New Opportunities for Young Learner Programs
October 20, 2016
Education Week reported on the Dept. of Education’s guidance on funding young learner programs under ESSA. The piece identified various options for federal funds to be used for young learners including: 1, training early learning teachers; 2, updating and aligning certification and licensing standards for early-childhood educators; 3, providing support and ongoing training to early-learning teachers; and 4, ensuring regular observations of early-learning classrooms to improve teachers’ effectiveness in creating high-quality instructional, social, and emotional climates. The guidance also focused on new grant programs which provide funds to “improve preschools” but also seeks to “limit the federal governments’ role in creating the rules that states must follow to get grant dollars.” Education Dive also breaks down the guidelines here.