Here are some of the best recent news and opinion pieces written about preschool in 2007.

See recent news coverage.

See media coverage on RAND's California Preschool Study.

See past news coverage from 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 or 2002.

2007

December 17
Ventura County Star: Head Start program to see expansion
President Bush this week signed off on a five-year renewal of a federal preschool program for poor families — a move lauded by local education officials who say it has been a long time coming.

November 27
Education Week: Head Start Measure Expected to Launch New Era for Program
Lawmakers are hailing a long-awaited measure to renew the federal Head Start preschool program as an example of the kind of legislation that can emerge from bipartisan consensus and compromise.

November 27
Education Week: California Weighs Preschool ELL Standards
California education officials are poised to adopt what they say will be the nation’s first set of statewide academic standards devoted to preschool English-language learners.

November 26
Washington Post: Editorial: Head Start Renewal
There's not much that Congress and President Bush agree on these days. So the unanimity surrounding the reauthorization of Head Start says much about the worth of the preschool program. And, that, in turn, should help fuel the movement for states to expand and enhance education in childhood's critical early years.

November 16
San Diego Union Tribune: Closing the Latino student achievement gap
By Pearl Quinones
At the recent National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) 3rd Annual National Summit on the State of Latino Education, my fellow NALEO delegates and I chose pre-K advocacy as a policy platform. By helping influence local, state and federal representatives to invest in universal access to quality preschool programs for Latino families, we could address the achievement gap when it is the smallest.

November 12
San Jose Mercury News: Smart politicians of all stripes embrace children's issues
By David Kirp
The Democratic presidential candidates get it. When asked in the most recent debate how they would strengthen education, preschool was on everyone's lips.

November 2
La Prensa San Diego: Urgent Need for Preschool to Support the Readiness Gap and Reduce the Achievement Gap
By Alberto Ochoa
We need a statewide commitment to educating all our children – Latino, African American, Asian and white – starting with effective pre-k programs that prepare them for success in kindergarten and beyond.

October 31
California Progress Report: Preschool and Fighting Crime in California
Preschool came to the State Capitol Monday afternoon, as UC Berkeley Professor David Kirp gathered three dozen legislative staffers for story hour, discussing his latest work, The Sandbox Investment – The Preschool Movement and Kids-first Politics.

October 28
New York Times Magazine: What Every Child Needs
In the early 1990s, I was taken aback to overhear my 3-year-old son insisting to his 6-year-old cousin that he went to “ABC school,” not to day care, as she condescendingly referred to it. But with universal prekindergarten (UPK) emerging as a campaign issue, it’s now clear to me that he was a kid ahead of his time.

October 22
Politico: Introducing the 'No Toddler Left Behind' era
But don’t assume education will end up a dud issue in the presidential elections. There’s a sleeper (dare I say napping?) issue bubbling up: preschool.

October 22
Modesto Bee: Parent as teacher
Researchers from the California State University, Stanislaus, psychology and child development departments spent four years studying 2,500 children from Stanislaus County pre-kindergarten programs, using surveys, literacy tests and teacher observations to gauge their progress.

October 18
New America Media: Preschool is essential for all children, says state Assemblyman
"It's critically important that we offer [preschool] to all children. They deserve nothing less," said California State Assemblymember Dave Jones while addressing fourteen ethnic media television and print outlets at Hiram Johnson Family Education Center in Sacramento on Friday, Oct. 12.

October 14
Sacramento Bee: Research, politics transform universal preschool movement
By David Kirp
Seven states -- Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Iowa, New York and Illinois -- have passed legislation guaranteeing pre-kindergarten for all, and 40 states subsidize some preschool education. All the trends are positive.

October 11
Associated Press: Democrats Offer Education Plans
Democratic presidential hopefuls turned their attention Thursday to education, offering an array of policy prescriptions ranging from expanding tax credits for college expenses to providing universal pre-kindergarten.

October 7
Fresno Bee: Preschool providers develop new plan
Karen Hill Scott, a child development expert based in Los Angeles, will come to the Valley to help launch a preschool plan for Fresno County children that she calls pivotal.

October 3
Milpitas Post: Affordable preschool: who pays when it is mandated?
Legislators from seven Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara, discussed early care and preschool with community members and child care providers in Friday's forum at the Milpitas Community Center.

September 25
El Observador: Editorial: Let's Give Our Kids a Head Start
By Assemblymember Joe Coto
In the face of mounting evidence on the benefits of pre-kindergarten and an emerging consensus on the need for education reform in California, momentum for expanding effective pre-k education is building in San Jose and across the state.

September 18
The Hill: Editorial: Investing in young children delivers valuable dividends
By Reps. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)
Participation in a high-quality early education program builds the foundation for a child’s success in school — and in life. Scientists and other experts assembled at the National Summit on America’s Children in May, an event organized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), presented compelling research on the value of early education for children and for our entire nation.

September 17
San Francisco Chronicle: Editorial: All in the genes?
Heredity versus environment, nature versus nurture: the argument over what best explains intelligence has been going strong for more than a century... Neuroscientists have been witness to how the architecture of the brain is transformed by experience, especially during the first years; that's why leaders in that field have been promoting early education.

September 15
Merced Sun-Star: Achievement gap in county schools linked to race
Call it the third rail of American education and politics. The issue of race and its role in and relationship -- if any -- to academic achievement is one few teachers, administrators, elected officials and parents ever want to touch.

September 14
Gilroy Dispatch: Grants Enable Preschool Expansion
This year, more children will ride bikes around Gilroy's state preschool playground located on the campuses of two elementary schools. More students will sift their hands through the sandbox, line up to choose a piece of fruit to go with a healthy meal and learn how to count.

September 11
Education Week: 'Summit' Links Preschool to Economic Success
Hoping to win over skeptical policymakers, leaders from the business, philanthropic, and political arenas gathered here this week to strengthen their message that spending money on early-childhood education will improve high school graduation rates and help keep the United States economically strong.

September 8
Boston Globe: Editorial: A hot tip from the icy plains
Economist Arthur Rolnick has a tip for states: Forget spending public money on sports stadiums or incentives to attract companies. "I can get you a better return," he said. The hot tip from this vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: preschool.

September 5
Associated Press: States Investing More in Pre-K Education
In just the past few months, governors and lawmakers from more than a dozen states have sealed deals to spend far more public money on childhood education. Nearly a million children now attend state-funded preschool, up more than a third from five years ago.

August 27
Washington Post: Children's Education Is a Smart Investment
Early childhood development may seem like an odd topic for a Federal Reserve Bank president... Economists like to think about investment in terms of rate of return, and there is reason to think that the rate of return on early childhood investment could be particularly high.

August 22
Washington Post: The Preschool Question: Who Gets to Go?
Nationwide, about 950,000 children are enrolled in state-funded preschool, a 36 percent increase from five years ago, said experts who track the programs. As advocates promote quality pre-kindergarten as a way to prepare children for school, strengthen the workforce and reduce crime, states have increased funding since 2005 for such programs by 75 percent, to $4.2 billion, according to the District-based organization Pre-K Now. Some in Congress have also proposed more federal money to help build state preschool initiatives.

August 13
Fresno Bee: Editorial: Preschool helps children succeed
Yet another study came out last week, adding to the mountain of evidence supporting the value of high-quality preschool for disadvantaged children. For an investment of a few thousand dollars a year during a child's early years, the estimated return is a 10-to-1 gain.

August 8
Sacramento Bee: Early help for needy kids pays off, study finds
More than 20 years later, educational attainment is higher and felony arrests are lower for the alumni of a Chicago early-intervention program for low-income children.  The enrollees, who are now in their late 20s, are also less likely to describe themselves as depressed and more likely to have health insurance, according to a follow-up study released this week.

August 7
San Jose Mercury News: Who's Ready For School?
Most parents and teachers are concerned about the school readiness of America's youngest children, says a new study by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. But for those parents who may worry that their children don't know the alphabet, numbers or colors before kindergarten, the findings may come as a surprise.

July 28
Capitol Morning Report: Democratic weekly radio address
In this week’s Democratic weekly radio address, Assemblymembers Cathleen Galgiani (D-Tracy) and Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) explain why California should expand pre-school education.

July 30
Whittier Daily News: Ayala plans to ease path to preschool
When Celia Ayala was teaching third grade in Pico Rivera nearly three decades ago, she saw a pattern emerging in her young students that would later inspire her to help lead the charge for universal preschool in Los Angeles County.

July 29
San Jose Mercury News: Latino baby boom changing demographics in California
Preschool teacher Sara Porras leans down to speak, first in English, then in Spanish, to one of the toddlers she cares for at the Parkway Child Development Center... State demographers predict Latinos will be a majority of Californians by mid-century, but in preschool classrooms like Porras', the future is now.

July 18
American Prospect: The case for pre-k
A new book, The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics by David Kirp, explains why other progressive causes should take some cues from the preschool movement.

July 17
Boston Globe: Editorial: Big ideas for little kids
On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton is talking about preschool and its power to help children thrive. It's welcome attention, but so far politicians' ideas about what preschools could be aren't as detailed as the research on what preschool should be.

July 16
Los Angeles Times: Preschools are squeezed for space
Santa Ana's situation is typical of underserved cities in the state: not enough room, and nowhere to grow.

July 12
Sacramento Bee: Editorial: Seeking solutions to dropout crisis
Figures released by the Department of Education last month show California's high school graduation rate in 2006 was the lowest in 10 years. Clearly the state must act to address its growing dropout crisis.

July 8
Arizona Republic: Teaching kids early lighter on the wallet
Editorial writers from across the country were listening to speakers at Columbia University's Teachers College talk about early-childhood education.

July 7
San Antonio Express-News: Give Hispanic students a boost
In 2000, half of all young Hispanic children lived in two states: Texas and California. Expanding and improving the quality of early education for Texas' Hispanic population should be among our highest educational priorities.

July 5
North Jersey Record: Spilled milk, taking turns and other life lessons
New Jersey is a national leader and a model in early childhood education... I remember the days almost a decade ago when the state Supreme Court ordered then-Gov. Christie Whitman to start a preschool program for the poorest 3- and 4-year-olds.

July 2
North County Times: County looks to San Marcos preschool as model for success
Two years after creating the city's first state-funded preschool program, the San Diego County Office of Education is using it to create a manual showing how school districts can successfully partner with private enterprises to provide quality preschool education, and at little expense.

June 25
Stateline: Early ed gains momentum in states
This fall, states will see the results of the big bucks they are promising to plug into early education programs.

June 24
San Francisco Chronicle: College seems out of reach to most Latinos
San Leandro High School senior Veronica Santana strode across the stage in a scarlet cap and gown to receive her high school diploma at a graduation ceremony earlier this month on the hillside campus of Cal State East Bay...Veronica benefited from the help of teachers and counselors, but her family was the key to her success, beginning with the hours her mother spent at Veronica's preschool, learning to kneel down and speak face to face with her kids and to appreciate the ways that dress-up and Play-Doh help children learn.

June 21
North County Times: Low-income preschool options in flux
Even as the county-run Head Start preschool serving the area's neediest families prepares to shut down its Temecula program this week, there are still several options for families who can't afford to send their children to a private preschool.

June 20
Pacifica Tribune: Pacifica School District's special ed preschoolers celebrate graduation
Pacifica's special education program is designed to help kids with special needs and their families. This is the first preschool class to have all their needs met from an in-house staff of experts in their fields.

June 15
Tracy Press: Tobacco tax pays for local preschool
Tracy Unified School District will expand its preschool efforts this year with the help of about $2.2 million worth of tobacco tax money.

June 14
The New Jersey Star Ledger: Study: Preschool works in Abbott districts
While court-ordered funding for the state's poorest districts is under siege, evidence is mounting that one important mandate seems to be working: quality preschool.

June 7
Capitol Hill Press: State Makes Sure Education Starts Young
As graduation nears, many twenty-something college students are facing the end of their educational careers. As they try to get ahead in the world, they are plagued by the competition to get a job or get into graduate school. But what if getting a leg up in life could happen before age five?

June 5
One Day: Teach for America Alumni Magazine: Getting It Right from the Start
Back in 2000, when Claire Cohen received her Teach For America corps assignment-teaching kindergarten in Franklin, La.-she was excited to teach her young students how to read. However, on the first day of school, it became apparent that other lessons had to come first. Few of the children could recognize letters, let alone words, and many others lacked the vocabulary to identify common objects such as chairs or pencils.

June 3
CNN.com: Candidates weigh in on their first 100 days as president
The last question posed to the eight Democratic candidates at Sunday night's debate came from a substitute elementary school teacher who asked about each candidates' top priorities for their first 100 days. Bill Richardson says, "I would upgrade our schools. I would have preschool for every American, full-day kindergarten."

June 3
New York Times: When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?
States around the country are considering rolling-back the age for kindergarten, given the rising standards set at the local, state and federal level. Preschool is cited as an effective institution for transitioning students to kindergarten, however without proper investment, many low-income families cannot afford preschool and are forced to have their children spend “another year watching TV in the basement.”

June 1
San Francisco Chronicle: Legislators get earful of advice on how to combat violence in Oakland
Angie Garling, who works on pre-school anti-violence programs for Alameda County, said that kids should begin learning conflict resolution even before they start kindergarten so they can develop the confidence to avoid the cycle of violence when they become older.

May 30
NBC11.com: Advocates Push Preschool To Fight Crime
Advocates say preschool is one of the most effective ways to fight crime. Catherine Hazelton, of Fight Crime Invest in Kids, cited multiple studies that showed crime can be fought by investing in kids. "One of them tracked the kids until they were 18 and showed that at 18, those who had been left out of preschool were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested for violent crimes," Hazelton said.

May 29
Edutopia: Preschool Comes of Age
Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eliot Spitzer may not agree about a lot of things, but here's one area they concur: Preschool education can perform miracles. Children who attend prekindergarten programs have bigger vocabularies and increased math skills, know more letters and more letter-sound associations, and are more familiar with words and book concepts, according to a number of studies.

May 26
The Nation: How to (Really) Leave A Child Behind
Even if NCLB funding were to increase, its framework does not allow for important structural changes--for example, a system of teacher preparation and professional development that would routinely produce high-quality teaching; curriculums and assessments that encourage critical thinking and performance skills; high-quality preschool education, libraries and learning materials; and healthcare for poor children.

May 21
Education Week Magazine: Vicky Schippers: Fund Preschool Where It’s Needed Most
Anyone who works with youngsters from low-income backgrounds notices that they often begin school far behind their middle-class peers. While middle-class children enter kindergarten enjoying a friendly acquaintance with the alphabet, zoo animals, and Dr. Seuss, their less fortunate peers do not.

May 21
Associated Press: Clinton Pushes Pre-Kindergarten Proposal
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.

May 9
Tulare Advance-Register: Lindsay makes strides for preschoolers
Teresa Mendoza has noticed drastic changes in her 4-year-old son, Jose, since he began attending preschool classes. Before, she said, Jose could not speak. "Now he talks a lot," Mendoza said through an interpreter. "He's more educated, he speaks more and it's really beautiful to see how he has become more loving and affectionate."

May 8
San Diego Union Tribune: Free preschool cut off for military families
A federal initiative to improve the living conditions of service members has unwittingly rendered an untold number of military households ineligible for state-subsidized preschool, which used to be free for them.

May 7
San Jose Mercury News: David Kirp: Lawmakers quietly considering universal preschool
The debate over how much to spend on pre-K and for which kids is now in the hands of the state politicians, and the issue will resurface this week when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger releases his revised 2008 budget.

May 3
San Bernardino Sun: $1M from state will help boost SB preschools
An education roundtable led by Mayor Pat Morris announced Wednesday it has secured $1 million in state funding for expanded preschool programming in some schools. "It's a down payment on a larger commitment we've made as the mayor and educators to the families who live here," Morris said.

May 3
San Francisco Chronicle: Government Eyes Special Ed Requirements
Many children in special education classes may not belong there, the government says. A new policy is aimed at intervening early with intensive teaching to give struggling students a chance to succeed in regular classrooms and escape the "special ed" label.

April 30
Stockton Record: Lack of new funds putting thousands of kids on preschool waiting lists
Sheryll Candelario hopes to enroll her 4-year-old daughter, Erica, in a Stockton Unified School District preschool this fall, but the waiting list might be too long.

April 25
San Mateo Daily Journal: Mandatory kindergarten bill proposed
In California, all 5-year-olds could be starting school by 2011 if a bill by Assemblyman Gene Mullin for mandatory kindergarten passes, but home school advocates argue it decreases beneficial parent contact time with children… “We think all children deserve access to a preschool program. This puts the access of it front and center before the legislation bringing up the conversation of the need to invest really in preschool-aged children and the skills needed for the foundation of reading and writing,” said Preschool California President Catherine Atkin.

April 25
Press Enterprise: Nuview district widens lead in universal preschools
As the California Assembly held hearings in Sacramento for universal-preschool proposals Wednesday, Nuview schools continued to set the standard.

April 25
Education Week Magazine: For Head Start, A Marathon Run
The nutritional, social, and educational needs of disadvantaged children—combined with opportunities for parents to be involved—have been elements of the Head Start program since it started more than 40 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty.

April 20
San Jose Business Journal: Jim Wunderman: Investing in preschool is a no-brainer
California's school system needs a major overhaul, according to a new Stanford study titled "Getting Down to Facts: A Research Project to Inform Solutions to California's Education Problems." The report launched Sacramento lawmakers into their annual debate about school reform. But there's one piece of the study upon which everyone agrees: affordable access to effective preschool gives kids the foundation they need to succeed in school and in life.

April 17
San Jose Mercury News: Letter to the Editor: Preschool superior to day care options
In a column deriding the effects that schools have on children's social skills, Bruce Fuller (Another View, April 12) fails to understand the distinction between preschool and day care.

April 17
The Argus: Contending with day care and a world of work
You and your spouse are trying to make ends meet; perhaps you're a single mother, father or guardian. The rent, or mortgage, continues to climb, the price of gas is staggering, and the grocery list isn't much help. Under these situations, parents have no choice but to work a full-time job — they have to provide for their children, don't they?

April 17
The Politico: Steal this education agenda
Political memo to: Hillary, John(s), Mitt, Barack, Rudy and other '08 aspirants
From: Andrew J. Rotherham and Richard Whitmire
Subject: Why you need to really care about education…
Open the door to pre-kindergarten education. Academically focused pre-kindergarten programs help close the racial and economic achievement gap.

April 18
San Mateo County Times: Center devoted to tots of all abilities
A center entirely devoted to young children with and without disabilities and their families officially opened Tuesday in a newly remodeled building. Community Gatepath, an agency serving disabled children, adults and seniors in San Mateo County, opened the new Niall P. McCarthy Center after seeing a growing number of children diagnosed with developmental disabilities locally and nationally.

April 12
Santa Cruz Sentinel: County gets $1.2 million for preschool
As many as 250 more children in the county will be enrolled in free preschool and day care through a state program that's pumping $1.17 million a year into local early education classes.

April 12
Ventura County Star: Preschool called a lifelong boost
Two dozen children stood on a stage outside their Oxnard preschool looking a little intimidated Wednesday afternoon. A crowd of more than 200 elected officials, parents and school and district staff members stared back at them as the preschoolers waited for their cue. When the music started, their long faces turned to smiles as they sang and danced, inspiring the crowd to join in, clapping to the beat.

April 9
San Mateo Daily Journal: Innovative preschool stresses English
Samira Mendoza began taking classes through Even Start when she was three months pregnant with her now 2-year-old son James Jardon. She wanted to learn English. Now Mendoza spends five days a week volunteering in her son’s preschool classroom while attending the parent classes. She’s pretty good at understanding English, although she answers questions more comfortably in Spanish. Mendoza is part of the family literacy program at Early Start in Redwood City. The program, which began nine years ago, provides family services for 35 low-income families with children up to 7 years old.

April 9
The Bakersfield Californian: It's never too early for books
Just because they don't know how to read doesn't mean preschoolers at Mount Vernon School don't love their new library. "We get to read!" said 4-year-old Crystal Ambriz as she clutched her book "Cat & Mouse: A Delicious Tale."

April 2
San Francisco Chronicle: A school helping kids take a step toward hope
"The idea was if we could get these kids young -- 3, 4 years old -- and get them in a healthy environment for eight, nine hours a day, then we could really make a difference," said Rosenthal, 68, who has three children.

April 2007
Harvard Law and Policy Review: A new deal for urban public schools
Yet there is a difference between making excuses and acknowledging that many students attending urban schools enter them facing distinct educational disadvantages…As a result there is a keen need for early interventions that narrow these gaps early on and help disadvantaged youngsters enter school ready to learn.

March 30
Napa Valley Register: Andrea Knowlton: Time for state to invest in preschool
Like many Californians, I believe all children benefit from preschool. Ask the experts who study school performance and they’ll tell you our schools are more effective when children arrive at kindergarten prepared to learn. The children who attend quality preschools come to our public school system ready to read, ready to learn and ready to do their best.

March 29
ABC News Channel 10: Free Preschool Receives High Marks
A free preschool program in the Manteca and Lincoln Unified school districts is getting rave reviews after its first year in session. The "Power of Preschool" pilot program is a voluntary class offered free of charge to children when they reach age four, no matter their income level.

March 27
Napa Valley Register: Advocates push early education programs for Latino children
The children and parents gathered for story time one recent Saturday morning in Washington, D.C., heard “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” not once but twice. “In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf,” the Eric Carle classic began in the first rendition. “Bajo la luz de la luna, encima de una hoja, habia un huevecillo,” it began in the second.

March 26
Education Week Magazine: States Again Weighing Proper Enrollment Age for Kindergartners
An issue that never really goes away is back again this year: the starting age for kindergarten...Ms. Kaurez also suggests that there may be, in effect, a “push up” from the early-childhood-education field because of the continuing expansion of public preschool programs, as well as attention to building high-quality programs with specific learning standards.

March 25
La Tribuna Hispana: "English Only" no es tan bueno en pre-escolares, dice estudio
Contrariamente a lo que se piensa en general, es posible que las clases de pre-kindergarten exclusivamente en inglés no faciliten el ajuste escolar de los niños cuya lengua materna es el español.

March 23
California Progress Report: Schwarzenegger Wants Presidential Candidates in California to be Specific and Answer Tough Questions
There were chuckles in the audience yesterday when our actor Governor uttered the lines "I want to hear specific plans. Not just applause lines or rhetoric. Hope is on the Way, Compassionate Conservatism, Building a Bridge to the 21st Century. Don't tell us you invented the internet. We're tired of all the sound bites..." What about pre-school programs. What about early childhood development? 

March 23
Merced Sun-Star: Livingston Head Start includes children with disabilities
Most every child is bound to learn a few nursery rhymes and singalong songs in preschool. But in Merced County's full-inclusion Head Start program, preschoolers also learn social skills, cooperation and acceptance.

March 21
Los Angeles Daily News: Mayors plan to boost middle class
A task force of the nation's mayors is calling for the federal government to create a lifetime learning savings account for every child born in the country - beginning with a $500 deposit - as part of an overall strategy to ease poverty...The program could cost $23 billion a year, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' panel, which also called for increased federal investment in preschool and education to boost the middle class and reduce the number of working poor.

March 17
Tracy Press: These are the lucky ones
Alicia Vales drops off her 4-year-old daughter at preschool each morning before she works out of her Mountain House home. She considers herself one of the lucky ones. Vales can rattle off the names of friends who remain on Mountain House preschool waiting lists and others who drive their children to Tracy and Livermore child-care centers.

March 14
New York Times: States Looking to Pre-K to Help Kids
Yasmine Carrizo has trouble pinpointing exactly what she likes best about pre-kindergarten at Carlin Springs Elementary. "I like the toys, and playing house, and book time, and sleep-over (nap) time," the wide-eyed 4-year-old says one morning as she colors with markers at a table just her size.

March 13
Stockton Record: Free preschool enjoys growth
The growth of free preschools in San Joaquin County has been dramatic. Unlike existing federal and state preschool programs, these new spots on multicolor carpets in classrooms across the county don't require families to meet income eligibility requirements.

March 13
Redland Daily Facts: Franklin preschoolers find free dental care
Students in Deedee Witherspoon's preschool classroom had a rare treat this morning, and not one that would cause tooth decay - in fact, it helped prevent tooth decay. Dr. Jane Ellis of Redlands and her assistant Silvia Cortez of Colton visited Witherspoon's classroom to provide free teeth examinations, courtesy of Colton-based First 5 Dental Program, which funds preventative dental care for children ages 0-5.

February 28
Contra Costa Times: First 5 Contra Costa grants are available
The average person may not think that children's picture books and finger puppets are essential materials, but for the volunteers and staff of the Stories-to-Go early literacy program of the Contra Costa Library, these are necessary tools for success in life.

February 27
New York Times: A Bad Report Card
The news from American high schools is not good. The most recent test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as the national report card, finds that American 12th graders are actually performing worse in reading than 12th graders did in 1992, when a comparable exam was given.

February 24
Sacramento Bee: 'Bye, Mommy ... go'
At 7:30 a.m., it's just minutes before showtime in the 4-year-olds' classroom at the Child Development Center on the campus of American River College. Marie Jones is here, as usual, setting the stage for the day's nonstop entertainment.

February 24
Sacramento Bee: A primer on preschools
Preschools have a long history in the United States, including "infant schools" in Boston during the 1830s and publicly financed pre- kindergarten programs during World War II. In recent years, researchers have amassed growing evidence that brain development in the first five years of life is particularly dynamic and that quality preschool can contribute to success in school and later in life.

February 23
North County Times: School, day care join to help special needs kids
Smith said the entire premise of her child care center is to create a feeling of inclusiveness, whether it's through teaching sign language, offering bilingual instruction, learning about the ethnic backgrounds of families or just overall participation of the students with one another. ABC Child Care is now partnering with Ysabel Barnett Elementary School to offer a "wrap-around" preschool program for special needs students.

February 23
Washington Post: Expanding preschool program clears first hurdle
Much of the national debate on improving schools is focused on the No Child Left Behind Act. Absent from the limelight is an equally significant federal program with a proven track record of results. Head Start, America's early childhood development program, should not only be reauthorized but also strengthened and expanded.

February 19
San Diego Union Tribune: Preschool supporters turn to state for more funds
Children's advocates haven't given up on making preschool a birthright in California despite voters' overwhelming rejection of a 2006 ballot measure to fund free preschool. They aren't planning to go back to the polls, but they are lobbying Sacramento to budget more money.

February 19
Stockton Record: Program helps encourage love of books
A bright red bag bulging with books looms large in the life of Dylan Spencer, 3. Dylan is one of thousands of children in Calaveras and San Joaquin counties who are learning a love of books with a little help from the bright red bag. The program encourages both family bonding and language development by making it easy for families with preschoolers - even families in which parents can't read themselves - to spend cozy time together flipping through illustrated children's books and discussing the stories.

February 16
Los Angeles Times: State preschools short of space, survey says
Classroom space in California public preschools is at such a premium that 21% of eligible 4-year-olds would be unable to attend if they all attempted to enroll, according to a statewide study released Thursday.

February 16
San Francisco Chronicle: Preschool space shortage projected
California would have to create space for thousands more preschoolers if it were to offer preschool to all 4-year-olds, as proposed in an initiative that state voters rejected in November, according to a study released Wednesday assessing the space available in the state's child care centers.

February 16
Press Enterprise: Space shortage puts squeeze on universal preschool
A lack of classroom space could stymie efforts to make preschool available to all 4-year-olds -- and Riverside County faces an especially severe space crunch, a study released Thursday said. The report from the Advancement Project, a civil-rights group whose work includes pressing for better school facilities for low-income children, looked at whether the state had enough preschool space to provide classes for all.

February 16
Vallejo Times Herald: Solano lacks preschools
The state is suffering from a profound lack of preschools, and Solano County has the Bay Area's biggest shortage, a study released Thursday concludes. One in five California 4-year-olds lacks a space in preschool, and space is especially limited for low-income and minority children who could benefit the most, the report states.

February 16
Oakland Tribune: Study: Make room for preschools
For some families in East Oakland's Melrose neighborhood, the nearest preschool is a 20-block walk away. It was apparently too far for some; just one-third of this year's kindergarten class at Melrose Elementary School attended preschool, the principal said.

February 15
Contra Costa Times: Preschool fills need for families
The founder of the speech therapy program Happy Talkers, wanted a place where children with special needs -- and those without -- can attend school together.

February 7
Christian Science Monitor: Coming US challenge: a less literate workforce
US workers may be significantly less literate in 2030 than they are today. "There is no time that I can tell you in the last hundred years" where literacy and numeracy have declined, says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston and one of the report's authors. "But if you don't change outcomes for a wide variety of groups, this is the future we face."

February 7
New York Times: Bridging Gaps Early On in Oklahoma
To get to the new preschool in the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood here, you drive down a dead-end stretch of East Fifth Place. But then you get to the end of the block and see the brick and stone building with the bright blue roof. Inside, sunlight streams into a front atrium, and children run around big classrooms that are filled with new wooden furniture.

February 6
The Federal Reserve Board: Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: The Level and Distribution of Economic Well-Being
Although education and the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process, starting early in life is crucial. The most successful early childhood programs appear to be those that cultivate both cognitive and noncognitive skills and that engage families in stimulating learning at home (Heckman, Stixrud, and Urzua, 2006).

February 5
San Jose Mercury News: Fisher: Easing the way to college
Gonzalez, 40, is one of 35 students enrolled in an exciting new De Anza College program that offers college-level classes in child development at Mariano Castro Elementary School, in a lower-income Mountain View neighborhood. The evening classes are taught in Spanish. The students get college credit but pay no fees. Child care and dinner are provided.

January 25
Los Angeles Times: Mayor keeps high profile on D.C. trip
On Wednesday, he delivered a proposal for eradicating urban poverty in a speech before the National Press Club, calling for significant federal investment in universal preschool, subsidized college savings accounts and other measures to lift the poor into the middle class.

January 25
New York Times: Childhood Poverty Is Found To Portend High Adult Costs
Children who grow up poor cost the economy $500 billion a year because they are less productive, earn less money, commit more crimes and have more health-related expenses, according to a study released on Wednesday...Mr. Holzer and others said that although various proposals to ease poverty needed more research, some efforts, especially the earned-income tax credit, which benefits low-income workers, and quality prekindergarten education had been shown to justify their cost and deserved to expand.

January 21
Ukiah Daily Journal: Math, reading scores too low
The recently released report notes the state has established "well-respected standards and a comprehensive accountability system," with more qualified teachers than in the past and credits these factors for more children reaching targeted performance levels than in the past. "However, over half of California's students still score below targeted math and reading levels on standardized tests, with low-income students and African American and Latino children consistently scoring below their peers," according to the report.

January 19
Pasadena Star News: Ending gangs with preschool
Ask anyone working on the front lines in the fight against gangs and gang violence what they need to win and you're likely to hear a potpourri of interlocking solutions...But there is one thing everyone agrees on as essential to any anti-gang effort: Preschool. The fact that easy, affordable access to quality preschool reduces crime has been reaffirmed in study after study.

January 19
Associated Press: Obama answers questions
As to what he would do if he had the power to change one thing about America, the Harvard law school graduate said the education system needs to be "fundamentally revamped," with improvements in early childhood education and the recruiting and training of teachers.

January 17
New York Times: What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy
For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives. Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

January 16
Whittier Daily News: Funding their future
The deadline is near for child care providers to apply for some of the extra $45 million in state funds available for pre-kindergarten programs located near low-performing public elementary schools. Of the $45 million available - made possible through legislation, AB 172, signed into law last fall - more than $13 million is scheduled to come into Los Angeles County to help serve as many as 4,000 4-year-old preschoolers, said Supervisor Gloria Molina. 

January 12
Stockton Record: New doors open for Tracy preschoolers
The school was needed to serve families who can't afford preschool but don't qualify for programs providing school to low-income students, said Brandi Harrold, a school readiness program specialist for the Tracy Unified School District.

January 11
The California Aggie: Editorial: State education ranking
A recent study ranks California 34th among all U.S. states in its students' potential for success. The state's poor ranking is rooted in disadvantages associated with early childhood - an issue that must be addressed by California policymakers and citizens alike.

January 9
The California Aggie: California ranked 34th in national education study
Michael Jett, director of the California Development Division for the California Department of Education, said California will maintain a strong commitment to early childhood education. "[Preschool] is vitally important, particularly for reducing the achievement gap," Jett said. "I think there is a sense that all of the children that fall into that category are children that would benefit from a quality early childhood education program. We are also increasing our efforts to enhance the professional development of the staff."

January 9
Santa Cruz Sentinel: Childcare remains unaffordable, non-existent
A lack of state funding for childcare programs and the escalating cost of care has put pre-kindergarten programs out of reach for hundreds of poor families in the county and made those programs an expensive luxury for the area's middle class.

January 8
Calaveras Enterprise: New emphasis, new role for preschools
Slightly more than half of Calaveras County’s children ages 4 and 5 attend preschool, slightly higher than the statewide average, according to Children Now, a child advocacy group. Calaveras has a higher number than California’s overall statistics, but is 57 percent, the number of Calaveras children attending preschool, enough?

January 4
Sacramento Bee: Kids' chances for success not great in state
Children born and raised in New York, Nebraska, Minnesota and 30 other states have a better chance of becoming financially successful adults than do those who grow up in California..."It's hard to make the argument anymore that we can just look at K-12 education without considering what happens before children get to the schoolhouse and what happens after they leave," Swanson said.

January 4
Education Week Magazine: Lynn Olson: Paying Attention Earlier On
In his 2006 book Building Blocks: Making Children Successful in the Early Years of School, the author and education observer Gene I. Maeroff argues, “Unprecedented attention to schooling from preschool through 3rd grade offers greater promise for improving outcomes than almost any other step that educators might take.”

January 4
Education Week Magazine: Early Intervention on a Large Scale
Persuasive economic research indicates that there is a far more promising approach to economic development with government assistance. It rests not on an externally oriented strategy of offering subsidies to attract private companies, but rather on government support of those much closer to home—quite literally: our youngest children. This research shows that by investing in early-childhood education, governments—in partnership with private firms and nonprofit foundations—can reap extraordinarily high economic returns, benefits that are low-risk and long-lived.

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