Sharing
Web Resources 2
This
week I took a closer look at the website for the National Institute for Early Educational
Research. (www.nieer.org) I like the way the home page is set up. On the left there are “buttons” to click on
to access 12 different categories of research.
On the right there are links to the latest news events.
The News article I chose to focus on
was “Senate’s effort to rewrite NCLB sparks cautious optimism”. The No Child Left Behind act of 2002 has been
criticized for penalizing schools who do not ensure all children are proficient
in math and reading by 2014. Senator
Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have written what is being
called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015.
The new proposed legislation maintains the Obama administration priority
of maintaining annual standardized testing to track schools’
effectiveness. However, it also reduces
the federal role in education, allowing states to invest in what works with
their unique populations of students. I
share the optimism that this act would be beneficial in allowing states and
individual communities to address the inequities found in their areas and
create programs to address their unique challenges.
Since
one of our topics this week is inequity of access, I clicked on the “access”
button under the list of research topics.
I found an article called “Trends in state funded preschool programs:
Survey findings from 2001-2002 to 2011-2012.” It contains the following
statement: This policy report, co-released by the National Institute
for Early Education Research (NIEER) and the Center on Enhancing Early Learning
Outcomes (CEELO), discusses trends in enrollment, funding, and quality
standards, as well as English Language Learner and Special Education students,
in state-funded pre-K between 2001-2002 and 2011-2012.
NIEER
has tracked the policies of state-funded preschool programs through its State
Preschool Yearbook from the 2001-2002 through the 2011-2012
school year. The Yearbook has collected information on
enrollment, funding, and quality standards, as well as enrollment
of English Language Learners and Special Education students in
state-funded pre-K.
Key
findings from the report:
- Enrollment
increased dramatically for 4-year-olds over the decade, but funding did
not keep pace. State expenditure per child fell by more than $1,100,
adjusting for inflation.
- Variability
across the states is extreme. Ten states do not fund pre-K. Among those
that do fund pre-K, enrollment, standards, and funding differ
dramatically. Without federal action these interstate inequalities are
likely to persist.
- States have
far less detailed data available to inform policy regarding their
preschool programs and the children they serve than they do for K-12
education. For example, many states cannot report total funding for
programs, including the contributions of the local schools, or breakdown
enrollment by ethnicity, home language, or family income.
This
report also provides recommendations for the next decade of state-funded pre-K
development. (Barnett, 2015)
There is a plethora
of information on the NIEER website. I
look forward to spending many more hours accessing this website. I also signed up for a newsletter and hope to
receive it soon.
References
Barnett,
W.S. & Carolan, M.E. (2015) Trends in state funded preschool programs: Survey findings from 2001-2002 to
2011-2012. Retrieved from
http://nieer.org/research/access?page=1.
Brown, E. (2015) Senate’s effort
to rewrite NCLB sparks cautious optimism. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/news-events/early-education-news/senate’s-effort-rewrite-nclb-sparks-cautious-optimism
on April 8, 2015.