Early Childhood Education

Originally posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.

The election is 25 weeks from today.  This week’s issue is Early Childhood Education.  For more on my reasoning behind my weekly focus, click here.  

One of the most startling things I learned in my Reading Comprehension Instruction class this past summer was that by age 3, students from lower income families and upper income families have a 30 million word gap.  Honestly, it made my work as an elementary teacher feel a little hopeless.  How can the education system be expected to fill that gap?

Here are some proposals from the candidates concerning early childhood education.

Clinton: Hillary has called for doubling investment in Early Head start programs.  These programs provide comprehensive, full-day, high-quality services to low-income families using evidence-based curriculum.  She has a proposal that would ensure that every four year old in America has access to high-quality preschool in the next 10 years and proposes providing new federal funding for states that expand access to quality preschools for four year olds.

Sanders:  Before entering politics, Bernie taught low-income preschoolers through Head Start in the 60’s.  This is not one of the issues outlined on his website, but he does believe that states should receive funding for universal pre-k programs and full day kindergarten.

Trump:  I legitimately cannot find anything.  Nothing at all.  Feel free to supplement.