THE NATIONAL POLICY DIGEST
FROM
NATIONAL POLICY TEAM
VOL. 1, ISSUE 8—MAY 1, 2012
Bringing you the latest in state and federal early childhood development policy and research.
Questions, Comments, Suggestions for Improvement? Contact Anna Torsney-Weir.
CONTENTS
Policy Trends and Analysis ..................................................................................................... 2
New Research .......................................................................................................................... 2
Policy Developments and Research from Other Fields ........................................................ 3
Other News and Announcements ........................................................................................... 3
Upcoming Events ..................................................................................................................... 3
Federal Updates ....................................................................................................................... 4
News from the States............................................................................................................... 4
Arizona .................................................................................................................................. 4
California............................................................................................................................... 5
Colorado ............................................................................................................................... 5
Washington, D.C. .................................................................................................................. 5
Florida ................................................................................................................................... 5
Georgia.................................................................................................................................. 6
Kansas .................................................................................................................................. 6
Louisiana .............................................................................................................................. 6
Maine ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Michigan................................................................................................................................ 7
Nebraska ............................................................................................................................... 7
New Mexico ........................................................................................................................... 8
New York ............................................................................................................................... 8
Washington ........................................................................................................................... 8
Wisconsin ............................................................................................................................. 8
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POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
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Birth to Eight Alignment: A new report from the National League of Cities, “Educational Alignment for
Young Children: Profiles of Local Innovation”, identifies five cities that are on the leading edge of efforts
to create a seamless educational pipeline for children ages 0-8. Innovative alignment strategies in Boston;
Hartford; Conn.; San Antonio; San José, Calif.; and Seattle aim to ensure that more children are succeeding
in school and reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Brain Science: ReadyNation and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University have developed
and compiled an array of tools, including FFYF’s “Brain Builders”, which will enable people to present
neuroscientific research on the early brain to diverse audiences.
Pre-K Assessment: The Educational Testing Service has released State Pre-K Assessment Policies: Issues
and Status, which looks at current approaches states are using to assess children enrolled in Pre-K
programs, some of the challenges of assessing young children's learning, and suggested sound practices
for states to consider implementing.
State Budget Balancing: NCCP released Protecting the Safety Net in Tough Times: Lessons from the
States, which offers a summary of the various approaches states are taking or propose taking to balance
their budgets.
Young Children in Military Families: Military Family Projects at ZERO TO THREE released Increasing
Understanding of Infants and Young Children in Military Families through Focused Research, which
examines the effects of combat deployment on infants and toddlers in military families and concludes with
recommendations for increased research on this topic.
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NEW RESEARCH
Featured Topic: Early Childhood Obesity
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Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs, the latest set of standards from
the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, describes
evidence-based best practices in nutrition, physical activity, and screen time for early care and
education programs.
Research Connections conducted a comprehensive search of its collection for resources focused on
obesity prevention in early care and education. This Key Topic Resource List includes an overview of
the literature, as well as a listing of selected resources on the topic.
The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) issued Comprehensive Obesity Prevention in Early
Childhood: Promising Federal and State Initiatives, which presents a range of early childhood obesity
prevention initiatives to inform states of ways they can build strong cross-system efforts to reduce
childhood obesity rates.
Findings from the NIH-funded Bellevue Project for Early Language, Literacy and Education Success
demonstrate that stressors prevalent in low-income households, such as depression, single
parenthood and associated infant behavioral challenges, influence feeding practices likely to promote
obesity.
The May issue of Pediatrics includes research that documents that girls from disadvantaged families
and who were exposed to two or more social stressors at age 1 or age 3 were most likely to become
obese, compared to other preschool girls with no such exposure, according to the new study
published online.
Early Adversity and Toxic Stress:
 DNA evidence of violence: A new study from the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy
demonstrates the DNA of children who experienced violence shows the type of wear and tear that is
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normally associated with advancing age. The study confirms a small-but-growing number of studies
saying early childhood adversity imprints itself in our chromosomes.
 Fathers and postnatal depression: A new study by researchers in Australia has found that fathers are
just as likely as mothers to suffer postnatal depression and the risk is higher for younger men.
Early Literacy: Teachers and parents could help boost preschoolers' reading skills later on just by changing
how they read books aloud to the kids, a new study suggests. Simple things like pointing out words and
letters and noting that we read from left to right led to more advanced reading skills as much as two years
later in preschoolers who took part in the study by Ohio State University researchers. Read more here.
POLICY DEVELOPMENTS AND RESEARCH FROM OTHER
FIELDS
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Common Core Implementation: Two recent articles in Education Week discuss the concerns, challenges,
and hopes surrounding the implementation stage of the Common Core standards. Read more here and
here.
Testing and Teacher Accountability:
 A literacy consultant in the New York City public schools makes a persuasive case on how testing is hurting
the teaching profession —by erasing inquiry, curiosity, study and thinking from the classroom experience
for both teacher and student.
 The Obama administration wants to expand the use of standardized test scores as an accountability tool
from K-12 into higher education. The Education Department just tried -- and failed -- to persuade a group
of negotiators to agree to regulations that would rate colleges of education in large part on how K-12
students being taught by their graduates perform on standardized tests.
 More states are requiring teacher-candidates to take—and pass—licensing tests in reading before they
can move into the classroom.
OTHER NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Federal researchers studying the effectiveness of Head Start's social and emotional instruction have asked
for more time to follow up with children and parents in the program, according to a notice in the Federal
Register. The researchers will collect more follow-up information through more than 1200 surveys of
parents and teachers. Read more here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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May 7, 2012 1:00 – 2:30: ZERO TO THREE and the Child Welfare Information Gateway are hosting a
webinar entitled Meeting the Developmental Needs of Infants and Toddlers in the Child Welfare System.
Instructions for registration will be sent prior to May 7th.
May 16, 2012, 2-3:30pm CT: the PreK-3rd Grade National Work Group will host a webinar on familyschool partnerships. Register here.
June 11-14, 2012: The Early Head Start National Resource Center is hosting the Birth to Three Institute
(BTT) in Washington, DC. This year’s conference will feature over 80 sessions covering topics such as
School Readiness, Home Visiting, Dual Language Learners, and Family Child Care. BTT will take place Click
here to download the full program and register now.
June 18-20, 2012: Head Start's 11th National Conference in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Office of
Head Start and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), the theme of this year's
conference is "Research on Young Children and Families: Effective Practices in an Age of Diversity and
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Change”. More Information.
FEDERAL UPDATES
Administrative
 Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, Director of the federal Office of Head Start, announced new details
and modifications regarding the Designation Renewal System , including:
o The first group of Funding Opportunity Announcements will be released by the Office of Head
Start the week of April 15, 2012. They are now posted on www.Grants.gov.
o All 132 programs - which represent 204 separate services areas - being re-competed will have the
opportunity to continue operation through June, 2013, providing for transition, if needed, over the
summer before the school year begins.
o More than 2,000 applications were received by potential reviewers and OHS will provide in-person
extensive training to the final cohort of reviewers.
o The grant reviews will be complete and the winners will be notified by December, 2012.
o The grant application page limit was increased to permit existing programs to include pertinent
information from past reviews.
 The U.S. Department of Education posted revised non-regulatory guidance for districts and school using
Title I Part A (Title I) funds to implement high-quality preschool programs. The revised Serving Preschool
Children Through Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as
Amended, Non-Regulatory Guidance can be found here.
 The U. S. Department of Education issued a notice inviting applications for new Promise Neighborhoods
Program Implementation and Planning Grants for FY12. For complete information, please see the notice
in the Federal Register.
Legislative
 The Senate voted to reject a motion to proceed to legislation that would implement the so-called Buffett
Rule. The Paying a Fair Share Act (S. 2230) would impose a phased-in 30 percent tax on taxpayers’ income
in excess of $1 million. Learn more about the Buffett Rule.
 The Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 that was approved in the Senate Agriculture
Committee on April 26 cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding by $4.49B over
10 years. Read more here.
 The Senate Budget Committee marked-up a FY2013 budget introduced by Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND),
with no votes on the plan or amendments allowed. Conrad asked committee members to return with
ideas for how to win support for the plan, which is modeled on long-term deficit reduction proposals
outlined by the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission. Senate Republicans say they intend to bring a budget
resolution to the floor, despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) insistence that budget
resolutions are unnecessary because the Budget Control Act has already set FY2013 spending limits. Learn
more about Sen. Conrad’s deficit reduction proposal.
NEWS FROM THE STATES
ARIZONA
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Governor Brewer and Republican legislative leaders agreed on a budget deal, which is being circulated to
Republican legislators to elicit their support before a vote. The proposal addresses several critical funding
issues, including the replacement of lost federal dollars for child protective services and rate increases for
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some AHCCCS providers. However, it continues all of the past cuts to children’s health, early education
and safety net programs. Child care remains frozen, KidsCare still has a long waiting list, and there is no
state funding for full-day kindergarten or preschool.
CALIFORNIA
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The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projected that state revenues through June 2013 will come in
about $2B lower than projected by the Administration. Gov. Brown will issue a revised budget next month
that incorporates tax revenue data for April, the state's biggest collection month. Democratic lawmakers
previously hoped for a windfall this month to avert significant cuts to education, health and welfare and
other programs, but this new budget projection may force them to compromise on some of these issues.
Supporters of early childhood education are praising a decision by Los Angeles Unified School District to
keep a special kindergarten program for four-year-olds even after Governor Brown had threatened to
cut off the funding. L.A. Unified runs transitional kindergarten classes in about a quarter of its elementary
schools for children who will turn five in the fall. Read more here.
Ed Trust-West released its latest Annual Report Cards for California School Districts, grading 147 Largest
Districts on Latino, African-American and Low-Income Student Outcomes.
A USC population projection report, Generational Projections of the California Population by Nativity and
Year of Immigrant Arrival, predicts that in 18 years, the share of children under 18 will decrease.
Whereas children under age 18 were rapidly increasing in number between 1990 and 2010, in the coming
20 years, the growth of children virtually halts. Given the continued growth of the rest of the population,
the share made up by children is projected to slowly decline, from 24.9% in 2010 to 20.7% in 2030. The
declining rate of population growth is due in large part to plateauing immigration rates.
COLORADO
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A children's literacy bill aimed at making sure all Colorado pupils read by fourth grade passed a state
Senate committee with several modifications made to address complaints:
o As proposed, the measure would have required students far behind on reading skills by the end of
third grade to be held back without a superintendent's permission. The measure was changed to
require parents of those students to hear a discussion about retention, but not mandate flunking.
o The bill was also changed to appropriate about $16 million designated for "interventions" for poor
readers. The bill already passed the House and has the support of Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The literacy measure now awaits action by another Senate committee before it heads to the full Senate.
Read more here.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and public schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson outlined an ambitious five-year
plan to improve student performance, increase graduation rates and fund pilot programs that could
lengthen the school day or academic year at specified schools in the District.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray joined educational and human-services leaders in presenting his “Early Success
Framework”, an effort to more closely coordinate across DC government agencies and community
partners to ensure all District children develop and learn in nurturing and healthy environments. Read
more here.
FLORIDA
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Gov. Rick Scott signed the budget for FY13, beginning July 1. The spending plan includes more money for
child abuse prevention and maternal health as well as additional money for systemic improvements to the
state's early learning and child welfare systems. Read more here.
Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a bill overhauling the state's early learning programs in the wake of a scathing
report by the Auditor General. At least four bills attempted to address the critical early learning audit
during the legislative session, along with the quality and governance of school readiness programs. Scott's
veto message said he was directing the state Office of Early Learning to implement "many of the positive
provisions of this bill." Read more here.
GEORGIA
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Gov. Nathan Deal signed a handful of bills that tweak how the state funds K-12 education, saying his
ultimate goal is to create a system that financially rewards public schools for improving student
performance. Deal told a commission charged with overhauling education funding that he wants to shift
from simply funding enrollment growth in school districts to handing out money for accomplishments.
Read more here.
The state is rolling out its first-ever quality rating system for child care centers, in-home day cares and
preschools, part of an effort to spur improvements in early care programs for children across the state.
Read more here.
KANSAS
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The House Appropriations Committee made two damaging amendments regarding the Children’s
Initiatives Fund (CIF). One would divert $2.1M of CIF dollars to offset the State General Funds that were
put in last year. The other is a conference committee "proviso" regarding the CIF that would force cuts to
early education programs. Advocates are asking legislators to remove the CIF proviso from the House
Omnibus Appropriations bill. For more information on the CIF and the budget process so far, see Vol. 1,
Issue 7 of the Digest.
LOUISIANA
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Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to coordinate Louisiana's patchwork system of prekindergarten and early
childhood education programs (SB581) passed both the House and Senate and was signed into
law. SB581 intends to improve accountability for early childhood programs, pave the way for the schools
to get letter grades and repair what critics call the uneven quality of programs preparing youngsters for
kindergarten.
A bid to provide early childhood education for all students at an additional cost of $271M per year died
in the state Senate Education Committee. Opponents said that, while the goal is worthy, the state cannot
afford such an expansion. Gov. Jindal opposes the bill. Read more here.
MAINE
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The Legislature has recessed until early May, when they will meet to address remaining FY13 budget
issues. 961 people from across the state signed the Maine Children's Alliance petition opposing Governor
LePage's proposed cuts to early childhood programs in FY13. The Maine Children's Alliance sent the list of
names alphabetized by town to the entire Legislature on April 12, 2012, along with a graphic synopsis of
the data.
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MICHIGAN
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Both the House and Senate approved all budget bills for FY2013. As anticipated, the House rolled up all of
its bills into two omnibus budget bills -- one for Education (HB 5372) including School Aid, Community
Colleges, and Higher Education; and the department budgets into another omnibus budget bill (HB
5365). The Senate kept each budget bill separate. While the House-approved budgets made no changes to
early childhood provisions, the Senate-passed School Aid budget includes a $10M increase to the Great
Start Readiness Program -- Michigan's preschool program for 4-year-olds at-risk of school failure. Points
of difference will be negotiated in conference committee. Read more here.
Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R-Alto), introduced legislation that would create a minimum standard of
quality for state-funded home visiting programs. HB 5572 requires state funding only support evidencebased or promising home visiting models that are backed by research. The legislation sets standards and
improves oversight for state-funded programs, and encourages collaboration and data sharing between
the three departments that oversee home visiting services: the Department of Community Health,
Department of Education and Department of Human Services. HB 5572 has been referred to the House
Families, Children and Seniors Committee.
According to the Detroit's One-Child School Readiness Dividend study, for every Detroit child who enters
kindergarten ready to learn, Michigan taxpayers save $100,000. The study was commissioned by the Max
M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation in partnership with more than 20 organizations. Read more here.
NEBRASKA
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On April 18th, the closing day of the session, the Legislature voted to override the gubernatorial veto
opposing LB 599, allowing it to pass into law. The bill, introduced by Senator Campbell, was designed to
restore prenatal care to low-income families not covered by Medicaid, regardless of the immigration
status of the mother of the unborn child.
LB 1048 would have provided an additional $500,000 in funding for parent support and home visitation
services by nursing professionals. Although the bill itself did not advance, the Appropriations Committee
included in the budget (LB 968) an additional $150,000 over current spending levels for these parent
support and home visitation services.
LB 1015, which would have reinstated full provider rates for all child care providers receiving the child care
subsidy, has been indefinitely postponed. While the Appropriations Committee could not find the needed
$2M to reinstate the rates, First Five Nebraska offered 2 policy recommendations to Senator Conrad's
bill. The first, which encouraged publicly funded, licensed child care providers to enroll in the early
childhood registry, was included as intent language in an amendment to the budget (LB 968). LB968
passed the Legislature on March 27, and was signed by the Governor on April 2.
A number of resolutions passed requiring interim studies for early childhood:
o LR 489 proposes a study conducted by the Education Committee of publicly funded early childhood
programs in Nebraska. The study involves determining goals for programs and methods for measuring
progress towards those goals. The examination of progress includes an analysis of measurement
instruments for assessing the skills of children entering Kindergarten from both publicly funded and
privately funded early childhood programs, as well as children who did not attend an early childhood
education program.
o LR 510 proposes an interim study conducted by a select committee to gather information and
provide recommendations for an early learning and development reform agenda, and to develop a
preliminary budget to sustain the agenda. The study will examine the early learning development
system across the state to determine how to make the system more effective in preparing children to
succeed in school and in life.
o LR591 proposes a study to investigate progress towards the development of a state longitudinal
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education data system, a tool for educators, parents, legislators, and State officials to obtain
meaningful information about children's learning and development, the quality of programs, and the
workforce that serves children.
NEW MEXICO
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Veronica C. Garcia, the state’s secretary of education under former Gov. Bill Richardson, has been hired
as executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a state children’s advocacy organization. Along
with advocating for the passage of the New Mexico’s Pre-K Act, as secretary Garcia pushed for funding for
programs like school-based health clinics, breakfast in the schools, elementary physical education, and
extended school year programs like Kindergarten Plus. She also advocated for passage of the Hispanic
Education Act. She has been a teacher, principal and Santa Fe superintendent of schools.
NEW YORK
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Legislation that would compel New York City schools to make kindergarten seats available to 5-year-olds
is now working its way through the State Legislature, awaiting action by the education committees of the
Assembly and the Senate. Read more here.
The high-stakes test that determines which 4-year-olds get into the city's gifted and talented program is
about to get even harder, which means fewer children may qualify for the sought-after public school seats
in the future. Next winter, the city will replace the Bracken School Readiness Assessment, which covers
shapes, colors and numbers, with the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, which covers more abstract logic and
visual reasoning skills. Read more here.
In New York City public schools, a student’s educational outcomes and opportunity to learn are statistically
more determined by where he or she lives than their abilities, according to A Rotting Apple: Education
Redlining in New York City, a new report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education.
WASHINGTON
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee released an education plan, which includes a dedicated
early learning section with a systems approach.
WISCONSIN
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As part of National Week of the Young Child, a time to highlight the needs of young children and their
families and recognize the importance of early childhood programs and services that meet those needs,
Governor Walker and Department of Children and Families Deputy Secretary Joan Hansen visited
KinderCare in Hudson, a YoungStar (QRIS) “5 star” rated child care facility. The press release from the
Governor’s office highlighted YoungStar, professional development, literacy, TEACH, and the connection
with Read to Lead literacy initiative.
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.
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The National Policy Digest: a bi-weekly 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 Anna TorsneyWeir, National Policy Associate (atorsneyweir@ounceofprevention.org).
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