The Hampton Roads business journal Inside Business released an article discussing anticipated shifts in the landscape of Virginia’s early childhood education system during 2014. The piece highlighted the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Project (VKRP), which aims to implement a comprehensive kindergarten assessment in order to establish a statewide snapshot of children’s school readiness skills. The VKRP is a joint effort between researchers at the Curry School of Education’s Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), the advocacy group Elevate Early Education (E3), and the Commonwealth.
In the article, Amanda Williford, CASTL research assistant professor and principal investigator on the VKRP, commented on the project and early childhood education in Virginia:
Williford said she’s proud of the progress on early childhood education in the state, but Virginia still lags behind states including Georgia and North Carolina in terms of fund appropriations and access. “I think E3 and VECF are doing great work to try to increase the focus on early childhood in Virginia,” she said. “But up to this date there hasn’t been as much traction as we early childhood researchers would like to see.”
The article cites a growing base of research establishing the importance of learning opportunities in the first five years of life as a catalyst for increases in government-appropriated funds and support from other public and private organizations. It goes on to describe the early education reform efforts led by the Virginia Early Childhood Policy Center, Alexandria Delegate Rob Krupicka, and the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation.
Read the full article here.