Our home was a 24-hour education laboratory (Jacquie is a certified early childhood development teacher).

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If we do early childhood education, if we focus on teacher training, if we invest in math and science education, which is vital -- and we're falling behind other countries on that front -- then I actually feel pretty confident that we can out-compete any country in the world.

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Simultaneously calling for an increase in school time is tantamount to choosing this policy over class size reductions and early childhood intervention (and several others, including, perhaps, teacher-related policies) alternatives with a stronger track record of effectiveness.

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"We had the need and the demand but were stymied by the teacher shortage, " said Andy McKenzie, who oversees early-childhood education for the district.

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