Worthy Wage Day Quilt 2009 Campaign Kicks Off 
The Worthy Wage Day Quilt Campaign will kick off at the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) conference, Nov. 5-8, in Dallas, Texas. Every year thousands of people sign the quilt that is sent to Congress on Worthy Wage Day with the message that early childhood educators deserve "worthy wages." Quilts from past years will be displayed at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) booth. The booth will also showcase the popular AFT Everyday Heroes display which is a colorful and compelling exhibit honoring the important work of the early childhood education.
 
Look for the AFT's Everyday Heroes exhibit in the Exhibit Hall, where you can connect with other "everyday heroes" and learn more about how you can unite with other early childhood educators in the fight for better wages, benefits, working conditions and professional development opportunities.
 
Higher Education Bill Passes - Includes Early Childhood Education
In August 2008 both Houses of Congress passed a bipartisan Higher Education Act conference bill, H.R. 4137 that includes key provisions for early childhood educators. The president signed H.R. 4137 into law on Aug.14, 2008.

Three new provisions will significantly enhance early childhood educators' access to higher education and compensation when they attain postsecondary degrees.  These include:

• Expanding student loan forgiveness programs to include teachers earning a bachelor's degree who will work in licensed or regulated child care, Head Start, Early Head Start, and state pre-K programs;
• Including early childhood education programs in partnerships to improve teacher preparation, recruitment and retention, and the ability to use grant funds for compensation of early childhood educators who attain an associate's or baccalaureate degree;
• Creating state grants to create early childhood education professional development and career systems that will address teacher's competencies and credentials, better compensation to attract and keep teachers, quality assurances for training and professional development, and articulation agreements.

"We are pleased that H.R. 4137 includes key provisions for early childhood educators that will help them attain college-level education and appropriately compensate them once they attain postsecondary degrees," said AFT president Randi Weingarten. "These provisions will go along way to recruit and retain qualified candidates and improve the quality in early childhood education programs."

For more information, visit www.aft.org/news/2008/congress-hebill.htm or http://edlabor.house.gov/micro/coaa.shtml.

Report Evaluates Preschool Curriculum
A report by the National Center for Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) report. Effects of Preschool Curriculum Programs on School Readiness, presents data on 14 preschool curricula in a variety of settings serving predominantly low-income children. The goal of the PCER initiative was to identify the impact of each preschool curriculum on several indicators of school readiness. The final report presents findings for the impact of each curriculum on student-level and classroom-level outcomes. To download and print the report as a PDF file, visit http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20082009/.