U.S. Global Competitiveness Starts with Early Education
Jul 26 2010Last week on Capitol Hill, the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center unveiled 10 recommendations to address the “alarming education deficit” that threatens the nation’s global competitiveness and economic future and reposition the U.S. once again as the world leader in education. The goal is to ensure that 55 percent of Americans will hold a postsecondary degree by 2025.
Their first recommendation? That states provide a program of voluntary preschool education, universally available to children from low-income families (those at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line). The indicators by which the College Board will measure progress toward this recommendation track enrollment of three- to five-year-olds in prekindergarten and Head Start programs.
Despite this narrow focus, the accompanying State Policy Guide (Recommendation 1: Early Childhood, PDF) recognizes that “prekindergarten alone will not ensure that the children who are most developmentally at risk will be ready for school and higher education.” The co-authors from the College Board and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) rightly state that, “a system that supports children from birth to age five must be strategically tailored around different populations of children and parents.” They list high quality child care, home visiting, early intervention, mental health, and environmental threat prevention efforts as investments that also make an impact.
No doubt informed by NCSL’s work with the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and the Birth to Five Policy Alliance, the policy guide offers a solid overview of why the early years matter and what states can do. Written primarily through the lens of early care and education policy, it illustrates a range of low-, medium-, and high-cost policy approaches and recommends 13 actions which legislators can take immediately and over the long term to lead on this issue.
See the College Board’s College Completion Agenda site for more on all 10 recommendations, indicators, and interactive data tools that allow information to be easily accessed and customized by and across states.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Gideon Tsang under Creative Commons license.
Media Coverage of Strengthening Families Initiatives
Jul 23 2010Two Strengthening Families state initiatives were featured in the news this week. This week’s earlier post about Creating Effective Messages to Promote Investment in Young Children and their Families introduced several communication strategies for child and family advocates, some of which are apparent in these stories from West Virginia and Idaho.
Family Strategy Pays off in Preventing Child Abuse in West Virginia
[...] The theory is to connect families to a network of support, says Debra Bowyer, project coordinator with the Cabell County Family Resource Network.
“Build circles of caring around parents, so if they were to have an emergency and need to be linked up with a community resource, the programs would be aware of how to connect those parents to that resource.”
Read more >
Strengthening Families Approach to Prevent Child Abuse in ID
[...] A strategy called “Strengthening Families” is being discussed by educators, mental health professionals, corrections officials and childcare providers today (WEDNESDAY). Coordinator Maureen Durning explains the approach is based on five protective factors that have been proven by researchers to reduce child abuse and neglect.
“One of the protective factors is social connections. If people have friends, they’re less likely to abuse and neglect their children. The strategy then, is to facilitate friendships and mutual support.”
Read more >
Resources and Policy Supports for Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers
Jul 22 2010Despite the fact that they provide care for a large number of this country’s children, especially low-income children, family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers have typically been ignored in efforts to improve short- and long-term outcomes for children. However, a new interest in FFN caregivers and providers of family child care (FCC) has yielded many resources for both these providers and policymakers seeking to better support them. Below is a roundup (not exhaustive) of tools, resources, and supports available to FFN and FCC providers.
CSSP’s recently-released report, Almost Like Family: Family Child Care presents some of the characterstics and challenges of FFN providers. The report and a Strengthening Families Self-Assessment for Family Child Care Providers were presented in a June 16, 2010 webinar - Recording.
While there are an abundance of resources for policymakers (those listed below are just a sampling), there is a dearth of materials specificly targeted towards FFN and FCC providers themselves.
For Providers:
- The National Association of Family Child Care connects FFN and FCC providers to resources, training opportunities, and one another.
- ZERO TO THREE provides handouts, tips, and tools for FFN providers to promote the optimal development of children in their care.
For Policymakers
- The National Center for Parents as Teachers produced an original curriculum, Supporting Care Providers through Personal Visits, for training providers of home visiting to work with FFN caregivers. The curriculum was also presented on the June 16, 2010 webinar.
- The Center for Law and Social Policy also explores extending home visitation to FFN and FCC providers.
- A Municipal Action Guide from the National League of Cities picks up where CSSP’s publication left off, presenting several strategies for improving FFN care, along with examples of effective initiatives.
- The BUILD Initiative has resources for policymakers seeking to incorporate FFN care into comprehensive early childhood systems.
- The National Center for Children and Poverty has several issue briefs describing the state of FFN care across the US and analyzing state initiatives.
Image courtesy of Flickr user heraldpost under Creative Commons license.
Creating Effective Messages to Promote Investment in Young Children and their Families
Jul 19 2010When the media covers issues pertaining to young children - particularly vulnerable children - and their families, stories tend to be reactionary, focusing on acute problems and casting children and families in a generally negative light. This is one of the findings from a new report on media messages about child advocacy sponsored by Child Advocacy 360, Solutions Storytelling: Messaging to Mobilize Support for Children’s Issues (findings from the report are summarized in the embedded video).
Beyond analyzing current media messages, the report suggests several elements more effective communications. Three goals were considered fundamental: changing the emphasis of stories from problems to solution; making the role of the community visible; and inspiring collective action on behalf of all children, particularly those who are most vulnerable. The authors tested methods for achieving these goals through existing research, focus groups, and a survey of a nationally representative sample of voters. Five story elements appear to have the greatest power:
- Connection to Community: Readers can be engaged when they are reminded that the whole community benefits when children are better off.
- Big Picture Thinking: Discussing multiple programs, strategies, and approaches for addressing problems - and emphasizing the role of public policy in facilitating multiple solutions - help people to think beyond narrow options.
- Necessary, Not Just Nice: Supports for children and families need to be framed as necessary in communities, not just charitable efforts that sound “nice.”
- Inspiring Action: A specific call to action, with examples of other successful individual and collective efforts, help people know how they can lead and support change.
- “Proving" Effectiveness: Suggested solutions need some evidence of success, though the research indicates that rigorous statistical analysis and qualitative accounts are equally effective, “as long as they have a sense of how the intervention helps” (Executive Summary).
Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA), has also dedicated itself to reframing the way the public thinks about children’s issues, specifically child abuse and neglect prevention. A Toolkit for Talking about Child Abuse and Neglect for advocates with memos, sample letters to the editor, research reports, and more. The messages, developed in partnership with the Frameworks Institute, focus on preventing abuse and neglect early, highlighting early brain development and the impact of toxic stress. PCAA’s “Elements of the Core Story” are congruent with those listed above, specifically in promoting bigger picture thinking, framing solutions as necessary, and “proving” effectiveness.
Are there other tools you use to frame your messages about supporting and strengthening families with young children?
Federal Spending on Young Children in 2010
Jul 14 2010Today First Focus released its annual analysis of federal funding for children’s programs. Children’s Budget 2010 divides spending into several broad categories and breaks out specific programs for a closer look. The report also considers President Obama’s proposed budget for fisal year 2011. Overall, spending on children’s programs has increased by approximately 15.4% since 2006. However, the total budget has grown by nearly twice that, meaning spending on children has not kept up.
Although Children’s Budget 2010 accounts for programs for children 0 through 17, many of the specific programs impact young children in particular. The following is not an exhaustive list:
- While child welfare funding decreased only marginally, funding for Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Programs has decreased by nearly 13% since last year. These discretionary funds support programs that develop and implement prevention and treatment activities for families at risk of abuse and neglect. Children are at highest risk of experiencing abuse or neglect when they are very young, and many prevention programs target families with young children.
- States’ child care entitlements, which help states provide and improve child care, have decresed by 7.8% since 2006.
- The Child Care Development Block Grant has been decreased by nearly 5% since 2006, though funding levels have not changed in that time. Funding has not grown with inflation.
- The Early Learning Challenge Fund is a new program included in the report, as President Obama has requested $625 Million for the initiative in FY2011. However, Congress has not approved this program, which would help states make sure that children enter school ready to learn.
- Programs funded through the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, which supports the health, safety, and well-being of mothers and children, have nearly 12% less funding than they did in 2006.
- Funding for Healthy Start, which provides prenatal health care services for women and infants who are at risk of poor health outcomes, has not kept up with inflation, and has therefore seen a decrease of 4.5% since 2006.
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has nearly 7% less funding than it did in 2006, but President Obama’s proposed budget for FY2011 includes an increase of $27.6%.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was allocated $138 Million in ARRA funds, resulting in a 28.6% increase in funding since 2006.
