In this Issue

• Forum Customer Service Survey
• Spotlight On: Quality Counts Career Center
• Forum Corner
• Early Learning Coalition Briefs
• Legislative Updates
• Calendar of Events
• State and National News
• Lights on Afterschool
• Now Available: New Opportunity for Program Directors

The method the Department of Education uses to rate VPK providers can result in identifying some as low performing even though a greater percentage of children they serve are deemed kindergarten ready on all readiness measures than those providers not identified as low performing. Modifying the readiness rating methodology would substantially address this issue. The rating method also excluded 521 (10 percent) providers in 2006-07. Of those providers, 45 percent were not rated because of a lack of screening results. The department is working to address this problem.

Analysis of the kindergarten readiness screening results for children who entered public kindergarten programs in 2006-07 showed that children who attended the state's VPK program generally had higher readiness ratings than children who did not attend the program. Children with disabilities, limited English proficiency, Hispanic and African American children showed the strongest benefit from participating in the VPK program. However, the process that the Department of Education uses to evaluate VPK providers and identify low performing entities needs to be improved, as the current process can penalize providers that have overall results that exceed those of providers who are not identified as low performing.

These children were able to identify upper and lower case letters, recognize the beginning sounds of spoken words, and demonstrate their mastery of classroom skills essential to learning.

Providers who were deemed 'low performing' were more likely to serve at-risk or minority children who may enter the VPK program substantially behind other children. As these providers can lose program eligibility if they do not improve readiness outcomes, it will be critical to provide them with timely assistance to improve performance and maintain program access for at-risk and minority children.

Read the full report.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private organization that studies health-care issues. How was this done? The fund examined 13 indicators of child health -- such as infant- mortality rates and access to specialty care -- from a variety of government-supplied data. The indicators fall into five categories: access to health care, quality, costs, equity and factors contributing to healthy lives.

Best states overall: Iowa, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Worst states overall: Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Oklahoma

Uninsured children National median: 9.1% Florida: 18.5% Best state: Michigan (4.9%)

Receiving key vaccines (ages 19-35 months) National median: 81.6% Florida: 79.3% Best state: Massachusetts (93.5%)

Medical, dental checkups (within the past year) National median: 59.2% Florida: 54.2% Best state: Massachusetts (74.9%)

Have a regular doctor National median: 47.6% Florida: 43% Best state: New Hampshire (61%)

Cost of health insurance (for a family) National median: $10,637 Florida: $10,852 Best state: North Dakota ($8,334)

Developmental problems (at-risk young children, ages 1-5) National median: 23.6% Florida: 26.3% Best state: Vermont (16.4%)

Infant mortality National median: 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births Florida: 7.5 deaths Best state: Maine (4.3 deaths)

View the full report at www.commonwealthfund.org

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Most leaders, however, continue to view early childhood education narrowly as an initiative to prepare children for Kindergarten. This brief argues that policy makers can reap a better return on their PK investments if they adopt a more expansive view of this first stage of education as a period extending from PK through third grade.

Studies show investing solely in PK is not enough. While well-designed PK does improve children's social and cognitive skills, these gains fadeout as children advance beyond Kindergarten.

This does not have to happen. A growing body of research shows that children continue to make gains in schools that connect PK to a full-day Kindergarten and primary grades with aligned standards and curriculum in a coherent PK-3 education program. In these schools, which remain rare, fadeout is much less common.

Studies show that a PK-3 strategy includes the following five components:

• School Organization
  • Voluntary, full-school-day Prekindergarten is provided for all three- and four-year-old children.
  • Full-school-day Kindergarten that builds on PK experiences is required for all children.
  • School districts provide principals and teachers with ongoing professional development and planning time to ensure alignment.
  • Principals foster teamwork among PK-3 teachers.
  • Principals connect elementary schools with families, communities, and all early childhood programs.
• Alignment
  • Standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment are aligned within and across grades from PK through third grade.
  • Standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment focus on social competence and self-discipline as well as academic skills and subject matter.
• Qualified Teachers
  • All teachers have at least a Bachelor's degree with relevant specialized training.
  • Preparation and certification enable teachers to teach at any grade level from PK to third grade.
  • Teachers are capable of assessing students' achievement and enabling each student to make progress.
• Classrooms as Learning Environments
  • Instruction balances child-centered approaches with teacher-directed approaches.
  • Classes are staffed by a well-qualified teacher and assistant teacher.
  • Assessment practices are used to improve instruction in classrooms.
  • Student-teacher ratios allow each child to receive individual attention and foster strong relationships with adults in the school.
• Accountability to Parents and Community
  • Teachers and families work to set educational goals for children.
  • Schools are responsible for reporting students' progress to families, communities, the school district, and the state.

In his 2005 study of nearly 4,000 state-funded PK classes randomly selected across the nation, Gilliam noted that 10.4 percent of PK teachers reported at least one expulsion in their classes during the past 12 months. As a result, a rate of 6.7 expulsions per 1,000 preschoolers enrolled in state-funded programs nationally was found. Rates were highest for older preschoolers and African Americans. Boys were more than four and a half times more likely to be expelled than girls. The overall rate of PK expulsion in state-funded programs was found to be more than three times greater than the national rate of expulsion for students in Kindergarten through 12th Grade.

In the less regulated area of private child care, expulsion rates for preschoolers, as well as infants and toddlers, have been reported to be much higher, ranging from 10 expulsions per 1,000 enrolled preschoolers in Colorado to more than 27 per 1,000 in Massachusetts and in the Detroit area at 13-18 per 1,000.

Writing in a policy brief in January 2008, Gilliam has now put forth seven policy recommendations for strategies designed to reduce the incidence of preschool expulsion. Basing his work on an early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) model, he offers these recommendations:

1. Early education programs should not expel children with challenging behaviors. Rather, programs should assess the child's needs and determine the behavioral supports necessary for the child to succeed in his or her current educational program or transition the child to a program better able to meet his or her needs.
2. All early education and child care teachers should have regular access to early childhood mental health consultation to help teachers address challenging behaviors in the classroom.
3. Early education and child care programs should enforce student-teacher ratios of no more than 10 preschoolers per teacher, preferably less.
4. Early education and child care programs should ensure that teachers work reasonable hours with breaks away from children.
5. Supportive policies and services should focus on teacher job stress.
6. Federal and state funds should be made available to track the number of children expelled from public-funded programs and to implement and evaluate promising models of improving children's classroom behaviors and preventing preschool expulsion.
7. Further research should focus on:
   1. family and community factors associated with risk for expulsion
   2. effective methods for fostering effective preschool-home collaborations
   3. teacher training in classroom behavior management
   4. the effectiveness of early intervention services as a preventive for severe behavior problems

According to the report, in 2007, the average price of full-time care for an infant in a center was as high as $14,591 a year. For a 4-year-old in a center, parents paid up to $10,787 a year for full-time care. Parents of school-age children paid up to $8,600 a year for part-time care in a center. Additionally, the report also found that average prices for full-time care for an infant in a family child care home were as much as $9,630, $9,164 for a 4-year-old, and $6,678 for a school-age child. While the report demonstrates that costs are lower for family child care homes, many of these providers are unlicensed, leaving the health and safety of children in these types of homes unknown.

"The cost of quality child care is out of reach for too many families," said Linda Smith, Executive Director of NACCRRA. "No parent should have to choose a poor-quality child care setting just because they cannot afford anything better for their children. It's time to increase our public investment in improving the quality of child care for all families."

In order to improve access to affordable, high-quality child care for all families, NACCRRA supports the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which provides federal funds to states to help pay for child care and improve the quality of care. Reauthorization of CCDBG should include not only an increase in the amount of money to pay for child care slots, but also in the "quality set-aside," the amount of money that states use to improve the quality of care available to families. Additionally, NACCRRA recommends providing resources for planning and developing child care capacity to increase the availability of child care options for working families; reducing barriers in the subsidy administration process that prevent families from accessing assistance; ensuring that public pre-kindergarten programs are designed to meet the child care needs of working families, and improving federal and state tax codes to help families at all income levels pay for care.

Parents and the High Price of Child Care: 2008 Update provides results from a 2008 survey of Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) State Networks, which asked for the average 2007 prices charged by child care programs listed in CCR&R databases. Located in every state and most communities across the nation, CCR&Rs provide services in 99.3 percent of inhabited zip codes. CCR&Rs work with parents to connect them with the child care that meets their needs and with caregivers to help raise the quality of child care in their communities.

Research on the brain shows that the first years of life are critical to a child's overall development, specifically in the areas of intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, physical and cultural development.

In fact, research shows that 80 percent of a child's brain develops by the age of three, and 90 percent by the age of five. Furthermore, research on the effect caregivers have on children during these early years clearly shows that the caregiver's education, training, and ability to provide a safe and stimulating environment have an impact on children's cognitive and emotional development.

With more than 60 percent of children cared for regularly in a child care setting, parents should be able to count on these settings to safeguard their children's health and well-being and promote their development and learning.

National and state organizations dedicated to improving the quality of our nation's child care have developed a "Vision" blueprint for the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant and the strengthening of the Dependent Care Tax Credit. This "Vision", when realized, will expand families' access to high-quality learning opportunities for their children and help ensure all children are cared for in child care settings that enhance their readiness for and success in school.

The Vision
Four key national agenda items will enhance the overall quality of child care and learning activities and help families, particularly low-income families, obtain that care.

1. Ensure Children and Families Have Access to Affordable, Healthy and Safe Care
2. Improve Quality to Promote Early Learning
3. Improve and Expand Care for Infants and Toddlers
4. Provide Needed Research and Technical Assistance

Supporting the Vision
The Vision as described here is supported by a growing number of national and state organizations including the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, the National Women's Law Center, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Association for Family Child Care, the Early Care and Education Consortium, The Children's Project and the National Council of La Raza.

Go to www.naccrra.org/docs/naccrraware/NAC-005_Vision_Agenda.pdf to read more about the four key items in the "Vision" blueprint.