The School Readiness Recent News
Editorial: Honor King's legacy by closing the gaps
StarTribune.com | January 16, 2012
A champion of equity who grew up in the racially segregated South, King wrote, marched, preached and ultimately died working for people of all races to have peace, jobs, housing, health care -- and access to a quality education. - Read More
On early childhood education, Minnesota cannot be complacent
MinnPost.com | January 13, 2012 | Frank Forsberg, Karen Kelley-Ariwoola and Denise Mayotte
We are basking in the limelight of exciting momentum in the fight to address Minnesota's unacceptable achievement gap, and rightly so. Gov. Mark Dayton has made early childhood a priority and has committed to better results through improved coordination and efficiencies as illustrated by the creation of the Children's Cabinet, the establishment of an Office of Early Learning and appointment of an Early Learning Council. - Read More
Minnesota leaders tackle "state of emergency" in education
TC Daily Planet | January 12, 2012 | Sheila Regan
Education is in a state of emergency, according to speakers at the Children and Youth Issues Briefing, held January 10 at the Crowne Plaza. At the conference, sponsored by the United Front, education leaders from government and nonprofit sectors came together to share their expertise and plans for improving Minnesota's dismal achievement gap statistics. - Read More
Grant windfall no cureall for early childhood ed in Minnesota
StarTribune.com | January 11, 2012 | Jeremy Olson
Early childhood education leaders met in St. Paul this morning to discuss legislative priorities and to celebrate the recent announcements of three multimillion grants to help poor and disadvantaged children receive quality preschool and education services. - Read More
Hundreds to attend briefing on legislative issues affecting children
MinnPost.com | January 6, 2012 | Joe Kimball
Hundreds of advocates for children and youth will meet Wednesday in St. Paul for a briefing on legislative issues expected to emerge in the coming session. - Read More
Half of Minnesota's kids aren't ready for kindergarten. Website helps gauge if yours is.
Pioneer Press | December 23, 2011 | Megan Boldt
It's a startling statistic: Just a little more than half of Minnesota children who started kindergarten last year were ready for the experience, according to a state school readiness study. - Read More
Editorial: Finally, good news for little learners
StarTribune.com | December 22, 2011
Last week's word that Minnesota was one of nine winners of a federal Race to the Top competition for early childhood funding may have come as a happy surprise even to those who closely follow that topic. - Read More
Race to the Top, Promise Neighborhoods and federal money for early childhood education in Minnesota
TC Daily Planet | December 21, 2011 | Sheila Regan
And now, for some good news about education in Minnesota. December has been a good month for the state, with word that three separate streams of federal dollars are flowing into the state to improve our education system. - Read More
Minnesota wins $45 million from fed's Race to Top for pre-K
Pioneer Press | December 16, 2011 | Megan Boldt
More low-income families across the state will have access to high-quality child care and preschool programs. That's because Minnesota was one of nine states to win about $500 million in federal dollars for early learning programs. - Read More
Learning Curve
MinnPost.com | December 16, 2011 | Beth Hawkins
Minnesota gets good news on federal funding to help state's 'littlest learners' - Read More
Minnesota Receives Race to the Top Grant
MN Dept. of Education | December 16, 2011 | Charlene Briner
Grant furthers Dayton Administration's commitment toward providing quality early learning opportunities for all youth - Read More
Start Early Funders Coalition Applauds Minnesota's Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant
Start Early Funders | December 16, 2011
The Start Early Funders Coalition for Children and Minnesota's Future applauds today's announcement by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius naming Minnesota one of nine recipients of federal Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grants. - Read More
Minnesota submits application for "Race to the Top" grant
minnesota.publicradio.org | October 18, 2011 | Tom Weber
Minnesota education officials have submitted the state's application for a competitive federal grant called "Race to the Top." - Read More
For this mom, shutdown means loss of child-care subsidy -- and potential domino effects
MinnPost.com | July 6, 2011 | Beth Hawkins
What's the price of stability — or, put another way, the cost of the shutdown? In Tiffany Brewer's case, $279 a week. - Read More
Shutdown and the daycare scramble
StarTribune.com | July 1, 2011 | Jeremy Olson
State child care assistance payments are made, on average, for 19,000 families (33,000 children) each month in Minnesota. - Read More
Fate of early-ed reform unclear
StarTribune.com | April 22, 2011 | Jeremy Olson
Legislation to reform early childhood education in Minnesota is still in the mix at the Capitol this session, although some ambitious proposals have been stripped away. - Read More
Little kids take center stage at the Capitol
StarTribune.com - Staff Blogs | March 17, 2011 | Bob von Sternberg
As it does on one day every year, the state Capitol was crawling with Minnesotans too young to lobby, much less vote on Thursday morning. - Read More
Minnesota needs an early-education czar, task force says
MinnPost.com | March 4, 2011 | Beth Hawkins
In 2002, only half of children in both Minnesota and Maryland entered kindergarten ready to learn. Today, despite nearly a decade of increasingly broad support for the concept of early childhood education, that dismal statistic still applies to Minnesota’s youngest learners. - Read More
School Readiness Funders Coalition pushes consolidation of Early Childhood Ed efforts
Golden Valley, Minn., February 23, 2011 | Kare 11
The School Readiness Funders Coalition is a collection of some of Minnesota's largest philanthropic organizations who were working independently to fund efforts to improve early childhood education. - Read More
School Readiness Funders Coalition Urges Governor Dayton to Reform
Early Childhood Care and Education
St. Paul, Minn., January 19, 2011
The School Readiness Funders Coalition (SRFC), a collaboration of 12 statewide philanthropic organizations dedicated to helping every child in Minnesota achieve school readiness, today hailed new recommendations from a Legislative task force calling for streamlined authority and responsibility for Minnesota’s early childhood care and education programs. - Read More
Minnesota’s Philanthropic Leaders Call for More Accountability, Defined Leadership for State’s Early Childhood System
Minneapolis, Minn., March 11, 2010
The School Readiness Funders Coalition, made up of eight members of Minnesota’s philanthropic community, today announced its recommendations to achieve learning readiness of all Minnesota children by 2020. The School Readiness Funders Coalition identified three essential areas the state needs to focus its attention - leadership, accountability and funding. - Read More
