
High-Quality Preschool so that Every Child Achieves
We are
working hard at the federal level to augment and stimulate expansion of
preschool at the state and local levels.
In April we took a small step forward: the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions (HELP) added a new competitive grant program called the
Early Learning Alignment and Improvement Grants to their rewrite of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).This program would provide
funding for states to improve coordination, quality, and access to early education.
In addition, the bill includes new specific supports for early learning in
Titles II, IV, V, and X and retains the allowed use of Title I funds for
preschool.
Secretary
Duncan applauded the leadership of Chairman Alexander, Senator Murray and the
members of the HELP Committee on this and other important aspects of the
bipartisan Every
Child Achieves Act proposal. Though
there is still much to be done to make it a good law, the bill now honors the
widespread bipartisan call to expand access to high-quality preschool.
We also
have two new reports to help advance our push for high quality early learning
opportunities for all children. ED released A Matter of Equity: Preschool in America,
reiterating the low numbers of children
in preschool: 59 percent of 4-year olds – or six out of every 10 children – are
not enrolled in state preschool, Head Start, and/or special education preschool
services. The report makes the case for
integrating early learning into any reauthorization of ESEA.
The other report, Transforming the Workforce for Children
Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation, was released
from the National Academies of Science.
One of the study’s 13 recommendations is that lead teachers of children
from birth to eight have a minimum of a bachelor's degree with specialized
knowledge and competencies in early child education. Note that this
recommendation isn’t just about the preschool years (ages three to five), but
starts at birth and continues through the third grade. The report validates the
importance of early childhood teachers and the need for their work to be
supported and respected whether in schools, Head Start or child care settings.
The report also includes recommendations for higher education from
course and degree content, to access, to pathways and more. Many of the report’s recommendations align
with the work our Race
to the Top—Early Learning Challenge states (and
other states) are doing to secure more resources to help the workforce go back
to school and develop well-articulated educational and career pathways,
opportunities for continued education and professional growth, and better
compensation and career stability.
Implementation of the recommendations from the report will not
happen overnight and will not come easily or cheaply. Overcoming the
disparities, entrenched fragmentation, and funding inequities prevalent in our
field across the diverse programs serving children along the age continuum will
be challenging. We are ready to tackle
these challenges.
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Voices From the Field

Interview
with Yasmina Vinci
Executive
Director, National Head Start Association
by
Senior Policy Advisor Steven Hicks
This month
the Head Start community will celebrate and reflect on the incredible impact
Head Start has made on millions of lives over the last 50 years.
“Learning
ABC’s and 123’s, although critical, is not sufficient to fully prepare children
to be ready to succeed later in life. Early learning must focus on the whole
child and the whole family. That means embracing a comprehensive approach to
early learning, which includes home visits, health screenings, improved
nutrition and two-generation efforts that provide a foundation for stabilizing
the family and home, and ensuring the entire family is prepared and invested in
their own lifelong success.” Read more here.
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Preschool Development Grants

Arizona
With widespread support across the
State, Arizona’s Preschool
Development Grant outlines the state’s plan to raise the quality and
accessibility of preschool programs across 15 High Needs Communities. Arizona
proposes to use 65% of grant funding to increase preschool access and quality
in the targeted High Needs Communities with a proposed outcome of up to 3,478
preschool slots by the end of grant cycle. Alternatively, 35% of grant funds
will be dedicated to the maximizing of early childhood education
infrastructure. With a focus on community collaboration and information
technology, Arizona looks to support its sub grantees in its goal of
high-quality and access to Pre-K throughout the state. Read about Arizona and
the other Preschool Development Grant states here.
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RTT-ELC: Program Spotlight

California Early Childhood Online
(CECO)
To support early childhood teachers,
the California Early Learning and Development System (CAELDS) provides an
integrated set of resources for early learning and development and best
practices in early education. The courses provided on California
Early Childhood Online (CECO) enable teachers to increase knowledge of these
resources and their ability to provide developmentally appropriate experiences
for children in their care. In the first year, over
4600 teachers accessed the site. View the learning modules here.
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SIG Early Learning Model Webinar
On
April 23, 2015, CEELO and the Center on School Turnaround (CST) hosted an
online session designed
for state early learning and school improvement administrators gearing up to
include the early learning model in their school improvement plans under the
new rule for the SIG grants. Presenters reviewed the eight components* of the
new model and discussed key requirements, including school leadership and
expanding high quality prekindergarten and full-day kindergarten.
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The
OSEP-funded IRIS Center developed a new module that highlights the importance
of establishing classroom rules for young children including those with
disabilities, and communicating with the family about rules and expected
behaviors. The module entitled Early
Childhood Behavior Management: Developing and Teaching Rules, features
strategies for teaching and reinforcing rules for young children. The content addresses DEC Recommended
Practices, and provides guidelines for effectively developing and displaying
rules. These resources are free and are
available here.
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Head Start/Child Care
Partnerships: Program Characteristics and Classroom Quality
As part of President Obama's Early Education
Plan, Congress authorized $500 million in the 2014 Omnibus Act to support
states and communities in expanding high-quality early learning through the
creation of a new Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership initiative. Read more here.
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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) Network upholds the mandate of the Education Policy
Committee to assist countries to develop effective and efficient policies for
education and learning to meet individual, social, cultural and economic
objectives. Read more here.
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Federal Agencies at Work

The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) ADHD Release New Study “Treatment of
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder among Children with Special Health
Care Needs.” The data show that 1 in 2 preschoolers ages 4-5 with ADHD received
behavioral therapy and about 1 in 2 were taking medication for ADHD. Almost 1
in 4 preschoolers were treated with medication alone. Read more here.
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CDC’s Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and
Preschoolers Toolkit Now Available
Essentials
for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers is a free, online resource developed
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Designed for parents
of toddlers and preschoolers, Essentials for Parenting addresses common
parenting challenges, like tantrums and whining.

Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Violence and Disasters: What Community Members Can do
Each year,
children experience violence and disaster and face other traumas. Young people
are injured, they see others harmed by violence, they suffer sexual abuse, and
they lose loved ones or witness other tragic and shocking events. Community
members—teachers, religious leaders, and other adults—can help children
overcome these experiences and start the process of recovery. Read more here.
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Beyond the Adverse
Childhood Experiences Study
Over 100
studies demonstrate that parental warmth, supportiveness, and sensitivity
predict growth in self-regulation while harsh discipline techniques and
maltreatment are associated with self-regulation difficulties. Read this review of literature on the impact of early
adversity and stress on self-regulation development to explore other
conclusions drawn from our look at this issue.
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Early-Childhood
Education in the U.S.; An Analysis
The Education Week Research Center analyzed American Community Survey data to
identify patterns in the school enrollment of young children. Read more here.
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A new National Women’s Law Center report, Extra
Credit: How Louisiana Is Improving Child Care, analyzes the
impact of a unique package of tax credits intended to improve the quality
of child care in Louisiana – the School Readiness Tax Credits – in the first
four years of their implementation.
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Background on our Pre-K Enrollment Initiative & AARO
Research by E3 Alliance shows that only half of all
Central Texas students are Kindergarten-ready when they enter school. And
every year in Central Texas, over 2,000 low-income 4-year-olds are eligible for
FREE public school Pre-K, but they don’t enroll in any public or private
pre-school program. Additional information about AARO can be found at here.
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The Century Foundation and Poverty & Race Research
Action Council have launched a new report "A Better
Start: Why Classroom Diversity Matters
in Early Education" describing the racial, ethnic and economic
disparities in preschool classrooms across America and how diversity and
quality are linked, as well as the steps policymakers can take to increase
diversity in preschool classrooms.
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Worthy Wages
In addition to the persistent teacher-retention crisis and
chronic under-funding of early education, the impact of low wages earned by
early childhood educators can also have damaging effects on young children. That's
why AFT and the Center for the Child Care Workforce annually
hold Worthy Wages Day on May 1.
Read a blog about the importance of worthy
wages for success in early learning education by ED's Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Policy and Early Learning Libby Doggett.
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Speak Up for Kids
The Child Mind
Institute is committed to finding effective treatments for childhood
psychiatric and learning disorders, building the science of healthy brain
development, and empowering children and their families with help, hope, and
answers. Helpful resources provided by The Child Mind Institute include: “Speak up for
Kids” achieved
webcasts featuring leaders in the field of mental health, youth and
their parents, and celebrities who have experienced mental illness who address
barriers to getting care.
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New REL Studies on
Early Childhodd Program Quality and Data Use
Two new reports
from the Regional Education Laboratories (RELs) Midwest and Northeast &
Islands describe two ways states and districts are using data to measure the
quality of early childhood education programs and inform improvements.
Examining Ratings and Dimensions
of Quality in an Early Childhood Education Quality Rating and Improvement
System (QRIS). Read the report here.
Data Collection and Use in Early
Childhood Education Programs: Evidence from the Northeast Region. Read the full report and the companion
Stated Briefly
report here.
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Active Communities
The way in which communities are designed
and function can promote—or inhibit—physical activity for children and adults.
Children’s ability to be physically active in their community depends on
whether the community is safe and walkable.
Read more here.
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Common
Core State Standards
NIEER
hosted a blog forum on the Common Core State Standards;
all the responses and comments have been collected into one document.
NIEER is planning to host at least one webinar on the topic.
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NASBE Releases Statement on Every Child Achieves Act of 2015
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)
Executive Director Kristen Amundson released a statement
regarding the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 (ECAA), the
proposed update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
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DEC POSITION ON
LEADERSHIP IN EARLY INTERVENTION AND EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION
The position statement on
Leadership in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education has been
released. This position statement focuses on
promoting high-quality leadership at all levels of the early intervention/early
childhood special education service systems.
Read more here.
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Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM)
Each May, The American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association (ASHA) highlights Better Hearing & Speech Month (BHSM) to raise
awareness about communication disorders. The 2015 theme is
"Early Intervention Counts." Results
of a recent survey of ASHA’s membership revealed that 45% of expert respondents
reported lack of awareness as the number one barrier to early detection of
communication disorders. For more information and resources about early detection of
communication disorders, visit ASHA’s website at here and here .
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What Questions Do Children with Autism
Encounter in Inclusive Preschools?
Children with higher language levels are more likely to receive cognitively
challenging questions--and cognitively challenging questions are asked more
often in classrooms with more adults relative to children. Read more.
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Wisconsin’s Infants
and Toddlers
To
help states target policies related to infants and toddlers, the Alliance for
Early Success has funded Child Trends to create several state profiles.
Wisconsin's infants and toddlers number more than 200,000. Read more here.
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Be Engaged, Get Involved!
There are many ways for Parents and Families of Head Start children to
become involved and stay engaged in your children’s education and future. Read more here.
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Council CEO Named Teachstone Ambassador
Council Chief Executive Officer Valora Washington, Ph.D. was
recently selected as an “ambassador” for Teachstone,® a Charlottesville,
Va.-based creator of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System® (CLASS®) an
observation tool that measures the interactions between teachers and children.
As a Teachstone Ambassador, Dr. Washington agreed to partner with Teachstone to
develop and promote content related to advancing quality early learning
experiences for children. For more details on the Ambassador Program, read more
here.
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Two
Generations. One Future: An Anthology from the Ascend Fellowship, edited by Dr. Christopher King; Dr. P.
Lindsay Chase-Lansdale; and Dr. Mario Small, offers insights into 2-Gen 2.0
approaches spearheaded by 20 leaders from across sectors, including the fields
of human services, mental health, justice-involved families, and early
childhood. Read more here.
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The Committee for
Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of 115 national education associations and institutions from
preschool to postgraduate education, has a new report -- Education matters:
Investing in American Future. The
report looks at President Obama’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget for prioritizing investing in education as a
proven strategy to increase jobs and improve our
nation’s economic growth and competitiveness.
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AmeriCorps
preps preschoolers
AmeriCorps members within the Minnesota Reading Corps PreK program
significantly boosted emergent literacy skills of PreK students aged 3, 4 and
5. In this evaluation, they helped 4- and 5-year-olds meet or
exceed spring targets for kindergarten readiness in all five assessed areas. By
the end of the school year, 3-year-olds significantly outperformed students in
comparison classrooms in rhyming words and picture names. ( Corporation
for National & Community Service)
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Brain
Development Videos Available Online
The InBrief series from the Center on the Developing Child provides brief
summaries of recent scientific presentations and research on the science of
early childhood development and early childhood program evaluation
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The
Magic of Everyday Moments
Four new videos have been
added to the series to help early learning providers create
conversations with parents and trainees. Each video shows in a clear and
compelling way how parents can nurture key skills and attributes children
need to be eager, competent learners and to form strong, healthy connections
with others as they grow—all through everyday interactions and
routines. Read more here.
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 Office of Early Learning Visits the Judy Center in East Baltimore, Maryland
The Judy Center at the Commodore John Rodgers School in East
Baltimore works to ensure school readiness by providing wrap-around
services to the whole family. It provides a central location for educational
programs, family support, health-related services, and family involvement
activities for children birth through Kindergarten and their families who
reside near this Title I school. Working in collaboration with
community-based agencies, organizations, and businesses, the Judy Center
provides a user-friendly way for families to access opportunities so their
children can start their formal education on a level playing field with their
peers.
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