State news roundup for July 27, 2013
Colorado – Secretary Duncan on “Preschool for All” at Denver townhall
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke at a Denver townhall meeting, July 19, about a proposal to provide every four-year-old child with access to high-quality preschoool, while also incentivizing states to adopt full-day kindergarten policies [ed note: pictured above].
President Obama is proposing a series of new investments that will establish a continuum of high-quality early learning for a child – beginning at birth and continuing to age five.
Secretary Duncan told the audience at the Clayton Early Learning Campus that less then 30% of the nation’s four-year-olds have access to high-quality preschool programs, and as a result, children starting kindergarten in disadvantaged communities are typically more than a year behind in academic and social skills.
“We have to close what I call the ‘opportunity gap’. Our children, from every community, are as smart, as talented, as great as children anywhere. We just haven’t given them the chance to be successful,” said Duncan.
Get the full story at ColoradoEA.org.
Connecticut – Teachers talk education with Connecticut members of Congress at STEM conference in DC
CEA member Kristen Record with Sen. Chris Murphy in D.C.
Stratford physics teacher Kristen Record [ed note: Connecticut's Teacher of the Year] and Guilford physics teacher Ernie Smoker were part of a group of 20 STEM teachers from around the country participating in the STEM Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., last week, co-sponsored by MIT and George Washington University.
The CEA members are part of the Network of Educators of Science and Technology (NEST) affiliated with MIT. Twenty NESTers were invited to this first-ever STEM Policy Institute. The goal of the program was to create a dialogue among educators, policy experts, and public officials about the current opportunities and challenges related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Click through to read Kristen’s take on the meetings at BlogCEA.org.