Head Start, Accountability in Higher Education, and More (National News)

Head Start and PreK Accountability

Compared to high schools, no one but me wants to talk about early childhood education, it seems, but the news -- good and bad -- keeps coming. First there's Head Start, around which nobody seems to have any good ideas:

Federal audit finds waste in Head Start program for poor children Tucson Citizen
Government Is Criticized on Oversight of Head Start - New York Times
GAO Report Based on Flawed HHS Data, Presents Incorrect ... NHSA
Strengthen, don’t undermine, Head Start George Miller

Then there are all sorts of quality and accountability issues surrounding universal preschool and full-day K:

Testing Goes to Preschool Harvard Education Letter
Achieving a High-Quality Preschool Teacher corps NCLR
Mandatory preschool Los Angeles Daily News
Reviewers Taking a Studied Look at County Preschools LAT
School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps Brookings Institute
Closing Achievement Gaps Brookings Institute
Kindergarten set plugs into more than ABCs Sun Times
Head Start not enrolling number of kids it's paid to CPD

Budget Blahs

Nobody but the Education Secretary likes the Administration’s budget proposal – except the Heritage Foundation: Spellings Defends President’s Spending Plan for Education (EW), Tech schools fear loss of money (Boston Globe), Small Steps Toward Smarter Education Spending (Heritage).

Best of the Rest:

Commission Backs Call for More Accountability in Higher Education EW
Read the report here PDF SHEEO
Full Senate, House Panel OK Perkins Reauthorization EW
Youthquakes shake up gray-haired states Stateline.org
Schools ease up on zero-tolerance discipline Stateline.org