Here are some of the best recent news and opinion pieces written about pre-k. We've identified a few "top picks" that we think you'll find most interesting and informative.

See media coverage on RAND's California Preschool Study.

See coverage from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 or 2002.

Top Picks

May 2
Oakland Tribune: Preschool cuts would be wrong
The faces are so young, so expressive, so eager. There is so much of life to learn when you're 3 and 4, thus there is a great deal to teach them. And preschool is their starting point, an educational launching pad.

April 28
The Bakersfield Californian: New preschool boasts 192 licensed spots
Bakersfield needs preschools. To be specific, Kern County has 24,600 licensed child care spaces but needs to create another 23,000 of them to meet anticipated demand over the next seven years, according to the Kern Local Investment in Child Care Constructing Connections Project, which was created in 1997 to help close the gap between child care supply and demand. So the grand opening of Kreative Kidz Preschool Academy in southwest Bakersfield Monday was greeted with much fanfare.

April 28
Early Ed Watch Blog: Early Education at Risk?
Last week's Nation at Risk anniversary spawned a boatload of commentary on the seminal report's impacts, as well as the continued shortcomings in American public education 25 years later. Thinking about Nation's impacts on early childhood and elementary education can be perplexing. Yet it's undeniable that the standards-based education movement that emerged out of Nation has led to significant reforms in early education--and that early education reforms have actually be more aggressive, and have produced greater results, than have reforms at the high school level Nation's authors originally sought to affect.

April 28
San Mateo Daily Journal: More students learn English as second language
Results of the annual California English Language Development Test showed a growing number of students in California who do not speak English as their first language, according to the California Department of Education. Statewide, the percentage of students scoring at advanced or early advanced increased. In San Mateo County, the number of students tested also increased. A number of programs are offered in the county to help prepare students. The Early Childhood Language Development Institute was established in 2003 as a response to preschool teachers and parents looking for best practices in supporting the language and literacy skills of bilingual preschool children.

April 27
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Slice budget to feed state's neediest first
Gov. Schwarzenegger's idea of fairness is to take the pie and slice it equally, regardless of who needs the slices the most. But is that really fair? Failing to protect education funding in favor of other priorities in the proposed budget is a mistake by the governor. Investment of $1 in primary education yields about $10 in revenue to the state when the student later becomes an employed taxpayer. Focusing on funding the education of our children (who need to learn for their sake and ours), especially during the primary years (pre-kindergarten and kindergarten), is simply good policy.

April 27
Chicago Tribune: Science, Politics and Preschool
A tide of recent research on early childhood development is inspiring prominent scientists and politicians to argue for an unprecedented investment in schooling that begins virtually at birth. But as decades of academic studies on brain development start to land in the real world, experts are divided on whether to focus new funding on infants and toddlers, or conventional preschool. Many now think some policies popular with politicians and the public, such as universal prekindergarten, may fail to reach at-risk kids at a young enough age.

April 23
The Press Enterprise: First 5 commissioner urges bonds to build preschools too
Molly Munger, a First 5 California state commissioner and founder of the Advancement Project Los Angeles, said the Inland region is not accessing all the funding it could be for early-childhood programs because there is a shortage of places to house them. Munger said the Advancement Project is proposing Sacramento lawmakers plan for $1.247 billion in the next school bond to create preschool classrooms in low-performing districts or districts where 78 percent of the children are in free or reduced lunch programs.

April 15
Sacramento Bee: Editorial: Time for Gov. Schwarzenegger to get serious about school data
In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Schwarzenegger said the first priority of his 2008 Year of Education to would be to "fund, link and determine additional data elements" for an ambitious education data system. At the Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger should support SB 1298.

April 14
San Jose Mercury News's Educated Guess Blog: Bringing quality to Pre-K
Two modest recommendations of Superintendent of Instruction Jack O’Connell’s P-16 Council are in bill form. Both pertain to the pre-kindergarten, the “P” in P-16. AB 2579, sponsored by Assemblyman David Jones, D-Sacramento, would consolidate money for state-funded preschool programs. SB 1629, sponsored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would create a preschool quality commission that would set standards for programs educating three and four year olds. Both are supported by children’s advocates, including Preschool California and Children Now.

April 4
San Jose Mercury News: Funding preschool is vital to state's future
By Charles Reed
As chancellor of the California State University system, the nation's largest and most diverse public university system, my job is to help students first succeed in college, and then move successfully into the workforce. The California State University system serves students toward the end of the education pipeline, but I know how important a strong, early start is to get youth ready to learn at every level. The better prepared children are, the better they will succeed in college.

March 28
Voice of San Diego: Tangle of Funds Perplexes Preschool Providers
Unlike kindergarten or elementary school, preschool isn't guaranteed free to parents, despite solid evidence of its importance. Funding is scattershot, split between a handful of state and federal programs, each saddled with their own restrictions and requirements

March 23
Stockton Record: Bill would mine preschool data from wards and inmates
Inmates entering prison and wards entering juvenile halls complete intake questionnaires that survey their medical history, mental health status, family heritage, education and other facets of their background. A bill introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani of Livingston would add two questions to that list: "Did you attend preschool?" and "If yes, for how long?"

March 22
Desert Sun: State needs to bolster its pre-k education
By Catherine Atkin
When an education committee comissioned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released its education reform report last week, the governor talked about how we must "give our kids the future they deserve."

March 19
Education Week: Creating the Best Prekindergartens
By Lawrence J. Schweinhart
State-funded prekindergarten for 4-year-olds has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, with the number of such programs up by 40 percent over the last five years alone. One factor contributing to the growth is strong evidence that early-childhood experience influences the development of the brain’s architecture.

March 15
Sacramento Bee: Governor backs report on education changes
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promoted an education report Friday that recommends $10.5 billion in new programs, including teacher incentive pay and universal preschool for low-income children, even as he said the state faces a "financial disaster."

March 10
Whittier Daily News: Expand support for Head Start
By Senator Dianne Feinstein
One of the best ways to give a low-income child a jump start in life is through the federal Head Start program. Head Start provides some of the nation's most impoverished children with essential skills to get them ready for kindergarten, such as being able to count to 10, recite the alphabet, and recognize shapes and colors.

February 25
Los Angeles Times: A different kind of home schooling
Every year thousands of kindergarten- age children of immigrants like Ocario Gonzalez arrive at schools across Southern California unprepared. Often, both parents work or they have so little education themselves that they are at a loss about how to tutor their children.

February 23
Stockton Record: First 5 facing tough decisions
Over the past roughly eight years, First 5 has distributed millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations, public school systems and other groups that serve children 5 and younger. Its reach has been broad, but the funding it distributes will be scaled back in future years.

February 20
Washington Post: Editorial: Failed Follow-Up
Last year's reauthorization of Head Start was cause for celebration. Congress gave overwhelming, bipartisan support to the successful preschool program, and the president agreed that it should be renewed, even strengthened. Sadly, the celebration was short-lived. It has since become clear that educating this country's poor children gets paid lip service -- not the money that's needed to do the job.

January 31
Monterey Herald: State schools' chief unveils preschool program during visit to Seaside
State schools chief Jack O'Connell visited a Seaside preschool center Wednesday to push his plan to create the country's largest program serving pre-kindergarten students.

January 25
Orange County Register: Are they ready for kindergarten?
Preschool programs have grown in leaps and bounds in the past four decades. In 1965, only about 4 percent of U.S. children were enrolled in preschool. Today in Orange County, nearly half of 4-year-olds are enrolled, and educators are increasingly calling on preschool to be available to everyone.

January 23
Forbes: Commentary on Education Solutions
By U.S. Rep. George Miller
The achievement gaps we see in elementary school and beyond begin before children enter kindergarten--the quality of child care and educational settings in the years preceding matter. Research on early childhood and brain development concludes that the first years of life have a much greater and more lasting impact on children's future growth and learning than we previously understood.

January 23
San Jose Mercury News: Editorial: Schools need bolder leadership
[...] The state must not only consolidate funding for pre-school, as O'Connell urges, but substantially increase it, so that every child heads to kindergarten prepared to learn.

January 19
Merced Sun-Star: Galgiani finds preschoolers can ask tough questions, too
The Q&A session highlighted Galgiani's Friday visit to the southeast Merced preschool, which was the district's attempt to make sure this state official keeps pre-kindergarten programs in mind during upcoming budget wrangling.

January 18
Fresno Bee: Fresno County schools chief backs preschool
"Kids need preschool," Ellison said Friday, "or otherwise they will be lost." That message set the stage for Fresno County schools chief Larry Powell, who wants to give every 4-year-old an opportunity to be in preschool within the next seven years.

January 14
San Jose Mercury News: Op-ed: Schwarzenegger should take real steps toward real education reform in '08
By Ted Lempert
There is one change where immediate action is possible and essential. The linchpin for successful reform is enabling better information and analysis to guide the decisions made by policy-makers and educators. Without it, little meaningful progress can be made. And the work to create such an information system can and must move forward in 2008, even with the budget deficit. It's the requisite first step.

January 11
Los Angeles Times: Study links preschool teachers' stress to student expulsions
Preschool teachers who are highly stressed because of classroom conditions, depression or other factors are far more likely than their colleagues to recommend expulsion for children with behavioral problems, according to a study released Thursday.

January 9
San Jose Mercury News: Op-ed: Even in hard times, governor seeks new ways to improve public schools
By Dave Long, California's secretary of education
The governor's bipartisan Committee on Education Excellence has dedicated the past two years to creating a comprehensive report that details new strategies to promote student achievement through the preschool and K-12 public school system.

January 8
San Jose Mercury News: Editorial: California's kids deserve better
Yet California is failing its children to a frightening degree in almost every important area of their development. The state must find ways to send more kids to preschool, help them become more physically fit and graduate at a substantially higher rate from high school.

January 7
Sacramento Bee: Editorial: Time to make the 'Year of Education' a reality
With school funds poised for big growth, Schwarzenegger has a rare opportunity... Other areas with broad support include expanding preschool and career-technical options (Schwarzenegger's real passion and an area where he could make a difference), addressing teacher quality, reducing dropout rates, dealing with schools and districts that haven't met performance targets for five years in a row.

January 6
San Jose Mercury News: Op-ed: Removing barriers to student success need not break the bank
By Ted Mitchell and Dede Alpert
Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger designated 2008 as the "Year of Education," in which leaders of both parties would work together on a comprehensive plan that would improve California's public schools. As discouraging news about the state's economic and budget crises continues to emerge, it would be tempting to postpone these discussions until our fiscal situation improves... We couldn't disagree more strongly.

January 6
San Jose Mercury News: Editorial: A vision for California schools
Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not yet released the report of his advisory Committee on Education Excellence, copies have been making subterranean rounds in Sacramento... Many of its recommendations, such as creating a system of independent school inspections and universal access to preschool, are spot-on.

January 3
Napa Valley Register: Op-ed: Invest in the future, invest in pre-school
Statistics on the benefits of early child care are overwhelmingly positive with regard to return on investment. According to numerous extensive studies, children who participate in high quality Early Childhood Education programs tend to have higher language and math skills, less need for special or remedial education and higher high school graduation rates.

December 23
USA Today: Pre-school attracts more education dollars
In a growing number of classrooms around the country, 4 is the new 5 and preschool the new kindergarten. Hoping for a future payoff of better schools and sharper students, states are aggressively expanding publicly funded programs to the youngest students — 4 or even 3 years old.

December 13
San Mateo County Times: Report: Fewer dropouts mean fewer crimes
It has long been a common assumption that education helps cut down on crime. A report released today adds some dramatic numbers to that conclusion.

December 11
La Opinión: Opportunity to Address School-readiness Gap
By Antonia Hernández
When Jesus Orozco first attended preschool at the age of three, the odds were stacked against him.  English was not his first language.  He had a mild speech impediment. His parents had an elementary school education.  Having recently immigrated from the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas, his father and mother made ends meet by working as a day laborer and a seamstress.

November 13
California Progress Report: The Moral Imperative to Close California's Achievement Gap
By Jack O’Connell
Friends, I stand before you this morning with a mix of trepidation and excitement. Trepidation because we gather to talk about the most intractable issue facing public education today - the systemic and persistent achievement gap that holds far too many of our students back.

August 9
Wall Street Journal: As States Tackle Poverty, Preschool Gets High Marks
In Washington and statehouses across the country, preschool is moving to the head of the class.  Florida and Oklahoma are among the states that have started providing free preschool for any 4-year-old whose parents want it. Illinois and New York plan to do the same. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to spend $15 billion over five years on universal preschool funding. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls preschool one cure for inequality.


2008

February 22
Weekend Pinnacle: The Power of Preschool
There is more to the average preschool than meets the eye. Finger painting, building with blocks, acting out stories, singing songs, dancing, laughter - even the occasional fighting - are just a few of the activities seen in any good preschool program. Even if that preschool program is taking place in the child's own home.

February 7
Riverside Press-Enterprise: Group hopes to alleviate Inland preschool shortage with new facility
Rapidly growing Riverside County has the fewest licensed care facilities for children of working parents, according to the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates quality child care.

January 30
USA Today: Our view on Early education: Pre-K programs pay off
Oklahoma enjoys a popular image as a state of wildcatters, hardscrabble farmers and rodeo riders. So it might come as something of a surprise to learn that national organizations rate the state as tops in the USA in — preschool.

January 3
Newsweek: An Argument for Preschool
The states are spending more and more money to educate children before they start kindergarten. But one expert warns that not all programs are created equal. [...] Author David Kirp, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, explains the importance of keeping educational quality high for our littlest learners. Kirp spoke with Newsweek's Peg Tyre.

RAND Media Coverage December 11 La Opinión:  Ocasión para mejorar el éxito escolar [Opportunity to Address School-readiness Gap] By Antonia Hernández Cuando Jesús Orozco primero asistió al programa preescolar a los 3 años, las probabilidades de salir adelante eran limitadas... Hoy día, Jesús no sólo terminó el kinder, la primaria, y la preparatoria, sino que también sobresalió académicamente. Jesús Orozco, ahora de 25 años, representa una excepción a la regla de un segmento de la población que estudios indican que siguen atrasados en las capacidades escolares. Estas investigaciones revelan que niños que no participan en programas preescolares son más probables de entrar al kinder sin la preparación adecuada. [When Jesus Orozco first attended preschool at the age of three, the odds were stacked against him... Mr. Orozco not only went on to kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school, but he also excelled academically. The 25-year-old Mr. Orozco represents an exception to the rule among a segment of the population that studies have shown lag behind in school-readiness skills necessary for kindergarten.] November 25 Ventura County Star: Pre-K will help close achievement gap By Charles Weis, Ventura County superintendent of schools The California Preschool Study recently released by the RAND Corp. shows that the achievement gap starts before children ever arrive at the kindergarten door. This report reflects growing recognition that the vast differences in achievement actually start with a readiness gap that is evident in the earliest days of kindergarten. November 24 Merced Sun-Star: Kids should learn early and often By Lee Andersen and Catherine Atkin Quality preschool programs for children from groups at highest risk for academic failure are a key to the continued improvement of student achievement and indeed, the economy of Merced County. Recent development of preschool programs by our school districts and the Merced County Office of Education, plus results from studies just released by the RAND Corporation, support this conclusion. November 20 Whittier Daily News: Building for Future Kindergartners who aren't ready for school often still lag behind the pack in later years - and even though a quality preschool program could fix this, California's early education system isn't yet set up to do it. November 13 San Mateo County Times: State education summit to tackle achievement gap A two-day conference starting today in Sacramento will bring together education leaders, academic experts, policymakers and others across the country in a concerted campaign to identify strategies to ultimately close that gap. On Wednesday, San Mateo County Superintendent Jean Holbrook will serve as a moderator on a panel of speakers exploring how preschool programs can help tackle the problem portrayed by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell as a major crisis. The workshop moderated by Holbrook will go over the findings released last week by the RAND Corp. New America Media: California Needs Quality Preschool, Says RAND Study “When I see a child come into my classroom I can tell almost immediately if they’ve had a quality pre-school experience,” says kindergarten teacher Ernest Boyd. Boyd’s experiences align with the findings of two RAND studies released on Nov. 8. November 12 Merced Sun-Star: Study shows California kindergartners falling behind Kindergarten is no blank slate. A study released this week reports that many California students -- even on that very first day of class -- are already well behind their peers academically. November 11 Univision (Sacramento): Video Clip (wmv) En Espanol. California Progress Report: New Research: California’s School Readiness Gap and the Promise of Effective Pre-Kindergarten Programs By Catherine Atkin, president of Preschool California New research released by the RAND Corporation this week makes the case for effective pre-kindergarten even stronger. Oakland Tribune: Preschool helps kids who need nurturing Many of the toddlers and young children who are dropped off every day at St. Vincent's Day Home come from backgrounds that, statistically, don't bode well for their future. RAND Corp. studies released last week found that the academic disparities between poor, black and Latino children and their more affluent, white and Asian peers exist the moment they start school. November 9 Sacramento Bee: Starting early to fix achievement gap By Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction Recently released RAND research shows that the achievement gap begins at the starting gate, when kids who have not attended preschool first enter their kindergarten classrooms without knowing their letters, sounds, shapes, colors or numbers. November 8 KFBK (Sacramento): Radio Clip (mp3) Monterey Herald: Behind from the Start A study of preschool education in California indicates that early learning difficulties can be precursors to struggles in the primary grades, and suggests that effective preschool programs can shrink the achievement gap. Stockton Record: Study: Some S.J. preschoolers behind on academic, social skills Roughly 10,000 children began kindergarten at public schools across San Joaquin County this year, and research being released today suggests that many of them - black and Latino children, especially - might have started school missing some of the early academic and social skills their peers already had mastered. Furthermore, they might not have had access to programs that could better prepare them. New America Media: The Preschool Investment Really Pays Off Says Study A RAND Corporation study released today confirms what David Kirp, professor of public policy at the Univ. of California, Berkeley already knows. Children who attend preschool do better than those who don’t, when they enter school, and the study notes, the effect is long lasting.

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