Action Alert

Show Your Support, Volunteer!
MiAEYC needs you! The MiAEYC annual Early Childhood Conference is just a few weeks away and volunteers are needed. If you are attending the conference, enjoy networking, like to help others, and have time available (volunteer time blocks are 1-1 ¾ hours), you’re just the person we’re looking for! Please contact Jennifer Griffith, Volunteer Coordinator, at 616-949-8362 or jennifer60@sbcglobal.net.


2010-2011 National Head Start Fellowship Applications Now Being Accepted
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announces that applications for the 2010-2011 National Head Start Fellowships are now being accepted. Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)

In The News

March 5, 2010

Governor 'disappointed' over zero Race to Top funds
Governor Jennifer Granholm says she's "extremely disappointed" Michigan didn't qualify as a finalist for any of the money being handed out to schools in the first round of the Obama administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. Granholm told reporters Friday she was "shocked" the state lost out when winners were announced Thursday. She says her administration will study the applications of winning states and tweak an application that's due in June for a second round of grants. Michigan hopes to win up to $400 million. MICentral

Educators, advocates protest state funding cuts
A small group of Michigan teachers and education advocates rallied Thursday at the state Capitol to protest state funding cuts and other changes in public education. The group gathered at the rally as part of a national day of action to let lawmakers know they are concerned about the future of public secondary and higher education. The Lansing State Journal

More effective method of predicting lead-poisoning risk
As health departments across the United States seek a better way to determine which children should be tested for lead poisoning, a method created by Michigan State University scientists has proven to be more accurate and cost-effective than current strategies. Science Daily

March 4, 2010

Michigan's loss of Race to the Top funding doesn't negate need for school reforms
Now that Michigan schools won't be getting $400 million in federal Race to the Top cash, some state educators say they're worried they are stuck with expensive reforms without the money needed to fund them. But some lawmakers and educators say the reforms — which include installing "turnaround teams" in failing schools — are needed even if the cash-strapped state has to find the money elsewhere. And one lawmaker suggested Michigan failed to snag the federal funds because the state's reforms "didn't go far enough," and called for taking another run at changes to teacher tenure and other ideas that met resistance. The Grand Rapids Press

March 3, 2010

No-Child Law is a highlight of hearing on education
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is presiding over the rollout of the largest competitive grant program in his department’s history, a vast expansion of the government’s direct loan program for college students and sweeping new expenditures on failing schools, teacher quality and other big initiatives. EducationNews.org

March 1, 2010

Education is the civil rights issue of our time
While President Obama zeroed in on healthcare last week, he's made it a point to also prop up another issue. "Week after week, month after month, he keeps coming back to education," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan to a reporter's roundtable on Wednesday, citing a recent speech the President gave before the National Governor's Association focused almost entirely on raising the nation's educational standards. "He has flatlined all domestic spending outside of national affairs, except education. He is constantly pushing me. He's got an absolute passion on this. "The Obama administration's education agenda, as laid out in the 2011 federal budget and a higher education bill pending in the Senate, involves increased funding for early childhood education and community colleges, but also structural changes for a system that has fallen far behind those of other countries. "Some say our strategy is too ambitious," Duncan said. "I would argue we have to be ambitious." Essence