pre-k

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) lays out a new vision for high-quality preschool curricula that support equitable early education for all children. The report recommends that in the next five...

Christina Weiland, faculty co-director of the Education Policy Initiative, has studied pre-K programs around the country. The state of Michigan will spend an additional $107M in its 2023-2024 budget on pre-K, hoping to increase the number of...

Achieving Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s aim of universal Pre-K, made in her State of the State address in January 2023, will require building upon its established programs and making some adjustments to the state’s education...

Calling for early education for all, the Seattle Times Editorial Board has endorsed a plan by Christina Weiland,  Education Policy Initiative faculty co-director, and her colleagues for universal pre-k in Washington state.  Weiland’s 2021 policy...

An article in HuffPost highlights the efforts in Boston to provide Universal Pre-K, and refers to the expertise of Christina Weiland, faculty co-director of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI). The Boston program was initiated in 2005, and since...

The value of Pre-K education has been widely acknowledged through decades of research. However, much of that research has come from studying older and often smaller programs than those currently being implemented across the country. To determine how...

Christina Weiland, MIT News: "I am really excited by this work. We’re seeing the really positive long-term effects of attending preschool. A really important question is not only whether preschool works, yes or no, but how, and what kind of...

Chalkboard Detroit: A shift toward free preschool for all 4-year-olds — which the Legislature will debate this session — could increase access and improve teacher pay at the same time. Indeed, that’s what happened in other states with universal...

Children who attend a prekindergarten (Pre-K) program generally score higher on academic, social-emotional, and cognitive assessments at the start of kindergarten than children who do not. However, Pre-K nonattenders typically catch up to Pre-K...

Education Policy Initiative faculty co-director Christina Weiland has an expertise in pre-k, and recently published a paper on Transitional Kindergarten. Both topics have been in the news.   In her State of the State address, Michigan Governor...

“Almost every state with a public pre-K program uses a mixed-delivery approach, with some classrooms in public schools and others in community-based organizations (CBOs),” write Education Policy Initiative faculty co-director Christina Weiland, and...

The next phase of one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of early childhood education launches this summer with a $1.5 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education. The grant, funded by the...

Four research projects conducted by affiliates of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the University of Michigan received a total of nearly $10 million in new grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of...

As the Biden administration and early childhood advocates across the country push for universal preschool for all three- and four-year-olds, Christina Weiland, professor of education and public policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of...

Christina Weiland, co-director of the Education Policy Initiative and associate professor of education and public policy, sat down with Metro Parent to discuss what universal pre-k could mean for Michigan. "Universal pre-K can help take financial...

What are the best ways to judge how instruction in pre-kindergarten classrooms is organized? Linkages between facets of classroom organization such as better organization of materials, smooth transitions, and clear routines are thought to make...

The Build Back Better Act includes comprehensive early childhood policy that would benefit children, families, and educators, argues Christina Weiland in an opinion in the Globe Post. “Hand-wringing about the bill’s cost obscures the fact that...

Access to early education programs have been shown for decades to improve the educational prospects for children in kindergarten and beyond. A new type of early education program widespread in Michigan and California—transitional kindergarten...