President Announces Early Childhood Initiative

Emperor Bush's Website ^

[toenail]

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 2, 2002

President Announces Early Childhood Initiative
Presidential Action

President Bush today announced a new initiative to improve early childhood education for millions of America's youngest children. The President's initiative will:

• Strengthen Head Start to improve the quality of experiences for young children, including training the nearly 50,000 Head Start teachers in the latest and best techniques;
• Ensure that pre-school programs are more closely coordinated with state K-12 education goals; and
• Improve the information available to parents and caregivers about the best practices in early childhood development, including an unprecedented $45 million research effort to identify effective early literacy programs and practices.

  Background on Today's Early Childhood Announcement

  In his State of the Union Address, President Bush stressed the need to prepare children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. These themes built upon the First Lady's Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development, held in July, 2001.

  The early childhood initiative announced by President Bush seeks to improve the state of early childhood education, where too many children come to school unprepared to learn. Because a significant number of young children receive care from people other than their parents (62% of children age 5 or younger), Federal and state governments provide more than $18 billion annually (more than $14 billion in Federal support alone) to help families - particularly low-income families - provide for pre-K care.

  Despite these significant resources, not all children are receiving care that is high-quality care because: 1) many states do not fully align what children are doing before they enter school with what is expected of them once they are in school; 2) early childhood programs are seldom evaluated based on how well they prepare students to succeed in school; and 3) there is not enough information for early childhood teachers, parents, and other child care providers on the activities that prepare children to be successful in school.

  President Bush's early childhood initiative will help states and local communities to overcome these obstacles and strengthen early learning for young children by:

• Strengthening Head Start: The President has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to implement a new accountability system to ensure that every Head Start center assesses standards of learning in early literacy, language and numeracy skills. HHS will implement a national training project with the goal of training all of the nearly 50,000 Head Start teachers this year in the best pre-reading and language teaching techniques for young children.

• Partnering with States to Improve Early Childhood Education: To ensure that pre-school activities are aligned with state education goals, the President's plan asks States to develop quality criteria for early childhood education, including optional guidelines on pre-reading and language skills activities for pre-school age children ages that align with State K-12 standards. To help states meet these criteria, the President's plan gives states more flexibility with their federal child care funds.

• Providing Information to Teachers, Caregivers and Parents: In order to close the gap between the best research and current practices in early childhood education, the Department of Education will implement a broad public awareness campaign targeted toward parents, early childhood educators, childcare providers, and other interested parties. Additionally, the President announced an unprecedented $45 million collaborative research initiative between the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Department of Education to identify effective early literacy programs and teaching strategies.

  For more information on the President's initiatives please visit www.whitehouse.gov.

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 2, 2002

President Meets with Early Childhood Education Experts
Remarks by the President After the Roundtable with Early Childhood Education Experts
Pennsylvania State University, Delaware County
Media, Pennsylvania

2:33 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Just finished a discussion about early childhood development.  I want to thank the experts and the teachers and the soon to be teachers, and those who are running Head Start programs for sharing your knowledge with Secretary Paige and me.

One thing is for certain, in order for all Americans to realize the American Dream, you've got to make sure every child has the necessary foundation to be good readers, good writers, good comprehenders  --  which means that this nation must do a better job of focusing our education strategy on early childhood development programs.

We've got to encourage parents to be good readers, good nurturers for their children.  We've got to work with Head Start centers to make sure that they've got the curriculum necessary to teach every child the building blocks for reading.  We've got to work with states to encourage states to develop a strategy that will help focus the time and attention and resources on the programs that will not only give children the basics for reading, but give children the essential nourishment so that they can become ready to compete in the public school system in America.

I assured our panelists here that while I'm spending a lot of time on making sure that America is safe and secure, that this initiative is a crucial initiative in an essential part of completing the education reform that Senator Kennedy and Congressman Boehner and most Republicans and Democrats worked on last year and I had the honor of signing.

So this is a great initiative and a wonderful group of Americans that are here to discuss this.  I'm real proud of your work.  I want to thank you for your care and compassion for our fellow citizens.  Thank you.

END                2:35 P.M. EST

[rbmillerjr]

Why are you on a conservative forum?

I was conservative enough as one of the most vocal opponents of Bush on CFR. Why dont you go to the I can't propose solutions but offer utopian visions forum. Or maybe the "my conservative positons are the only conservative position - even though I cant support them" forum. lol

[Arthur McGowan]

You have been arguing that "reform" of public schools is needed, on the grounds, simply, that that is where most children are being schooled. I disagree. No "reform" of public schools is a good idea, because public schools should not exist. Public schools cannot be fixed because they are not broken. They are not "failing"; they are doing, perfectly, the job they were designed to do: destroy the family, create a large mass of illiterate, passive, anxious workers, destroy Christianity.

The presumption in sound political philosophy is that government should do only what is for the common good. Everything that people can do for themselves, and for their own good, should be excluded from the arena of government activity.

Therefore, the presumption, regarding schooling, is that government should not be involved, because learning is a private good, and learning is something that people can do for themselves.

Because of this wise presumption against government action, the burden of proof is on those who favor government involvement in schooling. And in order to justify government involvement, it must be proven BOTH that A) people cannot learn or develop into moral, decent citizens without government involvement, and B) that government involvement actually works--producing effects that are conducive to the common good.

The evidence is that both of those propositions are false. Thus, what is needed in our society is NOT "reform" of public schools, on the grounds that that is where most children are being schooled, but abolition of public schools.

[Arthur McGowan]

So, you not only attack Federal input into public schools, but the very existence of schools. Are we all going to SHINE shoes or live off the land?I did not say that there should be no schools. I said that there should be no government schools. I did not say I was opposed to people LEARNING, I said that there should be no government schools. If you abolish government schools, it does not follow that ANYONE will be denied a good education.

[toenail]

I was reminded of a comment you made on another thread once: "Guess the people are not interested in revolution, restoration or resurrection. What's next? How do you reach a population that has been brainwashed by socialist propaganda? How do you reverse the damage done to three generations of citizens?"

[Spiff]

More socialist nonsense brought to you by RINO Bush.

You can keep your stolen money (stolen from the taxpayers) and your unconstitutional welfare state social programs - I homeschool. You're not going to brainwash my kids and I'm not going to use stolen money to feed them, house them, clothe them, or educate them.

[rbmillerjr]

Why are you on a conservative forum?

I was conservative enough as one of the most vocal opponents of Bush on CFR. Why dont you go to the I can't propose solutions but offer utopian visions forum. Or maybe the "my conservative positons are the only conservative position - even though I cant support them" forum. lol

Is this what has you so mad, when will your quest for a totalitarian system of conservative beliefs end?

You who espouse the Constitution such also read the founders as well. toe, you keep fighting the good fight, I'll hope conservative Republicans and others look to make changes that can be made, such as instituting phonics in place of whole language and esteem building. Get in the game man. Or let the Dumocrats keep running government even when we are in power.

[FITZ]

Logically and common sense wise, all I have to prove is that Public Schools educate the vast majority of students in America.

Public schools should be run and financed at the local level ---the federal government should stay out completely. I even agree that public schools are what educates the majority ---which is all the more reason to keep the federal government out ---it is ineffective --look at the post office or Amtrack.

[FITZ]

I don't understand why children below the age of six are not allowed to have their playtime.

I agree it's worse to over-school young children than to just leave them alone. Parents should read to their kids, buy crayons and coloring books but little ones shouldn't be schooled much, over-structuring their lives and pushing them does a lot of harm to them.