Update: The state House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill early Saturday that sets up a system to drastically expand enrollment in public preschools over the next decade. The Senate passed it Saturday night.
Early Childhood Education
Posted inEducation
Universal preschool initiative faces pushback in House
Democratic leadership is now reaching out to their 90 Democratic legislators to determine if they have the 76 votes needed for final passage of the plan for universal pre-K.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Connecticut Smart Start is smart policy
As many as 60,000 Connecticut children are not enrolled in any sort of pre-K program. These children are all but guaranteed to enter the classroom academically and socially behind their peers.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Preschool doors opening wider for Connecticut’s children
Today in Connecticut we are on the verge of exciting changes that may improve outcomes for all of our children.
Posted inEducation
The Basics: An effort to create universal pre-k in CT
The state Senate voted 33 to 2 on Friday for a bill aimed at moving the state toward “universal access” to preschool in Connecticut.
Posted inEducation
Malloy, lawmakers: dueling plans for ‘universal access’ to pre-k
When Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed providing “universal access” to preschool, he said it would cost the state an additional $51.1 million a year. When Democratic legislators released their plans two months later to provide “universal access,” they said it would cost the state $10 million a year. Why such a huge difference?
Posted inEducation
Democrats unveil plan, and funding, for step toward universal pre-K
Thousands of Connecticut students start kindergarten each year already trailing their peers academically because they didn’t attend preschool. Democratic legislative leaders announced Wednesday they intend to pass legislation that will pay for thousands more children to enroll in public schools’ preschool programs.
Posted inEducation
CT Child Fatality Panel: Unsafe sleeping conditions leading cause of infant deaths
The state’s Child Fatality Review Panel on Monday issued a “Public Health Alert” to spread the word that dangerous sleep conditions are the leading cause of infants dying in Connecticut.
Posted inEducation
CT: Evaluating teachers, politics, a changing health landscape
We say to teachers: Take our children and make them model citizens, able to thrive and navigate the future. Often cutting resources, we also create standards for teachers to meet. And then – shockingly – there’s pushback!
Posted inEducation
CT schools lag in diagnosing, helping dyslexic students
Getting identified and getting the necessary services to cope with dyslexia has seemingly been a decades-long challenge in Connecticut.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Beth Bye brings passion, toughness to budget chairmanship
Sen. Beth Bye: “Those of us who have been through some of the challenges of discrimination, when you go through something this hard, you come out strong. I think it’s a critical part of who I am.”
Posted inEducation, Health
Child hospitalization dips following flu shot requirement
Three years after Connecticut began requiring the 55,000 children in licensed day cares to get the flu shot, influenza-associated hospitalization has decreased by 12 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Posted inEducation, Health
Why some child care programs in CT close
Hundreds of day care and child care centers closed throughout 2013, mainly because the business was not profitable. Childcare 2-1-1 reports that of those who closed, 14 percent of those surveyed say they closed because they faced the possibility of the state Department of Public Health taking away their license.
Posted inEducation
Obama taps Yale psychologist for national education panel
New Haven — Modern-day school reformers focus too much on standardized tests and too little on kids’ hearts and minds, a legendary Yale child psychologist said as he prepares to advise the president.
Dr. James P. Comer made the remarks in an interview this week in his office at the Yale Child Study Center. President Obama in January named Comer one of 15 appointees to a new President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
Posted inEducation
Day care providers OK pact, get raises of up to 8 percent
Home-based day care providers have approved a contract negotiated between their union and the Malloy administration that will get them raises of between 3 and 8.25 percent beginning July 1.