California made a historic commitment to early childhood education in 2021 by providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26 and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds. California's UPK initiative includes multiple early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool…

This is a technical report of agency actions and legislative recommendations for programs regulated by the state or government-to-government responsibilities that must be met for children aged 3-5. As changes in PreK services affect enrollment in birth-3 and school-age care, impacts on these other programs are vital to alignment work. Partnering…

This report delves into experiences from states that are operating pre-K classrooms in charter schools in order to inform stakeholder discussions and decision points as the state moves to sustain the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) programs currently operating in charter schools. As the number of children enrolled in state-funded pre-K…

Until recently, Indiana was one of only a few states in the nation without a state-funded pre-K program. Recently, however, The Hoosier State has slowly begun to build pre-K offerings by investing in pilot programs in a handful of counties throughout the state. Now, Indiana lawmakers are looking ahead to a 2017 legislative session in which…

The topic of special education can be confusing and frightening for parents who suspect their child has a disability or has difficulty learning. Parents in this situation want to know how to get help for their child. This guide is intended as a reference for people who have questions about special education for a child. It summarizes the basic…

The state of California has recently emerged from deep recession and associated reductions in early childhood programs and has moved into a period of reinvestment in child care, preschool, and transitional kindergarten (TK). In fiscal year (FY) 2014-15, the Budget Act included over $273 million for early learning and child development and restored…

The 2013 session of the 118th Indiana General Assembly adjourned sine die (with no appointed date for resumption) on Saturday, April 27, 2013. The legislature considered over 2,200 bills during the session, many of which addressed education policy and school governance, or were child-related legislation. This report is a summary of 12 key PK-12…

The "ACNJ Child Advocate" is published three times a year by the Association for Children of New Jersey. ACNJ collects, analyzes, and distributes information on the well-being of children in New Jersey so that policymakers can pinpoint problems and work toward solutions. It reports data on key indicators of child well-being in each…

The article provides a review of state services for young handicapped children. Section one contains a description of legislation for preschool handicapped education. Part two describes federal programs that relate to special children from birth to mandatory school age. Teacher certification requirements are reviewed in the third section. The…

The document reports the first year's accomplishments of the New York State Implementation Grant to improve the delivery of services to handicapped children ages birth to 5 years. Activities are discussed for the following areas: developing guidelines supporting legislation, developing a written plan as part of the annual state plan, establishing…

The national survey of teacher certification directors was designed to assess the status of state legislation mandating services for children from birth to age 5 and to assess the progress of state education agencies in developing certification standards for teachers of the preschool handicapped. Among findings were that only 16% of all states…

Many states are developing regulations for serving handicapped infants based on P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which was written to cover ages 3-21. As a result, confusing and discrepant practices are occurring that do not necessarily address the unique nature and needs of infants. (Author/VW)

This article examines the definition of preschool gifted education in Louisiana, describes a publicly funded preschool gifted program, and discusses issues pertaining to a parent evaluation of the program. The evaluation covered: certification and teacher effectiveness, instruction, inservice education, special education paperwork and program…

Legislative alternatives for providing a mechanism within State government to plan and coordinate early childhood programs are presented and analyzed. The alternatives addressed are: (1) placing early childhood responsibility in an existing agency; (2) creating a new office of child development as an independent State agency; and (3) creating a…

The purpose of this report is to inform New Jersey legislators, the governor, and other public officials about the status of child care in the state and to make recommendations that include government and private sector activities. An introductory section describes the structure of the New Jersey Child Care Advisory Council (CCAC) and lists the…