Research findings from Inequalities at the Starting Gate 2015 reinforce prior findings about unequal starts in Kindergarten. Without improved opportunities for young children and families at or near poverty, the achievement gap is likely to continue and even widen. Here is an excerpt from the report: “This analysis affirms decades of...

Labor Day celebrates contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The holiday makes me think about the hard-working families with young children in Wisconsin and across the country struggling to make ends meet financially while ensuring that their young children have a good start. This...

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) has issued a report, Child Care in State Economies, in which “the economic role of the industry is examined using three distinct perspectives—the traditional labor force view of child care as a means for parents to work; the child care industry’s macroeconomic role in the U.S. economy; and...

A New York Times blog, Bedtime Stories for Young Brains, provides a fascinating discussion of how reading to young children affects their development. We know reading to children from the start is good for children, but the new research explains why. Dr, John Hutton, the lead author of a recent study, says, “I think that we’ve learned...

A Washington Post business page article, The surprising number of parents scaling back at work to care for kids, examines parents’ struggle with child care and work. According to the article, “While it has long been clear that finding affordable, dependable child care is a daily challenge for parents of young children, the new poll...