Public Policy Archives - Early Learning Nation

Early Ed, Rebounding After COVID: Report Shows Pre-K Enrollment Hitting Record Levels

Mississippi and New Mexico were among the top states making gains in the 2022 school year.

Linda Jacobson·Oct 2, 2024·5 min read

Four-year-olds entering pre-K in Mississippi’s Lamar County Schools don’t spend their days on worksheets or bent over papers practicing their...

New Study: Health Insurance Differences Can Cost a Baby’s Life

K.C. Compton·Feb 29, 2024·8 min read

One sentence can hold a lot of heartache. This one, for instance: Babies born to mothers on Medicaid died at...

Mississippi’s “Miracle”: Fourth Grade Reading Scores Keep Climbing. Is Early Learning the Reason?

Mark Swartz·Nov 10, 2023·4 min read

Everyone likes good news, so it’s no wonder that when Mississippi went from being ranked second-worst in 2013 for fourth grade reading scores to 21st in 2022, the media kept using the m-word. “Everybody keeps on calling this a miracle,” says Dr. Jill Dent, executive director, Early Childhood Education, Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). “But we have worked really hard, and we were very intentional.”

A Universal Preschool Campaign in Oregon Galvanizes Broad Support and Rewrites All the Rules

Elliot Haspel·Oct 20, 2020·6 min read

In this two-part series, Elliot Haspel explores how one Oregon region mobilized to generate an innovative, next-generation plan for universal...

5 Takeaways from the “2020 Texas Fatherhood Fridays” Summit

Improving Childhood Outcomes in Texas by Supporting Dads

Mark Swartz·Jul 22, 2020·3 min read

On Friday, July 10, the Child and Family Research Partnership (CFRP) at the University of Texas at Austin presented a virtual event focused on Fatherhood in Texas. The annual summit was reimagined this year as a series of online presentations titled 2020 Texas Fatherhood Fridays. UT Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Prevention and Early Intervention Division sponsored the series.

BOOK REVIEW: Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty

An Indictment of U.S. Policy and Clarion Call to Fix It

K.C. Compton·May 18, 2021·5 min read

Thanks to U.S. public policy going back decades, nearly 40 million people in this country live below the poverty line...

Will Biden’s First Term Have a Lasting Impact on the Child Care Sector?

New Annual Budget Devotes $600 Billion Over 10 Years to Child Care and Early Childhood Education

Bryce Covert·Apr 5, 2023·6 min read

The race to elect the next president hasn’t officially started, but soon President Joe Biden will turn toward defending his...

Colorado Pilot Gives Home Child Care Providers Cash Payments with No Strings Attached

More Providers Stay Open and Manage Income Fluctuations

Bryce Covert·Jun 14, 2023·8 min read

Angelica Lerrga started caring for children in the basement of her sister’s Colorado home in 2009, after her husband had...

Montreal: the North American City Where Family-Friendliness is “Like a Religion”

Kendra Hurley·Aug 23, 2021·6 min read

Every city-dweller has lived or witnessed some version of it: the mom on a bus struggling to fold a stroller...

The Path to Quality Child Care Just Became a Little Less Elusive: New Research Shows Star-Rating Systems Can Drive Improvement At-Scale

Kendra Hurley·Jun 22, 2021·6 min read

Those following the debates regarding President Biden’s historic child care proposal may be experiencing whiplash. On the one hand, a...

ELSI: Oregon’s Higher Education Partner for Early Education

Mark Swartz·Jan 24, 2023·4 min read

Oregon is aiming to improve child care across the state—expanding access, boosting quality and building more sustainability into the system....

Gov Kate Brown of Oregon signs legislation for education funding into law

Can Bipartisan Statewide Support for Early Education Become a National Trend?

Tom Kertscher·Jun 20, 2019·4 min read

Legislation that includes what an early childhood advocacy group says is an “historic investment in early childhood” has been signed...

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