By Debbie Dingell and Doug Luciani/Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan Debbie Dingell is president of d2 Strategies and a co-chair of the Children’s Leadership Council, a group of more than 100 business and other leaders from across Michigan. We tip our hats to Michigan’s governor and the Legislature for funding expansion of the state’s […]
Child care in Michigan
Stories about what happens to kids with care before kindergarten begins.
Posted inPhil's Column
Change the school focus from spending more to spending smart
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. Can anything really move the “needle of achievement” in our kids’ schools? Over the years, we’ve sure spent a whale of a lot of money, time and lung power trying to answer that question. “School people” — by which I mean teachers, their […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Kindergarten retention, in current form, doesn’t help children
By Larry Schweinhart/HighScope Educational Research Foundation One of our conclusions from the 2012 Great Start Readiness Program Evaluation was that grade retention is a major state policy, made locally, that deserves serious study. Of students who had the Great Start program, 37 percent repeated a grade during their schooling, as compared to nearly half the comparison […]
Posted inSuccess
Bridge’s preschool package wins national reporting award
NATIONAL HONORS: Ten weeks of research and reporting went into “Forgotten 4-year-olds,” Bridge’s look at problems in Michigan’s early childhood system. This week, the Education Writers Association honored the series and its writer, Senior Writer Ron French, with a first prize in investigative reporting for a magazine. Bridge Magazine has been awarded a national […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Expanding preschool is first step in education advance
By Michele Corey/Michigan’s Children Advocates across the state are rejoicing in Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed $65 million expansion ($130 million over two years) for the Great Start Readiness Program– Michigan’s public preschool program for 4-year-olds at-risk of being under-prepared for kindergarten. Credit is due to the Center for Michigan and Bridge Magazine for bringing additional […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Snyder ‘excited’ to double preschool spending; predicts ‘dramatic’ impact
Gov. Rick Snyder formally called for an additional $130 million for state preschool classes Thursday, a move long hinted at by administration officials – and long sought by advocates for early childhood education. “One of the things I’m most excited about (in the budget) is we are making a large investment in early childhood funding,” […]
Posted inTalent & Education
CFM leaders point to early childhood, teacher improvement out of public opinion report
In presenting the results of a year-long listening tour on public schools, the president of the nonprofit Center for Michigan says there’s a “real opportunity” to advance reform in the Legislature this year. “We see real opportunity this year to act on what the citizens want in a couple of key ways,” explained John Bebow […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Lansing mom bumps up against preschool rules
It’s October and Lansing resident Kennedy Barnwell, 4, who is eligible for the Great Start Readiness Program, is still not in school. Her mother Brittany Johnson, 27, has made several attempts to get her daughter in a classroom, without success. So Kennedy is stuck in what she likes to call “day-care school” to let everyone […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan can teach plenty more preschoolers
In his April 2011 special message on education reform, Gov. Rick Snyder extolled early childhood education as an economic engine for the state. The speech was 13 pages long. He could have made the same point by just introducing legislators to Lilly Wolf. Lilly attended the state-funded Great Start Readiness Program last year in Hartford […]
Posted inTalent & Education
With state funding stuck, communities go DIY on preschool
On a warm summer evening, an ice cream truck moved slowly through a blue collar neighborhood of Holland, offering free ice cream — and free preschool. As children ran to the truck, Ready For School volunteers pulling red wagons offered bilingual Clifford the Red Dog books and fliers promoting early childhood education. Ice cream trucks […]
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