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NPR--Pre-K: Decades Worth Of Studies, One Strong Message
Some of the nation's top researchers who've spent their careers studying early childhood education recently got together in Washington with one goal in mind: to cut through the fog of studies and the endless debates over the benefits of preschool.
They came away with one clear, strong message: Kids who attend public preschool programs are better prepared for kindergarten than kids who don't.
The findings come in a report "The Current State of Scientific Knowledge on Pre-Kindergarten Effects," and the authors include big names from the early childhood world: Deborah Phillips of Georgetown University, Mark W. Lipsey of Vanderbilt, Kenneth Dodge of Duke, Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution and others.
It lays out the current state of preschool education in the U.S. and what research can tell us about what works and what doesn't.
Claudio Sanchez| May 3, 20176:00 AM ET
Education Week--Health Care Bill's Changes to Medicaid Alarm School Advocacy Groups
The American Health Care Act, which passed the House Thursday, makes changes to Medicaid spending that has some education organizations up in arms.
As we reported in March on an earlier version of the AHCA, the change to health care law bases state allocations of Medicaid money in part on how many people are in particular populations. Supporters of the change see it as way for states to be more creative with how they use dollars for Medicaid. But groups such as the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, the National School Boards Association, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, and the two national teachers' unions are saying the bill would harm children.
Schools get about $4 billion annually in Medicaid money, making it the third-largest federal program of any kind for K-12. Much of that money is used for special education in schools, and covers a wide variety of services.
In a letter sent Tuesday about the legislation, the groups urged lawmakers to reject the latest AHCA bill because of the potential cuts to health services and noncompliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, among other issues.
By Andrew Ujifusa on May 4, 2017 2:06 PM
