Free Republic

One of the most dramatic changes in American life in the years since World War II involves the way we raise our children. We used to do it ourselves. Now, convinced we have better things to do, many of us leave the job to others. Encouraging this flight from parenthood, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has proposed what he calls his "Zero to Five" plan. It is a collection of programs aimed at getting the government involved in the raising of your children from the moment they are born. "The first part of my plan...

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...

Mixed response to toddler plans Toddlers are encouraged to be healthy, competent learners A proposed "national curriculum" for babies and toddlers in England has received a mixed response. Under the Childcare Bill, childminders would teach the curriculum to children "from birth" - with some worrying that it might be too prescriptive. The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations called the proposals "bizarre".

Every baby attending a day nursery or who is in the care of a childminder will be taught a new national curriculum devised by Whitehall, it was announced yesterday. Childminders and nurseries will be under a legal duty to teach the Early Years Foundation Stage to children "from birth" until the age of three. Inspectors from Ofsted will check that the children are developing in four "distinct curriculum headings". This will include becoming "competent learners", for which they will be expected to have mastered such skills as comparing, categorising and recognising symbols and marks. It is the first time that...

Kids these days. They're getting more disrespectful, abusive, defiant and prone to tantrums. A few are even getting kicked out of school, getting pulled from the classroom by frustrated parents or being asked to cut back on their classroom hours until they shape up. And they're only 4. "In the past five years, I've seen it become more difficult to deal with children," said Judy Sharkey, director of Sheridan Day Care Center in the Town of Tonawanda. She's far from alone. Administrators at many of the area's preschools agree the number of children they see with serious behavioral problems is...

There is a brain drain in nursery schools, preschools and day cares everywhere, according to a new report. "Educational attainment in virtually every field has gone up; this field is a striking anomaly," said Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, Pa., and lead author of the report. Snip The report contends that low pay has led to a decline in the education levels of workers in day-care and preschool programs. Snip One quarter of early education workers earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line — the threshold that the government sets for...

ITHACA, N.Y. - Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Cornell University psychologist who pioneered an interdisciplinary approach to the study of child development and helped create the federal Head Start program, has died. He was 88. Bronfenbrenner, a member of the Cornell faculty since 1948, died at his home Sunday from complications from diabetes, the school announced Monday. The Russian-born Bronfenbrenner was credited with creating the interdisciplinary field of human ecology and was widely regarded as one of the world's leading scholars in developmental psychology and child-rearing. Before Bronfenbrenner, child psychologists studied the child, sociologists examined the family, anthropologists the society, economists the...

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to let Head Start centers consider religion when hiring workers, overshadowing its moves to strengthen the preschool program's academics and finances. The Republican-led House approved a bill that lets churches and other faith-based preschool centers hire only people who share their religion, yet still receive federal tax dollars. Democrats blasted that idea as discriminatory. Launched in the 1960s, the nearly $7 billion Head Start program provides comprehensive education to more than 900,000 poor children. Though credited for getting kids ready for school, Head Start has drawn scrutiny as cases of financial waste and questions...

The House moved Thursday to shore up Head Start's academics and finances, but debate about updating the preschool program turned heated over the role religion can play in hiring. Republicans were ready to amend the Head Start bill so churches and other faith-based Head Start centers could factor religion into their hiring. Democrats called that idea discriminatory. Launched in the 1960s, the nearly $7 billion Head Start program provides comprehensive early education to more than 900,000 poor children. Though credited for getting kids ready for school, Head Start has drawn scrutiny as cases of financial waste and questions about academic...

Talk about drama. If Californians approve the bold new "Preschool for All Act" - a proposed ballot measure that would offer free preschool to all the state's 4-year-olds - the overhaul of the state's education system would be epic. Sell It Yourself There's star power behind this initiative, aimed at the June ballot and engineered by Hollywood filmmaker and children's advocate Rob Reiner. But there's also a prequel, an intriguing back-story you probably haven't heard about. Remember Rusty Hammer? Hammer is the former chief of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce who went on to become president and CEO of...

(AP) CHICAGO Preschoolers pretending to shop for a Barbie doll’s social evening were more likely to choose cigarettes if their parents smoked, and wine or beer if their parents drank, a study found. Researchers observing the children’s play found that the ones who watched PG-13 or R-rated movies also were more likely to choose alcohol for Barbie. A 4-year-old girl chose Barbie-sized tobacco in the pretend store and said: “I need this for my man. A man needs cigarettes.” A 6-year-old boy offered the doll cigarettes and said: “Honey, have some smokes. Do you like smokes? I like smokes.” Parents...

I recently wrote about how I think today's parents are too intense when it comes to kids and pre-school. I just think taking a 4-year-old to a specialist to work on scissor skills (a literal example I've seen in news reports on the subject more than once) is a little excessive.

'Godsend' from county saves pre-k in Seminole By Leslie Postal | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted May 31, 2002 SANFORD -- The Seminole County school district will not slash its pre-kindergarten program next school year, thanks to a $500,000 "godsend" from county commissioners. Without the donation from the Seminole County Commission made this week, enrollment in the program would have been slashed because of new state rules. The subsidized pre-k program aims to help 4-year-olds from low-income families get ready for school. New state rules require both parents to work for their child to be eligible. The rule change meant enrollment...

ABSTRACT: Currently, a bit more than twenty-five percent of all children, ages three through five, who are not in kindergarten, attend a private preschool. A little less than twenty-five percent attend a publicly-funded preschool. The federal government traditionally played the leading role in providing access to publicly-funded preschools, but that is beginning to change. Forty states and the District of Columbia currently sponsor pre-school programs, up from ten in 1980. Both federal and state programs typically target poor children, but even then only serve a limited portion of the eligible group. As a result, millions of three- and four-year old...

Children at playschool in Austria are having their toys taken away in the belief it will help them fight drug addiction and alcoholism later in life.The project called 'toy-free kindergartens' will see groups of youngsters forced to go without their usual classroom playthings for three months to make them more independent and socially integrated. Vienna city councillor for health, Renate Brauner, said the campaign was to prevent children from becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol in adulthood by developing their social competence. "Pilot tests have shown that taking away children's toys encourages them to think more about how to entertain...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Ten years after the U.S. started talking about "family values," many wonder why we are still unable to provide decent education, health care and opportunity for all of our children. Recently, I joined a study team of child care professionals who spent two weeks in France, under the auspices of the French-American Foundation. What we saw was a coordinated, comprehensive system, supported across the political spectrum, that links day care, early education and healthcare - and is accessible to virtually every child. In France, virtually all home-based day care providers are licensed, receive benefits including social...

Everyone agrees that children should receive the best education possible to prepare the next generation for life. There is less agreement, however, about the most effective way to provide that education and when to start the formal process. Across the United States, the compulsory age to begin school varies from 5 to 8. Parents in states with a higher starting age have more flexibility in determining whether their children are truly ready for formal education. The Home School Legal Defense Association believes parents are in the best position to judge their children's readiness. There has, however, been a push to...

WASHINGTON - Head Start helps poor, disadvantaged children narrow a gap in reading skills compared with other preschoolers, but the program doesn't help them catch up in math or their ability to comprehend what people say to them. The findings, according to a government report released Thursday, were based on research in which the skills of 3- and 4-year-olds who had been in Head Start for a year were compared with those of children the same age outside the program. "What these results suggest is that while this program has some benefits for kids, it can still be improved," said...

Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday the start of a universal preschool program to make early education available to every 4-year-old in the city regardless of income. Newsom included $3.3 million in his budget proposal for fiscal year 2005- 06 to send about 1,000 children to public preschools next year in four neighborhoods: Visitation Valley, Excelsior, Mission and Hunters Point. He plans to expand the program throughout the city within five years. Proposition H, a measure passed by voters last year, calls for increasing city support for public schools until it reaches $60 million annually. The proposed funding for the fiscal...

The value of universal preschool is one of those unquestioned nostrums sweeping the country. The way the question is framed for the public isn't whether we should love universal preschool, it's solely whether we'll pay for it. Now Rob Reiner — actor, director, gadfly — is planning an initiative for the June 2006 ballot. He wants to raise $2.3 billion a year by taxing the well-off and establishing a free, voluntary half-day preschool system for all 4-year-olds in California. More affordable preschool is a great idea. Preschool can help children learn to play nice, identify colors, get used to the...

Wearing tiny blue caps and gowns, 60 kindergartners from Rose Hill Elementary School in Commerce City graduated. They held a Continuation ceremony to mark the move from kindergarten to first grade. We learned a lot of things this year, there's so much that we know. Our teachers taught us everything, so now it's time to go," the students sang, during the ceremony. After their teachers handed out their Continuation certificates, there was a surprise. "We had 60 bikes for 60 kids," said Brad Appel. He started a non-profit group to promote the health and happiness of children. It's called, "Wish...

WASHINGTON -- Windy Hill, the leader of the Head Start preschool program, resigned abruptly Friday. Hill has been under review by the Health and Human Services Department's inspector general over accusations of financial abuses at the Head Start center she ran in Bastrop, Texas, before becoming associate commissioner of the federal program in 2002. Hill has said she asked for the review to clear her name of the charges, which were raised by the National Head Start Association, a lobbying group that has clashed with the Bush administration. Head Start, the nation's signature early education program for the poor, provides...

Children in pre-K programs across the state are 19 times more likely to be expelled than students in kindergarten through high school, a shocking new study shows. About nine out of every 1,000 pre-K tots in New York state are tossed from their programs, according to Yale University researchers. By contrast, researchers found that just one in every 2,000 K-12 students in the state is expelled. The study, "Pre-kindergartners Left Behind," to be released today, found that pre-K students are three times as likely to be expelled as kids in other grades across the nation. Researchers did not collect data...

Expulsion rate highest for preschoolers, study shows By Cynthia L. Garza Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - Karen Medzorian didn't claim that her little boy was perfect. Kevin, who is now 5 years old, became frustrated quite easily, threw temper tantrums and became unruly at his day-care center. Preschool workers tried to work with Kevin's behavior problems and gave him several chances to improve. Eventually, his mother received a heartbreaking message: "Our program is probably not the best program for your son." Over the past year, Kevin has been through three preschools, after being kicked out of the first two....

So what if typical 3-year-olds are just out of diapers, still take a daily nap and can't tie their shoes? They are plenty old enough to be expelled, the first national study of expulsion rates in prekindergarten programs has found. In fact, preschool children are three times as likely to be expelled as children in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the new study, by researchers from the Yale Child Study Center. "No one wants to hear about 3- and 4-year-olds' being expelled from preschool, but it happens rather frequently," said the study's chief author, Walter S. Gilliam. Although preschool...

SALT LAKE CITY - Meanness in girls can start when they still are toddlers, a Brigham Young University study found. It found that girls as young as 3 or 4 will use manipulation and peer pressure to get what they want. "It could range from leaving someone out to telling their friends not to play with someone to saying, 'I'm not going to invite you to my birthday party,'" said Craig Hart, study co-author and professor of marriage, family and human development at BYU. "Some kids are really adept at being mean and nasty." They regularly exclude others and threaten...

Study: Meanness in Girls Can Start at 3 Fri May 6, 8:33 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY - Meanness in girls can start when they still are toddlers, a Brigham Young University study found. It found that girls as young as 3 or 4 will use manipulation and peer pressure to get what they want. "It could range from leaving someone out to telling their friends not to play with someone to saying, 'I'm not going to invite you to my birthday party,'" said Craig Hart, study co-author and professor of marriage, family and human development at BYU. "Some kids...

Initiative: Preschool for all kids in the state ROB REINER TO LAUNCH PUSH FOR '06 BALLOT By Luis Zaragoza Mercury News Motivated by studies that suggest prepping children for kindergarten is key to their future academic and personal success, film director Rob Reiner planned to announce today that he is launching a campaign to make free, half-day preschool programs available to every 4-year-old in California. ``We've spent a year discussing this -- in a sense, doing what any legislature would do,'' said Reiner of the committee of labor, business and education experts that helped shape an initiative he hopes to...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - High-quality, universal preschool for all 4-year-olds in California would generate $2.62 in benefits for every public dollar spent, according to a new economic analysis released Tuesday by the Rand Corp. The cost-benefits study by the Santa Monica-based think tank estimated average annual costs of $1.7 billion for universal preschool would be offset in the long-term by a reduction in the high school graduation dropout rate, less juvenile crime and a more productive work force. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which advocates voluntary preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds in California by 2013, funded the study....

Overcoming an array of political and bureaucratic hurdles, actor-director Rob Reiner will announce today the launch of a tobacco tax-funded preschool program for tens of thousands of 4-year-olds throughout Los Angeles County and the rest of California. "This is a great day for the children of Los Angeles," said Reiner, chairman of First 5 California. "By launching this effort to provide access to higher-quality preschools for thousands of children, (Los Angeles Universal Preschool) is helping to solve the preschool crisis that exists in this county and state." Reiner and Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina are expected to join preschoolers...

WASHINGTON - The nation's preschool program is susceptible to waste and poor service by local centers because of weak federal oversight, a congressional audit says. The review by the Government Accountability Office depicts federal management of Head Start as disjointed and inconsistent, allowing financial problems to go unchecked or unfixed. The audit -- which is to be released today but was obtained in advance by The Associated Press -- focuses on the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Health and Human Services Department that oversees Head Start. The program, begun during President Johnson's War on Poverty in...