Essential education reporting across America

Early Childhood Education

A student looks up toward a video while sitting on the floor, as other students sit behind him.
From Chalkbeat Detroit Early Childhood Education
Can Detroit student enrollment increase despite Michigan’s population crisis?
DPSCD student enrollment and the city’s overall population have been on a steady decline in recent decades.
By Ethan Bakuli
 
A preschool staff member works with a young boy with blocks in the classroom. They are both wearing protective masks.
From Chalkbeat New York Early Childhood Education
Child care workers could receive up to $3,000 in bonuses, under new state retention program
“Oftentimes, people think about child care deserts as being somewhere else,” one local provider said. “But the truth is that New York has one of the most significant child care supply-and-demand imbalances in the country.”
By Julian Shen-Berro
 
An early childhood student support worker in a blue shirt, wearing a filtered mask assists a girl wearing a pink bow and pink protective mask.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
Illinois lawmakers pass 2024 budget with increases in key education areas
A boost in early childhood education, more funding for K-12 schools, and a major investment in accessing higher education are in the final version of the 2024 budget that the House passed early Saturday morning. It now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk to be signed.
By Samantha Smylie
 
A student with disabilities at HeartShare Taranto preschool in Brooklyn receives occupational therapy.
Special education Special education
Many young kids missed early special ed services due to COVID, compounding work for schools
Tens of thousands of children missed early intervention and special education services during the pandemic, leaving preschools and elementary schools to fill in the gaps.
By Kalyn Belsha
 
Kindergarten students wearing blue shirts and wearing face masks sit at tables and raise their hands during a lesson.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
Illinois lawmakers pass full-day kindergarten bill, sending it to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office
Illinois legislators pass bill that requires school districts to have a full-day kindergarten bill by 2027 as spring legislative session starts to wind down.
By Samantha Smylie
 
Preschoolers’ jackets and boots or shoes are lined up in their cubbies.
From Chalkbeat New York Community & Wraparound Programs
Families and advocates fear end of NYC’s first free child care program for undocumented immigrants
Mayor Eric Adams has proposed ending Promise NYC, which has provided free child care to 600 undocumented immigrant children.
By Reema Amin
 
A young boy kneels on a colorful carpet and rolls a Lego truck.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
Colorado’s free preschool program has 19,000 families signed up with at least 15,000 more expected
Families who apply by Wednesday at 5 p.m. will find out June 1 which preschools their children matched with.
By Ann Schimke
 
woman in orange pantsuit reads to students
From Chalkbeat New York Early Childhood Education
Boosting salaries and extending hours: NYC Council makes list of demands to improve public preschool programs
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams blasted the mayor’s approach to early childhood education, describing the system as “broken” and “in full crisis mode.
By Reema Amin
 
Preschoolers’ jackets and boots or shoes are lined up in their cubbies.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
Are there enough free preschool seats for Colorado 4-year-olds? It depends.
Some preschools are still deciding how many seats to offer through the universal program next fall.
By Ann Schimke
 
A young girl in a blue tutu skirt works at a desk, seen behind green and orange chairs.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
Illinois school districts could be required to offer full-day kindergarten by 2027
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require school districts to have a full-day program beginning in 2027.
By Samantha Smylie
 
Tennessee_20220929_SuCasa_AndreaMorales_003.JPG
From Chalkbeat Colorado Chalkbeat En Español
¿Tienes preguntas sobre como llenar la solicitud para que tus hijos participen en preescolar universal en Colorado?
Colorado podría cubrir hasta 30 horas por semana para que tus hijos asistan al preescolar.
By Yesenia Robles
 
A reading nook in a preschool classroom in Chicago.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
Applying to Chicago preschool programs? Here’s a guide.
Four-year-olds will get priority, but officials say more than 30,000 spots are available across Chicago Public Schools and community-based early childhood providers. Families are encouraged to apply before May 2 to get an offer by May 19.
By Becky Vevea
 
Two preschoolers play with colorful plastic building toys at a table.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
No new quality rules for first year of Colorado’s free preschool program
Preschools won’t have to make quality improvements in the first year of universal preschool.
By Ann Schimke
 
Photo of a male teacher assisting a young girl in a preschool classroom.
From Chalkbeat Chicago First Person
I’ve worked in child care for three decades. It’s been a long, tough road.
Here’s why it’s so hard to keep early learning centers afloat — and what we can do about it.
By Azar Khounani
 
A young girl plays in the foreground as other students sit behind her on a multicolored alphabet rug.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
How will Chicago’s next mayor shape early childhood education? Advocates want more detail.
Early childhood education advocates want the winner of the April 4 runoff to prioritize access to affordable child care, attracting and retaining early childhood education staff.
By Samantha Smylie
 
Sheryl Robledo, an early childhood coach, plays with preschool students at a Sewall Child Development Center site in far northeast Denver.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
Colorado delays free preschool program matching date to April 26
The announcement comes just two days before families were supposed to learn which programs their children could attend.
By Erica Meltzer
 
A woman in a flowered dress looks at a classroom bulletin board with three small children.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
Free preschool program’s matching system not ready for prime time, Colorado education groups worry
Most families who applied for Colorado’s universal preschool program by Feb. 24 will find out which preschool they matched with on March 30.
By Ann Schimke
 
A boy plays in a classroom, just behind a large globe. There are two adults speaking and other kids playing in the classroom.
From Chalkbeat Philadelphia Early Childhood Education
Philadelphia’s early childhood education workers ‘on the brink of a breakdown’ advocates say
In Philadelphia, 83% of early childhood programs are currently facing a staffing shortage and nearly 3,000 children are on a waitlist.
By Carly Sitrin
 
A preschool teacher at a table surrounded by children uses Play-Doh to shape letters of the alphabet.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Early Childhood Education
Despite a few bumps, Promising Futures child care scholarship bill advances in Tennessee Senate
Critics say it’s not the state’s role to pay for child care
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
A man wearing a suit and blue necktie speaks into a microphone in a legislative chamber with the Tennessee state flag in the background.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Politics & Policy
Bill to ease Tennessee’s third-grade reading and retention law clears first legislative hurdle
The measure would widen reading test criteria for retention but keep the state in control of those decisions.
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
Man in a suit and tie gestures while speaking into a mic.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Early Childhood Education
Tennessee legislative leader wants to widen reading test criteria for determining third-grade retention
House Education Committee Chairman Mark White wants the state to consider more than TCAP test results
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
Children play on a yellow slide set on the side of a school building.
From Chalkbeat Detroit Early Childhood Education
Michigan preschool expansion hits snag as providers face funding cuts
A return to pre-pandemic funding policy led some providers to shutter newly opened GSRP classrooms, complicating Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plans.
By Koby Levin
 
A boy and a girl share a picture book while sitting on a concrete bench in front of a concrete wall and a sculpture of a large yellow fish with a tangle of dark seaweed growing up from its back with blue, magenta and white flowers interspersed.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Assessment and testing
Tennessee looks to ‘Mississippi miracle’ as it grapples with stagnant reading scores
Holding back third graders who aren’t deemed proficient remains a sticking point
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
Children’s books fill clear plastic reading bins in an elementary school classroom.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Teaching & Classroom
Bill to clarify Tennessee school library law would exempt classroom book collections from scrutiny
Teachers’ personal libraries were not the law’s intent, says lawmaker
By Marta W. Aldrich
 
A young student kneels on a mat playing with multicolored toys
From Chalkbeat New York Early Childhood Education
58% of NYC’s youngest children don’t receive all of their Early Intervention services
The gap in services is particularly acute in the Bronx, where more than two-thirds of children did not receive all of the therapies they could have.
By Alex Zimmerman
 
A close-up of children’s hands as they work on word puzzles.
From Chalkbeat Newark Early Childhood Education
Despite best efforts, NJ needs to do more for low-income kids, report says
Insufficient federal funding means significant number of needy children remain unreached by Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
By Michael Pappano, NJ Spotlight News
 
Two men in suits embrace next to a podium surrounded by people.
From Chalkbeat New York Eric Adams
NYC’s DC 37 union reaches tentative agreement to boost pay for 90,000 municipal workers
For some DC 37 workers, the pay bump represents at least a partial acknowledgment of their crucial work helping keep the city’s school system running during the pandemic, often at far lower wages than other school staffers, union officials said.
By Michael Elsen-Rooney
 
Aerial-style view of the top of four young children’s heads as they practice writing the letters of the alphabet using colored pencils from a shared container in the middle of the four.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Early Childhood Education
Illinois governor plans to boost child care and early childhood education with $250 million proposal
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces a plan that will give $250 million more toward the state’s early childhood education and child care programs.
By Samantha Smylie
 
A preschool teacher in a floral dress makes a funny face during a a circle activity with several students.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Universal preschool
Colorado’s free preschool application is out. Here’s what you need to know.
The first application window for Colorado’s new free preschool program runs from Jan. 17 to Feb. 14.
By Ann Schimke
 
A young woman in a flowered dress dances with two young girls in a preschool classroom.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Chalkbeat En Español
Ya comenzó el periodo de solicitud para el preescolar gratis de Colorado. Esto es lo que necesitas saber.
El programa de preescolar gratis de Colorado pagará por 10-30 horas semanales de preescolar el año antes de entrar al Kinder. Aquí está todo lo que necesitas saber.
By Ann Schimke
 
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