School boards and pre-k
Center for Public Education: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
Easy-to-access research, information and resources for engaging communities around pre-K. Sign up for the monthly e-newsletter, Pre-K Primer, to learn what states and communities are doing to expand access to high-quality pre-k: http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/site/c.kjJXJ5MPIwE/b.2486987/k.9607/PreKindergarten.htm.
Contact Patte Barth at pbarth@nsba.org.
NSBA’s Pre-K Legislative Committee: http://www.nsba.org/prekcommittee
A committee of school board members who advocate to expand access and improve the quality of voluntary pre-k programs through federal action.
Contact Chrisanne Gayl at cgayl@nsba.org.
Kansas Association of School Boards: www.kasb.org
Read what Kansas communities had to say about pre-k: http://www.kasb.org/forums%20data.pdf
Contact Jim Edwards at jedwards@kasb.org
Ohio School Boards Association: www.osba-ohio.org
Download OSBA’s Resource Kit on Understanding the value of high-quality pre-k: http://www.osba-ohio.org/Files/SALTkit14.pdf
Contact Scott Ebright at s_ebright@osba-ohio.org, or Donna Williams at d_williams@osba-ohio.org.
Texas Association of School Boards: www.tasb.org
Download TASB’s side-by-side comparison of early childhood programs in Texas: http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/site/c.kjJXJ5MPIwE/b.2486987/k.9607/PreKindergarten.htm
Contact Janice Esau at Janice.Esau@tasb.org.
Organizations
The Pew Charitable Trusts: www.pewtrusts.org
The Pew Trusts are a major force in support of universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds. The Pew web site has information about its Pre-K Initiative along with media resources, fact sheets and other content related to pre-K. Includes links to Pew grantees: http://www.pewtrusts.org/ideas/index.cfm?issue=26
Pre-K Now: www.preknow.org
Pre-K Now is a national advocacy organization that promotes high-quality pre-K education for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Their work is focused primarily on state policy. Their site has a lot of good resources for state advocates, including reports, fact sheets, public opinion polls, and materials that can be downloaded.;
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER): www.nieer.org
Based at Rutgers University, NIEER provides comprehensive research, information and analysis about pre-K. In addition to useful publications and communication tools, NIEER publishes a state-by-state yearbook on the state of pre-K across the country: http://nieer.org/yearbook/. NIEER also offers a useful e-newsletter to anyone who signs up.
Committee for Economic Development (CED): www.ced.org
CED has several publications aimed at the business community that make the case for effective pre-K programs.
Council for Chief State School Officers: www.ccsso.org/Projects/early_childhood_and_family_education/Projects
CCSSO has several initiatives dedicated to improving early education access and quality. This site is a rich source of presentations, data, organizations and other resources with a state focus.
The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Kindergarten.asp
An ongoing study through the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) is tracking the school experiences of a representative sample of children from kindergarten through middle school. NCES has also followed a birth cohort from 9 months to 2 years of age. Neither survey picks up 3- and 4-year-olds, but there’s still interesting information about school readiness.
Foundation for Child Development: http://www.fcd-us.org/work/
The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) is a national, private philanthropy focused on children and families. One of its four main initiatives is PK-3: A New Beginning for Publicly Supported Education, which promotes a universally available pre-k program for 3- and 4-year- olds aligned to K-12 standards.
National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics: www.ecehispanic.org
The National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics is a non-profit center based at Arizona State University. A good resource for publications, data, research, and policy analysis about Spanish-speaking children from birth through the primary grades. Materials are available in both English and Spanish.
Publications, articles and other resources
Accountability
Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality, The report of the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force, 2007. Recommendations for evaluating publicly funded early education programs.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Pre-k_education/task_force_report1.pdf
Collaboration
The Iowa School Boards Foundation (ISBF) developed an online Preschool Program Collaboration Toolkit to help school boards expand high-quality pre-k availability in their districts. Although the material is specifically intended for Iowa school districts, there are some lessons and tools that can help school boards more generally.
http://www.ia-sb.org/EarlyChildhood.aspx
Economic benefits
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universally-Accessible Pre-Kindergarten Education in Texas, The Bush School of Government & public Service, Texas A&M University. A thorough analysis of what high-quality pre-k in Texas will cost compared to the benefits it will produce. http://bush.tamu.edu/research/capstones/mpsa/projects/TECEC2006/ACostBenefitAnalysisofHigh-QualityUniversally-AccessiblePre-KindergartenEducationinTexas.pdf
The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool: Using Early Education to Improve Economic Growth and the Fiscal Sustainability of the States and the Nation. Committee for Economic Development. http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_prek_econpromise.pdf
The Fiscal Impacts of Universal Pre-K: Case Study Analysis for Three States (Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Ohio). Committee for Economic Development. http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_ivk_belfield2005.pdf
Educational benefits
The Effects of State Prekindergarten Programs on Young Children's School Readiness in Five States. NIEER. This study looks at the effects of state-funded programs in Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia. http://nieer.org/docs/?DocID=129
The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development. Gormley, W.T., Gayer, T., Phillips, D., & Dawson, B. Another study of Oklahoma’s pre-K program. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/dev416872.pdf
Funding Pre-K programs
Financing Public Preschool Programs: Current Practices and Future Possibilities. CED. http://www.ced.org/docs/prek_brief_200611.pdf
Missed Opportunities? The Possibilities and Challenges of Funding High-Quality Preschool through Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act. Center for Law and Social Policy. http://www.clasp.org/publications/missed_opp.pdf
English learners and children of immigrants
Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future. Pre-K Now, July 2006.; This report explores the specific benefits of high-quality, pre-k programs to the country’s fastest growing student population. http://www.preknow.org/documents/Pre-KandLatinos_July2006.pdf.
Executive Summary, in Spanish: http://www.preknow.org/documents/exec_Pre-KandLatinos_July2006_sp.pdf.
Reaching All Children? Understanding Early Care and Education Participation Among Immigrant Families. Center for Law and Social Policy, January 2006. Features valuable state and national demographic data about the families coming to this country and their access to early care. http://www.clasp.org/publications/child_care_immigrant.pdf
Prekinder. Resources for Spanish-speaking parents. www.prekinder.org
State legislation
Early care and education legislation database. A web-based, easily searchable database developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures provides information on 2008 early care and education bills that have been introduced and enacted in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. http://www.ncsl.org/programs/cyf/ECELD.cfm
Teacher quality
Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher Qualifications. W. Steven Barnett, NIEER, December 2004. An overview of the teacher effectiveness research for pre-K. http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/2.pdf
Preschool is School, Sometimes: Making early childhood education matter. Robert Pianta, National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education, University of Virginia. Education Next, 2007. Pianta discusses the range of classroom experiences provided 4000 young children, and argues for the importance of professional development and training to assure teacher quality. For more, go to: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/4612287.html
Other
Ready Schools. The National Education Goals Panel (NEGP), 1998. What makes elementary schools ready for children? Prominent educators recommend 10 keys to a ready school that will be of interest to all elementary schools, preschools, and communities. http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/Reports/readysch.pdf (Note: for a list of, and links to, archived documents from the NEGP, visit http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/page9-3.htm.)
