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Early childhood experts and parents expressed support yesterday for a measure before the D.C. Council that would extend pre-kindergarten programs to 2,000 more 3- and 4-year-olds in the city. Although researchers and education advocates at the council hearing agreed that pre-K can boost academic achievement in later years, debate centered on what constitutes a high-quality program for D.C. students. ..."Pre-K teachers with BA degrees achieve better results," said Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now, which is advocating for expanded early childhood programs in the city. "Permitting some classrooms to do it one way and others to do it another...

...I argue frequently with my students about whether a child can succeed in school without parental support or involvement. Students believe in the power of the strong individual but often the playing field is too slanted, the teams too uneven. As early as preschool and Head Start, certain three-to-five-year-olds are already at a great advantage because of parental educational support while other children are beginning a lifelong struggle to keep pace. ...Children who are not learning basic skills in the home during the most important years of brain development (0-5 years) will enter kindergarten already at an educational disadvantage. Since...

No Kindergarten Left Behind by: Malcolm A. Kline, September 06, 2007 Once again, Republican officials have helped to pave the way for a pet project of the overwhelmingly left-wing educational establishment—all-day kindergarten. Although the research on its benefits may be scant, several large Virginia counties are going full-speed, or as completely as they can, ahead with it. “For the first time, all kindergarten students in Prince William County will have as much class time as older students,” staff writer Maria Glod reported in The Washington Post on September 4, 2007. “ Fairfax County is adding full-day kindergarten in 21 schools,...

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 24 minutes ago MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a $10 billion federal program aimed at providing voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-old children in America. "Our educational system needs to be strengthened from start to finish, but we have to start where it all begins," Clinton told an audience of children, teachers and parents on Monday. Clinton said she would pay for the program by closing tax loopholes and eliminating Bush administration programs she disagrees with. "There are so many places to cut the money that...

Universal preschool sounds like a political winner but families lose out. Policymakers talk about "fiscal responsibility," but few put that principle into action. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney deserves applause for doing just that by vetoing a universal preschool bill last week. It's easy to see why many politicians view universal preschool as a political winner. Voters picture smiling four-year-olds heading off to begin a life-time of learning. Presumably, the extra year of school will give these children a leg up. While proponents boast that preschool has a dramatic affect on student outcomes, there is scant evidence to support this claim....

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL - Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Tuesday that makes every 3- and 4-year-old in Illinois eligible for state-subsidized preschool. The catch: There's money for only about 10,000 of the neediest children, at least for now. Blagojevich activated the $45 million first phase of his "Preschool for All" program surrounded by childhood-development advocates and lawmakers who helped move the measure through the General Assembly. The measure's proponents say broadening access to preschool will pay dividends in the future. "It's those precious years between 3 and 5 when kids learn the most," Blagojevich said during a news conference at...

The pattern of brain growth during development may figure more importantly than overall brain size when it comes to intelligence, according to a new study. Scientists have found that the smartest kids start off with a relatively thin cerebral cortex--the outer layer of the brain associated with thought and other higher order functions--which thickens rapidly by age 12 before undergoing the same general diminishment as that of their peers of average intelligence. "Brainy children are not cleverer solely by virtue of having more or less gray matter at any one age," says Judith Rapoport of the National Institute of Mental...

With a state budget finally settled, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine started to lay the groundwork Wednesday for what will be his next major legislative battle: expanding pre school education. Kaine told the Start Strong Council that he wants the group of legislators, business leaders, educators and early childhood advocates to come up with proposals for Virginia's universal pre school model by mid-October so he can include some of the ideas in the mid term budget. Most of the more costly proposals will be included in the 2008 biennium budget, though, Kaine said. "We have to do it," Kaine said. "I...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A report by a national group pushing for early childhood education for all American children blames Gov. Mitch Daniels for Indiana's lack of support for such programs. The report released Friday by Washington-based Pre-K Now details the gains and losses for pre-kindergarten programs nationwide in 2005, and contends that Daniels has stalled any progress made in previous years in establishing early-childhood education in Indiana. "Indiana is one of only nine states that provide no state funding for pre-k or Head Start, and Governor Mitch Daniels has not yet addressed this serious neglect," the report states. Daniels said Friday...

Posted on Sun, Feb. 26, 2006 Preschool reform measure won't close learning gap for poorBy Bruce Fuller Like every would-be savior in the annals of school reform, Reiner promises miraculous results from his plan to spend $23 billion in the coming decade for preschool. Just over 64 percent of California's half-million 4-year-olds already attend a preschool center... Reiner's ``universal'' program would boost the enrollment rate only to 70 percent......by just 6 percent, or 32,000 4-year-olds statewide, at a cost of $2.3 billion a year.We are learning empirically that gains experienced by poor children who attend preschool fade by third...

Governor Must Immediately Replace Reiner Strickland: “Controller needs to freeze Reiner funding and conduct immediate accountability audit” Sacramento, CA– Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland today called upon Governor Schwarzenegger to “immediately replace Rob Reiner on the First 5 California Children and Families Commission. His term has expired and nothing prevents the Governor from selecting an appointee who will restore the transparency and credibility to taxpayers when it comes to how government spends their tax dollars.” The firestorm of controversy has continued unabated since a Los Angeles Times story on Monday exposed a series of abuses orchestrated by Reiner and a small...

SACRAMENTO — Police sirens wail as a scruffy teenager, clutching a bag, runs frantically through the streets. Entering a schoolyard, he reaches into the bag. Out comes … a graduation gown, which he dons to receive a diploma. The scene is from a television ad, paid for with tax money and made by consultants close to Hollywood producer Rob Reiner. It aired across California this winter, touting the benefits of preschool. "When kids go," the narrator says, "we all benefit." The release of the ad, and two others, by a state commission Reiner heads coincided with his launch of a...

Groups consider preschool measure REINER TO PROMOTE HIS INITIATIVE IN S.J. Rob Reiner returns to San Jose on Thursday to pitch Proposition 82, his Preschool for All Act, as two key Silicon Valley business groups wrangle over whether to endorse the plan to provide a free voluntary year of preschool to all 4-year-olds in the state. The tech-heavy Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which met with Reiner in mid-December, and the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce have yet to weigh in on the complex initiative, which goes before voters statewide June 6. In recent weeks, a variety of opponents...

Voters will decide in June whether they want to tax California's richest residents to send the state's 4-year-olds to preschool. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has certified the "Preschool for All'' initiative, declaring that its backers, led by actor-director Rob Reiner, had collected more than the 598,105 valid signatures needed to place the measure on the June 6 ballot. The voluntary program would offer a full year of preschool to all California 4-year-olds, provided mostly by local school districts. The initiative would boost the top tax rate by 1.7 percent on individuals earning more than $400,000 annually or married couples...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An initiative sponsored by director and Democratic activist Rob Reiner that would fund preschool for all California children has qualified for the June primary election ballot, the secretary of state's office said Friday. Reiner's Preschool for All Act would raise income taxes on the wealthy to pay for a year of preschool for all 4-year-olds. Reiner also is chairman of California's First 5 program, which provides programs for children up to age 5. The initiative would raise an estimated $2.4 billion a year by increasing income taxes by 1.7 percent for individuals who earn at least $400,000...

From Rob Reiner at the HuffPost: ...While I have tried to have some fun with this New Year's blog, I can certainly make one serious and unequivocal prediction about politics in 2006: California will decide to invest in its children by guaranteeing all 4 year-olds in this state the right to a high-quality preschool education. This giant leap forward will not only unlock the key to improving our K-12 system, it will also bring California the security, prosperity and happiness it so richly deserves. Californians have always proven to possess that most unique combination of skill passion and empathy that...

LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Starting next year, all British school children will learn to read using the traditional technique known as synthetic phonics. A report released Thursday said that, by the age of 11, children taught by the phonics method are typically three years ahead of others in reading ability. Jim Rose, a former director of the Office of Standards in Education and the report's author, also found that synthetic phonics works best when used alone and not in a combination of methods, the Times of London reported. Rose recommended that children be taught nothing but phonics until they...

Just reported at 8:00 AM EST 12/20/05, Head Start in Cleveland received $30,000,000 in annual funds from the Federal Government (State Funds not reported) which translates into about $6,700 per child served, far more many private school tuitions. State of Ohio launching investigation why funding is running short at Head Start and why their salaries are so high. The Plain Dealer newspaper and others are (shock) not covering the story yet. If you find more, post it here.

Preschool for All Committee Total (last twelve months):$2,169,584 Cash on Hand (as of June 30):$195,431 Expenditures (Note: this includes only late contributions, generally large electronically filed contributions.This is not necessarily the total amount of cash-on-hand for the committee.) << Donor >> << Amount >> << Received Date >> << Report Date >> Carl And Estelle Reiner (Beverly Hills, CA) $500,000 12/07/2005 12/16/2005 Jamel Perkins (San Francisco, CA) $5,000 11/22/2005 12/02/2005 Catholic Healthcare West (Phoenix, AZ) $25,000 11/11/2005 11/18/2005 Brian S. Snyder (New York, NY) $30,000 11/10/2005 11/18/2005 Hispanic Express, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) $20,000 11/09/2005 11/18/2005 Elon R. Musk (Los...

Movie director turned child advocate Rob Reiner recently acquired a million signatures to put his Preschool for All initiative on the California ballot next June, his second attempt to launch a "universal" preschool program. The real victims would be low- to middle-income women who run nearly all private early-care centers that comprise 70% of California's child-care industry. The onerous credentialing requirements and union mandates that the initiative would trigger would devastate the industry's entrepreneurs without improving instruction one iota. Consider Cynthia Leahy, founder of Montessori Schools of Fremont. She started her first center 30 years ago in a small Sunday...