The prospects for new education legislation during the election year are dim. But the policy discussions have been simmering around the country lately, including Voices’ own series of town hall meetings. Voices member Voices for Georgia’s Children has just told us of two meetings it has scheduled with Georgia’s members of Congress, which will include presentations with school workers, early education experts and more. They’re excited about the possibilities and so is Voices! Befriend Voices for Georgia’s Children on Facebook for updates on their work.

There are far too many children in need of rehabilitation in America, with about 1.9 million juveniles arrested yearly. Preventing crime and helping these youth is not only the right thing to do, but stands to save us a lot of money: It costs around $88,000 a year to incarcerate a juvenile.

Pre-K costs only around $4,000 a year, a bargain for the nurturing, socialization and education a child receives. And pre-K has been shown to reduce crime. An often-cited study of Chicago at-risk youth showed that those who got high-quality pre-K were 39 percent less likely to have been incarcerated by age 28. Learn more in our infographic!

Although the administration has sought reform of No Child Left Behind, these waivers could be an indication that the law won’t get attention anytime soon. Educators worry that the law as it stands forces them to spend too much time teaching to standardized tests. Only a third of American 4th and 8th graders read at a “proficient” level, according to national tests. Learn more in our report on student testing.

“The biggest problem in American education is we have far too many children who go from third grade into the rest of their elementary school years without being able to read proficiently,” said Bryant. To learn more, watch the segment or check out our recent report on education standards.

Texans Care for Children, a member of the Voices network, analyzed data from state demographers and economists on the impact of unmet needs in children. For the first time in history, researchers now project the next generation of Texans will live less educated, more impoverished, and shorter lives than today’s adults. Only improvements to the state’s educational system, including early education and children’s health, will change the trajectory.

“This likely will mean the reduction of basic education funding resulting in the layoffs of thousands of teachers statewide; cuts to child welfare funding and programs that serve children with mental disabilities; and damaging reduced support to early childhood programs, including Pre-K Counts, the state’s preschool program for at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds; the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program; Child Care Works, the program that helps low-income working parents pay for child care; Keystone STARS, the state’s quality improvement and rating system for child care centers, and Nurse Family Partnerships that provides low-income, first-time moms with the care and support they need to raise safe, healthy babies.”

Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, the Voices member in that state, has all the details in a blog post on YoungStar.  You can also read more on the proposed program from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

It’s important to work toward greater access to child care for families, but often it’s just as important to ensure those programs are high-performing.  To learn more about child care and children’s needs, check out the Voices Early Care and Education page.

Our recent summary of 4th grade reading scores shows that racial gaps in performance are significant and persistent.  In “The Nation’s Report Card” for 2009, non-white students scored 25 points less than their white counterparts in reading.  And these gaps appear year after year.

We’ll continue to update this blog on our advocacy around early learning; tune in to learn ways you can help.

While all student underperformance is a problem, the persistent racial gaps in scores are particularly troubling.

Interestingly, though only around one-third of students are proficient readers according to the Department of Education, states are usually doing well by their own assessments. For example, only 28 percent of Texas students are proficient readers by national standards, but 84 percent passed that state’s test. It seems national and state learning standards are not aligned, and we expect this to be an important topic when federal education programs are renewed, possibly this year.

Schwartz and McMahon are introducing new legislation that could dramatically increase the tax break parents get for child care. As they note, tax change would recognize the reality of the modern family, where two career households are the norm. It’s vital support for families, and with the economic outlook the way it is, support can’t come soon enough.