[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Early Childhood and Family Education (ECFE)

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Early Childhood and Family Education (ECFE)
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1210374753.shtml


   In "Common Sense School Reform" (available in the [1]Strom Showcase),
   author Frederick Hess talks of two kinds of reformers, the "Status
   Quo" reformer and the "Common Sense" reformer. The Status Quo Reformer
   is incremental, one who says follow me a little further and things
   will get better. But in government run education, this seldom happens;
   often, things get worse.
   Is ECFE - Early Childhood & Family Education the exception? It a
   minimum, it is tremendously popular, including among my extended
   family. At the District 281 visioning sessions, there wasn't a single
   complaint, only a privoso, that it be free ECFE.
   I posted yesterday that I'd like to see Community Education be split
   off from the school districts, to help them focus on their raison
   d'être, K-12 education. Would I want the same for ECFE, for the same
   reason?
   Before I answer that, let us address how many educators point to the
   Minneapolis Federal Reserve Senior VP Art Rolnick's strong endorsement
   of the ECFE concept. Rolnick did not envision a one size fits all
   government solution, however, preferring multiple marketplace
   offerings. On the other hand, and unlike Community Education, there is
   something to be said for integration of an ECFE program and the K-12
   schooling to follow, administratively at least.
   Returning ECFE to the home and the private sector would not be a bad
   decision, an option available now. That the government schools offer
   unfair competition to such providers bothers me a bit. But the fact
   remains that "free" ECFE from the public schools is what the parents
   want, perhaps the districts' most successful offering. The customers
   are very happy and the costs are modest.
   I therefore will now make the jump from K-12 to E-12 in my thinking.

References

   1. http://www.mnfmi.org/bookstore.html