Child Care and Early Education at CLASP

Building on the Promise: State Initiatives to Expand Access to Early Head Start for Young Children and Their Families

A new joint report by CLASP and ZERO TO THREE - Building on the Promise: State Initiatives to Expand Access to Early Head Start for Young Children and Their Families – examines actions states have taken to build on Early Head Start. Less than 3 percent of babies and toddlers who are eligible for Early Head Start (EHS) - a federal program with promising results - are reached at current federal funding levels. CLASP and ZERO TO THREE found 20 states use mostly one of four main approaches:

• Extending the day or year of existing EHS services. 
• Expanding the capacity of existing EHS and Head Start programs to increase the number of children and pregnant women served.
• Providing resources and assistance to child care providers to help them deliver services meeting EHS standards. 
• Supporting partnerships between EHS and center-based and family child care providers to improve the quality of care. 

The paper also discusses opportunities and challenges facing state policymakers and provides recommendations for state leaders interested in promoting better futures for at-risk children through building on Early Head Start. Click to read state profiles of 10 states interviewed in the paper. For more information on the federal EHS program, see Supporting Families, Nurturing Young Children: Early Head Start Programs in 2006.

ZERO TO THREE Policy Center hosted a webinar on Tuesday, April 22, with a presentation on the study as well as presentations by state policymakers in Iowa and Kansas about their EHS initiatives. All three presentations are currently available online, or click here to view a recording of the webinar.

Child Care Bureau releases new child care subsidy data

This month, the Child Care Bureau released Report to Congress for FY 2004 and 2005. The report provides the latest information about Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) expenditures and participation in those years as well as additional information about training and technical assistance, and child care-related research. The report contains administrative data that has not previously been released in other data tables. Highlights of the data include the following:

• Child care spending is historically high but has declined in recent years. Child care spending from all sources (including CCDBG, TANF, and SSBG-related funds) totaled $12.1 billion in 2004 and fell to $11.96 billion in 2005. According to the previous Report to Congress, spending reached a high of $12.2 billion in FY 2003. The decline between 2004 and 2005 was the result of decreased TANF-funds used for child care.
• A total of 2.35 million children received child care assistance through all funding sources in 2004 and 2005. Approximately 1.75 million children were served in CCDBG in an average month in 2005. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that an additional 600,000 children were served through TANF and SSBG-related funds.
• The number of children receiving child care from all sources is declining over time. The number of children served has fallen from a high of 2.45 million children served in 2000. In 2002 and 2003, approximately 2.44 million and 2.36 million children respectively received child care assistance in an average month.
• CCDBG serves very low-income families. In 2005, the median monthly income of families receiving CCDBG-funded assistance was $1,283 or $15,396 when annualized. This is slightly higher than in previous years. Nearly half (49%) of all families receiving CCDBG-funded assistance had incomes below the federal poverty level (which was $16,090 for a family of three in 2005). Thirteen percent had incomes above 150 percent of poverty, or $24,135 in 2005.
• States serve families well below the maximum eligibility level set by federal law. Nearly all (45) states set eligibility for CCDBG-funded assistance below 85 percent of State Median Income (SMI), the maximum level established by federal law. Eligibility levels in states range from 28 to 85 percent of SMI. On average, states report income eligibility to equal 59 percent of SMI, which is lower than the 62 percent of SMI reported in FY 2002-2003.

In addition to expenditure and participation data, the Report to Congress includes an overview of research activities supported by the Child Care Bureau in 2004 and 2005 and emerging findings from on-going research related to the effect of child care subsidies on positive employment outcomes, patterns of child care use, characteristics of families who receive subsidies, and characteristics of the child care workforce.

This report adds to a body of research showing that as federal funds for child care assistance have stagnated, states have reduced the number of children served, cut spending, reduced income eligibility levels, and made additional policy changes that inhibit low-income working families from getting the help they need to go to work to support their children.

What do we know about state preschool standards for ELLs?

Last month, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released its annual state preschool yearbook. New this year was information on the enrollment of English Language Learners (ELLs) in pre-kindergarten and support services available for them and their families. According to NIEER, 16 states include ELLs among their targeted at-risk populations. CLASP has identified additional states that use ELL status to prioritize enrollment in some way among eligible children. According to NIEER's survey results:

• Twenty-one states, and the District of Columbia permit bilingual pre-kindergarten classes or monolingual pre-kindergarten classes in languages other than English.
• Sixteen states, and the District of Columbia, require information to be given to parents in their primary language.
• Nine states require interpreters or bilingual staff to be available at all times for ELLs. 
• Thirteen states have no state policies related to the provision of support services to ELLs.

The fact that many states are considering the needs of ELLs in their preschool standards is encouraging. Yet, CLASP has found that many policies related to ELLs are vague or contain few details related to their implementation. For example, requirements for interpretation or translation often do not specify the use of qualified, paid, translators and interpreters. Policies also may lack information about implementation when multiple languages are spoken in a classroom or when there is not a majority minority language.

Strong program standards are essential to promote quality early learning experiences for linguistically and culturally diverse young children; and the implementation of quality standards requires ongoing training and technical assistance for state pre-kindergarten administrators, directors, and teachers. As more states develop and expand upon their pre-kindergarten standards related to ELLs, they may want to consider the following:

• Include representatives of immigrant, ethnic, and language minority groups in the design and development of standards and collaborate with diverse organizations to conduct outreach.
• Ensure that research on second language learning and multiculturalism informs the development of standards.
• Ensure attention to cultural and linguistic diversity in the core competencies for pre-kindergarten teachers by including competencies such as fluency in a language other English, understanding of second language acquisition strategies and experience working with diverse families.
• Require that all pre-kindergarten staff have meaningful training in second-language acquisition strategies and cultural competency to effectively work with all children and their families.
• Provide information for parents in accessible formats including translated materials and face-to-face communication with qualified interpreters.
• Fund cultural mediators to serve as a bridge to support services for families.

Upcoming Webinar: How states are Building on the Promise of Early Head Start to expand access for babies and their families

Less than 3 percent of babies and toddlers who are eligible for Early Head Start (EHS) - a federal program with promising results - are reached at current federal funding levels.  Some states have stepped into the breach but more can be done.  The federal Early Head Start program was created to help minimize the disparities caused by poverty by supporting the healthy development of expectant mothers and low-income infants and toddlers in the context of their families and communities. 

A forthcoming joint report by CLASP and ZERO TO THREE - Building on the Promise: State Initiatives to Expand Access to Early Head Start for Young Children and their Families – finds a number of states using one of four main approaches:

• Extending the day or year of existing EHS services. 
• Expanding the capacity of existing EHS and Head Start programs to increase the number of children and pregnant women served.
• Providing resources and assistance to child care providers to help them deliver services meeting EHS standards. 
• Supporting partnerships between EHS and center-based and family child care providers to improve the quality of care. 

You can find out more about the study and hear from state policymakers in Iowa and Kansas about their initiatives in a webinar hosted by the ZERO TO THREE Policy Center on Tuesday, April 22, at 2:00 pm eastern (1:00 pm central, 12:00 pm mountain, and 11:00 am pacific).

Click here to register!