By Leslie Boney GREENSBORO (July 24, 2024) – A surprisingly large experiment is ramping up surprisingly quietly in Guilford County. If it’s successful, it could change the way we think about public investment in early childhood education, and the implications of that investment for our future workforce and social structure. Over 12 years from 2017-2029,… READ MORE
Ready, Ready: Listening to parents
By Leslie Boney GREENSBORO (July 24, 2024) – It’s two weeks after the birth of her son, Jacob, and Emily Clemmer is worried. Jacob hasn’t taken to breastfeeding and she doesn’t know why. She also has a list of other questions about being a new mom that nobody’s been able to answer. Today she’ll get… READ MORE
READY READY: Lessons
By Leslie Boney GREENSBORO (July 31, 2024) – It will be hard for any community to match the private investment that has gone into creating Guilford County’s “Ready for School, Ready for Life” initiative. But observers and participants in the program and across the nation are looking closely at the program’s principles, design and products…. READ MORE
READY, READY: Will employers support families?
By Leslie Boney GREENSBORO (July 31, 2024) – The Ready for School, Ready for Life initiative in Guilford County has brought together private foundations, nonprofits, the health department, educators, physicians, parents, and more than 100 community groups in a remarkable commitment to improve early childhood services in the county. But employers also play a critical… READ MORE
Early Childhood: Do what it takes
RALEIGH (September 22, 2022) – Everyone has taken a hit during the COVID pandemic. But some sectors – especially pre-school for our youngest learners – have taken a bigger hit than others. Any way you paint it, it’s not a pretty picture. Child-care workers in North Carolina made a paltry $24,600 a year in 2020…. READ MORE
NC Pre-K: Pay the folks who teach our kids
RALEIGH (September 22, 2022) – NC Pre-K is an effective, nationally recognized program launched by former Gov. Mike Easley for at-risk 4-year-olds. Yet, as researchers from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University found before the pandemic in 2018, it reached only 47% of eligible children. And 53% – nearly 33,000… READ MORE
Where We Stand – Pre-K: Prime those 4-year-olds to learn
RALEIGH (June 12, 2019) – We’re finally starting to get it: Improved student performance starts well before kindergarten. And that means getting more 4-year-olds into high-quality pre-kindergarten. Recent research indicates that the benefits of quality Pre-K prepare a child for academic success at least through eighth grade. For several years now, academics and business executives alike… READ MORE
NC Chamber panel: Pre-K a worthy investment
DURHAM (Aug. 10, 2017) – Some of North Carolina’s most powerful CEOs understand the importance of early-childhood education and making sure students read well by third grade. But do the politicians? At the North Carolina Chamber’s 2017 Conference on Education, a panel discussion focused on the importance of early literacy in transforming the future workforce…. READ MORE