THE NATIONAL POLICY DIGEST
FROM
NATIONAL POLICY TEAM
VOL. 1, ISSUE 9—MAY 18, 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
Other News and Announcements ........................................................................................... 3
Upcoming Events ..................................................................................................................... 3
Federal Updates ....................................................................................................................... 3
News from the States............................................................................................................... 4
California............................................................................................................................... 4
Colorado ............................................................................................................................... 4
Washington, D.C. .................................................................................................................. 5
Georgia.................................................................................................................................. 5
Illinois .................................................................................................................................... 5
Kansas .................................................................................................................................. 5
Louisiana .............................................................................................................................. 6
Maine ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Michigan................................................................................................................................ 6
Mississippi ............................................................................................................................ 6
Oklahoma .............................................................................................................................. 7
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POLICY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
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Birth - 3rd Grade:
o The National League of Cities released a set of case studies on 5 cities that are trying to create
a seamless educational pipeline for children from birth through third grade: Boston, Hartford,
San Antonio, San José, and Seattle. The preK-3rd efforts in these cities are led by mayors in
partnership with local school districts and community-based organizations. Read more here.
o A new report authored by Robert C. Pianta, Implementing Observation Protocols: Lessons for
K-12 Education from the Field of Early Childhood, provides valuable insights about assessing
teachers and classrooms across the PreK-3rd grade continuum.
CCDBG Assistance: CLASP released three new factsheets to provide a snapshot of the 1.7M children
who received child care assistance through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) in
2010:
o CCDBG Participation in 2010;
o Infants and Toddlers in CCDBG: 2010 Update; and
o School-Age Children in CCDBG: 2010 Update.
Home-Based Child Care: A new issue brief from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
(OPRE) looks at quality in home-based child care.
Pre-Kindergarten Assessment: Education Testing Services (ETS) published a Policy Information
Report, which summarizes the challenges with assessing young children, offers an overview of the
different types of instruments being used to assess pre-kindergarten students and programs, and
looks at current state policies toward pre-kindergarten assessment.
Reduced Teacher Supply: Due to the economic downturn, between May 2007 and May 2011 the
number of teachers in the United States decreased by almost 6 percent. Preschool teachers took the
greatest hit, with their number falling by 8.3 percent. Read more here.
NEW RESEARCH
Social-Emotional Development and Mental Health
 Several recent studies examine the link between early adversity and neurodevelopment. A
small study published in January found that childhood adversity in the form of maltreatment,
parental loss or abandonment altered a control mechanism for a key gene that regulates the
brain's ability to handle stress hormones. In a study published in February, researchers found that
individuals who had experienced childhood maltreatment had smaller hippocampal areas and
found a significant relationship between maltreatment and parental education and perceived
financial stability. Read more here.
 Unprecedented numbers of American children are being identified with special medical and
educational needs, and over the past several decades, the types of predominant childhood
disabilities have shifted from physical disorders to mental health disorders, according to the latest
edition of the Future of Children, a publication from the Brookings Institution and Princeton
University.
 Children whose parents split up when they were preschoolers have increased behavior problems,
according to new research that suggests the timing of such breakups has long-term effects. The
study found that such disruption, particularly in the child's first three years but likely as long as
five years, "more strongly influences children's development than changes later in childhood."
Read more here.
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Language Development and Academic Achievement
 A study in Child Development found that students with lower language skills showed remarkable
improvement when taught in classrooms alongside students with strong language skills, compared
to when they were taught in classrooms limited to only children with low skills. Meanwhile, those
with strong skills did not suffer from having peers with lower abilities in the same classroom. This
study builds on past findings, such as the similar findings from a 2002 study comparing the language
skills of low-income preschoolers who attended economically diverse programs versus those who
attended programs with only children from low-income families.
 A new study shows that when parents engage toddlers in cognitively stimulating play such as pretend
play, it can have long-lasting effects on their children's academic success. The 15-year longitudinal
study's results, published in Family Science, found that such parental interaction when children were
as young as 2 years old (as observed with 229 children in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation
Project) predicted fifth grade math and reading achievement. This builds on years of research, as
compiled in this article at Psychology Today, showing that imaginative play is a critical part of healthy
child development, particularly for cognitive and social development.
OTHER NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new website for the newly-established Office of
Early Learning (OEL).
The Office of School Support and Rural Programs and the Office of School Turnaround at the U.S.
Department of Education introduced the new Rural Schools group on the School Turnaround
Learning Community (www.schoolturnaroundsupport.org).
UPCOMING EVENTS
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May 21, 2:30-4:00pm: Family-School Partnerships in Rural Schools: Engaging Families to Promote
School Success, hosted by the Rural Schools Group on the School Turnaround Learning Community
(www.schoolturnaroundsupport.org).
May 24, 2:00-3:00pm: Starting Strong Illinois is hosting a webinar on Affordable Care Act
implementation in Illinois, focused on current eligibility under Medicaid and Medicare for noncitizens and how access to affordable health insurance and health care will change in 2014 for this
population. Register here.
May 30, 1pm: ZERO TO THREE is hosting a webinar entitled Infusing a Developmental Approach into
Child Welfare Services for Infants and Toddlers. Register here.
FEDERAL UPDATES
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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 in an effort to give
clarity and guidance on how to use Title I funds to implement high-quality preschool programs for
eligible children. The guidance document can be found here. In addition, the Ounce of Prevention
Fund has prepared two related documents:
o a summary of the salient features; and
o strategies for supporting the effective use of this guidance.
The Office of Head Start (OHS) will be piloting a Birth-to-Five Funding Opportunity Announcement in
five service areas where Head Start and Early Head Start funds are slated to be awarded through a
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competitive process. Under this approach, a single funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will be
released in the summer of 2012 to solicit applications for Head Start and Early Head Start services.
OHS will be piloting this Funding Opportunity Announcement in:
 Detroit, Michigan
 Washington, District of Columbia
 Sunflower and Humphreys Counties, Mississippi
 Jersey City, New Jersey
 Baltimore City, Maryland
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At noon Eastern Time on May 22nd, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce the
Department's plans for a district-level Race to the Top competition. The forum will air on the
Department's USTREAM channel at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/education-department.
The House voted 218-199, along party lines, to replace defense spending cuts mandated by the
Budget Control Act with further reductions to domestic spending. The Sequester Replacement
Reconciliation Act of 2012 (H.R. 5652) would replace the defense spending cuts, set to take effect in
January 2013, with $328B in spending reductions to food stamps and other mandatory social
programs. $128B (42%) of the cuts would come from programs such as Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance (SNAP), Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Child Tax Credit, and the
elimination of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
Congressman Jim McDermott recently introduced the Ensuring Child Care for Working Families Act,
which would guarantee child care assistance for families with incomes up to 200% of poverty who
need child care to work or attend an education or training program.
Deborah Delisle has been confirmed as the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary
Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Delisle, who served as Ohio's state school chief,
replaces Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, who left the department last July.
NEWS FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
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Gov. Jerry Brown proposed deeper cuts to safety net programs, higher education, courts and other
critical government programs to close a projected budget deficit that has grown to $15.7B - nearly
double his January estimate. The cuts total $8.3B and hit social services especially hard: Medi-Cal
health care programs, welfare aid, child care and student loans. The Governor is proposing
additional reductions to state-supported child care of "$200M more" on top of the almost $500M in
child care cuts that Governor Brown proposed when he released his initial FY13 budget
proposal. Read more here and here.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson spoke at City College of San Francisco to
oppose state budget cuts to child care and early learning programs. Some 62,000 children statewide
are at risk of losing access to early childhood programs like CCSF's child care and development centers
as the result of the $500M in proposed cuts in the Governor’s initial budget. These numbers will
increase further under the Governor’s May Revise budget proposal. Read more here.
COLORADO
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Preliminary results of the annual statewide reading tests show a slight increase, from 73 percent in
2011 to 73.9 percent this year, in the number of third graders scoring at proficient or advanced levels
on a statewide standardized test. Read more here.
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A bill that would have created a new Office of Early Childhood did not advance this legislative session.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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The D.C. public school system will be eliminating more than 300 jobs. Teachers were notified that
they have until August to find other positions in the school system.
GEORGIA
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The state has secured private money to launch its first public childcare rating system. The Joseph B.
Whitehead Foundation and United Way of Metro Atlanta have together donated $2M, enough to see
the voluntary rating system through its first year. Read more here.
ILLINOIS
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The House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations Committee proposed a $25M cut to
the Early Childhood Block Grant, which funds Preschool For All and Prevention Initiative birth- tothree programs through the Illinois State Board of Education. This 7.7% cut would mean
approximately 8,000 young children would be denied the opportunity to attend preschool next
year. If this cut is enacted, a total of 26,000 children will have lost access to preschool because of
$80M in funding cuts over the last few years.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) notified child care providers participating in the state’s
Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) that they would not be paid until July 1 for services provided
during the balance of this fiscal year because the program has run out of funds. This action could
result in thousands of working families losing their child care services. Lawmakers in Springfield have
introduced a House Bill that provides DHS the necessary funding to continue paying providers for
their services through June 30, 2012.
Child care for Illinois’ infants and toddlers is lower-quality than that provided for preschool-age
children, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis. Data from state classroom quality ratings that took
place in July through December 2011 shows that ratings for infant and toddler classrooms were half a
point lower in program structure, more than a point lower in interaction, three-quarters of a point
lower in activities, and one point lower in language use.
Chicago Public Schools announced two new staff changes:
o Barbara Byrd Bennett, a national education consultant, will take over as the district's chief
education officer on an interim basis following the resignation of Noemi Donoso.
o Beth Mascitti-Miller will replace Barbara Bowman as Early Childhood Officer.
KANSAS
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The House counteracted a proviso that would prevent programs from spending 30% of their
appropriations by passing an amendment to protect Children’s Initiative Fund (CIF) funding.
The House also passed Senate Substitute for House Bill 2117, a tax plan that will have devastating
effects on Kansas families. It protects EITC, but repeals tax credits for adoption, food sales tax, child
and dependent care, and child day care expenses. It also bars renters from participating in the
Homestead Property Tax Refund program, which will make it more difficult for low-income families to
afford housing. It now goes to Governor Brownback, who is expected to sign it.
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LOUISIANA
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For the first time, this fall the Lafayette Parish School will collect a key piece of information that will
help it ensure that more of its students are ready for kindergarten - the name of where they received
child care. Superintendent Pat Cooper said knowing what child care centers the students went to
before enrolling in the school system will be valuable in pinpointing which centers may need
assistance in preparing children for school. Read more here.
MAINE
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The legislature passed a majority budget for FY13 that proposes the following cuts that will harm lowincome children and families:
o Eliminates MaineCare coverage for an additional 14,500 low-income working parents (those
with income between 100-133% FPL).
o Cuts $2M of funding for Head Start, which means that 216 very young children will no longer
have access to Head Start.
o Cuts nearly $2M of funding for the Child Care Subsidy Program, which will lead to a deep cut
in the availability of child care vouchers for families with incomes below 250% FPL and will
negatively impact 1,400 children.
o Eliminates funding ($2.6 M) for the Maine Families Home Visiting Program, which will
eliminate vital services for Maine's most vulnerable infants and children. Approximately 750
families will lose services.
MICHIGAN
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The final details of the state budget for FY2013 will be decided soon, with discrepancies between the
House and Senate budget bills to be ironed out in conference committees. Funding for the Great Start
Readiness Program (GSRP) – Michigan’s preschool program for at-risk four-year-olds – will be up for
debate as a result of differences between the House and Senate bills. The Senate increased funding
for School Aid GSPR by $10M (a 10% increase) for total funding of $105.4M. The House provided
continuation funding for School Aid GSRP at $95M.
A coalition of early childhood advocates is working hard to urge legislatives to establish a set-aside at
least 20% of the proposed $10M increase to the Great Start Readiness Program to fund high quality
services for at-risk birth through age three-year-olds and their families.
MISSISSIPPI
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Using its federal MIECHV funds, Mississippi launched Healthy Homes Mississippi, a new home
visiting program serving pregnant mothers and parents with children less than 3 months of age in
Copiah, Wilkinson, Claiborne, Jefferson, Coahoma and Tunica Counties.
In a news conference at the Capitol, four retired generals said that more than 75% of young
Mississippians are ineligible to join the military because they don't graduate from high school, can't
pass a basic skills test, are physically unfit, or have a criminal record. The generals said the best way to
improve academic achievement and physical fitness is to create state-funded preschool
programs. Read more here.
Monroe County shows what a well-formed system of early childhood learning might look like in
Mississippi. While the county pushes ahead, state support for preschool education reform appears
stalled after Gov. Phil Bryant's modest proposals were defeated in the Legislature. Mississippi is one
of 11 states without a state-funded preschool program. Read more here.
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OKLAHOMA
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Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law a bill that clarifies the process for exempting certain children from
the requirement that all third-grade students read at grade level or face retention under a law
ending social promotion. House Bill 2516 will be effective July 1. Read more here.
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: 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 Torsney-Weir, National Policy Associate (atorsneyweir@ounceofprevention.org).
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