Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future

Posted by on October 10, 2011

We need Pre-K, now

As the Pew Center on the States concludes its 10-year initiative to advance pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds, it has released a report strongly advocating that policymakers transform public education by moving away from our current K-12 system. The final report of the Pre-K Now campaign says the present system’s shortcomings are clear: Our schools enroll most children at five or six years old; we know from over 50 years of research that vital learning happens before age five. The authors recommend that teachers at every grade level embrace principles of early education, attending to children’s social and emotional development as well as their cognitive progress. Policy will need to bridge long-established divides between and among funding streams, educational settings, administrative structures, teacher preparation and licensure systems, and learning standards. States will need to align goals, standards, governance, teacher assessments, and other infrastructure across all grades, schools, and systems. The new system must provide a platform on which later reforms and improvements can be founded, multiplying impacts while reducing costs. All of this will require leaders from across the traditional education, reform, and early childhood communities to change the way they think, talk, and work on issues of early childhood, pre-k, and school reform. The time for fundamental transformation is now.

See the report: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=85899363996