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Child Care and Early Education Legislative Network E-Update

September 2007

Recent Events

NCSL Annual Meeting Resources on Early Care and Education
Highlights of New State Appropriations

Upcoming Events

Pre-K Now National Teleconference "Raising the Profile of Pre-K"

New Resources

A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy
State Child Care Assistance Policies
The Effects of the New Mexico Pre-K Initiative on Young Children's School Readiness
Tracking Services for Infants, Toddlers & Their Families: A Look at Federal Early Childhood Programs and the Roles of State and Local Governments
Getting You What You Need

Please contact Shannon Watson- Borden if you have problems accessing this information.

Recent Events

2007 NCSL Annual Meeting Resources on Early Care and Education

We hosted a number of sessions at NCSL's Annual Meeting in Boston. The meeting information and materials are available below.

Adobe PDF To view PDF files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Annual Meeting Session: Economic Returns—The Impact of Early Education on the U.S. Economy Today and Tomorrow

The session showcased business leadership in promoting early learning, highlighted new research showing the economic returns of pre-kindergarten to state government and contributions to state and national job growth. Click on links below to view speaker presentation slides.

Moderator: Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Texas, out-going NCSL President

Presenters:

James Rohr, Chairman and CEO, The PNC Financial Services Group, Pennsylvania
Sara Watson, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C.
The National Movement for Pre-K: Download PDF Version
Dennis Winters, Chief, Office of Economic Advisors, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
Economic Returns to Early Education: Download PDF Version

Annual Meeting Session: Accountability in Early Childhood Education—Approaches and Recommendations for States

State legislators are seeking evidence that early childhood programs are effective and are helping children learn. Leaders of the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force shared forthcoming recommendations around assessing young children and the programs serving them, and highlighted successful state early childhood evaluation and accountability efforts. NCSL will make the report available once it is released this fall.

Presenters:

Tom Shultz, Project Director, National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force
Sharon Lynn Kagan, Associate Dean for Policy and Research at Teachers College, Columbia University Download PDF Version
Representative Denise Merrill, Connecticut

Annual Meeting Session: Using Neuroscience and Evaluation Research to Inform Early Childhood Policies

This session addressed effective ways to incorporate the science of early childhood and early brain development to inform public policy. It included discussion of how legislators can use science in legislative decision-making and shared findings from a groundbreaking new report that integrates the science of child development with information on the effectiveness of program approaches.

Presenters:

Representative Ruth Kagi, Washington
Representative Pete Hershberger, Arizona
Representative Steve Kestell, Wisconsin
Jack P. Shonkoff, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University Download PDF Version
Gillian Najarian, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University

Highlights of New State Appropriations in 2007

From the forthcoming NCSL Legisbrief "Trends in Early Learning" due out this month. States are increasingly using many different approaches to improve early learning among children in their first five years before kindergarten. Look for a full report which will be released this fall with state-by-state information about state appropriations in early education, child care, and family support programs. A few snapshots:

Multi- Strategy Funding

Ohio increased funding to improve early learning, support parents, and improve child health and development. Biennium funding for 2008-2009, which increased by more than $274 million, included increases in funding for child care eligibility, reimbursement and quality; scholarships for early childhood teachers; mental health treatment services; expansion of Help Me Grow for infants, toddlers and their parents; and expansion of child health insurance eligibility.

Washington lawmakers moved forward in the 2007 legislative session to appropriate $130 million in new funding for child care reimbursement rates, professional development, a quality rating system, prekindergarten, home visiting services, and funding for the Early Learning Council and public-private partnerships. Legislators also passed a law to create paid family leave for all new parents.

Prekindergarten

New York lawmakers increased funding by $146 million; Pennsylvania added $75 million; and Arkansas lawmakers increased funding for the Arkansas Better Chance for School Success program by $40 million. Lawmakers in Iowa appropriated $15 million in funding increases each year for the next four years. At full implementation, Iowa’s prekindergarten program will fund 90 percent of all eligible children. Other states with significant increases in prekindergarten funding in 2007 include Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. High-quality programs in Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee are setting the standard for state prekindergarten, as rated by the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Infants and Toddlers

Research abounds about the importance of the earliest years for language development, social and emotional skill growth, cognitive learning and physical development. Lawmakers are helping to improve children’s experiences in child care and to provide support for parents. State policies and new funding for child care are being directed to early childhood specialists to support providers who serve infants and toddlers; new teacher credentials; mental health consultants; and support for home-based child care providers. States also are funding various home visiting and parent education programs to support parents. Many states that use multiple approaches are funding home visiting programs as one part of their strategy. During the 2007 interim, two legislative committees in Iowa are exploring ways to improve home-based care and to support parents.

Upcoming Events

The Pre-K Now 2007 National Satellite Conference

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:30-2:30pm ET

Speakers include:

Emmy award-winning journalist Leon Harris will host this year's conference broadcast. News anchor for ABC7/WJLA-TV and co-host of Capital Sunday, he came to Washington after 20 years at CNN's Atlanta Headquarters, where he co-anchored CNN Live Today and Prime News, and hosted CNN Presents and American Stories.
Among those joining the in-studio panel discussions will be:
The conference will feature interviews with:

Click here for more information about the teleconference.

New Resources

Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy

A ground-breaking framework for using evidence to improve outcomes in learning, behavior, and health for vulnerable children, co-authored by the members of the National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, both projects of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Combining knowledge from neuroscience, behavioral and developmental science, economics, and 40 years of early childhood program evaluation, the authors provide an informed, nonpartisan, pragmatic framework to guide policymakers toward science-based policies that improve the lives of young children and benefit society as a whole. To view the report, visit: Download the report.

State Child Care Assistance Policies 2007

The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) recently released its annual report on state child care policies. NWLC's analysis, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2007: Some Steps Forward, More Progress Needed, compares child care assistance policies in 2007 to 2006 and 2001 in four key policy areas: reimbursement rates for providers, income eligibility, waiting lists for assistance and copayment requirements. According to NWLC, states have made some progress since 2006 in the areas of income eligibility and waiting lists, but less progress was made in copayments, and almost no progress was made in reimbursement rates. Most states also continue to be behind where they were in 2001.

To click here to view the report.

The Effects of the New Mexico Pre-K Initiative on Young Children's School Readiness

A new study by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) examined the effects of New Mexico's Pre-K program for young children. According to NIEER, the study found that as a result of attending the New Mexico program at age 4:

Children showed gains in vocabulary that were 54 percent greater than the gains of children without the program.
Preschool education increased children's gains in math skills by 40 percent compared to children's growth without the program.
The New Mexico preschool program had strong effects on children's understanding of print concepts. The program produced a 26 percent increase in growth in print awareness among children enrolled compared to growth in this domain by children without the program, nearly doubling growth over the year due to the program. Children who attended New Mexico PreK before entering kindergarten knew more letters, more letter-sound associations and were more familiar with words and book concepts.

Click here to view the report.

Tracking Services for Infants, Toddlers & Their Families: A Look at Federal Early Childhood Programs and the Roles of State and Local Governments

This chart from ZERO TO THREE highlights the federal state and local role in child care and early education, child welfare, health and mental health, poverty, and professional. View the chart.

Getting You What You Need

NCSL's Child Care and Early Education Project can offer you policy support in a number of ways. We have resources to:

Provide a research expert to testify to your committee about a specific area of research. For example, this fall we are working with New Hampshire on a legislative forum by funding an economist to speak and presenting information about what other states are doing.
Testimony about trends in early learning, child care, school readiness, early childhood policy, financing, quality standards, system building, governance, or similar topic. Our staff can arrange to visit your state.
Help with legislative ideas. We can assist you with legislative ideas, informed by legislation from other states and based on your needs.
Work with your and stakeholders to flesh out ideas.
Provide background research on issues or legislative options.

Contact Steffanie Clothier for more information about technical assistance opportunities.

This e-update is made possible by the generous support of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Bill and The Buffett Early Childhood Fund.

If you have information you would like to share with us, please email Kelli Kelty.

This e-update is an informational service for state legislators and legislative staff who are part of NCSL's Child Care and Early Education Legislative Network. Contact Kelli Kelty or call (303) 856-1389 for more information about the contents of this update, or to submit information about your state.

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE: Contact Shannon Watson-Borden

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