Vol. II, Issue 24—December 16, 2013–January 15, 2014
Contents
HIGHLIGHTS:
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Highlights
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Federal Updates
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Policy Trends and Analysis
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New Research
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Upcoming Events
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Other News, Announcements and
Resources
The president included funding for early learning in his spending plan
for 2016 by calling for a $1.5 billion increase in Head Start funding and
requesting an extra $82 billion over 10 years for the Child Care
Development Block Grant (CCDBG). His budget also allocated $500
million for the Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home Visiting
(MIECHV) program. Read more here and here. Back to top

News from the States
FEDERAL UPDATES:
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California
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Illinois
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Kansas
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Maine
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Michigan
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New Mexico
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New York
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Oklahoma
o
Washington
President Obama Proposes Early
Childhood Investments in 2016 Budget
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Student Success Act: The House Education and Workforce
Committee passed a bill that would reauthorize the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). House lawmakers will
debate the bill within two weeks. Read more here and here.
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): Sens.
Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray announced that the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was
engaging in bipartisan discussions to create a new ESEA
reform bill. Read more here, here, here and here.
School Improvement Grants (SIG): The Department of
Education (ED) released the final requirements for the SIG
program, which includes a new early learning model. Read
more here.
Providing Resources Early for Kids (PRE-K) Act:
Democrats in the Senate introduced a bill that seeks to
improve access to high-quality early childhood education for
children ages 0-5. Read more here and here.
Back to top
POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS:
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Early Childhood Policy:
o
New America Foundation’s education policy team
analyzed President Obama’s early childhood
investment proposals, which consisted of funding for
Preschool For All (PFA), Individuals with Disabilities
Act (IDEA) Preschool Grants, Title I Formula Grants
and Title III English Language Acquisition Grants,
among others. Read more here.
o
The New America Foundation released the brief,
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“Better Policies for Dual Language Learners:
Bridging Research, Policy, Implementation, and
Classroom Practice,” which summarizes the
discussions of the first meeting of a dual-language
learners work group. The convening sought to
identify best practices for teaching dual-language
learners and recognize approaches and policies
requiring further research and discussion. Read more
here.
Early Childhood Investment: The Education Commission of
the States shared the report, “State Pre-K Funding: 2014-2015
Fiscal Year” which analyzed state appropriations to find that
pre-kindergarten funding increased by $672 million nationwide
for the previous fiscal year.
Home Visiting: In light of Congress’ upcoming decision on
whether to renew MIECHV, the Brookings Institution reviewed
existing research and recommends that lawmakers continue to
support the program. Read more here.
Back to top
NEW RESEARCH:
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Poverty: The Children’s Defense Fund released the report,
“Ending Childhood Poverty Now,” which proposed policies,
including allocating child care subsidies to all families under
150% of the federal poverty line, to reduce the prevalence of
child poverty.
Mental Health: Researchers from Yale, Duke and Vanderbilt
collaborated to examine the effects of anxiety on young
children’s brain development. Anxiety disorders in prekindergarteners were shown to have an en impact in the areas
of the brain that play an important role in regulating anxiety.
Read more here and here.
Pre-kindergarten: Researchers from Duke University found
that children enrolled in the state pre-kindergarten program
were less likely to later attend special education programs in
3rd grade.
Read more here and here.
Back to top
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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February 18: The PreK-3rd Grade National Work Group is
hosting the webinar, “Full-Day Kindergarten in a PreK-3rd
Grade Strategy,” which will review high-quality teaching
practices and discuss strategies to link kindergarten with
earlier and later grades. Read more here.
March 25-26: The Ounce and the Urban Education Institute
are co-hosting a convening of school district leaders in
Chicago entitled “Excellence in the Early Grades: District
Leadership Summit.” This event will bring together leadership
from school districts across the country to discuss local policy
strategies to promote improved alignment across the P-3
spectrum. Read more here.
Back to top
OTHER NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESOURCES:
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Early Learning Systems: The Ounce of Prevention Fund and
the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute are excited
to share their Birth-to-College Collaborative Toolkit website.
The Birth-to-College Collaborative provides families with
access to a seamless high-quality education from birth through
secondary school that helps their children develop the skills
necessary for success in school and in life. The Toolkit
provides a series of implementation guides and other
resources that are designed to help schools and districts
undertake complex alignment work. Learn more here.
Early Childhood Advocacy: The Ounce of Prevention Fund's
Margie Wallen, director of policy partnerships, national policy,
is among the candidates running for a member-at-large
position in the upcoming National Association for the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC) governing board
election. Read more about Wallen here and here.
Early Childhood Development: Researchers at the Boston
University School of Medicine wrote a commentary in
Pediatrics cautioning against the use of tablets or smart
phones to divert young children’s attention. The researchers
believe this practice could hamper social-emotional
development, including self-regulation. Read more here and
here.
Literacy Development:
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New America’s Education Policy Program and the
Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the Sesame Workshop
are implementing a survey to identify early literacy
programs nationwide. Read more here.
o
NPR interviewed the authors of a new children’s
book, Last Stop on Market Street, a picture
book about a boy riding the bus with his grandmother.
Read more here.
Early Childhood Investment:
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o
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First Five Years Fund (FFYF) collected quotes from
Republican and Democratic governors who have
expressed support for early childhood investments as
they develop budgets and legislative priorities for the
coming year. Read more here.
The vice president of Progress 2050 at the Center for
American Progress applauded President Obama’s
support for directing funds to early childhood
programs in his State of the Union address. Read
more here.
A post on Wonkblog explored research on the high
return on investment for early childhood initiatives.
Read more here .
Early Childhood Policy:
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The executive director of the Center for Law and
Social Policy (CLASP) voiced support for President
Obama’s investments in early learning in his 2016
budget and analyzed the likelihood of his proposals
o
receiving congressional approval. Read more here.
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) issued a
statement after President Obama’s budget and
applauded his suggested commitments to early
childhood programs and his proposal to expand
Medicaid to include breastfeeding support, supplies
and counseling. Read more here and here
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Workforce Development: An entry in the Weekly Wonk
argues for higher compensation for early childhood educators.
The author notes that nearly half of employed early childhood
educators are enrolled in a government support program, like
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or food
stamps. Read more here.
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Social-Emotional Development: An op-ed contributor to The
New York Times suggests all new parents read the book, The
Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings,
which describes the different child-rearing approaches across
the world. Read more here.
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Poverty: A columnist for The New York Times expressed his
disapproval of the country’s high child poverty rates and
suggested that lawmakers direct increased monetary support
to the issue. Read more here.
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Child Care: The Huffington Post detailed President Obama’s
package of policy reforms to change the child care system.
The President has stated his desire to increase the affordability
of child care for working parents. Read more here.
Back to top
NEWS FROM THE STATES:
California
o
o
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan used a local
family’s experience receiving free pre-kindergarten
through Los Angeles Unified Preschool (LAUP) as
evidence to support expanded early childhood
programming. Read more here.
EdSource introduced the four first-term lawmakers
appointed to chair state committees focused on
education and children’s issues. Read more here.
Illinois
o
The Illinois Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) is
facing a serious deficit for the balance of this fiscal
year. The program is projected to have a $300 million
deficit, a result of significant underfunding in the FY15
budget and complications regarding the prolonged
implementation of a new eligibility system. Currently,
the state has exhausted its state funding and is
relying on federal funds, which cover less than half of
the monthly cost of the program. Advocates are
urging the governor and General Assembly to move
quickly to work together to find the funding to fill this
gap and prevent any disruptions or changes to child
care services for low-income working families. Read
more here and here.
Kansas
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o
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The Commissioner of Education held a listening
session with educators from the southeast portion of
the state to solicit input for creating and implementing
ESEA reforms. Read more here.
The state house approved a bill that would divert $12
million from funds earmarked for early learning to
balance the budget, a proposal also included in Gov.
Sam Brownback’s budget. Read more here.
A pediatrician and board member of Kansas Action
for Children shared his research on the causes
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). He found that
approximately 75% of infants who died were sleeping
with an adult. Read more here.
Maine
o
Gov. Paul LePage released his 2016-2017 budget
proposal, which did not allocate $4 million in casino
money to Maine’s public preschool program. Last
year, the legislature passed a bill which would direct
casino money to expand public preschool to more 4year-olds. Read more here and here.
Michigan
o
o
Gov. Rick Snyder released his 2016 budget plan,
which includes a $48.6 million proposal for a thirdgrade reading initiative, which would expand home
visiting and parental engagement programs and
implement a kindergarten entry assessment. The
governor also maintains 2015 funding levels for the
Great Start Readiness Program by allocating $240
million. Read more here and here.
MLive compares state lawmakers preliminary
education agenda to Gov. Rick Snyder’s, who has
supported investments in pre-natal through third
grade education. Read more here.
New Mexico
o
The president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation wrote an Albuquerque Journal op-ed on
Gov. Susan Martinez’s recent State of the State
address that called on lawmakers to support early
childhood initiatives. Read more here.
New York
o
Parents applying for entry into New York City’s prekindergarten program will now be able to use one
application for programs in community-based
organizations and schools. Read more here.
Oregon
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Four state communities have partnered with the
Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a nationwide
effort to increase the number of children reading at
grade level by 3rdgrade. Read more here and here.
Washington
o
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According to the Enquirer-Herald, the state’s ranking
in pre-kindergarten access is one reason behind US
Sen. Patty Murray’s push to include funding for early
learning programs in ESEA. Currently, only 8% of 4year-olds are enrolled in preschool in Washington
state, placing it nationally in 32nd place for preschool
access. Read more here.
Thrive by Five discusses the latest report from the
Roadmap Project, which found that 39% of South
King County kindergarteners are school ready. Read
more here.
Back to top
The Ounce of Prevention Fund gives children in poverty the best chance for success in school and in life by advocating for
and providing the highest quality care and education from birth to age 5.
The Ounce National Policy Team partners with and supports early childhood leaders in states as they advance a
comprehensive agenda for at-risk children and families. We do this by providing individualized strategy and policy
consultation and resources; facilitating peer-to-peer learning and networking across states; and supporting Educare Schools
and the Educare Learning Network in the development of their policy and advocacy work.
The National Policy Digest is a bi-monthly newsletter that shares up-to-date and noteworthy developments in state and
federal early childhood news, policy and funding changes, research, policy trends and analyses, upcoming events, etc. culled
from diverse sources in the field. To subscribe, please contact Gregory Tate (gtate@theOunce.org).
33 West Monroe Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60603 • 312.922.3863 • ©2014 Ounce of Prevention Fund