Entries for the 'What's New' Category

This recently completed report by CCSSO in an overview of the Educare Program, geared to leaders in the public education community.

Twenty-two governors mentioned early care and education in their 2012 state of the state addresses.  The excerpts from the speeches related to early care and education, along with links to the entire speeches, are provided below. (Seven states have not had, nor are they scheduled to have, state of the state addresses.)  All of the state of the state addresses are available at here.

ZERO TO THREE's new online resources on infants and toddlers—State Baby Facts—are a series of factsheets for each of the 50 states and D.C. that provide information for early childhood professionals and policymakers about the status of infants, toddlers, and families across the country. The State Baby Facts present infant and toddler data on good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences to show how babies are faring in each state. The factsheets also highlight the important role many federal programs play in supporting babies’ healthy development.

The 2012 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook charts improvements and declines in the well-being of children and youth across the state and in each of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns and provides the latest available statistics on 67 different aspects of children's lives, from birth through adolescence.

Raising children is a challenge for parents from all walks of life. However, parents who experience social and economic disadvantages face particular challenges in trying to meet the needs of their children. Some of these parents have support in rearing their children, but many do not. This Research Brief takes a close look at the link between the emotional support that mothers receive—or do not receive—in raising their children and their children’s development. To address this question, Child Trends analyzed available data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health.

BUILD and the QRIS National Learning Network, in collaboration with the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative, are pleased to share this brief written by noted consultant Louise Stoney.  The brief explores the ideas and trends related to QRIS that state leaders included in their RTT-ELC applications.

CLASP and the National Women’s Law Center are pleased to announce the release of our collaborative report: A Count for Quality: Child Care Center Directors on Rating and Improvement Systems, based on interviews with a diverse group of child care center directors participating in QRIS in several states. 

This NAEYC report is a highlight of state developments, categorized by issue areas. It highlights selected enacted legislation; new initiatives approved by the state executive branch; major funding increases, decreases, or level-funding; and additional significant fiscal or policy changes that impact early childhood education for Fiscal Year 2012.

CLASP is pleased to announce a new resource on promoting access to comprehensive screenings. Promote Access to Early, Regular and Comprehensive Screenings is one of CLASP’s 15 policy recommendations in our “Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care” project, an ongoing effort by CLASP to link research to policy ideas to help states make the best decisions for infants and toddlers in child care.

To support infant-toddler advocates in their work to promote programs and policies that help improve lives of infants and toddlers, ZERO TO THREE has developed a set of Baby Facts. These fact sheets show how babies are faring in each of the 51 states and the important role federal programs play in supporting their healthy development.

Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRISs) commonly offer on-site technical assistance (TA) and coaching to help early care and education settings achieve quality improvements and a higher QRIS rating. In surveys of administrators overseeing statewide QRISs, almost all states reported the use of on-site TA and coaching in both center-based and home-based settings.

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) Child Care and Early Education team regularly works with policymakers, advocates, and other key early childhood stakeholders, to plan, develop, and strengthen child care and early education policy at the state level. CLASP can provide technical assistance in a number of ways, from our offices in Washington, DC, or in your state.

National Governors Association produced this recent issue brief on advisory council implementation.  Here you can obtain more information on what councils are doing across the states.

In this report prepared by the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative you can read profiles of the 2011 Early Learning Challenge Grant Applications.

CLASP has updated their Data Tool intended for state advocates and policymakers to use as they work to develop state early childhood agendas.

NAEYC's annual brief covers major state efforts on early care and education policies addressing issues such as governance, special education, health services, and education and care programs for infants through kindergarteners.

An article by ZERO TO THREE Policy Center highlighting the proposed activities of the Early Learning Challenge Fund grant recipients focused on infants and toddlers.

This issue brief from the National Governors Association discusses the role of home-visiting programs in state-funded early childhood care and education systems.

According to the latest annual report released by the Data Quality Campaign, while states have made strong progress increasing their capacity to build and use data systems, they are not yet helping teachers, parents, and other education stakeholders use the data to inform decisions to improve student achievement.

Quality, stable child care arrangements support the healthy development of infants and toddlers. This presentation from the 2011 NAEYC Annual Conference describes how state subsidy policies can support retention of child care subsidies and continuous care for infants and toddlers.

This annual report from the National Women's Law Center reveals that families were worse off in 37 states than they were in 2010 under one or more child care assistance policies.  Families are not only worse off in 2011 than they were in 2010, but are also worse off than a decade ago.

This third annual report of Head Start in Maine was written by the Maine Children's Alliance in cooperation with the Maine Head Start Directors Association and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Early Childhood Division. 

The newest report/guide by Kyle Snow, who heads the NAEYC Center for Applied Research, offering guidance to states on kindergarten readiness and other large scale assessments.  It seems particularly timely given the RTTT ELC and other state developments.

The Fall 2011 issue published by Child Trends provides a roundup of recent updates to key national indicator publications and features several new resources.

The National Council of La Raza's report highlights opportunities to improve educational outcomes for young Latino children, examing barriers to quality and access that limit participation and offering policy recommendations.

This report from the National Women's Law Center examines the impact of five key factors that determine the affordability, accessibility, and quality of assistance in each state, namely:  income eligibility, waiting lists for assistance, copayments required of parents receiving assistance, reimbursement rates for child care providers, eligibility for parents searching for a job.

National Center for Children in Poverty Early Childhood Profiles were produced as part of the Improving the Odds for Young Children project. These profiles highlight states’ policy choices that promote health, education, and strong families alongside other contextual data related to the well-being of young children.

On September 22, 2011 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $224 million to help at-risk families voluntarily receive home visits from nurses and social workers to improve maternal and child health, child development, school readiness, economic self-sufficiency, and child abuse prevention.

This letter was sent to the Super Committee and the House and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees on Wednesday, September 21.  Dr. Heckman clearly articulates thoughts on how to reduce the deficits and create lasting economic prosperity.

This report from National Conference of State Legislatures, presents an analysis of overall trends in early care and education budget decisions and actions in child care, prekindergarten, home visiting and related early childhood investments.

An article from the August 19, 2011 issue of Science, by Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.  The article discusses new strategies to strengthen the impacts of early education through coordinated knowledge from science, policy and practice.

The Early Learning Challenge Collaborative has developed a summary including interpretation of the final requirements, priorities, and selection criteria to help with the RTT-ELC application process.  Additionally the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative has created this planning template to help with the Challenge application.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) jointly developed this glossary of professional development, training, and technical assistance (TA) terms.

This fact sheet from Child Trends summarizes what is known about the impact these programs and intervention strategies have on young children's development in language and literacy.

This planning tool from ZERO TO THREE guides communities through the process of creating new or expanding existing home visiting services that meet their unique needs.  The guide helps communities use data to identify thier strengths, needs, and gaps in current home visiting services.

Last week the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services announced the availability of $500 million for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC).  CLASP has created a Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge resource page to help states during this planning period.

United Way and the American Human Development Project have created a tool to forecast how things might change in your community if educational outcomes were better.  Click on your state, or any other state, to get started.

The 2011 report on state child and dependent care tax provisions, Making Care Less Taxing, and the accompanying state report card, Making the Grade for Care, which grades those state provisions, cover the 34 child and dependent care tax provisions in effect in 28 states in tax year 2010.

The goal of The Child Indicator, produced and distributed by Child Trends,  is to communicate major developments and new resources within each sector of the child and youth indicators flied to the larger community of interested users, researchers, and data developers on a regular basis.

This report from BUILD is a culmination of two years of research and exploration of policies in practice in states.  The report includes practical examples of successfully applied policies and is a rich resource for systems builders and members of state advisory councils.

State profiles created in partnership with the NGA Center and the Department of Health and Human Services.  Each profile provides an overview of a state council, including its administering agency, history, membership, activities, and priorities for the ARRA grant, and communication strategies.

This glossary by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) is intended to serve as a guide for states to adapt and adjust as needed.  The definitions are also designed to provide common understandings, or starting points, for research and national or cross-state discussions.  The definitions were developed for those who provide professional development, state policy makers, early education advocates, and program administrators working to connect professional development activities and initiatives into an integrated system.

 In this video, ZERO TO THREE Policy Network Member Stephanie Byrd describes where things stand in the budget process, what comes next as Congress sets the 2012 budget resolution, and what advocates can do.

NAEYC's latest report provides a recap of state policy developments in a number of early childhood areas, including governance, professional development, quality rating and data systems, child care subsidies and home visiting.

This report examines the early care and education workforce data landscape across the states, focusing on the three main workforce data systems.

Illinois Early Childhood Fellows, which prepares diverse new leaders for the field of early childhood policy and systems building, has opened competition for the 2011-2013 Fellows cohort. Nominations and applications are conducted online at www.ilearlychildhoodfellows.org and must be submitted by midnight, Central Standard Time, February 18, 2011.

From the classroom to the legislature, stakeholders can use data about young children, early childhood programs and the workforce to improve the effectiveness of early care and education.

This report from NCCP presents findings from an interview study that investigated features of the professional development and on-site assistance available to center-based staff and home-based providers who participate in states’ Quality Rating Improvement Systems.

State-by-state fact sheets from NWLC’s report, Supporting Affordable, High-Quality Child Care with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds, provide information on how the economic recovery funds are being used by states for child care and early education efforts.

On November 2, 2010, voters across the country will cast ballots to select 37 governors and 6,115 legislators. Due to term limits, many winners of these races will be new to elected office. The time is ripe to get or keep early childhood on the agenda of elected leaders, and the resources highlighted on this page are a sample of what organizations funded by the Birth to Five Policy Alliance have produced to educate candidates.

This post from CLASP details information on how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds were used for child care purposes in 2009. 

This annual report from NWLC reveals that states largely held off major cuts to child care programs as of February 2010, with help from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. Although most state policies are holding steady compared to a year ago, they have not improved or are behind where they were in 2001 and may face challenges in protecting their child care programs as ARRA funds are exhausted.

This study from the Center for the Study Child Care Employment examines the career backgrounds and professional development needs of those working in child care resource and referral programs, local First 5 commissions, and child care coordinators across the state.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 21 nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education will receive Promise Neighborhoods planning grants. With the one-year grants, the recipients will create plans to provide cradle-to-career services that improve the educational achievement and healthy development of children.

This brochure highlights the importance of coordinated and longitudinal data systems and what states can do to start building them to inform continuous improvement in early care and education. 

A new white paper from the Early Childhood Data Collaborative makes the case for why states should build longitudinal data systems for early care and education, describes the ten fundamentals of a coordinated system with state examples, and provides guidance on how to ensure appropriate access to data, which includes building the capacity for stakeholders to use the data for continuous improvement.

This new report from NCSL focuses on how states currently assess school readiness, as indicated by the use of assessment at kindergarten. Also detailed is information on how readiness information is used and reported within the states. Included in this scan are states that have universal or near-universal kindergarten assessment on an ongoing basis, as indicated through state statute, administrative code, or the state department of education's website.

A new guide is available from Child Trends to help states apply for federal home visiting grants. The guide outlines key steps for completing the grant application process and provides national and state-level data useful to applicants conducting needs assessments, identifying high-risk populations, and selecting and measuring benchmarks.

A new Child Trends brief provides an overview of state Early Learning Guidelines and efforts to monitor statewide school readiness across multiple domains of development and outlines key policy considerations for supporting and tracking school readiness at the state level.

This report is the first product of the QRS Assessment project and provides detailed information on 26 QRS nationwide and comparison tables to facilitate review across states and individual profiles on the 26 state systems reviewed.

Research on the importance of the early childhood years has compelled states to support children’s school readiness. This brief provides an overview of states’ Early Learning Guidelines (ELGs) for children age birth to five and current statewide school readiness assessment practices.

On June 10, 2010 the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Administration on Children and Families (ACF) released the first Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the new Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Affordable Care Act or ACA). Click the link above for more information or use CFDA # 93.505 on the Grants.gov website.

This report from NCSL, presents an analysis of overall trends in early care and education budget decisions and actions in child care, prekindergarten, home visiting and related early childhood investments.

NBA star Steve Nash, of the Phoenix Suns, is supporting Educare in the NBA's new Charity Challenge on Facebook. We're encouraging people to vote for Steve and Educare -- and to help us to spread the word as widely as possible!

This white paper, from the National Council of La Raza, examines how states are working to build comprehensive early learning standards and to address issues of professional development to ensure the success of Latino and English language learner children and families.

President Obama, on February 1, presented his FY 2011 budget proposal to Congress. This document from CLASP, offers a blueprint of the president's early childhood education spending priorities for the coming year.

An interview with Marcy Whitebook with the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment on the low wages of child care professionals.

A policy framework from CLASP, comprised of key principles describing what babies and toddlers in child care need and 15 recommendations for states to move forward.

A new technical assistance opportunity from ZERO TO THREE to support states in the integration of Early Head Start and existing early childhood systems to expand high-quality services for infants and toddlers. 

Learn more about how the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 will impact children and their families in this fact sheet from the National Women’s Law Center.

This fact sheet from the Center on Law and Social Policy, provides a snapshot of CCDBG program participation 2008.

Learn more about 11 federal initiatives that affect children and their families the current status of the policy in congress from the First Five Years Fund. 

The National Governors Association and ZERO TO THREE; are offering technical assistance that will support governors in developing and implementing ECACs.

 An article from the New York Times provides several different perspectives on improving our educational system, including advice from Alliance supporter Susie Buffett. 

A new report by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Child Trends

finds developmental disparities between poor children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age.  View a related PowerPoint presentation on this topic here.

Watch basketball star Steve Nash on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as he plays for his charity of choice, Educare.

Currently only a small percentage of eligible children receive early intervention services. This report from the Nation Center for Children in Poverty provides recommendations to promote and support early intervention.