Vol. III, Issue 12—June 16– July 15, 2014
Contents

Highlights

Federal Updates

Policy Trends and Analysis

New Research

Upcoming Events

Other News, Announcements
and Resources

News from the States
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Arizona
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California
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Colorado
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Florida
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Georgia
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Illinois
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Louisiana
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Michigan
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Massachusetts
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New Mexico
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New York
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Oregon
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Washington
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Washington, D.C.
HIGHLIGHTS:
New Poll Shows Broad National Support for
Early Childhood Investments.
A new national bipartisan poll conducted for the First Five Years Fund by Public
Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates shows that providing children
with a strong start in life should be one the nation's highest priorities, second only
to increasing jobs and economic growth. The poll also found that nearly 90% of
Republicans and Independents, as well as 97% of Democrats, support making
early education and child care more affordable. Read more here, here and here.
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FEDERAL UPDATES:

Social Impact Bonds: Rep. Todd Young and John Delaney have
introduced H.R. 4885, the Social Impact Bond Act.The Social Impact
Bond Act is intended to foster the creation of public-private partnerships
that harness philanthropic and other private-sector investments to scale
up scientifically-proven social and public health programs. Joining Young
and Delaney in introducing the bill were Reps. Tim Griffin, John Larson,
Tom Reed, Jared Polis, Dennis Ross, Joe Kennedy, and Aaron Schock.
Read more here.
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POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS:

Child Poverty: A recent article in The Future of Children suggests that
increasing family income in the early years of a child's life can boost a
child's development by providing access to resources that stimulate the
growth. Read more here and here.

Child Demographics: A new data analysis by Pew Research Center
shows a large increase in the number of states where at least one-in-five
public school kindergartners are Latino over the past decade. In 17
states, Latino children comprise at least 20% of the public school
kindergarten population. Read more here.

Early Intervention: The Brookings Institute has published a brief
examining the effect well-evaluated, targeted interventions can have on
the achievement gap that exists between children of differing socioeconomic status. Read more here.
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NEW RESEARCH:

Early Literacy: The Ounce of Prevention Fund, researchers at
Northwestern University, and the educational technology company Parent
University formed a unique partnership to examine an innovative family
engagement strategy: delivering parenting tips and support through text
messaging. A study of the mobile technology and family engagement
project found that more than 90% of the parents that participated in
Parent University find tips sent via text a helpful way to receive parenting
information. Read more here and here.

Language Development: New research from the Frank Porter Graham
Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill suggests that fathers may tend to play a larger role in the language
development of children than mothers. The studied surveyed more than
1,200 children in two-parent households, finding that a father's language
was more highly correlated to their child's language than that of their
mothers. Read more here.

Two Generation Policy: The Foundation for Child Development has
published "Mother's Education and Children's Outcomes: How DualGeneration Programs Offer Increased Opportunities for America's
Children." The report offers an analysis of economic, education, and
health indicators, comparing children whose mothers have not graduated
from high school and children whose mothers have higher levels of
education. Read more here.

Child Well-Being: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Pediatrics published a study with findings that suggest early childhood
interventions, such as home visiting programs, can improve the mortality
rates of both mother and child. Read more here and here.

Social-Emotional Development: A national study commissioned by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that observed more than
300 classrooms and tested three distinct approaches all designed to
improve social-emotional development in children. Read more here and
here.
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UPCOMING EVENTS:

July 21: The First Five Years Fund will host a webinar focusing on the
results of its latest national poll data. White House Political Director David
Simas, Political Adviser Jim Messina, and the pollsters who conducted
the polling will be on the panel to answer questions and share insights
gleaned. Register here.

August 7: The School Turnaround Learning Community (STLC), in
sponsorship with the Reform Support Network (RSN) and the Center on
School Turnaround (CST), will host a webinar focusing on reaching and
engaging rural stakeholders in school turnarounds. Register here.

August 14: The Education Technology Start-Up Collaborative is hosting
its second annual user conference at the Bridgeport Art Center in
Chicago, IL. The conference will feature the nation's most innovative
education technology start-ups in STEM, literacy, and classroom and
administrative management. Register here.
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Other News, Announcements and Resources:

Federal Leaders:
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U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro writes about the importance of prekindergarten as the foundation for a great education, citing
studies that show pre-kindergarten provides both long-term
social and educational benefits. Read more here.
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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan speaks on the
importance of early childhood and his support for Early
Childhood Nation, a new early childhood initiative from the U.S.
Conference of Mayors, in a recent radio appearance. Read
more here.

Education Alignment: New America writes on the importance of
accountability and aligning early education with the larger educational
system, noting that strengthening the birth through third grade continuum
provides children with a more cohesive and coordinated educational
experience. Read more here.

Education Technology: A former teacher has created an online
education app called ReadyRosie, which creates short instructional
videos that seek to help parents engage with their young children. Read
more here.
Teacher Compensation: USA Today lists preschool teachers as one
of the jobs most deserving of higher pay, noting that pay in some states is well
below $30,000. Read more here.
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NEWS FROM THE STATES:
Arizona

Arizona's First Things First, the Flagstaff Community Foundation, and
private donors to the United Way of Northern Arizona have provided
funding for KinderCamp, a summer program designed to give children the
skills needed to be prepared for kindergarten. Last year, more than 300
children were enrolled in the Coconino County program. Read
more here.
California

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a state budget which includes more than
$250 million in early learning and child development investments. In
addition to including funding that will expand the number of children in
preschool and provide increased reimbursement rates to providers, $7.9
million will be included for the Early Start Program, which will provide
increased intervention services to infants and toddlers across the state.
Read more here.
o

Several members of Congress have voiced support for the
state's early childhood investments, where one in eight of the
nation's children live. Read more here.
Early Edge California and FIRST 5 Santa Clara County leaders joined
forces to co-write an editorial to the San Jose Mercury News, applauding
the final state budget which provides the largest investment in young
children in more than a decade. Read more here.

The Assembly Committee on Education has passed two bills that would
ensure full-day kindergarten in school districts and would require
kindergarten for all of the state's children before beginning first grade.
Read more here.

Assemblymember Kristin Olsen has been elected to lead the Assembly
Republican caucus. Due to term limits, Olsen, also the highest-ranking
Republican on the education committee, cannot serve in the Assembly
past 2016. Read more here.

The Sacramento Bee calls the Learning Ladders Preschool and Child
Care Center, located in West Sacramento, a model preschool program for
the state. The article notes that West Sacramento was recently named
the "most livable" small city in the nation by the US Conference of
Mayors, due to the strength of its universal preschool program. Read
more here.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is showing his support for the Children and
Families First Initiative, a ballot measure that would renew the children's
fund, which is expiring. The measure would also renew the Public
Education Enrichment Fund, which funds universal preschool for 4-yearolds. Read more here.
Colorado

In his third State of the City Address, Mayor Michael Hancock urges
voters to approve and expand the Denver Preschool Program that will be
a ballot measure in the November elections. Read more here.
Florida

Gov. Rick Scott kicked off his "Caring for Florida's Families" tour in Miami.
His plan includes funding for early learning, as well as designated funds
for foster children and children with disabilities. Read more here.
Georgia

Gov. Nathan Deal and the Department of Early Care and Learning
(DECAL) announced plans to provide additional financial support to the
state's early childhood educators through three programs designed to
assist the professionals in enhancing their credentials. Funding for the
programs will come from the federal Early Learning Challenge grant that
DECAL was awarded in December 2013. Read more here.

DECAL plans to select four, multi-county Early Education Empowerment
Zones, which will receive more than $1 million to improve programming
for children, birth through 5-years-old. There are currently 11 regions that
are being considered; DECAL will conduct site visits in those counties,
and plans to select the four winning counties in September. Read
more here.
Illinois

Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a state budget the will result in a reduction of
$84 million in child care funds and a total of $250 million budget cuts to
the overall $35.7 billion spending plan. Read more here and here.

A new law lowering the compulsory age of attendance in kindergarten
from 7-years-old to 6-years-old took effect in July. Legislators passed
SB1307, which changed the compulsory age, last year. Read
more here.

Tri-County Opportunities Council will receive more than $4.7 million in
federal funds. The grant money will allow the council to bring back 90
Head Start children it stopped serving through its programs last year due
to budget cuts. The grant is the sole source of funds for the Head Start
programs it runs, which serves families in nine counties. Read
more here.

The Lake County Community Foundation, an affiliate of The Chicago
Community Trust, announced that it will provide $153,000 in grants to
local nonprofit organizations that are working to address the needs of
families in the county. Read more here.

Former US President Bill Clinton visited Metropolitan Family Services
Learning and Wellness Center in the Englewood neighborhood of
Chicago, touring the facility and reading with children. Read more here.
Louisiana

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed SB 524, which will create a Child Care and
Early Education Advisory Council that will serve as advisory council to the
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The bill also requires the
Department of Education to disclose any standards or rules violations by
child care centers in the past 12 months, among other things. Read more
here and here.

The Policy Institute for Children, a non-partisan non-profit that has
recently formed, will focus on providing data, research and relevant
information to policy makers and the public on issues related to children in
the state. The Institute will be led by Melanie Bronfin, who previously
served as the Policy Director for the Louisiana Partnership for Children
and Families. Read more here and here.
Michigan

Matrix Human Services, a Detroit non-profit, has been awarded $125
million in the form of a grant from the Health & Human Services
Administration for Children and Families, which will allow the organization
to provide Head Start to more than 500 additional children by January
2015. Read more here.

Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public
Policy, cites the need to support improvements in maternal and infant
health in cities across the state. Read more here.
Massachusetts

Former school superintendent Chris Martes will serve as the new
president and CEO of Strategies for Children, an organization that
focuses on advocating for children during the critical early years from birth
to third grade. Martes previously served on Strategies for Children's
Board of Directors. Read more here.
New Mexico

Senator John Arthur Smith has suggested that the state senate postpone
a vote and confirmation hearing for the secretary of public education until
2015. Governor Susana Martinez selected Hanna Skandera to head the
public education system in January 2011, but the Senate has yet to vote
on whether or not to confirm her selection. Read more here.
New York

Eleven Staten Island public school students have filed a lawsuit against
city and state officials in the state's Supreme Court, arguing that teacher
tenure laws violate the state's constitutional right to a "sound basic
education." Read more here.

New York City must find space for nearly 5,000 children that will likely
need special services as it looks to expand its pre-kindergarten program
throughout the city. The Department of Education has 10 special
education regional offices which parents can work with to coordinate the
needs of their children, with the DOE stating that it has plans to
expanding the number of special-needs providers it works with. Read
more here.

The state is devoting $52 million to New York City for the creation of
school community hubs. The hubs will provide medical and dental
services, nutrition and fitness programs, along with tutoring, job training,
and other assistance for students and their families. Read more here.
Oregon

United Way of Columbia-Willamette has selected five non-profits located
in Washington County to participate in a large regional effort to fight
childhood poverty. The newly-selected organizations will join 25 other
organizations that have been selected from Clackamas, Clark and
Multnomah counties. Read more here.

Six rural school districts have been identified in a new study as some of
the worst school districts in the nation, based on high per-pupil spending
and poor reading and math achievement results. However, an
investigation conducted by The Oregonian suggests that high levels of
chronic absenteeism may be the underlying cause of the low achievement
rates. Read more here.
Washington

At the request of the Mayor Ed Murray, Seattle City Council has delayed a
scheduled vote on a universal preschool initiative. This leaves the council
with only one meeting left to decide whether a proposal for a $58 million
property-tax levy should go on the November ballot. The proposal would
use that funding to ensure that Seattle families paid no more than 10
percent of their gross income on early education and child care. Read
more here.
Washington D.C.

Officials have put forth a proposal that would guarantee a prekindergarten seat for children that live in-bound for high-poverty Title I
schools, a designation that covers the majority of traditional public
schools in the city. More than 10 percent of 3-year-olds, and nearly a
quarter of 4-year-olds who entered the first round of the preschool lottery
this year were not selected by the school they applied to attend. Read
more here.
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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 Ashanti Huey, Policy Associate
(ahuey@ounceofprevention.org), or use the links below to manage your subscription.
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