FIRST STEPS:
Early Childhood:
Looking Back and
Moving Forward
Joan Lombardi, Ph.D.
RESULTS
July, 2012
Progress
Challenges
Towards a
National
Strategy
Reflecting on
history…….
1909 First White House
Conference on the Care
of Dependent Children
1912 The Establishment
of the Children’s Bureau
1935 Title V Maternal
and Child Health
1965 Head Star t
1970’S -2008
 The Child Care and Development Fund
 The Children’s Health Insurance
 The Education Goals
 Early Head Start
 State Prek Initiatives
EARLY CHILDHOOD MATTERS…
THE CASE IS STRONG,
THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE CONVERGES
 Neuroscience
 Molecular biology
 Genomics
 Developmental psychology
 Epidemiology
 Sociology
 Economics
Relationships Matters, Health Matters
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES AND
ADULT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
3.5
Odds Ratio
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
1
2
3
4
5,6
7,8
ACEs
Source: Dong et al, 2004
New appreciation for the integrated nature of
early childhood development
Early
Learning
Health,
Nutrition
and Mental
Health
Family
Support and
Child
Protection
New Vision
Old Think
•
•
•
•
•
Learning begins at school
Health or education
Care vs education
Child focus vs parent focus
Transition from preschool to
school
New Think
•
•
•
•
•
Learning begins at birth
Health and education
Care and education
Two generations
Continuity prenatal- 8
MORE RECENT RESOURCES
Early Childhood Funding in the
American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act
The Maternal, Infant and Early
Childhood Home Visiting Program
The Early Learning Challenge
CHALLENGES
 Inequality
 Funding
 The policy environment
 The capacity of the field
VARIATION BY STATE: ALL CHILDREN
VARIATION BY STATE:
CHILDREN UNDER SIX
DISPARITIES ON THE BAYLEY COGNITIVE
ASSESSMENT BET WEEN HIGHER AND LOWER
INCOME INFANTS AT 9 AND 24 MONTHS
Source: Halle, T., Forry, N., Hair, E., Perper, K., Wandner, L., Wessel, J., & Vick, J. (2009). Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early
Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Washington, DC: Child Trends.
SCHOOL READINESS BY MOTHER’S
EDUCATION LEVEL
Percent
Percentage of First-time Kindergartners Demonstrating Positive Indicators of
School Readiness by Mother’s Education Level, 1998
Source: Child Trends and Center for Health Research.
(2004). Early Child Development in Social Context. Data
from K. Denton, E. Germino-Hausken, and J. West (project
officer), America’s Kindergartners, NCES 2000-070,
(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. National
Center for Education Statistics, 2000).
Child Well Being in Rich Countries
UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, Report Card 7, 2007
THE FACTS ABOUT CHILD CARE IN THE
UNITED STATES
 Nearly 11 million children under age 5 spend
time in some type of child care arrangement
every week
 On average the children of working mothers
spend 35 hours a week in child care
 Child care expenses take a significant bite out
of family income, particularly for low income
families
Child Care Aware of America, 2012
TIGHTENING RESOURCES
 Only 1 out of 6 eligible families are able to
access child care assistance
 Head Start serves less than half the eligible
children
 Early Head Start serves less than 5 percent of
the eligible children
QUALIT Y AND ACCESS THREATENED
 Eligibility
 Rates
 Co-payments
 Salaries
 Other quality improvements
LACK OF CHILD CARE SUPPORT EFFECTS
FAMILIES
 Much of the progress made under ARRA in
child care has stalled
 Families in 37 states were worse off in 2011
than in 2010 due to one or more changes in
state child care assistance policies such as
more restrictive eligibility criteria, longer
waiting lists, higher co-payments or lower
provider reimbursement rates (National Women’s
Law Center)
QUALITY AND DURATION MATTER
( M ON TH S OF DE VE LOP MENTAL A DVA NTAG E ON LI T E RAC Y)
8
7
6
5
low quality
average
high quality
4
3
2
1
0
1-2 years
2-3 years
Source: E Melish, EPPE Study
CURRENT POLICY ENVIRONMENT
 Gap between what science says and what
policies support
 Complex policy environment
 Difficult to describe and navigate
 Policies not aligned
 Multiple human needs
 Slow policy process
THE CAPACIT Y OF THE FIELD
 There are an estimated 2. 2 million individuals who are
paid members of the early childhood workforce. They
make up 30 % of the instructional workforce.
 Estimated 3.2 million individuals provide non paid non parental care
 Women working in early care earn 31% less than women
with similar qualifications in other fields
 Continued difficulty attracting and retaining staff
 Higher education institutions do not have capacity to
respond to the diversity of roles and amount of
preparation needed to assure high quality
Wo r k f o r c e e s t i m a te s by R i c k B r a n d o n , i n T h e E a r l y C h i l d h o o d C a r e a n d E d u c a t i o n
Wo r k f o r c e : C h a l l e n g e s a n d O p p o r t u n i t i e s , I n s t i t u te o f M e d i c i n e a n d N a t i o n a l R e s e a r c h
C o u n c i l , 2 01 2
Towards a National Strategy
DEVELOPING A NATIONAL PLAN FOR
UPCOMING REAUTHORIZATIONS
 The Child Care and Development Fund
 Head Start
 Elementary and Secondary Education
LAUNCHING A CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT THE
ECONOMY THROUGH IMPROVED EARLY
CHILDHOOD JOBS
 Build public awareness about the importance
of the work and the contribution to the
economy
 Include early childhood in any job creation
measures
 Target funding to improve the capacity of
higher education institutions
 Create community infrastructure/networks to
support early childhood providers
CREATING NEW VOICES AND
UNITING THE GENERATIONS
( S O U R C E : G E N E R AT I O N S U N I T E D
Supporting a new
generation of
leaders
And
thinking
Across
Borders…..
THE LANCET ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT
2007, 2011
 200 million young children are at
developmental risk due to poverty,
malnutrition, lack of early stimulation and
other factors
 There is growing evidence from countries in
the global south that we can intervene early
and make a difference
Children in the poorest households are less likely
than children in the richest household to access
early childhood education programmes
Percentage of children aged 36-59 months that attend some form of early childhood
education programme, by household wealth, in the 36 countries where there was
a statistically significant difference
100
Poorest 20%
Richest 20%
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Note: This analysis included 36 countries
***p ≤ .01 (statistically significant at the 1% level)
Source: MICS3, UNICEF
Average
Preschool enrolment by region and income –less than 20%
for poorer income quintiles
Keep
moving
forward!