New research says less stimulation, stress on parents during Covid pandemic may factor into average 22-point IQ drop among babies.
Parent advocates: Early-education programs such as transitional kindergarten can shrink the California achievement gap.
Experts say making a year of pre-kindergarten available to all 4-year-olds is a watershed achievement in the early education space.
A California TK proposal would gradually open the program to all 4-year-olds amid evidence that early learning shapes the adult brain.
In the wake of the pandemic, child care providers have emerged as the backbone of the state’s economic recovery.
This roughly $1.8 trillion package sets aside big money for key early childhood initiatives as part of its vast cradle-to-college agenda.
The proposed legislation to champion childhood comes at a time when the pandemic has widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
Causes for the slide in enrollment are myriad, complicated by existing trends including declining birthrates and people's continued exodus from the state, as well as the sudden economic chaos wrought by the pandemic.
The report arrives just as momentum builds to expand access to both transitional kindergarten and state-funded preschool.
Child care is far more than just babysitting, advocates say, it’s building the architecture of the brain at a pivotal stage in construction.
After being apart from each other for so long, children may need to be retrained on how to socialize before they can be ready to learn.
A state-funded program is designing strategies for families to keep kids learning at home even when in-person preschool is canceled.
The budget would provide billions for K-12 schools and early education after paying off most of the short-term debt owed from this year’s budget.
Harsh discipline at such an early age can have lasting consequences.
A proposed a sweeping suite of bills is designed to help reform the state’s early childhood system.
