Vol. III, Issue 16—September 1–15, 2014 Contents Highlights Federal Updates Policy Trends and Analysis New Research Upcoming Events Other News, Announcements and Resources News from the States o Arizona o California o Colorado o Florida o Georgia o Illinois o Kansas o Louisiana o Michigan o Minnesota o New Jersey o New York o Oregon o Tennessee o Washington o Washington, D.C. o Wisconsin HIGHLIGHTS: Child Care Development Block Grant Changes Proposed A bipartisan group of legislators reached an agreement on changes to the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which has not been updated since 1996. Lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and the Senate were involved in the negotiations. Under the new CCDBG bill, care centers must prove compliance with state health, safety and fire standards by submitting to annual inspections, and must perform criminal background checks on all child care staff. States must also reserve 10% of CCDBG funds for quality improvement and professional development, an increase from the current level of 4%. Read more here and here. Back to top FEDERAL UPDATES: Preschool Development Block Grant: The U.S. Department of Education has announced that more than 30 states have submitted letters of intent to apply for the funding. Read more here. Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): The U.S. Department of Education has announced approval of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) one-year flexibility extension requests for Washington D.C. and Tennessee. These two states join 21 others who have received flexibility waivers this summer. Read more here. School Improvement Grants (SIGs): The U.S. Department of Education released new proposals for School Improvement Grants (SIGs) that create an early learning model for school improvement. Through the new proposal, Lead Education Agencies could use SIG funding to implement an early learning program in an elementary school. The department is soliciting feedback on the proposed changes until October 8. Read more here and here. Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA): Sen. Tom Harkin introduced two bills to strengthen the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). The IDEA Full Funding Act seeks to raise IDEA funding so the federal government would cover 40% of the cost of education for children with disabilities. The IDEA Fairness Restoration Act would require the government to cover the costs of due process hearings. Read more here. Family Engagement: Education Secretary Arne Duncan went on the fifth annual Back to School Bus Tour, visiting schools across the country that have taken innovative steps to promote student learning and growth. At an early learning center he visited on the second day of his tour, Duncan said that states with strong family engagement plans will be given high consideration in the Preschool Development Grant competitions. According to Duncan, family engagement is a critical component of an early learning program. Read more here and here. Back to top POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS: Health Outcomes: The Ounce of Prevention Fund has published " Start Early To Build A Healthy Future: The Research Linking Early Learning and Health," which examines how early experiences in life can have strong impacts of the health of a developing child. Read more here. Back to top NEW RESEARCH: Autism: A study of infants with autistic siblings revealed that an intensive, parent-based program could reduce or diminish signs of developmental delays. Read more here. Chronic Absenteeism: Attendance Works released a new report, “Absences Add Up: How School Attendance Influences School Success,” which stated that high levels of absenteeism contribute to academic problems and the achievement gap. The study highlighted the detrimental impact of chronic absenteeism in prekindergarten, reporting that high numbers of absences contribute to low reading scores in third grade. School District Leadership: Findings in a new report released by the Brookings Institution suggest that greater student achievement is not correlated to the longevity of a superintendent's tenure. The study notes that while superintendents do account for a statistically significant 3%, there are other components of the educational system that can have a greater effect on student achievement. Read more here. Back to top UPCOMING EVENTS: October 9: Children Now will be hosting a webinar on toxic stress and its impact on children, families, and communities. While the webinar will address topics specific to California, the information will be beneficial to policy and advocacy leaders from other states. Register here. October 15: The Frank Porter Graham Institute is hosting several early childhood practicum webinars, with the latest offering focusing on Early Childhood Practicum. While the webinars are targeted toward North Carolina early childhood providers, all interested individuals may register. Register here. November 19: Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) will be hosting the webinar, "Job Schedules: Child Care and Subsidies," which details the difficulties parents experience in securing consistent child care. Register here. Back to top OTHER NEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESOURCES: Early Childhood Policy: o An Op-Ed in The New York Times calls for alternative family law, land use, and workplace protection policies as a means to support children from birth. The author suggests that these policy changes would strengthen such current initiatives as states' prekindergarten expansion, because they would help create nurturing and supportive environments at birth. Read more here. o The PBS NewsHour led a twitter chat on the importance of early education on September 4 and shared the contents of the conversation on its website. The conversation covered topics such as the availability of quality preschool and challenges with enrollment. Read more here. Early Learning Investment: According to a new Gallup poll, 70% of Americans support using federal funds to expand access to prekindergarten, but view prekindergarten as less important than K-12 education in contributing to a person’s success in life. Read more here. Family Engagement: The U.S. Department of Education released a tip sheet for parents that they can use to help their child transition to a new school. One recommendation is for parents to go to the school with their children to help reduce the child's stress. Read more here. Back to top NEWS FROM THE STATES: Arizona The First Things First state initiative will be holding a training session for early childhood providers and other interested individuals that will focus on better understanding the various statewide early childhood programs. The training will provide information on ways early childhood programs can form collaborations. Read more here. California The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education passed a resolution to increase funding levels for early childhood programs in the district over the next three years. Early childhood programs will receive $4.9 million more for the 20142015 school year, with an additional $14 million planned for the 2015-2016 school year. Read more here. Colorado Aurora Public Schools broke ground on a school for prekindergarten through eighth grade that will focus on the social-emotional growth and well-being of its students. The school, which is funded by private investments, is expected to enroll a high number of students who are testing behind grade level. Read more here. Florida Georgia An opinion piece in the Ocala Star Banner applauds the state's commitment to early learning, but says the state must invest more in young children. The authors assert that Florida will benefit from a high return on investment and children who participate in quality early-learning experience long-term benefits. Read more here. A new study on the state's six-week Summer Transition Program for incoming kindergarten students has found that children who attended the summer classes showed improvements in reading and school readiness. Read more here. Illinois The Illinois State Board of Education honored Cass School District 63's Blended Prekindergarten program with the Gold Circle of Quality in Illinois' new ExceleRate Quality Rating Improvement System. Read more here. Community organizers and advocates have come together to mount the "Bright Future Chicago" campaign, which calls for universal early childhood education for children in the city. Read more here. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has opted to withhold support for a federal Preschool Development Grant, halting the Kansas Children's Cabinet's work on the application which is due in four weeks. Gov. Brownback stated that it would be "unwise" to apply for the new federal grant proposal without consulting state legislators. Legislators will not reconvene until January 12, 2015, well after the deadline for the federal grants, which will provide winning applications a share of $160 million in grant funding a year for up to four years. Read more here. Louisiana In the first of a series of gatherings with early childhood stakeholders, state Superintendent of Education John White said that more funding would be needed to support the implementation of the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Act, which takes full effect in August 2015. Some of the provisions outlined in the law include new requirements that child care centers receiving state aid comply with more rigorous quality standards, new performance guidelines for programs serving children ages birth to three and additional standards to enhance quality for providers serving 3- and 4year-olds. Read more here. The state Department of Education announced that all publicly funded early childhood providers completed a self-assessment on enrollment processes. This is the first step outlined in Act 3, a new state law that will require all publicly funded early childhood providers to coordinate enrollment by 2015. Read more here. The Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) and the Department of Children and Family Services shared policies and strategies to complete the unification of the state's early childhood system by Act 3. Through new Early Childhood Care and Education Networks, early education providers – child care, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten – in parishes statewide have collaborated with the department to set unified expectations for teachers and providers, coordinate enrollment processes, and train educators. LDE will continue to seek input from stakeholders on policies before they are proposed to the newly created Early Childhood Care and Education Advisory Council, which submits recommendations to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for final approval. Read more here and here. The Department of Education announced that it is accepting applications for the last round of applications for Early Childhood Network pilots. Programs with existing Early Childhood Network pilots can apply to expand their network as well. The application is due on November 12th. Read more here. Michigan The Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative pledged $4 million to help early childhood providers in Detroit. Distributed over the course of two years, the money will supplement Head Start funding. Read more here. Bridge Magazine is using the experiences of high-achieving and fastimproving states to inform local education reform efforts. The magazine focused on Tennessee and Minnesota. o Tennessee is notable in that it leads the nation in academic improvement. Improved teacher accountability systems, teacher training on the state's learning standards, and a student testing system that is used to drive instruction are identified as contributing factors in the state's improvement. Read more here. o Minnesota's 4th graders lead the nation in math achievement and are top ten in every other academic measurement. The state's intensive early learning system, which begins offering weekly classes to parents and their children upon a child's birth through its Early Childhood Family Education Program, is credited as one factor for the success. The state also uses a funding formula that increases per pupil funding for areas with higher numbers of students receiving free or reduced price lunch. Read more here. Minnesota The state began offering free full-day kindergarten for the first time this school year, with more than 50,000 kindergarteners enrolled. Previously, only half of the state's schools offered free, full-day kindergarten, while other schools charged parents up to $4,000 a year for a full-day kindergarten slot. Read more here. The Minneapolis School District superintendent announced a district-wide moratorium on school suspensions of students in prekindergarten through 1st grade for non-violent behaviors. The district is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for its suspension policies. Read more here. New Jersey Child Care Connections of Mercer County launched its “Steps to Quality” program, which will provide professional development, technical assistance, and on-site coaching to 12 child care centers in the Trenton area. The program is a part of a statewide grant funded by the Nicholas Foundation. Read more here. New York Education experts discuss New York City's implementation of its prekindergarten expansion, the changes in the city's public schools, and lessons that can be learned from the experience in a recent Aspen Institute blog entry. Read more here. An article in The New York Times discusses the debate surrounding the self-directed approach to learning that will be adopted in many of the New York City prekindergarten classes. Read more here. The website Capital details the preparations that went into the prekindergarten expansion in New York City by outlining the types of staff hired to support the new program. More than 1,000 teachers, instructional coaches, enrollment specialists, social workers and other employees were hired to for the more than 50,000 children that were ready for their first day of prekindergarten. A story on NPR details how most of the prekindergarten teachers are women. Read more here and here. Oregon A new early learning wing at Earl Boyles Elementary opened its doors to its first class of preschoolers. The David Douglas School District partnered with a local non profit, The Children’s Institute, in planning for construction and securing funding for the learning wing. District leaders included parents in the planning process, and Earl Boyles Principal Ericka Guynes said construction planning strengthened the connections between the families and staff. Read more here. Tennessee U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited the Chambliss Center for Children in Chattanooga as part of his Back to School Bus Tour. During the visit, he advocated for Tennessee to apply for a Preschool Expansion Grant to reduce the number of children on waiting lists. Read more here. Washington Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed for the reorganization of the city’s education and social service programs to form the new Department of Education and Early Learning. The new department would have an operating budget of $48.5 million per year. Emphasizing that the reorganization will facilitate better coordination, the mayor intends to include his plan in his budget submission to the city council on September 22. Read more here. The Seattle Times will begin a new a series of conversations on important topics and current events with the first discussion focusing on early learning. The conversation will occur at the Microsoft Center and will include education leaders from Washington and from other states. Read more here. The State Supreme Court held the legislature in contempt for failing to abide by its court order to come up with a plan to fully fund the state's education system. Read more here. Washington D.C. Educare of Washington D.C. welcomed its new executive director Pyper Davis on September 2. Before joining Educare, Davis served as the chief operating officer for The SEED Foundation, which operates the nation's only network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools. Read more here. Wisconsin Milwaukee 3-and 4-year olds started attending Head Start at a new building funded by the Next Door Foundation. Helping the Milwaukee Public Schools reach more children before entering kindergarten, the center has enrolled 420 children. 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. Produced by Ashanti Huey with the assistance of Brooke Fisher, Bravetta Hassell and Bryce Marable. To subscribe, please contact Bryce Marable (bmarable@ounceofprevention.org). 33 West Monroe Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60603 • 312.922.3863 • ©2014 Ounce of Prevention Fund