Federal Issues-Child Care and Early Childhood Education

Child Care Federal Issues

States set a significant amount of policy in child care and early childhood education programs. The federal government is a partner in providing funding and a regulatory framework for several programs. Major federal programs include the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Head Start. Both CCDF and IDEA include funding and regulatory parameters for states. Head Start provides direct funding to local programs providing comprehensive child and family services to low-income families. In addition, the Bush Administration announced an initiative in 2002 called Good Start Grow Smart to address early childhood issues including coordination of programs, development of learning guidelines, expanding accountability and teacher training in Head Start, and financial support for research.

For more information about federal changes, contact Sheri Steisel or Lee Posey at NCSL's Washington, D.C. office. NCSL's Human Services List Serve is a good way to receive updates on federal human services issues including child care and early childhood education. NCSL's Denver staff can assist with state implementation options related to federal programs.

Additional Resources

GAO report analyzes Head Start data

Most Head Start programs meet performance standards for overall curriculum and standards for cognitive and language development, according to Head Start: Curriculum Use and Individual Child Assessment in Cognitive and Language Development, a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report. The data was obtained from Head Start compliance reviews and indicates that, for the most part, Head Start children were in programs that used a specific curriculum or combination of curricula. In addition, of those who had a mentor, teachers for about two-thirds of Head Start children reported receiving weekly or biweekly monitoring visits.

The report is available online at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d031049.pdf.

CLASP policy brief summarizes Head Start data

More Head Start programs were able to provide children with full-day, full-year services in 2001 compared to the number of children served in 1997, according to A Snapshot of Head Start Children, Families, Teachers, and Programs: 1997 and 2001, a new brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). The brief, the first of a series of analyses of Head Start Program Information Report data by CLASP, addresses a need to understand the program's development due to the anticipated reauthorization of Head Start by Congress in 2003.

The brief can be found at www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1047305635.76/Head_Start_brief1.pdf.

For more information on child care issues, please contact Steffanie Clothier in the Denver office at 303.364.7700 or cyf-info@ncsl.org or either Sheri Steisel or Lee Posey in the D.C. office at 202.624.5400 or fedhumserv-info@ncsl.org.