Child Care and Early Education at CLASP

Fact sheets on Head Start and Early Head Start participants, programs, families, and staff in 2006

CLASP has published a fact sheet reviewing the 2006 Program Information Report (PIR) data for all Head Start programs, including preschool, Early Head Start, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, and American Indian and Alaskan Native programs; as well as a fact sheet focusing specifically on PIR data for Early Head Start programs. In 2006, Head Start and Early Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. Most children received medical, dental, and disability screenings and follow-up services when necessary.

Highlights from the briefs include:

• In 2006, all Head Start programs served 1,080,627 young children and 10,825 pregnant women.
• In 2006, Early Head Start programs served 85,831 children under age 3 and 10,825 pregnant women.
• Increasingly, children in all Head Start programs are receiving health insurance through public programs, even though 70 percent of families included at least one working parent.
• Head Start teacher education levels continued to rise, while salaries decreased 2 percent from the previous year after inflation adjustment.
• Pregnant women in the Early Head Start program received prenatal and postnatal health care, dental care, and mental health care in 2006.
• Early Head Start families accessed services at high rates; 84 percent of families accessed at least one social service.

New Jersey Kids Count: preschool participation grows

Last week, The Annie E. Casey Foundation released their annual Kids Count data, which provides a picture of child well-being nationally, by state, and for the 50 largest cities. New Jersey Kids Count data shows both negative and positive trends. One area of concern is that there has been no improvement in the share of NJ’s children living in poor or low-income families since 2002.

On a positive note, according to the data, the state’s public school students outperform U.S. public school students as a whole. Moreover, the achievement gap between lower-income and upper-income students appears to be narrowing.

Participation in early education increased as well. Overall enrollment in public preschool increased 10 percent between 2003 and 2007, with enrollment in full-day public preschool increasing by 14 percent. NJ’s Abbott preschool program was created with the landmark New Jersey Supreme Court ruling Abbott v. Burke, which among other educational interventions, required that all 3- and 4-year-old children in the state’s 31 highest-poverty school districts have access to a full-day/full-year, high-quality preschool education in order to overcome inequities in the state’s education system.

In January, the NJ School Funding Reform Act of 2008 was signed into law, making  significant changes to the state’s school funding formula. Opponents contend that in future years, “Abbott districts” will lose state funds as they are redirected to districts with lower concentrations of poor children. The Education Law Center of New Jersey (attorneys for the Abbott v. Burke case) has asked the NJ Supreme Court to oppose these changes and ensure the continuation of educational interventions targeted to the state’s poorest children. The Center credits the Abbott interventions with educational gains in the state and maintains that persistent trends in poverty require the continuation of these services.

While the future of targeted school funding in New Jersey is uncertain, it is quite clear that our lowest-income children in every state can benefit from high-quality preschool that meets the full range of their developmental needs--and the Abbott program is a national model. 

Immigrant families and early education in New York City

CLASP is excited to announce the release of Breaking Down Barriers: Immigrant Families and Early Childhood Education in New York City, a report by the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF). CLASP provided funding for the research of this report through a small grant as part of own "Breaking Down Barriers" project. With this funding, CACF conducted interviews with early education providers working in immigrant communities and facilitated focus groups and surveys with immigrant families about access to early care and education in NYC.

CACF's report relates the unique experiences of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Dominican, Haitian, Korean, and Russian parents in accessing early care and education. Parents in the study expressed their preferences for child care arrangements for their young children, but often the care they were seeking was inaccessible or unavailable. The report finds that immigrant families face multiple barriers preventing access to programs in New York City, including universal pre-kindergarten, Head Start, and child care subsidies. Barriers include insufficient translation of materials, inadequate outreach targeted to immigrant communities, lack of affordable child care, and an ineffective response on the part of the city government to respond to the needs of immigrant families. For example, the city’s Child Care Resource and Referral Hotline only offers services in English, Spanish and Chinese—leaving out other language groups.

CACF makes the following recommendations to improve NYC’s early care and education services for immigrant families, quoted from the report:

• Language and Culture. Improve language assistance services and increase cultural competency of child care program  staff.
• Outreach. Increase language accessible communication with immigrant communities throughout New York City, making them aware of available child care programs and services.
• Professional Development. Ensure that child care providers are knowledgeable of  and can address the unique needs and challenges facing immigrant communities, families, and children in accessing child care services.
• Funding. Increase funding to city agencies and child care networks so that there are enough early childhood education programs and staff to address NYC’s growing immigrant populations.
• Data collection. Conduct an early childhood education needs assessment of NYC's immigrant communities and use data to improve programs, increase outreach, and implement appropriate language assistance services.

Breaking Down Barriers' release was covered by the NYC Gotham Gazette, the Polish Daily News, and the Center for NYC Affairs at The New School as well as by Chinese, Korean, and South Asian language media.

Focus on MA Department of Early Education and Care

In 2005, Massachusetts created a new Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) that consolidated multiple agencies and multiple funding streams into one department with a primary focus on early childhood education and care. While the EEC was created with a focus on implementing universal pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year olds, it is responsible for early education and child care services for families with children from birth to age 14. The mission of the EEC includes:

• overseeing a system of high-quality early education and care,
• developing and implementing universal pre-kindergarten for all children,
• designing a statewide school readiness assessment and preschool evaluation, and
• creating a  system to address the education, training, and compensation of the early childhood workforce.

Strategies for Children and the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy have released A Case Study of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care which provides an explanation of the history, successes, and political and logistical challenges of the creation and formation of the EEC.

Prior to the creation of the EEC, the Department of Education and the Office of Child Care Services had primary responsibility for independently overseeing funding for early education and child care programs. Programs that received funding from these agencies often had multiple regulations and reporting requirements. Not only were their funding and requirements different, but different agencies had different missions and philosophies that had to be reconciled. There was a tension between programs that focused on child care as a parental work support and others that saw the education of the child as a focal point.

The report suggests a number of lessons learned for other states that may be thinking of creating new departments or consolidating agencies in a similar way. Despite the challenges of undertaking a major government reorganization, most people interviewed for the report, say that the new governance structure is an improvement over the former structure. Respondents would like to see more of a focus on quality and more attention to building the workforce and connections with higher education.

Risks in early childhood, such as lead exposure, highlight need for comprehensive services

Young children who experience exposure to lead are more likely to have poor outcomes as adults, according to studies profiled in a recent Washington Post article.  Previous studies found have found lead exposure in childhood linked to anti-social behavior, lower IQ, attention deficits, and hyperactivity. A new paper reports that higher blood lead concentrations in young children increased their overall arrest rate and arrests for violent offenses as adults. This study began in 1979 and tested blood lead levels of pregnant women and young children living in Cincinnati neighborhoods with older housing. Today, many low-income, inner-city neighborhoods still contain housing with lead paint.

Low-income children need comprehensive health and developmental services to identify and treat conditions that negatively affect their growth and development, such as exposure to lead. Head Start Program Performance Standards require that children attending Head Start and Early Head Start receive a comprehensive screening within 45 days of entering the program. Within 90 days, Head Start and Early Head Start grantees must work with parents to determine that each child has an ongoing source of continuous, accessible health care, and is up-to-date on appropriate care and services. If health and/or developmental concerns are identified, Head Start and Early Head Start staff members work to coordinate follow-up, treatment, and ongoing care for the children.

All children need healthy and safe environments where they can grow. Children living in lead-contaminated environments need health treatment as well as the removal of lead from their home. More low-income children need the comprehensive services that Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide.