Importance of community partnerships to support school readiness goals

The central message that we heard from those who served on the Prichard Committee’s Achievement Gap study group was that it will take everyone working toward the same goal to achieve educational excellence for each and every child. 

Today, we have welcome news that at the national level, trends toward growing educational inequality show signs of reversing - with a hat tip to the broad array of leaders across business, health, faith, community organizations, government, and schools who have worked together to emphasize the importance of the earliest years of a child's life.

Sean Reardon and Ximina A. Portilla have found evidence from three nationally representative samples of incoming kindergartners that between 1998 and 2010, school readiness improved for children overall, with low-income children beginning to catch up with their higher-income peers.


This research should reinforce our resolve to work together to spread the message and ensure each child has the opportunities they need for a strong start in life. 

Communities across Kentucky are now resolving to build capacity for greater collaboration and partnership. 

The Preschool Partnership Grants authorized in the 2017-18 biennial budget are an important opportunity for Kentucky communities and school districts to build partnerships to work toward their school readiness goals. The state agency partners that worked together to design the grant program were right to do so in a way that meets communities where they are – encouraging all communities to apply for planning grants (Tier 1) or implementation grants (Tier 2) for those that are farther along.

Thanks to this grant program, school districts, child care providers, and other partners will have specific support to build capacity to serve more low-income 4-year olds in high-quality, full-day settings that provide the best foundation for school readiness and support for working families.

The 2014 General Assembly increased the eligibility for public preschool from 150% to 160% of the federal poverty level beginning in fiscal year 2016, providing an extra $18 million to cover expected enrollment increases. Across Kentucky, however, preschool enrollment of low-income 4-year olds declined from 9,338 to 9,201 between December 2014 and December 2015. Partnerships between school districts and child care centers will help boost enrollment and strengthen Kentucky’s early childhood care and education system from birth through preschool across all areas of the Commonwealth.

Many states across the nation, including states such as North Carolina with many rural districts, have long had “mixed delivery” models to deliver preschool with public funds in both school districts and child care settings. Several states, such as Oregon and Virginia, are now rolling out system that encourage or require this approach. One of the major reasons they have taken a mixed delivery approach is to maintain the viability of child care centers, which provide such essential care and education for infants and toddlers and working families.

While Kentucky policymakers did not choose a mixed delivery approach for its preschool program, the Prichard Committee’s Strong Start Kentucky coalition has long recognized the need to encourage voluntary collaborative models across school districts and child care to ensure both sectors remain strong, particularly in rural areas where child care options are the most limited.

In April 2015, in partnership with Metro United Way, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Kentucky Youth Advocates Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children, the Kentucky Head Start Association, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Stars for Kids Now, we released a brief, Pre-K Collaboration in Kentucky: Maximizing Resources for Kindergarten Readiness, that detailed examples of models underway now in Kentucky. Several partnerships in rural areas have been pioneers in working together to better serve young children:

• Christian County - Hopkinsville Lets Go Play Academy and Christian County Schools. The school district sends a preschool certified teacher to the child care center to provide preschool services. The center provides the classroom assistant.
• Perry County - New Beginnings Learning Center (NBLC) partners with Hazard/Perry County Schools. The center offers Head Start, state funded preschool and private high-quality child care in a fully blended classroom. Children receive a full-day program with wraparound services to meet families’ needs. The preschool teacher is paid half by the school system and half by New Beginnings.
• Henderson County - Henderson County School District, Audubon Head Start and Henderson Child Development Center. The school district has twelve preschool classrooms providing a half-day program. The child development center is onsite to provide wraparound services and extend the school day.

The Preschool Partnership grant program is designed to help more districts and communities plan to take these steps or to enhance current partnerships.

Of all the stretches of road on a child’s educational journey, those that the child travels in her earliest years are those that often take the most coordination to get her where she needs to go next. We are encouraged by the courageous partnerships across the state and look forward to learning from their efforts. 

 *Note - we have edited this post to clarify that the research draws on a nationally-representative sample of incoming kindergarteners, and to focus on one study cited in the New York Times article which identified reduction of school readiness gaps based on family income. 

Forward Progress for Early Childhood

| by Brigitte Blom Ramsey, Executive Director |

The 2016 session of the Kentucky General Assembly proved to be an unexpected win for progress and innovation in early childhood.

Given the state’s significant state fiscal challenges, the session began with little hope for increasing the state’s investment in our youngest learners, and with a lot of questions about the continued support for the Commonwealth’s commitment to quality early childhood.

Nonetheless, early childhood advocates proposed key measures to help maintain the state’s momentum:

• Align public preschool eligibility and child care assistance eligibility to the same Federal poverty level (FPL) and incrementally increase eligibility for both programs to 200% of FPL. Current preschool eligibility is 160% of FPL 
• Current child care assistance eligibility is 150% of the 2011 FPL 
• Incentivize collaboration between public preschool and private child care to increase participation in preschool and serve children in environments that best suit their needs.

In the end, the final budget approved by the Governor and General Assembly included significant progress – maintaining and increasing the state’s investment while also providing for innovations to build capacity and strengthen the system:

• Increased child care assistance eligibility to 160% of current FPL, bringing it into alignment with the eligibility level for public preschool 
• Maintained the full $90 million for preschool and maintained eligibility at 160% of FPL 
• From the $90 million for preschool, carved out a set aside of $7.5 million in each year of the biennium to establish an incentive grant for local collaborations between school districts and private child care providers to increase participation in preschool. Statewide, enrollment has dropped significantly since 2010.

Source: Kentucky Department of Education Staff Note, June 2015

We are thrilled to see the incentive grant program for early childhood partnerships in the budget. This is a testament to the state’s commitment to innovation and partnership in early childhood. It will be important for Kentucky to make the most of this unique opportunity by building evidence of success by serving more young learners, increasing school readiness, and improving efficiency of programs.

The budget language calls on the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to administer the incentive grant program. It requires KDE to work with the Kentucky Board of Education, Early Childhood Advisory Council, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Child Care Advisory Council to design the program requirements. The next few months will be a pivotal time for these state agencies and advisory groups, as well as for school districts and child care providers to identify ways that they can partner to better serve young learners in full-day programs.

Why is it so important for school districts and child care providers to work together?

• Increasing access to quality preschool programs helps increase kindergarten readiness and early success in school.
• Public preschool should be increased in a way that does not crowd out private child care.
• Public-private partnerships bring diversity into the system that helps build the state’s capacity to serve more children with high-quality services that meet families’ needs.
• Partnerships between the public and private sectors encourage efficient and effective use of resources.

The idea of partnerships is not new in Kentucky.

• In April 2015, in partnership with Metro United Way, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Kentucky Youth Advocates Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children, the Kentucky Head Start Association, the Kentucky Department of Education, the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Stars for Kids Now, we released a brief that detailed the benefits of partnerships and examples of models underway now in Kentucky.
• In January 2016, the Early Childhood Study Group report recommended partnerships as a way to strengthen school readiness and ensure a stronger system for children from birth through third grade.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, comments, or ideas about effective partnerships between school districts and child care providers. We will continue to keep you informed as we learn more about this unique opportunity for Kentucky’s young learners.

Beneficial Returns to Public Investment in All Levels of Education (UK Research)

| by Perry Papka, Senior Policy Director |

Recent research published by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the University of Kentucky highlights that public investment in all levels of education – early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary - yields significant beneficial returns to both students and society.  This information provides important data supporting continued strategic investment across the spectrum of the state’s public education system.

Early Childhood – Returns $5 for every $1 invested

Cost-benefit analyses conducted by the CBER in 2009 estimated that investment by Kentucky in expanded early childhood education would yield a return of $5 in public and private benefits for every $1 of public investment. The research also noted additional benefits beyond the financial return-on-investment such as: reduced need for special education, higher rates of educational attainment, reduction in health costs, reduction in the incidence of crime, and less demand for social welfare services.

With only 50% of Kentucky's children arriving in kindergarten ready for early success (see Figure 3 below), greater effort is needed to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to succeed.  CBER’s research reinforces the fact that investments in high quality early childhood education and care programs for at-risk children is not only a solution for reducing achievement gaps and improving academic performance, but pays long-term dividends to society as a whole.  
 

Source: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. Progress and Next Steps for Early Childhood in Kentucky: Birth through Third Grade (January 2016)

K-12 – Kentucky Schools Perform Better than Expected Given Challenges Faced

Earlier this month, CBER released a new issue brief highlighting Kentucky’s progress in education over the last 25 years. The research shows that across twelve broad measures of educational attainment and achievement, Kentucky ranks the same or higher than 34 other states and lower than only 15 – a far cry from very near the bottom in 1990. 

Moreover, while acknowledging that work remains to reach the achievement goals Kentucky has set for students and schools, the data shows that Kentucky is one of only eight states (see map in Figure 2 below) whose academic performance – as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – for every $1,000 in per pupil investment is better than to be expected given other obstacles students face such as poor health, poverty, disabilities or parents with low educational attainment. 

The bottom line is that Kentucky’s schools are cost-effective in providing a strong return-on-investment given significant demographic challenges facing many Kentucky communities. 

Source: Childress, Michael. Kentucky’s Educational Performance & Points of Leverage (January 2016) Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Kentucky.



Postsecondary – Higher Education has Significant Pay-Off for Individuals and the State
In October of 2015, CBER released a series of seven issue briefs highlighting the dynamic effects of educational attainment on Kentucky’s economy. Noting concern that Kentucky’s postsecondary educational attainment is lower than the national average, the research examined the effects raising attainment levels to the national average across seven key outcomes: income/earnings, employment, state income taxes, Medicaid costs and participation, health, crime, and participation in the federal SSI and SNAP programs. 

Not surprisingly, the analysis found that greater educational attainment leads not only to better employment outcomes, higher earnings and more tax revenue, but also lower crime, less chronic disease, and lower demand for public service programs. While these positive outcomes might have been expected in the state’s urban centers, the research showed similar effects to education across rural regions of the Commonwealth as well (see figure 1 below).

Source: Bollinger, Chris. Education Pays Everywhere! (September 2015) Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Kentucky.



CBER’s findings also estimate that raising Kentucky’s educational attainment level to the national average would generate $903 million annually in new tax revenue and cost savings.  Specifically, the state would realize approximately $500 million in additional income tax receipts, $200 million in Medicaid cost savings, $200 million in other healthcare cost savings, and $3 million in crime-related cost savings. 

Conclusion

Kentucky’s long-term success in continuing progress in student achievement, ensuring a dynamic, talented workforce, and developing thriving communities will be made stronger through increased investment that recognizes our educational system as a seamless web of opportunity for all citizens. The recent findings by the University of Kentucky’s Center for Business and Economic Research reinforce this notion and offer important reminders that the smart money is on public investment in a high-quality educational system – from early childhood through postsecondary – which is certain to yield significant returns to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

How People Learn: More on Synapse Development

Last week's post on synapse development drew a comment with questions:

I wonder what the research shows for different age groups, and if the results vary, regarding synapse development. I wonder how long synapse development continues!

From How People Learn, here's some background on those issues.

There are two different patterns to how we develop synaptic connections.

In one process, "synapses are overproduced and then selectively lost." That process is especially in early development, and the time it takes varies depending on the part of the brain, " from 2 to 3 years in the human visual cortex to 8 to 10 years in some parts of the frontal cortex."

The other process lasts all  the way through life, and involves adding new synapses as one adds experiences.

Noting the two different processes seems to fit the simultaneous ideas that the early years especially important and yet learning is a lifelong process.

Past and Future of Home Visiting (From the Pew Summit)

Liza Holland, a consultant working with the Prichard Committee, shares this post:

At the recent Pew Quality in Home Visiting Summit 2015, Deb Daro, a Chapin Hall Senior Research Fellow at the University of Chicago, shared a brief history of home visiting, along with thoughts on next steps to strengthen this highly effective strategy for early childhood support services.

Home visiting as a means of providing support to parents has it roots in rural history, harkening back to Mary Breckinridge out on a horse in Kentucky at the turn of the 20th century doing home visiting. Building on a long tradition, in the early 1980’s, states began to implement government-supported programs targeting a variety of intervention strategies. This decade saw the development of a wide array of models across the US.

In the 1990’s, there was a trend towards new national models, which could be replicated, and a need for real data to support outcomes. This time period saw an impressive expansion in home visiting, but a growing friction among the various models being implemented.

The first decades of the 2000s brought a spirit of collaboration, and a focus on high quality evidence for policy and practice decisions. The Pew campaign began and allowed true discussion at a national level. Advocates began to initiate efforts for broad federal policy in this area. After the introduction of a few bills that did not get anywhere, the Obama administration included home visiting in the 2010 agenda, eventually leading to the inclusion of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) in the Affordable Care Act.

The MIECHV program was set up as a state and federal partnership and brought several key innovations, including supporting replication of evidence based programs. it required a shared management plan, emphasized improved home visiting quality, and focused the field on outcomes and benchmarks. MIECHV funding allowed states to vastly expand their infrastructure and take proven programs to scale in their states.

Today, Daro shares some concerns for the field. She feels we may be pushing Home Visiting as a solution to everything. Although a quality strategy, it will not solve all of societies complex problems. She is concerned about the field loosing focus and experiencing a bit of mission drift. She worries we are using data for accountability rather than learning. This is still a fairly young field and we need to keep exploring the best options for delivery. And finally, we may be too focused on federal funding – “The cake is the state level - fed is the icing”, said Daro.

Going forward, we need to keep making basic improvements in the revision of benchmarks and continue with the Pew Data work. We need to expand learning opportunities and support new research findings. Daro would like to see improvements in MIECHV dynamic elements and greater collaboration. She supports more critical thinking and better balance. We need to dispel the myth that only some families need help. EVERYBODY needs help with parenting.

Overall, would like to see the same investment into entrance to life as we do for exit (aged services).

Daro’s walk through history was a rousing kickoff to 2 days of learning, networking and collaboration around home visiting issues, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew has had a significant impact on the home visiting field since the campaign initiated. Working in the areas of public advocacy, having developed a model policy framework, research and information sharing, Pew has been a true leader in the development of home visiting nationally.

Pew chose to work with Kentucky as one of their key states to ensure that legislation was enacted to ensure support of a continuing, quality home visiting program in Kentucky's HANDS initiative.

Kentucky State Preschool Rankings

Kentucky just received some strong rankings for our state preschool efforts, placing us...

17th in percent of 4-year-olds enrolled in state prekindergarten, with 30% of 4-year-olds enrolled in our state-funded program

10th in percent of 3-year-olds enrolled in state kindergarten, with 7.4% of that age group enrolled in the state program

30th in  resources based on state spending of $3,469 per enrolled child

11th in resources based on all reported spending, which totals $6,818 per enrolled child

Those rankings and numbers come from The State of Preschool 2013-14, just released by the National Institute for Early Education Research, which also credited Kentucky's state program with meeting...

9 of 10 state pre-k quality standards, missing only the one that calls for assistant teachers to have child development associate or equivalent credentials.

Do note that the participation rates above are just for the state program. Adding in federal Head Start, the report shows 17% of three-year-olds and 46% of four-year-olds in Kentucky benefit from publicly supported programs.

It's also worth noting some uncomfortable one-year changes shown in the report. In 2013-14, Kentucky state preschool enrolled 90 fewer three-year-olds and 169 fewer four-year-olds than in 2012-13.  In the same period, state funding did not keep up with inflation, so that preschool buying power went down $186  per enrolled child.

However, there is good reason to expect those trends to turn around in 2015-16, when the state budget will add nearly $19 million in funding, estimated to be enough to allow another 5,000 children to participate in our state preschool program.

Those results show Kentucky doing better than most states, definitely a cause for a moment of genuine pride in our investment in the futures of these young Kentuckians.

Community Collaboration – A New Model to Expand Preschool

This week, we released a new brief on collaborative partnerships for preschool designed to provide high-quality, cost-effective early childhood programming. Such collaborations between school systems, private childcare and Head Start typically combine half-day preschool and wraparound quality child care in a single location. The goal is to provide full-day learning experiences for children – and peace of mind for parents.

The report, entitled “Pre-K Collaboration in Kentucky: Maximizing Resources for Kindergarten Readiness,” provides details about elements of successful collaborations. The programs are maximizing such resources as public preschool and child care funding, the U.S. Department of Agriculture meals program and sometimes philanthropic dollars.

States around the country encourage and require collaborative models because they are good for children and families, maximize local resources and help strengthen the child care provider community. Kentucky has an increasing number of these “new models of preschool” and as preschool eligibility expands we hope to see even more local collaboration.

Collaboration can be tricky and it requires thought and conversation among local leaders to figure out what will work best in a given community. But, the benefits can accrue to all parties, making collaboration a win-win for all – especially children.

Benefits of Collaboration:

• Children – collaboration increases the continuity, quality of care and instruction for children by providing access to high-quality, day-long and even year-round settings. It also avoids disruptive transitions for children during the day - from home to child care to preschool to child care and back home.
• Parents – co-locating child care and preschool helps parents avoid the difficulty of arranging child care before or after preschool classes. It eliminates the need to transport kids from one place to another which allows for more quality instruction time. When located at a child care center, parents typically have more interaction with child care staff which can be beneficial for parent-child-caregiver relations and child outcomes.
• Schools – collaboration saves money by decreasing the need to construct new classrooms (approx. $250,000) or retrofitting space (approx. $80,000) and can also decrease transportation costs with mid-day routes.
• Child care – collaboration can be important for the sustainability of child care in a community. As preschool eligibility expands, children may leave child care to attend preschool instead. This can create a financial problem for child care centers as caring for 4-year olds helps defray the higher costs of caring for infants and toddlers. Over time, expansion of preschool could cause child care centers to cut back or close leaving parents with fewer or no child care options.

We hope the new brief will be a good resource for local leaders to begin to think about the role of collaboration in their community and how they might begin to develop collaborative models that support our youngsters’ early learning and development.

--Posted by Brigitte Blom Ramsey

2015 Early Childhood Profile

The annual Early Childhood Profiles provide a wealth of information about enrollment in state preschool and Head Start programs, child care quality and availability, kindergarten readiness, and other issues, and the 2015 editions for each county in the state are new this week from the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics.

There's so much to see here, so I'll share just one thing I looked at.  I tried looking at the number of three-and-four-year-olds participating in state preschool and the federal Head Start program, and figuring out how many other kids were in that age group.  Statewide, that gave me a picture like this:

The number shown for "At Home or In Private Settings" is just the result of subtracting the other numbers from the 110,238 reported children ages three and four statewide.

It was uncomfortable to see so many children not in either program, so I also tried estimating what's happening just with the children who are now four.  We only offer preschool and Head Start based on low family income to the fours, so I think this is a probably a good illustration of what's happening for that older half of the group:

This second picture suggests that most, but not all kids have some school-type experience before they start kindergarten.  It makes me curious about how many Kentucky kids attend private preschools, and also about ho2 child care experience compares as a preparation for beginning school: my starting guess is that the kids would be used to being with a non-parent and used to some group activities, but maybe not as familiar with learning-oriented activities and paying attention, and I'd love to learn from the folks who actually work with the kids as they begin their kindergarten year.

Take a look and see what you see in the state or your own county's Early Childhood Profile. Is there something you're pleased to see? Concerned to see? Curious to learn more about?  Please do share in the comments if something catches your eye.

-Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

2015 Quality Counts: Results for Kentucky

The 2015 Quality Counts report is out from EdWeek, using a new approach to grading Kentucky, the 49 other states, and the District of Columbia.

In three categories, we can still compare grades from 2013.  Quality Counts now grades Kentucky:

• C on Chance of Success, the same as 2013, while moving up from 38th to 35th.
• C on Equity and Spending, up from a C- in 2013, while moving up from 34th to 26th.
• C- on K-12 Achievement, the same as 2013, while moving down from 13th to 19th.

On one new category, Quality Counts grades us:

• C- on Early Childhood, with a rank of 26th. 

Quality Counts no longer gives grades on three kinds of state policy choices:

• Transitions and Alignment, on which Kentucky had a 2013 grade of A and ranked 4th.
• Standards, Assessments, and Accountability, where we had an A- and ranked 20th.
• Teaching Profession, where we had a B- and ranked 5th. 

Combining all those changes, Quality Counts now grades our state:

• C as an overall grade, down from a B-, with our rank dropping from 10th to 29th.

So, we do have a drop in grade and rank, driven by the elimination of policy commitments as a source of grades.  Those grades were about our state-level willingness to commit to big changes, but not about whether those commitments were altering what really happens for students. EdWeek used to give us credit for effort, and it seems pretty reasonable that they're now looking at what our efforts produce.

Opinion: Quality Counts 2015 ends up saying that Kentucky education is producing:

• Stronger results (19th in K-12 Achievement)
• With ordinary resources (26th in Early Childhood and in Equity and Spending)
• For students who face deeper challenges than those in most other states (35th in Chance for Success)

On balance, I think we should all pause and be pleased with these results for a full 90 seconds before we get back to work on moving our kids to the higher levels we know they can attain.

A bornlearning boom

The bornlearning strategy for early childhood parental education is growing fast across Kentucky, both in its work with families and its visibility in statewide media.  From articles appearing just this week....

From Prichard Perspectives: 

The bornlearning academies are school-based workshops. Across six sessions, parents of young children up to age five engage in hands-on activities and discussion about what it means to be ready for kindergarten and learning strategies they can use to maximize their child’s early learning and development.

From the News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown:

“It’s about learning about the opportunities that are in your every day environment that you might just miss,” said North Park Principal Beth Brandenburg. “Parents are so busy when they come home with dinner or getting everyone cleaned and to bed that they aren’t thinking that it’s a great learning opportunity. It’s taking advantage of those everyday opportunities.”

[Carlena Sheeran, director of early childhood for Hardin County Schools] said the creators of the program wanted to design workshops in a way that would be similar to a normal evening at home, which is why a dinner is included. The dinner provided is a healthy meal that encourages a well-balanced diet. Both schools are working with various restaurants and businesses to help sponsor parts of the dinner and workshops. 

From Herald-Leader coverage of bornlearning work in Lexington:

On Thursday, the children went to one room and, under a teacher's guidance, made tambourines that they later played for their parents. Parents in another room learned how playing board games, singing songs and reading the children's books found in most homes could get a child ready for kindergarten. Before the workshop ended, parents and children reunited to sing songs and read a story before taking home a gift bag of games and books.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/09/08/3419196_new-program-gives-parents-techniques.html?sp=/99/164/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

From the Ledger & Times in Murray :

East Calloway Elementary School will be kicking off its third year of the program on Sept. 18, while Murray Elementary School will begin  its second year on Sept. 25...

ECES and MES are among 20 veteran schools and 14 new schools with academies funded by Toyota across the state through a five-year, $1 million investment. Officials say that every dollar spent on preschool and early childhood education programs carries a return on investment ranging from $2 to $17. According to the Prichard Committee, children who attend high-quality preschool are more likely to be employed and have higher earnings as adults.

Now in its third year, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc., and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America are committed to provide funding to United Way of Kentucky to expand Born Learning Academies to 70 schools by 2016.

And from KyForward:

Expansion of the “United Way Born Learning Academies, driven by Toyota” means more youngsters will be prepared for school.

“Our goal is for them to start on the playing field ready to go. It gives them a better chance to succeed,” said Veda Stewart, principal at Booker T. Washington Primary Academy, one of four Fayette County schools offering the free program.

--Posted by Susan Perkins Weston

Reaching Top 20 Will Require Hard Push for Kentucky Improvement

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Moving Kentucky into the top tier of states in key areas of education by 2020 will require a hard push for improvement in the next six years, according to a new report from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

The 2014 update of the Committee’s “Top 20 by 2020” found Kentucky’s performance in six categories to be on track to reach the goal. These include reading scores, Advanced Placement credits and teacher salaries.

But other indicators show reason for concern. The report noted that Kentucky lost ground in the math achievement of eighth-grade students and the share of higher education costs that families must pay. The state’s performance also showed no net improvement in total higher education funding or bachelor’s degrees earned in science, technology, engineering and math.

The state’s ranking in other areas showed some improvement, but not at a rate sufficient to reach the Top 20 by 2020. These include the number of adults with a high school diploma, preschool enrollment, per-pupil funding and adults with a bachelor’s degree.

The Prichard Committee began its Top 20 measurements in 2008, when it issued a challenge to the state to accelerate the improvement of its education system. The latest report is the third update of the initial measurement. The update is available here.

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday applauded the report for highlighting Kentucky’s progress in areas like reading, Advanced Placement and teacher salaries, and for also providing a clear roadmap of the areas that need further attention going forward.

“We are proud of the progress Kentucky students and educators have made the past several years as they have embraced more rigorous standards and become more focused on college- and career-readiness,” Holliday said. “At the same time, the report confirms what we already know:  there is still much work to be done. We need to be making faster gains in key content areas like mathematics and science while also continuing to close achievement gaps so that all students have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life. We are committed to making continuous progress, and are grateful for partners like the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence for joining us in this critical work.”

Bob King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, noted the state’s increase in bachelor’s degrees, from 44th to 39th in the last six years, and expressed the importance of partnerships to work toward the Prichard Committee’s 2020 goal. 

“The steady improvement in bachelor degrees or higher and adults with a high school diploma is welcome news to Kentucky’s economic future. We look forward to working alongside Prichard and our other partners to make even greater gains in the future.”

The update also noted the Committee’s three overarching priorities for Kentucky education:
·         A strong accountability system that measures the performance of students, teachers, principals and postsecondary graduates;
·         Adequate funding;
·         Sustained and expanded engagement of parents, community members and businesses in support of schools.

“It is great to see the areas where we are making good progress but we still have a lot of work to do. We will continue to monitor these areas and look forward to evidence of more forward progress in the 2016 report,” said Stu Silberman, executive director of the Prichard Committee.

--Prichard Commitee Press Release

for September 3, 2014 publication

Investments in Young Children Last a Lifetime

From Ed Week Blog:  http://bit.ly/1oGuynP

The following post is from Cindy Heine, the Associate Executive Director (retiring), from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

After years of working on behalf of better schools, I have a ready answer when people ask my opinion about the most important thing we can do to improve education outcomes: invest in quality early childhood programs.

Pre-birth through kindergarten is the most critical time for children to develop socially and emotionally and to establish learning patterns for school and work. As our committee's first chairman and namesake Edward Prichard pointed out in the early 1980s, addressing achievement gaps must begin "....not in the high school, not in the middle school, not even in the first three grades. It has got to begin in the preschools and the kindergartens and in the womb (with) ... things such as prenatal care, child nutrition, emphasis on the learning process in the home. ..." He understood then what research clearly shows now - that early investments are critical to improve students' chances for a strong education.

Our 1980s study of elementary/secondary education included reviews of early research reports showing that impoverished children who attended the high-quality Perry Preschool were more likely to complete high school and continue with postsecondary education, more likely to be employed and less likely be arrested. We also observed that it was the children "in the middle" who were missing out. Those from the poorest families were served by Head Start, and those from affluent families were enrolled in programs their parents could afford. So a key recommendation in our report, "The Path to a Larger Life," was preschool for all children ages three and four whose parents wanted it.

Forty years later, researchers continue to follow the Perry Preschool students with long-term results showing higher earnings, greater likelihood of home ownership and having a savings account and lower incidence of crime. Other studies, including the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina and the Chicago Parent Child project, all show similar long-term results for children who attend quality programs, with a return on investment averaging about $7 for each $1 spent.

I am often asked about a Head Start study that showed test scores of third graders who did not attend Head Start to be essentially the same as those of children who did. The implication is that Head Start didn't make a difference. Long-term results, however, show children in the program are less likely to need special education services, less likely to repeat grades and more likely to graduate from high school.

What this implies, as Nobel Laureate and University of Chicago Professor James Heckman points out, is that these programs make a difference in such executive skills as perseverance, motivation, attention, self-confidence and getting along with peers. We often forget that skilled teachers help children solve their own disputes on the playground, guide them to complete projects and help them gain self-confidence by solving their own problems. These are skills needed in classrooms and the workplace. Established early, they last a lifetime.

Health care professionals - in addition to economists - are also focused on children in their earliest years. Research shows stronger outcomes when mothers have good prenatal care and deliver babies at term. Brain development in the last two to three weeks of pregnancy and in the first few years of life is critical in establishing the foundation for learning and socio-emotional development. New research on ' toxic stress' in children shows the more stressful events (homelessness, hunger, serious illness, death in the family, family violence, adult substance abuse or mental illness, for example) children experience without the support of caring families, the worse the long-term health, social and economic outcomes.

All children deserve to be in quality environments, whether at home, in child-care settings or in preschool. They need adults who care about them, talk with them, read to them, help them deal with stressful events and provide them with a secure, loving and nurturing environment. We need a system of care that assures quality prenatal care for all women, supportive programs like Kentucky's Health Access Nurturing and Development ( HANDS) home visiting program for vulnerable families, quality child care for all children, quality preschool for all children whose families want it and support and information for parents in these early years.

Kentucky is moving to coordinate and provide these supports through the Governor's Office of Early Childhood and with the Race to the Top Early Childhood grant, but it will take a focus on quality and an investment of resources. We know through research that giving all of our children the strongest possible start is not only the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do.

Tapping the Power of Partnerships for School Readiness

Dr. Leon Mooneyhan, CEO of the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative discusses the power of partnerships for school readiness.

http://bit.ly/Sv1K48

Early Childhood Education Begins with Parents: By Pam Darnall

Pam Darnall, CEO of Family & Children's Place says providing support for positive parent-child interaction and connecting families to a broader network of support resources are all essential to a child's success.

blogs.edweek.org/edweek/engagem… 

Our Shared Commitment to World Class Education

Our Shared Commitment to World Class Education   

Mary John O'Hair, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Education, writes about how school-university-community partnerships play a role in innovations in P-20 education.

http://bit.ly/1czwElf

Top 20 in deeper detail

In 2008, the Prichard Committee challenged Kentucky to set its sites on having schools in the top twenty of the fifty states on a set of important indicators, and shared Kentucky's standings at that point.  This week, the 2012 report on state progress toward those goals is out, and as Stu Silberman has noted, it "offers reason for a real sense of pride and also a real sense of urgency.”

ON TRACK FOR 2020 
New results show Kentucky moving up on ten of the twenty categories, either reaching the Top 20 or improving at a rate to get there by 2020. Kentucky ranks:

• 4th in fourth-grade science 
• 11th in fourth-grade reading 
• 13th in eighth-grade reading 
• 16th in completion of associate’s degrees 
• 17th in eighth-grade science 
• 21st in family share of higher education costs 
• 25th in fourth-grade math 
• 28th in average teacher salary 
• 30th in adults with a high school diploma or equivalent 
• 31st in high school graduates going on to college 

IMPROVING, BUT SLOWLY 
On five categories, new results show gains, but the state is moving too slowly to reach the Top 20 on time. Kentucky ranks:

• 29th in students earning AP college credit 
• 32nd in eighth-grade math 
• 35th in bachelor’s degree completion 
• 38th in bachelor’s degree attainment 
• 43rd in share of bachelor’s degrees earned in science, technology, engineering and math 

FLAT OR LOSING GROUND 
New results show Kentucky stuck or losing ground on three categories. Kentucky ranks:

• 21st in per-pupil higher education funding 
• 29th in preschool enrollment 
• 41st in per-pupil K-12 funding 

NO NEWS
Two categories had no new data since the 2012 report. In those areas, Kentucky still ranks:

• 20th in fourth-grade writing, based on 2002 data 
• 36th in eighth-grade writing, based on 2007 data

Do check out the complete report, with trend graphs from 2008 forward and Prichard recommendations for reaching the Top 20 goals over the coming eight years.  It's an important way of understanding Kentucky's past progress and making sure we move even more strongly forward in the coming years.

Predistribution vs Redistribution: Dr. James Heckman

Why we should invest in early childhood education.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/engagement_and_reform/2012/10/invest_in_our_future_dr_james_heckman.html

Yes, Short Term Returns from Early Childhood Investments

Invest NOW in Quality Early Childhood Programs

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/engagement_and_reform/2012/09/early_childhood_education_yes_there_are_short_term_returns.html

Early Childhood Education: Investment, Not Expense

The time to invest is now!

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/engagement_and_reform/2012/08/early_childhood_education_investment_not_expense.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB

Expectations Up, Resources Down

Kentucky’s new goal is for all students to graduate from high school and be ready for college and career. As a state, we've committed to much higher expectations, but state funding per student has declined in program after program.

The Kentucky Education Action Team, bringing together the state's key education stakeholder groups, held a press conference this morning to call attention to those losses.  The official press release is here, and added KEAT information is here.  For this post, I'd like to share the numbers themselves.

The graphs below show the key declines in per pupil funding, adjusted for inflation, and they are painful news.

First, the state contribution to SEEK base funding is down.  It's true that the SEEK base guarantee has gone up, but each year the state has counted on local districts to fund more of that guarantee. Plus, the state  budgets for 2010-11 and 2011-12 underestimated the number of pupils who would need to be funded, and the state has handled that decline by cutting funding to below the guaranteed amount.

Preschool has taken even deeper damage, with rising enrollments meaning fewer dollars for every student needing that vital preparation for school success.

And then, each of the categorical programs that supports specific student and teacher needs has been reduced, removing essential supports for meeting Kentucky's ambitious goals for all students.

The one bright spot in this sad story is the unity of Kentucky education leaders around the need to move forward on Kentucky's goals and provide the funding to make those goals a reality. KEAT includes the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, the Kentucky Association of School Councils, the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, the Kentucky Education Association, the Kentucky School Boards Association, the Kentucky PTA, and the Prichard Committee, and leaders from all seven groups stood together this morning in favor of delivering what Kentucky's children need.