Early Ed Roundup: Week of July 21 – July 25

Massachusetts Law to Establish Coordinated Early Ed System

State legislators in Massachusetts are reviewing the text of a pair of bills that would support the state’s efforts to establish a universal pre-kindergarten program (known as MA UPK) by outlining program quality standards, establishing quality measurement procedures, and creating a statewide, 40-member early ed advisory body. Though the bill does not give specifics regarding these standards, it reaffirms the state’s commitment to provide diversified pre-k services for all three- and four- year olds. Massachusetts boosted its pre-k budget by $3 million this year, though a state budget shortfall thwarted proposals for much more substantial increases.

NYC Sibling Pre-K Struggle Resolved

The New York City Public Schools have resolved an administrative snafu that inadvertently placed hundreds of pre-k students in classes at different schools from those their older siblings attended. Under the new plan, pre-k students will be united with their older brothers and sisters, at a cost of $1.4 million. Several schools will enlarge their pre-k classes from 18 to 20 students to accommodate the changes, and roughly 40 classrooms will hire extra paraprofessionals to staff the larger classes.

Report On Child Well-Being Shows Mixed Improvement

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual Kids Count Report last week, providing the latest state-by-state data on 10 key indictors of child well-being, including percentage of low-birthweight babies, infant, child and teen death rates, high school dropout rates, and the percentage of children living in poverty. New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Massachusetts had the best scores on these indicators, while New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi rounded out the bottom of the list. The report’s authors noted that overall performance nationwide has changed little since 2000. There were improvement on 5 indicators, including high school dropouts and teen pregnancy, but poorer performance on 4 others, including percentages of children in poverty and single-parent families. By contrast, all ten indicators showed improvement between 1996 and 2000.