Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading have produced a new guide to help parents understand the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Arkansas Department of Education now uses ESSA to measure...
Too many children in Arkansas are missing too much school to make academic progress. In 2014-15, 13 percent of K-12 students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 18 or more days of school (or 10 percent of the school...
When do children begin to learn? Believe it or not, school readiness begins in the womb. Research show the first few years of life, including the prenatal months, are the most important for healthy brain development. Unfortunately, too many...
Note: This blog is third in a series of posts covering the findings in the 2018 Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book. To read the introductory blog post, click here. Read the second, on economic security, here. Every year,...
Fourteen years ago, in August 2004, the Jonesboro, Arkansas, School District launched its first pre-K program. The Jonesboro Pre-K Center was licensed for 186 early learners and was housed in the newly renovated Jonesboro Administration Building on Flint Street....
Before age 3, 85 percent of a child’s core brain structure is formed. This “wiring” shapes infants and toddlers’ ability to learn to read and think critically. Early learning experiences also influence health, social, and economic outcomes. The Arkansas...
When do children begin to learn? Believe it or not, school readiness begins in the womb. Decades of research show the first few years of life, including the prenatal months, are the most important for healthy brain development and...
As most Arkansas kids went back to school this week for a new year, we should remember that not all kids had summers that they are eager to “show-and-tell” about. The educational disparities between the haves and have-nots are...
There is one week left to submit comments to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) on its draft proposal to implement the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). You can go to ADE’s ESSA website to read the executive...
In partnership with the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, today we’re releasing a new policy brief on the importance of talking, reading, and singing with children from birth. More than half of Arkansas children start kindergarten...
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