CLASP's child care and early education work is dedicated to promoting policies that support both child development and the needs of low-income working parents. Read more about our work.
Featured topics:
Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care
Child Care Assistance: Direct Contracts
Economic Recovery Resources
Title I and Early Education
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The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has created the Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence tool for early childhood programs. The tool is the final product of NAEYC's Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence Project (QBCCP), which was created to determine key elements of cultural competence for early childhood programs and ways to meaningfully integrate these concepts within quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS). CLASP is grateful to have been a collaborator on this important project. As the young child population continues to grow in diversity, issues of cultural competence must be included in all early childhood policies, standards and practices, including those criteria that form QRIS.
The QBCCP identified seven concepts that define cultural competence for early childhood:
The tool includes criteria related to the above concepts, ideas for implementing culturally competent approaches in early childhood programs, and ideas for evaluating or measuring levels of cultural competence.
New Mexico is currently revising its professional development system for early childhood professionals. Among major changes, the state is expanding its early childhood career lattice from one career degree pathway (early childhood teacher) to three career pathways (early childhood teacher, early childhood program administrator, and family, infant toddler professional). There are two key changes to improve preparation for working with babies and toddlers:
CLASP has released state profiles that show Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data for 2007, which all programs are required to report to the federal government on an annual basis. Data on all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, include information on programs, participants, families, and staff for all Head Start programs in each state, including preschool, Early Head Start, American Indian and Alaskan Native Head Start, and Migrant or Seasonal Head Start. Profiles are also available for the six territories with Head Start and/or Early Head Start programs in 2007.
The Administration for Children and Families has announced the availability of $100 million in funds to support coordination and collaboration across early care and education programs and services for children from birth to the age of school entry. The 2007 reauthorization of Head Start required Governors to establish or designate a State Advisory Council for this purpose. The recent Economic Recovery Act provided funding to support the work of State Advisory Councils. According to the announcement,
"The State Advisory Council will work to strengthen state-level coordination and collaboration among the various sectors and settings of early childhood programs in the State. The Council will conduct periodic statewide needs assessments on the quality and availability of programs and services for children form birth to school entry, identify opportunities for and barriers to coordination and collaboration among existing Federal and state-funded early childhood programs, and develop recommendations for: (1) increasing overall participation of children in existing Federal, State, and local child care and early education programs, including outreach to underrepresented and special populations; (2) the establishment or improvement of core elements of the State early childhood system, such as a statewide unified data collection system; (3) a statewide professional development system and career ladder for early childhood educators; and (4) high-quality State early learning standards. The Council will also assess the capacity and effectiveness of institutes of higher education in the State toward supporting the development of early childhood educators.
"States shall also use the funds to carry out activities to facilitate the development or enhancement of high-quality systems of early childhood education and care designed to improve school readiness through one or more of the following activities: promoting school readiness of children birth to five; supporting professional development, recruitment and retention initiatives for early childhood educators; enhancing existing early childhood and development programs and services in existence on the date of the grant award; and carrying out other activities consistent with the State’s plan."
Funds are available for one-time start-up grants, over a three-year period, to develop and implement State Advisory Council plans. Applications may be submitted through August 30, 2010. For information on required application content and format, read the complete announcement.
In the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) roundup of child care and early education legislative actions in 2008, one of the highlighted issues was improving quality in early childhood settings. States are engaging in more activities to improve the quality of early care programs. NCSL documents that over half of states have established or are in the process of developing quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) that set program standards for quality and create incentives for achieving them. Currently, 17 states have a QRIS while 25 states are in the exploration or development phases of forming one. Among actions taken in 2008, California and Delaware passed legislation to begin planning for a statewide QRIS. As states think about how to raise the bar on quality in early childhood settings, there are a variety of factors to consider, such as what elements of quality are critical to measure and how to evaluate quality across settings. A new series of research briefs by Child Trends provides a useful examination of these and other factors. The briefs address the following topics:
These briefs can ground stakeholders in an understanding of how research on early childhood quality can inform the development and implantation of QRIS and other quality initiatives. Ongoing evaluation, modifications, and technical assistance are necessary to ensure that QRIS are as effective as possible in moving early childhood programs towards higher levels of quality.
Are you interested in applying in a partnership for the federal Teacher Quality Partnership grants?
On Wednesday, June 10th at 3 pm EST, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is hosting a Q&A conference call with the U.S. Department of Education on the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants Application.
Learn more and ask questions for this one-hour conference call about the application and the grant program with staff at the U.S. Department of Education. For more information on this grant opportunity, click here. To access the application packet, click here.
RSVP by emailing Adele Robinson by June 9.
The annual release of the Child Well-being Index (CWI) provides a composite look at national child well-being, as measured by 28 quality of life indicators in the areas of health, education, economic well-being, safety and behavioral concerns, social relationships, community connectedness, and emotional-spiritual well-being. The CWI provides a snapshot of how children from birth to age 17 are faring over time. Children's quality of life, according to the most recent report, peaked in 2002, fluctuated somewhat until 2007, and declined in 2008.
This year's report includes a prediction of the likely impacts of the current economic recession on child well-being in 2009 and 2010. Based on early data and historical trends, researchers predict a severe decline in overall child well-being:
Worsening economic conditions for families may have greater impacts for young children. Experiencing poverty early in childhood can have strong negative effects that last into adulthood. Children under age 3 are most likely to live in poverty, while important physical, social, and cognitive development is occurring.
Yet, what happens in the future is not a foregone conclusion. These are challenging times in which financially-strapped states are proposing all too many cuts to basic services. Investments in children are an important component of our future economic recovery. Further, sustaining supports for young children and their families could help families weather the recession and ameliorate some of its detrimental impacts. Parents need help coping with stress and young children need continuous access to quality child care settings and health and mental health services. The inclusion of significant resources for early childhood in the Economic Recovery Act acknowledged the importance of supporting young children and their families through this crisis. States should reconsider the consequences of cutting services for young children when they are needed most. Policymakers should also ensure that recovery funds are spent wisely to meet the comprehensive needs of young children and families. State policies that support our youngest children can play a large role in redirecting the child well-being trend line.
Today, the Department of Education announced the availability of applications for FY 2009 Teacher Quality Partnership Grants. Created as part of the Higher Education Act, these grants are a new opportunity for federal funding to improve early childhood educator preparation and compensation. Grants are awarded competitively to partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE) and high-needs school districts. Partnerships may include a high-needs early education program, including licensed child care, Head Start and Early Head Start, or state pre-kindergarten. If an early education program is included in the partnership, funds must be used for early childhood educator mentoring and coaching and compensation for educators with associate or baccalaureate degrees. Local programs and school districts should contact IHE with early childhood educator programs and create partnerships that include early education programs.
Applicants must submit an intent to apply for grants by June 26 and an application by July 23. The Department will conclude application reviews by September 21. Grants are awarded for a 5-year period in various amounts. A total of $143 million is available, which includes $100 million in funding from the Economic Recovery Act.
For more information on the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants as they relate to early education programs, see NAEYC's summary of the Higher Education Act early childhood provisions.
Right now across the country local early childhood programs are thinking about whether to apply for newly available federal funds to expand access to the Early Head Start program. Current grantees may apply to expand their services, and new applicants can apply as well. Any public or private non-profit organizations, including community based faith-based organizations, or for-profit agencies can apply. The following resources can help potential applicants:
Applications are due to the Administration for Children and Families by July 9th.
State early care and education leaders can offer grants, technical assistance, and data to help local programs make the best case and applications to serve additional low-income infants/toddlers. For example, states can:
States can finance these options by tapping the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which included funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), including $255 million for quality enhancement, of which $93.6 million is targeted to infant/toddler child care. Using these funds to assist local programs in attracting federal EHS dollars will ultimately benefit the state as more low-income infants and toddlers are served in high-quality settings.
Would you like know more about how states are using their economic recovery funds to help boost support for child care?
To strategize about how to best utilize the economic recovery funds, the National Women's Law Center and CLASP are hosting a conference call.
Listen to a recording of the May 21 call.
More details about the key provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are available at www.nwlc.org/economicrecovery and http://childcareandearlyed.clasp.org/reinvestinginchildcare.html.
The call will be moderated by Helen Blank of the National Women's Law Center and Danielle Ewen of CLASP. Presenters will discuss highlights of their states' plans and include:
We are grateful for the support of the Birth to Five Policy Alliance for sponsoring this call.
