Play is such a powerful force, some research suggests, that it can be used as a tool to close achievement gaps and improve mental health.
In kindergarten, some children already have a sense of what math means and how it functions while others lack a basic understanding of numbers.
The EdSource roundtable included policymakers, researchers, advocates and a transitional kindergarten teacher, who discussed the expansion of TK.
If these sweeping proposals are enacted, they would overhaul the nation’s child care system to make it more accessible and affordable.
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.
