Sara Mead's Policy Notebook

Want to hear some really smart people talk about the latest research on improving quality in early childhood programs? Want to learn about the findings of new research on QRIS, effective PD strategies for early childhood educators, and coaching? Check out these videos from the recent NCRECE Quality Improvement Leadership Symposia.

In recent years, most states have moved to adopt Quality Rating and Improvement Systems as a market-based approach to improving children's early learning. QRIS typically assign early care and education providers a rating of between one and five "stars" based on the extent to which providers meet certain quality features defined in the QRIS, such as teacher credentials, class and group size ratios, and managerial or administrative features; publish these ratings to help inform parent choices; and in some cases offer financial incentives or rewards to programs with higher star ratings. QRIS systems are based on two key premises: First, that most children are likely to remain in market-based preschool and childcare options paid for by their parents, and so efforts to improve the quality of early learning should focus on utilizing market forces to create incentives and rewards for higher quality and to drive parent demand to better quality programs. Second, that by creating a common quality metric and set of standards across a variety of program auspices (child care, state pre-k, Head Start), QRIS systems can help move our patchwork nonsystem of early care and education in the direction of a more aligned system (See these excellent previous posts by Louise Stoney for a fuller discussion of the potential benefits of QRIS). Both arguments have significant appeal, which, combined with the Obama administration's push for QRIS systems in the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, has motivated more than 40 states to implement or pilot QRIS at a statewide or regional level and most of the rest to begin planning to do so.

There are a lot of misperceptions flying around about the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board's Early Childhood Performance Management Framework. As a member of the board who supports the framework, I'd like to try to clear up some of those misperceptions and explain why I support the framework.

The 2013 Education Next survey of American public opinion on education, released today, finds that 60% of respondents expressed support for publicly funded pre-k for low-income and middle class children. This finding is particularly salient given its source, which is not connected with any preschool advocacy groups, and has typically been regarded as taking a more conservative line on education policy questions. The PDK/Gallup Poll, also released today, did not ask respondents about their views on pre-k.

Phil Longman's article in the current Washington Monthly about the problems with our current approach to medical education should be must-reading for anyone calling for replication of the medical model in teacher preparation. To be clear--this is not an argument against expanding and improving residencies and other clinical components of teacher preparation, or against increasing the scientific rigor of teacher training. But advocates for more clinically oriented models should learn from the shortcomings of the current system in medicine and avoid replicating them as they expanding clinically based approaches to education. I'm particularly struck by Longman's criticisms of the way Medicaid funding flows to support medical training, in light of calls I've recently heard for creating similar funding streams for education--and that the $13 billion the federal government provides to subsidize medical education, while certainly a pittance in terms of the Medicaid budget, means that the federal government spends more on medical education than it does on most K-12 programs or the entire Head Start program for poor preschoolers.

While at the gym this morning, I enjoyed watching this Morning Joe segment featuring NYC Mayoral Candidate Christine Quinn. But Jon Meacham's question for Quinn about her education agenda nearly caused me to fall off the treadmill in annoyance. Meacham says, "We have a big national moment here with the introduction of Common Core Standards that are going to test students on what they know, it's a newish approach..."

Simile, analogy, and metaphor can be powerful analytic and writing tools, which is one reason pundits and policy wonks love 'em. But a recent post and tweet by Mike Petrilli on school closures illustrate the risks when policy wonks get too cute with the similes:

New First Focus report looks at the costs of pre-k or childcare on the private market relative to income and typical household expenditures for families at different income levels. We've long known that childcare or preschool is a major expenditure for the lowest income households--bigger even than rent or housing for many families--but it's also the second biggest cost for middle-class families and can put a major strain on family budgets. The report also flags some interesting differences in types of preschool or childcare used by families at different income levels.Important issues to think about in debates over universal vs. targeted preschool.

Over the past seven years, New Orleans has experienced a dramatic transformation of the city's public educational system, which has been closely watched nationally as a test of new approaches to organizing and delivering public education. As the Executive Director of Teach for America of Greater New Orleans, Kira Orange Jones has been closely involved in supporting that transformation. In 2011, she ran for and won election to the Louisiana State Board of Education, representing the 2nd BESE District, which includes most of New Orleans. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Kira Orange Jones first came to Louisiana as a Teach for America Corps member following her graduation from Wesleyan University in 2000, and has stayed in Louisiana--and education--ever since. She lives in New Orleans.

Smart post from Matt Yglesias on school segregation and the basic math of our nation's changing child demographics. Since the end of de jure racial segregation, analysis of progress (or, more frequently, lack thereof) in reducing de facto segregation has tended to focus on the percentage of racial and ethnic minority students attending "majority minority" schools. But as the demographic composition of our nation's students has shifted, non-Hispanic white students make up a smaller percentage of children enrolled in our schools, and are in fact a minority of children under aged 5. This basic demographic math will lead to a situation where, as Yglesias puts it (emphasis added):

For those concerned about the future of education reform in the United States, Los Angeles is a critical city to watch. Our nation's second largest school district faces significant education challenges, including a high drop-out rate, student achievement levels well below national and large-city averages on the NAEP TUDA assessment, a diverse and high-need student population, and a fractious political climate. Yet there are also promising initiatives underway to improve Los Angeles' lowest-performing schools, and an emerging coalition of both powerful leaders and grassroots parents and families is emerging to improve education in the city.

If there's one thing that everyone in education can agree on, it's the importance and tremendous value of high-quality teachers. But our current education system does little to provide opportunities for excellent teachers to make their voices heard, to grow as leaders and professionals, or extend their impacts beyond the classroom to shape the larger education field. That's why I'm excited to feature Rabiah Harris in this year's list of leaders shaping the next generation of education. She is an exceptional middle school science teacher who has worked in a variety of district and charter settings, most recently E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. Next year, she will be a member of the TeachPlus Turnaround Teacher Team at Kelly Miller Middle School, a DCPS school. In this role, she will teach 8th grade science and also serve as part of a team of teachers who assume leadership positions within the school to assist the administration in raising student achievement. She's also a member of the Inaugural cohort of the City Bridge-NewSchools Educator Innovation Fellowship, a competitive fellowship that introduces Washington, D.C.'s strongest teachers to promising innovations in blended learning and supports them to design and lead blended learning pilot programs. These roles will enable her to make a significant contribution to improving student learning in Washington, D.C. over the coming years.

Talent matters. That seems like an obvious statement, but for much of its history our public education system failed to identify, prioritize, or value talent in a meaningful way. No organization has done more to shed light on this failure--or to try to change it--than TNTP. Their seminal 2009 report The Widget Effect highlighted the ways in which our education system ignores differences in teacher performance and quality, and the consequences of that for students. TNTP also works with school districts to redesign their approaches to human capital to prioritize effective teaching and improve outcomes for students. As a Vice President with TNTP, Crystal Harmon plays a critical role in this work, overseeing large, multi-year partnerships with districts and capturing and sharing knowledge from TNTP's work on the ground. Raised in Pittsburgh, Harmon earned a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master's of Arts in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Madison, New Jersey, with her husband and two sons.