"Using Pre-K to Advance Education Reform: Opportunities for State Advisory Councils"
October 2011
By strengthening linkages between pre-k programs and education reform agendas, Early Childhood Councils are well positioned to influence their states’ school improvement activities. This brief identifies specific steps Councils can take to maximize their states’ investments in early education including aligning policy prior to and following pre-k.
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"Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future"
September 2011
In this our final report, Pre-K Now lays out a strategy to transform public education by moving from our current K-12 model to a more effective, evidence-based Pre-K-12 system, based upon the vital learning that happens in children’s earliest years.This Pre-K-12 vision is grounded in rigorous research and reflects work by leading scholars and institutions to identify the knowledge and skills students need to succeed in school and the teaching practices that best develop them.
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"Pre-K as a School Turnaround Strategy"
July 2011
Both state and local school systems, recognizing the strong and growing evidence of pre-kindergarten’s effectiveness in closing achievement gaps, are implementing early learning programs as part of their education reform efforts. In low-performing districts, pre-k has emerged as a promising turnaround strategy, reaching children before they become low-achieving middle and high school students. This issue brief from Pre-K Now entitled “Pre-K as a School Turnaround Strategy,” highlights how investing limited funds in proven early education programs can raise student achievement and improve school performance.
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"On the Home Front: Early Care and Education a Top Priority for Military Families"
March 2011
Military parents with young children report that the need for early care and education services, including high-quality pre-kindergarten, tops their list of day-to-day needs. Frequent relocations and the cycle of deployment -- preparation, separation and reunification -- all cause disruptions that can have profound emotional and educational consequences for children in military households. This issue brief from Pre-K Now entitled "On the Home Front: Early Care and Education a Top Priority for Military Families," details the results of an Internet survey of 500 military households exploring the challenges facing military families with young children.
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"Creative State Pre-K Policies Offer Smart Federal Opportunities"
January 2011
Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) offers an opportunity to invest in programs with the greatest educational and economic benefits. Members of Congress should look to states for flexible, innovative, bipartisan strategies to gradually grow pre-k programs. This brief highlights some of the most promising state efforts to fund high-quality pre-k programs and offers recommendations to help federal policy makers support and encourage greater expansion.
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"Lessons in Early Learning: Building an Integrated Pre-K-12 System in Montgomery County Public Schools"
August 2010
Lessons in Early Learning: Building an Integrated Pre-K-12 System in Montgomery County Public Schools provides an overview of how MCPS used local and federal dollars to craft, implement and improve a system-wide education reform strategy built on a foundation of providing high-quality pre-k education. School officials, state and federal policymakers alike will benefit from learning about the trail that MCPS has blazed as well as the comprehensive education reform roadmap they’ve left behind for other districts to follow.
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"The Right Policy at the Right Time: The Pew Pre-Kindergarten Campaign"
July 2010
In 2001, The Pew Charitable Trusts learned of an important strategy that could dramatically improve children’s success but had been largely overlooked by policy makers – high-quality early education programs in the years just before kindergarten. Soon after, it launched a new campaign to highlight the evidence and advance policies at the state and federal levels to provide voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten for every three and four year old. This report will answer two questions: How did the campaign build a successful national movement to advance pre-k? And: How can we use the lessons learned to inform public debates on other policies essential to help children thrive?
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"Engaged Families, Effective Pre-K: State Policies that Bolster Student Success"
July 2010
Family members are a child’s first and most important teachers. This Pre-K Now report, written by Deborah Stark, identifies policies that can enhance family engagement in state pre-k and highlights examples from states that are leading the way.
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"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2011"
May 2010
Find governors' pre-k budget proposals for FY11 and analysis of state and federal pre-k policies from our annual report.
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"Formula for Success: Adding High-Quality Pre-K to State School Funding Formulas"
May 2010
Families, teachers and policy makers increasingly understand that high-quality pre-kindergarten is a critical part of children's educational experience. In 13 states and the District of Columbia, this recognition is reflected in the choice to finance pre-k programs through the school funding formula. This report, co-written with the Education Law Center, discusses the benefits and challenges of integrating early education into states' general education funding structures to support pre-k and explores the different models for employing such a strategy.
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"Pre-K & the Race to the Top: A Review of Early Education Proposals in States’ Phase I Grant Applications"
May 2010
Education reform has been a focal point of the Obama administration, and in an effort to provide a carrot for states to make system improvements, the U.S. Department of Education created a competitive grant program called Race to the Top as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Advocates from around the country, including Pre-K Now, pressed for a greater emphasis on early learning and the final application did include pre-k as an invitational priority. Though it did not impact their scores, many states not only highlighted their early education efforts but also sought funding for programs and quality improvement initiatives in this area. This brief provides an overview of the pre-k proposals in states’ Race to the Top Phase I grant applications and reviews strategies advocates can employ to ensure early learning is a prominent part of the Phase 2 of the application process. The groundwork for school reform in the states is being laid this year, and pre-k is the vital first step in these efforts.
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"The Case for Pre-K in Education Reform: A Summary of Program Evaluation Findings"
April 2010
For state and federal officials seeking to improve school performance, 50 years of evidence shows that high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten is among the best strategies for education reform. This new brief from Pre-K Now highlights findings from the latest evaluations of state-funded pre-k programs that continue to document gains in key measures of student learning, including early literacy, math and vocabulary; reduced need for special and remedial education; and significantly lower incidences of grade retention. This and other ongoing research once again demonstrates that high-quality early education is the natural first step in effective school reform.
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"A Matter of Degrees: Preparing Teachers for the Pre-K Classroom"
March 2010
Research indicates that state pre-k programs with higher teacher qualification requirements improve children’s school readiness so states get the most out of their investment in early education. This new report, authored by Marisa Bueno, Linda Darling-Hammond and Danielle Gonzales, reviews research on training for pre-k teachers and concludes that educators with at least a bachelor’s degree coupled with specialized training in early childhood are best able to foster development of the cognitive, social and emotional skills children need to be ready for kindergarten.
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"Tapping Title I: What Every School Administrator Should Know about Title I, Pre-K and School Reform"
January 2010
A companion to our earlier whitepaper, “New Beginnings: Using Federal Title I Funds to Support Local Pre-K Efforts,” this brief provides basic information that superintendents, school board members and other district officials need to make informed choices about using Title I resources to support quality pre-k programs.
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"Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2010"
October 2009
Faced with limited resources and historic deficits, the majority of states have once again wisely chosen to protect pre-k funding.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia – which faced budget gaps of up to 35 percent – increased or held steady pre-k funding for fiscal year 2010. Two states – Alaska and Rhode Island – made their first investments in state-funded pre-k programs.
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"New Beginnings: Using Federal Title I Funds to Support Local Pre-K Efforts"
September 2009
With a new infusion of Title I dollars through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, school leaders have an opportunity to expand local pre-k programs to more children. This policy paper outlines the increased federal investments in Title I and highlights districts that have used this funding stream successfully to establish and strengthen their early education programs.
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"Beyond the School Yard: Pre-K Collaborations with Community-Based Partners"
July 2009
When state and federal funding for pre-k falls short, school administrators can collaborate with community-based programs to expand higher-quality early learning opportunities to more young children. This report highlights what some programs are doing to work together and examines the benefits and challenges of collaboration between K-12, Head Start, faith-based organizations and other community-based groups.
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"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2010"
May 2009
Even as they confront the fiscal crisis and whittle spending to core priorities, the majority of the nation’s governors are increasing or protecting their state’s investments in pre-kindergarten programs for FY10. Find out how your governor fared in our annual report on governors' pre-k budget proposals.
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"The Pre-K Pinch: Early Education and the Middle Class"
November 2008
For far too many middle-class families, the very program proven to help all young children enter school ready to learn and succeed is beyond their reach. This report reveals that eligibility requirements and prohibitively high costs lead such families to sacrifice basic household needs to pay for early education and care for their children, or to settle for low-quality options with unproven benefits.
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"Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2009"
September 2008
In spite of worsening economic conditions across the country, the majority of states stood firm in their commitment to investing in pre-kindergarten programs for fiscal year 2009. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia brought total pre-k funding to a record $5.2 billion.
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"Meaningful Investments in Pre-K: Estimating the Per-Child Costs of Quality Programs"
May 2008
This brief, written jointly with IWPR, examines the costs associated with quality in pre-kindergarten programs.
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"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2009"
April 2008
While budget proposals for FY09 amount to an increase of $261 million in pre-k spending, for the first time in 4 years, the number of governors recommending increases in pre-k funding declined. Find out whether your governor was a pre-k budget leader or loser in our annual report on governors' pre-k budget proposals.
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"Funding the Future: States' Approaches to Pre-K Finance" (2008 Update)
February 2008
This report, updated just in time to meet 2008's tough fiscal constraints, highlights strategies and sources that states – and some cities – are tapping in order to expand and supplement current pre-k funding.
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"Common Vision, Different Paths: Five States' Journeys toward Comprehensive Prenatal-to-Five Systems"
December 2007
This report, written jointly with ZERO TO THREE, provides real-life examples of challenges encountered by five states currently working to build high-quality, comprehensive early childhood systems and the strategies they used to overcome them.
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"Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2008"
September 2007
Pre-k momentum reached an all-time high in 2007. Thirty-six states increased pre-k funding by a total of $528 million, and nearly half of increasing states did so by cooperating across party lines.
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"Pre-K for Military Families: Honoring Service, Educating Children"
July 2007
This report recommends that state policymakers help the children of our nation's military personnel meet the unique social, emotional, and education challenges of the military lifestyle by providing them with high-quality pre-k.
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"Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K"
May 2007
This review of 10 studies on the economic impact of pre-k shows why a growing number of business leaders and economists are increasingly convinced that high-quality pre-k is a sound investment.
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"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals Fiscal Year 2008"
April 2007
Every year, more governors prioritize high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten politically and fiscally and do so more assertively. Find out whether your governor is part of the trend in our annual report on governors' pre-k budget proposals.
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"Better Outcomes for All: Promoting Partnerships between Head Start
and State Pre-K"
January 2007
How can Head Start and state pre-kindergarten programs work together to better serve young children and their families? This report examines the answers, drawing on research and in-depth interviews with state pre-k program directors, Head Start collaboration coordinators, and providers of both Head Start and state pre-k programs.
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"Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K - Fiscal Year 2007"
October 2006
Learn how a record-setting 31 state legislatures committed to increased funding for pre-k in FY07 while not one legislature voted to decrease pre-k funding.
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"Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future"
July 2006
This report shows that, by providing Latino children with culturally and linguistically appropriate services in high-quality, pre-k-for-all programs, educators and policymakers can help close the achievement gap and make a major contribution to realizing this growing population's remarkable potential.
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Resumen Ejecutivo (executive summary in Spanish)
"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals - Fiscal Year 2007"
May 2006
More governors than ever before are making high-quality pre-k a top priority, but a few are still resisting this wise commitment. See which direction your governor is leading on pre-k.
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"Pre-K and Politics 2005"
March 2006
Using the Pre-K Now Political Barometer as a framework, this report analyzes the highlights of the pre-k movement in 2005.
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"Funding the Future: States' Approaches to Pre-K Finance"
February 2006
Examine how policymakers nationwide have found innovative approaches to financing
pre-kindergarten.
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Note: An updated version of this report is available here.
"Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K - Fiscal Year 2006"
November 2005
Get the story and numbers behind the largest increase in state pre-k spending in five years.
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"Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals - Fiscal Year 2006"
April 2005
Find out whether your state’s chief executive is a leader in increasing investment in pre-k.
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Pre-K: The First Step in Education Reform
