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Stagnant funding hurts after-school programs, survey finds

Stagnant funding is making it difficult for after-school programs to retain and attract high-quality staff and is reducing the number of enrichment activities, such as field trips or arts programs, offered to low-income students, according to a survey released Monday by the Partnership for Children & Youth. The daily rate of $7.50 a student from California’s state-funded program has not increased since 2006, when the program was first implemented.

Classes combining kindergarten, transitional kindergarten pose challenges

As a result of a new state law, California schools instituted transitional kindergarten to give 4-year-olds who were previously eligible for kindergarten an extra year to adjust to school and experience a less academically-oriented curriculum. But many thousands of those children are in classrooms with kindergartners, leaving teachers to figure out how to accommodate the new approach for 4-year-olds while preparing the 5-year-olds for 1st grade.

Latino Studies curriculum will make CPS a pioneer

Nearly 46 percent of Chicago public school students identify as Hispanic this year, and district leaders say it’s necessary to make the study of Latino history and culture a core part of education. CPS plans to sell the new curriculum to other districts, and is launching it a year after an African American Studies curriculum made its debut. Experts say no other school system has made such an expansive effort to incorporate ethnic studies into the school day.

State preschool funding is having an impact

A once-empty preschool in south San Jose is now filled with 44 children, spending their days eagerly peering at insects through mega magnifying glasses or linking plastic gears to create contraptions. Most of the children at Eden Palms Child Development Center in San Jose are from families that are unable to pay for preschool. The students are some of the 10,000-plus children from low-income families throughout California.