
Back to School…for Some
Kids
Visiting other countries makes me appreciate the accomplishments
of our country as well as reinforces my determination to do better by our own
children. A trip to Tanzania did just that for me. In Tanzania 40
percent of the children are stunted due to malnutrition. On a visit to a
school I found quality extremely low.
Children rarely have textbooks, are often punished with a rod, and in
some schools teachers don’t consistently show up. In driving around I saw
many preschool aged children playing along the roadway, caring for younger
siblings and even working to pick sunflower seeds off the flowers.
Yet even with severe poverty and an incredible lack of basic
sanitation, food and health care, early learning services are beginning to be
provided. Some private schools advertise pre-primary classes and a young mother
at Off Grid Electric has a two year old in a child care center. Tanzania,
like so many other countries is paying attention to the research and what we are doing to
get children off to an early and strong start.
This fall, in the United
States more 4-year-olds than ever will start school in publically-funded
preschool programs. Children in
Mississippi, Indiana, Hawaii, and Montana will attend new early learning
programs, increasing the total number of states that offer state preschool to
44 and the District of Columbia. The
governors of these states – across both parties -- recognize the urgency of
reaching our most vulnerable children early, when learning is optimal. Two of the four states– Hawaii and Montana –
are starting new high-quality programs funded through Preschool Development Grants. Idaho, New Hampshire,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming are the last six states that do
not have state-funded preschool programs, though schools and districts have
been smart and used Title I funds to support preschool. New Hampshire, by the way, did apply for a
Preschool Development Grant, but we didn’t have enough funding for the 35
states and Puerto Rico that applied.
Even with this historic
increase in preschool enrollment, less than half of 3- and 4-year-olds in
this country are enrolled in preschool; 2.4 million of the 4.3 million 4-year-olds
don’t have access to publically-funded programs. Large racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and
geographic gaps still exist in enrollment. Over the last six-and-a-half years,
the Obama Administration has worked to close these
equity gaps in access to high-quality early learning opportunities for young
children from low- to moderate-income families.
Congress has supported these efforts to some extent, but far too many
children who need early education are left waiting!
Compared to Tanzania we
are doing well. But compared to our
economic competitors we are not. The
United States ranks 31 out of 39 OECD countries in four-year-old
enrollment, raising economic productivity and security concerns. When Congress returns after Labor Day to take
up the budget for the next year, they will be deciding on the fate of the
Preschool Development Grants, which is currently on the chopping block.
Eliminating this program would result in 100,000 children in over 200 communities
without high-quality early education opportunities and no way to go back to
school.
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Voices From the Field
 “Right
now the general public agrees and applauds the push for more preschool, but does
not necessarily understand the work that needs to happen before and after
preschool.”
Interview
with Lisa Guernsey,
Director
of the Early Education Initiative and Learning Technologies Project at New
America
by
Senior Policy Advisor Steven Hicks
Lisa Guernsey is
director of the Early Education Initiative and director of the Learning
Technologies Project, two projects in the Education Policy Program at New
America. Guernsey leads teams of writers and analysts to examine policies and
generate ideas for new approaches to help disadvantaged students succeed. Read the interview here
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Preschool Development Grants

Louisiana:
As a result of
groundbreaking state legislation, Louisiana is unifying preschool, Head Start,
and child care programs through local early childhood networks (Community
Network Pilots) that ensure at-risk children have equitable access to
high-quality preschool. In seeking to increase access through choice, this
strategy looks to utilize the opportunity of Louisiana’s Preschool Development
Grant to expand existing preschool programs through a parent-choice model. This
model would build a technology system to consistently measure program quality
using program-based report cards and provide useful information for families
and providers to make informed decisions. Read about Louisiana and the other
Preschool Development Grant states here.
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RTT-ELC: Program Spotlight
 Delaware Asks Community Stakeholders for
Input on Early Learning Priorities
This spring, Delaware’s
Office of Early Learning launched a series of Great Starts Sustainability
forums and an online survey to engage Delawareans in shaping the future
direction for the state’s early learning work.
More than 600 early
learning professionals, parents, K-12 teachers and administrators, and
business, philanthropy and community leaders from across the state participated
– and showed their strong support for early learning as a key strategy for
creating a more prosperous Delaware! As one participant eloquently put it: “Invest
now for success, or pay for failure later.”
Read more here.
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ELC
TA Creates New Webpage on Inclusion
This topical page on Inclusion is designed to
help State early learning leaders, TA providers, and Federal staff address the
systems-level challenges related to assuring that programs that offer services
to children with Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) and Individualized
Education Programs (IEPs) are of high-quality and that the services they offer
are provided in natural settings where these children would be if they did not
have disabilities. This
page
will be updated regularly with new resources and State examples related to
inclusion in early childhood.
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Tax Policy and Financing Early Education
Tax Policy and Quality This annotated bibliography identifies selected resources
on using tax policy, especially refundable tax credits, as a financing strategy
for early childhood programs
Retention in the Early Years
Retention in the Early Years: Is Early
Retention an Effective, Research-Based Strategy for Improving Student Outcomes? This FastFact reviews literature on research and practice
about the effects of early retention, and highlight considerations that make retention
a nuanced rather than definitive research based approach to enhancing student
outcomes.
Roundtable Resources
2015
Roundtable Summary This summary provides a high level overview of the 2015
Roundtable (Leading for Excellence), a list of resources shared by presenters
and attendees, and outlines the sessions in the meeting.
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Helping
Your Child Series Gives Parents Tools
The Helping
Your Child publication series aims to provide parents with the tools and
information necessary to help their children succeed in school and life. These booklets feature practical lessons and activities to help their school
aged and preschool children master reading, understand the value of homework
and develop the skills and values necessary to achieve and grow.
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The
2015 Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Leadership Conference
The conference was held July 27-29th in
Washington, D.C. and it included State Directors of Special Education, Part C
and 619 Coordinators, Parent Training Centers, and IDEA Data Managers.
The agenda included sessions for early childhood participants on program
improvement, personnel development, implementing recommended practices, data
quality, and family engagement. You can find the full archived agenda,
including presenter materials, at this link.
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The Department’s Race to the
Top-District (RTT-D) program awarded 21 grantees representing 68 districts
four-year grants in 2012 and 2013. The
program provides an opportunity for LEAs to implement comprehensive plans for
personalizing the learning experience for students.
Using their Starting Strong Institute, across 7
districts, the Puget Sound, Washington grantee uses three components to improve
early learning: 1. Providing Jumpstart programs for special populations that
allow early placement into Kindergarten; 2. Creating professional development
opportunities between Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers for seamless information
flow; and 3. Ensuring each district has an Early Learning Director to cultivate
a structured program. Puget Sound partners with the University of Washington,
among others, that offer training and coaching. Read about Puget Sound
and the other RTT-District grantees here.
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GLOBAL POPULATION
GROWTH
The world population has increased by one billion people
over the last 12 years, reaching 7.3 billion, according to the latest United
Nations report, "World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, Key Findings and Advance
Tables." As the
population grows, greater stress will be placed on the planet, its resources,
and communities. What challenges must we consider and how can we invest in
children so that we can ensure a sustainable future for all?
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Federal Agencies at Work

HHS
Awards $660K for Tribal Early Learning grants
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Sylvia Burwell and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development
Linda K. Smith recently visited the Flathead reservation in Montana. During the
visit, they announced $600,000 in awards to a new cohort of Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI)
grants to enable more tribal
communities to do the innovative work necessary to coordinate their early
learning and development programs and boost the quality of services offered to
children and families from pregnancy-to-kindergarten.
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Early Childhood Screenings Ensure a Healthy Start in Life
On Thursday, July 23, First Focus hosted a briefing to congressional staff entitled Early Childhood Screenings Ensure a Healthy Start in Life: What’s Happening in the States to Improve Screening Rates? Katherine Beckmann from the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development at ACF was one of five presenters. Dr. Beckmann discussed the HHS initiative called “Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive,” a coordinated public outreach campaign to promote awareness of child development and developmental screenings, referrals, and follow-ups. To find out more about the briefing, the speakers, and their presentations, clickhere.

A Busy Week for Early Childhood
Development
Hundreds
of people attended the Office of Child Care’s 2015 State and
Territory Administrators Meeting
(STAM) with folks from the Regional Offices, State Advisory Councils (SACs),
Head Start Collaboration Offices, Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge
grantee representatives and national organizations. Check out information from
many sessions by clicking here.
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Building
a Better Future for Our Children-SP
Building a better future for our kids begins with access to nutritious food
at home and at school. But we know it takes more than proper nutrition to make
sure our kids grow up healthy and strong. Making investments in housing, roads,
electricity and broadband, as well as in community facilities, like schools,
police departments and hospitals, all work to improve economic opportunities
and the quality of life in any community and pave the way toward healthy
families from childhood to adulthood.
Read more here.
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Roots
of Bullying Starts Young
On August 18th, Child Trends released a
report, Bullies
in the Block Area: The Early Childhood Origins of “Mean” Behavior,
which summarizes the factors that appear related to later bullying, and what
can buffer these factors. With the report comes a guide for practitioners,
outlining programs and resources that may support children’s developing empathy
and compassion. The report is the result
of a review of existing research on the subject and a convening of national
experts in early childhood development and media for young children, which
included Miriam Lund, education program specialist for the Department of
Education.
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This
month The National Head Start Association (NHSA) is excited to help
introduce a new national initiative called Vroom to Head Start
programs across the country. Vroom provides tools highlighting the science
behind early brain development and empowering parents to turn everyday
activities, like bath time and mealtime, into brain building moments for
children. NHSA will work closely with Vroom to help Head Start programs support
the families they work with by giving parents the tools they need outside the
classroom to help their children succeed.
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Tips for Starting Preschool-SP
Is your child entering a
preschool program for the first time? These tips from
NAEYC may help both you and your child make a smooth transition. Link:
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Ensure Children are Reading by 3rd Grade
NBCDI is collaborating with its Affiliates and national partners to focus
on the particular strengths and needs of Black children and families in the
broader context of a shared goal: ensuring that all children are reading
proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. For Black children, only 15
percent are reading proficiently in 4th grade. Several of NBCDI’s Affiliate
communities have signed onto the Campaign
for Grade Level Reading and
are doing their part to help children embrace reading and improve their
academic performance. Read more here.
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Closing
the Opportunity gap for Babies and Families
All of society has a stake
in whether babies get off to a good start. Today’s infants and toddlers will be
the core of the mid-century workforce, one that will need to be highly skilled
to compete globally and secure our economic future. When babies and their
families have the supports they need, we create future innovators, thinkers,
and stronger communities. But when we don’t provide those supports, we all feel
the consequences. Read more here.
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Why
Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature
Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson proposed a
theory called biophilia: that humans are instinctively drawn towards their
natural surroundings. Many 21st century parents, however, would question this
theory, as they watch their kids express a clear preference for sitting on a
couch in front of a screen over playing outside. Read more here.
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Early Childhood and the Future of our Nation
California Newsreel released
a DVD version of The Raising of America documentary series on
July 31, 2015. The goal is to promote awareness about the impact of
childhood stressors on healthy brain development; leading causes of health
inequities; and the importance of creating safe, stable relationships and
environments to prevent child maltreatment and improve health outcomes across
the life course. A full suite of video clips, interactives, discussion guides
and other resources can be found at www.raisingofamerica.org.
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Overview of 2014 NIEER State of Preschool Yearbook Data-rends and Highlights
On September 10, 2015, join NIEER for a free public Webinar
providing an overview of the results of the 2104 State of Preschool
Yearbook survey. They will discuss the major cross-state trends in the 2014
yearbook and highlight major policy changes related to publicly-funded
preschool. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of NIEER staff
following the presentation.
Preregistration is required. Register here.
Leadership in Early Learning
NIEER is hosting a blog forum on Leadership in Early
Education. Please weigh in with your comments and opinions, as we explore
this issue from a range of perspectives. Leadership in the Birth-3rd-grade
Continuum, from July 1 on The Birth Through Third Grade Learning Hub is
the first post. Continuing our series, we have a post from Jacqueline Jones of
the Foundation
for Child Development on leading from within the field; from Susan E.
Andersen, On Leadership and Listening, and from Eleanor J.
Shirley on Leadership in Early Education. Stacie Goffin, discusses early
education as a profession, and Maxine M. Maloney of the Arlington County
Department of Human Services in Virginia writes about her experiences building leadership in the
community.
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The
Early Learning Read Mobile Goes on the Road
White Earth Child Care/Early Childhood Program and the
White Earth Nation, located in Minnesota, held a Grand Opening of the first
tribal public library and Smart Play Spot, on the White Earth Reservation,
called Maamigin Achigaazo which translates to the Gathering Place. The
Library is for all ages to promote reading, reading role models and language
development. For more information, visit www.whiteearthchildcare.com
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I’m Ready for Kindergarten! (video)
I’m Ready for Kindergarten from Boston Children's Museum
follows kindergarteners through a typical day and lets you experience the
wonder of this year of learning. Watch this with your child to prepare together
for the upcoming school year! Read more here.
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LinkEngineering: Implementing Pre-K Engineering
The National Academy
of Engineering has launched LinkEngineering , a new website to
support implementation of preK–12 engineering education in the United
States. LinkEngineering aims to provide high-quality resources
and build a professional community for three groups: educators working in
preK–12 classrooms and out of school settings; those engaged in preservice
teacher education and professional development; and school, district, and state
administrators.
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Staff from the U.S. Department of Education visit a Preschool
Development Grant program at Virginia Avenue Charlotte DeHart Elementary School
in Winchester, Virginia.
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