Dana E. Friedman, President EYI

The call for accountability in schools today has stressed out children and their parents and hurt great teachers. The way we have chosen to test children is absurd, especially for our youngest students.Thankfully, the concerns of parents and teachers have reached our officials in Albany. Both the Commissioner of the State Department of Education, John King and the minority members of the Assembly Education Committee are holding hearings about the situation.

Unfortunately, the testing problem has been blamed on the Common Core, a new set of standards that 48 states have adopted. While some of what the Common Core asks of young children is way beyond their reach, the focus on critical thinking is an improvement. The real problem, however is that the Common Core was rolled out without any administrator or teacher preparation and schools purchased scripted curricula that hardly stimulates creative or critical thinking.  It is essential that we stop the testing and inappropriate curricula that is being pushed down to pre-K. 

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"Making PrekindergartenTruly Universal in New York" - The Campaign for Educational Equity and the Center for Children's Initiatives have created a fascinating blueprint for making pre-K truly universal. Below are links to the summary and full report of the proposed plan.   Full Report: Click here   Summary: Click here

 "Study Links Parents' Reading Practices to Children's Literacy Skills" - A recent study published in the October issue of the Journal of Early Childhood Research shows a connection between children's home literacy environment and their language skills - particularly in understanding the structure and rules of written language.  Read more

"Identifying and Supporting Young Latino Students' Academic Assets" -  It's taken years, but the community of experts studying students who speak languages other than English is finally...getting better at identifying the unique linguistic, social, and cultural resources these students carry to class, rather than their "limited proficiency" in English.  Read more

"Parents Face Barriers in Accessing, Affording Child Care" - The cost of child care is on the rise - and in many states, access is declining nearly as fast. New reports from Child Care Aware of America and the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) detail how difficult it's becoming for parents to find and afford care for their little ones.

EYI Unveils the Children's Reading Center at the Consulate of El Salvador

Read in:   Newsday   LI Wins    As seen on:   LI Latino TV

 View more photos from the event: click here

"Growing mountains of research suggest that the best way to address American
economic inequality, poverty and crime is...early education programs, including
coaching of parents who want help....'Early education' doesn't just mean prekindergarten for 4 year olds, but embraces...ages 0 to 5."

-- Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times