#universal-pre-k-expansion

#universal-pre-k-expansion

The Sesame Workshop resources want the same for everyone. They are meant to help facilitate safe, inclusive group settings by giving children (and adults!) tips and engagement ideas for reaching out to someone, inviting others into your play, and offering encouragement to a kiddo who might feel a little uncertain or left out.

There were once so many children at Frisha Moore's Elk Grove preschool that families filled up the waitlist. Now, one of her playgrounds and two classrooms sit empty because one key group of kids has stopped coming. Dozens of families in recent years have opted not to enroll their 4-year-olds at Moore Learning Preschool & Child Care Center, she said. Instead, they're putting their children in transitional kindergarten, California's new public pre-kindergarten grade.

In January, Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an ambitious plan to bring free child care to 2-year-olds across the five boroughs. On Tuesday, they announced a "monumental moment of progress" in that endeavor: The first four communities that will receive 2-K seats this fall.

Not long ago, Vermont had a population problem. Then Act 76 ushered in affordable child care for the first time in the state's history. Vermont had a problem. Child care was too expensive. We would be paying $3,500 a month, more than twice our mortgage. Some parents were giving up their careers to stay home After daycare, you come home with maybe $60 extra a week. It's just not even worth it at that point.

In my mind, I plan to pay for child care until she doesn't need it anymore,

The initiative is part of the NYC Bright Starts program, and it was pitched to reinforce New York City Public Schools' existing infant and toddler programs through the federal Head Start program, which offers a variety of services to support school-readiness for children from birth to age 5 for low-income families. Last year, the Trump administration attempted to bar undocumented immigrant children from enrolling in Head Start programs, but a federal judge's injunction put the effort on hold nationwide in September.

The effort to get a snapshot of kindergarten readiness is part of the National Survey of Children's Health, which collected information from thousands of parents and guardians about their child in five areas - early learning, motor skills, social-emotional development, self-regulation and health. The goal was to answer an overall question: Is your child ready for school? Readiness in California is on par with the nation's average, which also puts kindergarten readiness at two-thirds of 3- to 5-year-olds.

What many reception teachers say they did not sign up for was spending large chunks of the school day managing toileting, feeding and basic self-care because growing numbers of children are arriving without those skills in place. New data points to a widening gap in England and Wales between what parents believe school ready means and what classrooms are actually experiencing