behind and standards, is extremely important to parents, educators and the public. And any mention of testing little children can arouse opposition and misunderstanding.

"From the moment they walk in the door until the time they leave, students are gauged on their mastery of a wide range of skills outlined in Virginia's Foundation Blocks for Early Learning, sometimes called the PreK Standards of Learning,'' Grimes wrote in a story that truly explains what kind of skills are important for the age group and how they are monitored.

Preschool teachers, Grimes notes," watch for more than budding academic ability. They also keep tabs on the students' social, emotional and physical development. That includes large and small motor skills, self-control and self-reliance, and the ability to work with classmates and communicate.''

The story notes that ""Even activities such as dress-up or playing with puppets are linked to skills.''

In other words, the play is purposeful; designed to help teachers see what students need to progress to where they should be.

Not all early childhood classrooms are as purposeful or as structured as the one Grimes visited. And journalists don't get inside them enough to let the public know what is happening. The story Grimes did -- which will be part of a series -- is aimed at describing what testing, or assessment, looks like across the grades.

If the rest of the stories are as descriptive and telling, the public will get an excellent glimpse at what is happening inside their public school classrooms. The school district should also be commended for giving a reporter access -- such stories cannot happen without it.

EarlyStories managed to miss an excellent series on math education in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that included an interesting look at how math can and should be introduced to the littlest learners.

Talking to young students about math, it turns out, is very important. So is counting, and introducing shapes, all part of "teaching preschoolers in a deep, interesting and systematic way, with lots of activities and without textbooks,'' according to the story, which leans upon a report by the Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics, and the work of Herbert Ginsburg at Teachers College.

Education journalists get caught up in covering math scores and math wars, not realizing what to look for in a high quality early childhood program and how critical it is to math success later on. Locating the excellent series in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette served as a reminder of the good work that can be done on this important topic.

Shameless plug -- the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media has a new guide for journalists on covering math education that includes an extensive interview with Ginsburg on early childhood and math, and is filled with tips, resources and story ideas.

You can download "Math Matters: A Journalist's Guide,'' on the Hechinger Institute website.

At a time of unprecedented federal involvement and investment in education, coverage of the issue is so lacking it makes up only 1.4 percent of national news coverage, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.

The report, entitled: "Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough,'' finds scant coverage of critical issues like teaching, learning and curriculum; most stories "dealt with budget problems, school crime and the H1N! flu outbreak,'' according to the report, funded with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The findings are not surprising, coming at a time when newspapers are under pressure simply to survive and other news outlets are struggling due to declining ad revenues and other economic pressures. And there were some bright spots: local reporting still produces quality journalism about important education topics in cities like Providence, Minneapolis and and Phoenix.

At EarlyStories, we often lament the lack of substantive reporting on pre-kindergarten and early childhood issues; the Brookings report did not isolate the issue, but noted that budget issues dominated coverage of pre-school programs. The report zeroed in on wire service coverage of education and noted that much of it "focuses on stories that have nothing to do with education itself,'' and instead are about crime, sex and scandals involving educators.

You can watch a webcast of the event, which includes recommendations, on the Brookings website:

EarlyStories welcomes new websites, collaborations and any efforts by journalists to understand the complicated landscape of early childhood education in the U.S. The area gets little media attention, so it was nice to see the brand new Texas Tribune taking on the issue in Texas, with this promising start:

"The battles over Pre-Kindergarten are no place for children. Scarce resources and passionate people make for the political equivalent of street fights.''

The opening line by Abby Rapoport sets the reader up nicely for a look at the many divisive arguments and issues that have characterized pre-k education in Texas , which has the largest enrollment of any U.S. state. Rapoport poses some good questions about what works throughout, along with describing some unsuccessful attempts to evaluate programs in the state.

A person outside of Texas might be confused about how pre-school concerns in Texas relate to overall battles and issues pre-kindergarten faces nationally; little context is provided. And while the story attempts to provide a view of what happens inside some pre-kindergarten classrooms, there isn't much evidence of an actual visit that describes what children and teachers are doing, or what teaching and learning is -- or isn't -- taking place.

Still, it's a promising start, and terrific to see new education journalism in any form, with hard questions being asked about both the public policy issues surrounding pre-kindergarten and the quality of taxpayer financed programs. EarlyStories hopes this issue will stay on the radar for the Texas Tribune.

A potentially fascinating fight could be underway in Tennessee, where Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, who has pushed to expand pre-kindergarten in the state, is finding himself at odds with the state's teachers union.

At issue, according to several accounts, is Bredesen's plan to have student test scores account for at least 50 percent of how teachers are evaluated. The Memphis Commercial Appeal noted that he called for a week-long special session of the legislature in hopes of getting the law that bars use of student data in teacher evaluations changed. He's also asking for the support of business leaders to try and change the law.

Bredesen's goal is one governors and educators in cash-strapped states across the U.S. can relate to -- the deadline is looming for states that hope to get a piece of the $4.35 billion in stimulus dollars outlined as part of President Barack Obama's Race to the Top plan that could give Tennessee as much as $400 to $500 million. States must meet criteria for reforming their education system to get the money, though, and that's why Bredesen is pushing to take advantage of the state's vast collection of student performance data that measures academic gains.Under state law, that data cannot be used to evaluate teachers for either licensure or tenure.

Bredesen has had to scale back some of his plans to expand state-funded pre-kindergarten in the state, which has been hailed as a national leader. Bredesen wants to expand the program, but first he is calling for changes in state education law, including requiring student performance data to be used in evaluating teachers and requiring annual performance assessment of teachers.

States that win the competitive grants will get much needed cash to improve their education system. But can Bredesen meet his goals without support from the teachers union?

EarlyStories will be keeping a close eye on what happens in Tennessee.

Every now and then, EarlyStories runs into a piece of journalism that attempts to answer what could be perhaps the most important -- and mysterious -- question about the U.S. education system: What makes an effective teacher? It's a question with implications for students of all ages and sizes, and it matters from the minute they enter a classroom.

At a time when journalists who cover education are focused intently on Race to the Top applications and impending deadlines, it's critically important to stop and think about how children are being taught and what they learn. And that's exactly what Amanda Ripley's illuminating story in the The Atlantic this month does.

In clear prose, Ripley explains why the question of what makes good teaching is so important at this point in time.

"Parents have always worried about where to send their children to school; but the school, statistically speaking, does not matter as much as which adult stands in front of their children,'' Ripley notes. As states are competing for money, they must also "try to identify great teachers, figure out how they got that way, and then create more of them."

Along with the politics of covering the Race to the Top grant program, it's important to really think about how teaching might be improved and examine the most recent rsearch and data. Reporters covering early childhood education rarely focus on the topic of teachers and teaching, and indeed the credentials and qualifications required are often different.

Regardless, the questions Ripley raises and examines thoroughly are the right ones. Properly trained, effective teachers are key to improving the quality of education in the U.S. How are we going to get there?

EarlyStories has been waiting, watching and wondering what would happen to Taylor Pugh, the suburban Dallas boy suspended from prekindergarten because of his long locks. With so much national attention focused on the issue, it seemed the school board in Mesquite might, perhaps, back off and decide the time spent in a classroom would be more important than the length of his hair.

Not so. On Monday, night, the board voted unanimously to enforce its ban; they offered a compromise that would have allowed him to braid and pin his hair up, according to the New York Times, which caught up with little Pugh's plight.

Quote of the day comes courtesy of school board member Gary Bingham, an insurance agent who told the New York Times: “It’s a trade-off....do the parents value his education more than they value a 4-year-old’s decision to make his own grooming choices?”

EarlyStories would like to reframe the question: Is the length of a child's hair more important to the school board then the benefits of early education?

And add one more: Are the clocks in Dallas still set for 1963? The desire to enforce its ban on what they still call "Beatles haircuts,'' can mean only one thing: They are still mad about the moptops.

A study about childhood literacy and then an unrelated story about adults who cannot read out of Chicago prompted some thought about literacy here at EarlyStories.

The study from the University of British Columbia, found that neighborhoods where children live while they are in kindergarten predict their reading comprehension skills seven years later. Published in the journal Health & Place, , the researchers found a "delayed effect" of the residential environments in which children are raised.

"The researchers say it's possible that the socioeconomic conditions of children's early residential neighborhoods exert a strong effect later because acquiring reading skills involves the collective efforts of parents, educators, family friends and community members, as well as access to good schools, libraries, after-school programs and bookstores, '' according to an article about the study in Science Daily.

The interesting story about adult illiteracy out of Chicago prompted EarlyStories to think once again about how and why some 23 percent of the U.S. population cannot read, according to statistics from the National Center for Family Literacy. The story described a vibrant volunteer culture for a program known as Open Books in Chicago, where the number of adults who cannot read is even higher.

The story did not delve into what kind of early childhood education, if any, the adults who want to learn how to read had previously. And yet, the question must be raised. How could such large numbers of our population be so deficient in reading skills? What does that say about the way reading is -- or is not taught?

Teachers College professor Herbert Ginsburg recalled a story on Tuesday about a very young child who walked into a day care center and gave the teacher an urgent command:

"Teach me something."

The teacher asked the child what it was they hoped to learn, and got the reply: "You are the teacher, tell me!"

Ginsburg described the incident before a packed audience at Teachers College during a discussion about a new National Academy of Sciences report that calls for a major national initiative to improve early childhood mathematics education.

The story underscored a major point in the report: Young children are capable of learning and often want to learn a lot more math than they are offered. Low income children in particular have few opportunities to learn math and teachers aren't adequately trained or prepared to teach them, Ginsburg said as he walked through the reports findings. He also showed several videos of low-income chidren using a calendar to count by two, even without any direction.

"We need to think about how we teach and what we teach,'' Ginsburg said. The report notes that the amount of time and attention devoted to math needs to be increased in all preschools, and suggested that training of teachers must be dramatically improved so they have the confidence and the background to teach early math.

One reality check in the discussion came from Sharon Lynn Kagan , the co-director of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College who also served on the National Academy of Science panel that produced the report.

Kagan pointed out that nearly half of young children in the U.S. are in family day care settings where there is even less of a chance they will be exposed to early math concepts.In addition, early math plays a low priority in any standards that do exist for early learning in the U.S. and little is known about the teaching of math at the pre-school level.

There is hope that some states will revamp and revise their early childhood standards and curriculum, she noted. "It may be limited to a given number of states but it will be a great opportunity for them."

A full copy of the report -- which is a terrific roadmap for story ideas -- can be found here.

For the first time, Chicago public schools will formally measure just how ready little learners are for kindergarten, by piloting a new readiness measurement, according to a story in Catalyst.

Unlike a standardized test, the tool will gauge how children are ready through a series of observations over time, and by measuring their understanding of concepts such as which words rhyme, the story notes. The tool will help educators gain a better understanding of the quality of the pre-school education a child received.

It would be interesting to see what other school districts do to formally evaluate kindergarten readiness, especially in states where there is no publicly funded pre-kindergarten. There are checklists and exams and quite a few resources that are aimed at helping parents and educators answer the question.

The new assessment tool in Chicago comes as important questions are being raised about the quality of U.S. preschool programs, especially Head Start, which serves more than a million students and is under scrutiny after a major study found gains students make fade by third grade. Experts hope the new readiness tool the Chicago Public schools plans to use will help gauge just how effective half-day programs like Head Start are.

Some fascinating findings came out of a comprehensive survey of U.S. teachers, released this morning at Scholastic headquarters in lower Manhattan. The results of a questionnaire on American education sent to some 40,000 teachers found many teachers have doubts about the ability of their students to succeed after high school.

Nine out of 10 teachers said that not all of their students could leave high school prepared to succeed in college. The teachers had lots of ideas and recommendations about how to better prepare them, and the 100-page report that came out of a collaboration between Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is filled with strategies and ideas for moving forward.

The report should be required reading for all education journalists, but EarlyStories was particularly interested in what the findings mean for the way the U.S. does -- or does not -- educate children well before they even set foot in a classroom. Beth Prince, a kindergarten teacher at Hearst Elementary School in Washington, D.C. was on hand to share some of her thoughts on the topic.

"If you get it right in the early years, from pre-kindergarten to third grade, and look at early learning styles, you can get that spark and love for learning going early on,'' said Prince, who has worked with young children in private child care and public school settings for over 19 years. Prince said she always notices the difference when children arrive in kindergarten without having attended a pre-school, nursery school or a Head Start program.

"They don't have that letter and number recognition, or that sense of having been read to,'' she said, adding that children who start kindergarten without any formal sitting have particular difficulty sitting still.

Francie Alexander, Scholastic's chief academic officer and a former kindergarten teacher, noted that the findings of teachers confirm the importance of establishing trust with parents early on. "It really starts in kindergarten,'' she said. "Parents really want to know how my child is doing."

One finding that supported that view came from teachers, who said family support is a critical part of keeping students engaged in school. Teachers cited a lack of encouragement from family and friends as a major obstacle to student success.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was on hand to hear the results of the survey and called it "one of the most reveting conversations I've experienced. Teachers will tell you their real world experiences if you listen."

While the survey was anonymous, excerpts of their remarks appear throughout the report from both elementary, middle and high school teachers that provide insight into their thinking on everything from student achievement to standards, performance pay and retention.

Harris Interactive conducted the survey, which also provides an in-depth look at state-by-state data that show how teachers in different states view the issues.

Vicki L. Phillips, the director of education, College Ready at the Gates Foundation, said the findings show that teachers support a stronger curriculum that relates to the establishment of clear academic standards and reliable data on student learning.

"The survey tells us that what's good for students and student achievement is good for teachers too -- in fact, it's what they want,'' she said.

One other interesting note about what teachers think is important to keeping good teachers in the classroom: good leaders. More teachers say it is absolutely essential to have supportive leadership (68%), time to collaborate (54%), and quality curriculum (49%) than it is to have higher salaries.