Thursday, March 24, 2005

Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Report: Access to Pre-Kindergarten Good, but not Good Enough
Support for early education is on the rise according to a new legislative report released by TEE

Tuesday, April 20, 2004
FL Children's Campaign, Rolls Out Radio Ad Touting Pre-K- Calls on Florida Legislature to Keep Promise to Florida’s Families
A radio ad that the Tallahassee-based Children’s Campaign, Inc. will begin running Tuesday, April 20, 2004. The radio commercials will run in key areas across the state promoting the need for high quality provisions in the state’s new early learning initiative: voluntary pre-kindergarten for all four year olds. The ads are part of the Children’s Campaign’s ongoing effort to engage Florida citizens and policy makers in the discussion about implementing the constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in 2002.

The transcript for this ad is available on TEE's "Early Education News" page. Go to www.qualityprek.org to listen to additional radio ads in this campaign.

You will need the RealOne or Windows Media Player to listen to this ad on your computer.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Report of Governors' Pre-K Funding FY05 (PDF)
“Our report shows that while a few governors are stepping up to address the school readiness issue in their states, too many governors have failed to propose adequate funding for high quality pre-kindergarten programs,” said Amy Wilkins, Executive Director of The Trust for Early Education. “Sluggish state funding for quality pre-kindergarten is also contributing to poor overall student achievement nationwide.”

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
The Trust for Early Education: State of the State (SOS) Analysis (PDF)
This survey of governors’ pre-kindergarten FY 2005 budget proposals reveals that despite strong public support for quality pre-kindergarten programs those proposals on the whole fall short.

Forty-six governors have delivered their state of the state addresses. Fifty have released their FY05 budget proposals. Of these, only 16 governors mentioned pre-kindergarten or early childhood education as priorities in their addresses. Worse still, only 11 governors proposed an increased investment in pre-kindergarten programs, 16 others recommended flat-funding and four proposed reductions in pre-kindergarten investment.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Voters’ Attitudes Toward Pre-Kindergarten (PowerPoint)
Findings from a nationwide survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in March 2004.

Monday, March 01, 2004
TEE Vision: The Foundations for High Quality Pre-kindergarten, What All Children Need
Young children are eager to learn.
Young children are learning all the time. All of the experiences a child has—watching, listening, tasting, touching and smelling—create connections in the brain. At three and four, young children are developing social, language and cognitive skills to understand and interact with the world around them. Research on children’s motivation to learn and their achievement reveals that young children are full of curiosity and a passion for learning. If this passion is lost, children may be at risk of later school failure.


Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Bachelor's Degrees are Best: Higher Educations for Pre-Kindergarten Teachers Lead to Better Learning Environments for Children (PDF)
written by Marcy Whitebook, Ph.d
Throughout the United States, kindergartens receive children with increasingly diverse levels of skills. Strong pre-kindergarten programs can guarantee every child is well prepared for kindergarten. While many factors determine the quality of a pre-kindergarten program, none is as important as the quality of the teachers.

Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Bachelor's Degrees are the Best: Higher Qualifications for Pre-Kindergarten Teachers Lead to Better Learning Environments for Children
A PowerPoint review of the research by Marcy Whitebook, Ph.D. Director, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment University of California at Berkeley.


Monday, July 21, 2003
Raising Pre-Kindergarten Teacher Qualifications (PDF)
written by Julia Coffman and M. Elena Lopez
Five years ago, acting under the long-running Abbott v. Burke court case, the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled on the qualifications teachers of three- and four-year-olds in the state’s lowest-income school districts needed. As a result, the State required those teachers to have a bachelor’s degree plus early childhood certification within a four-year timeline, and put together a set of financial and other supports to back the new mandate. This report details New Jerseys efforts and progress toward meeting this goal.

Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Amy Wilkins Testimony to Senate Committee on Education
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to speak today. I am honored to join today’s panel to discuss the reauthorization of Head Start.

Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Teacher Education: One Strong Step to Ensuring High Quality (PDF)
High quality learning environments and high quality classrooms are associated with high quality teachers—teachers with a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) and specialized training in early childhood education. High quality teachers make a difference in such areas as children’s literacy development, instructional behaviors, and building a high quality learning environment.

For more information, please see the full publication available above in a PDF.


Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Amy Wilkins Testimony to House Subcommittee on Education Reform
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, my name is Amy Wilkins and I am the Executive Director of the Trust for Early Education (also known as TEE). I very much appreciate this opportunity to be here this morning to discuss with you H.R. 2210, “The School Readiness Act of 2003.”