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WTTW
By Erica Gunderson
March 18, 2023
The Robert Taylor Homes in Bronzeville were at one point the largest public housing development in the country. As many as 27,000 families lived in the buildings, which were demolished in the late 1990s. But even amid the chaos that characterized the last decades of the Robert Taylor Homes, an ambitious early education program helped the children who lived there flourish. “We decided that we’re going to bring the services where the people are,” said Portia Kennel...

18 March, 2023 /

NPR WFYI
By Adam Yahya Rayes and Sydney Dauphinais
March 17, 2023
Families across Indiana lack access to child care. Several bills were introduced this legislative session that aim to make child care more affordable and widespread. Yet all seven bills failed to advance in the Statehouse despite broad support from employer and welfare groups as well as lawmakers of both parties. The latest state data available, from Early Learning Indiana in 2019, shows Indiana only has the capacity to serve around 44 percent...

17 March, 2023 /

Chalkbeat Philadelphia
By Carly Sitrin
March 16, 2023
Citing “inadequate” wages and warning of an impending mass exodus from the field, early childhood education advocates in Philadelphia and statewide say their sector is “on the brink of a breakdown.” Those advocates are urging state lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro to add more funding for childcare and early childhood education in the state budget this year. Without more money, they say employees will leave, programs will close, and children, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania will...

16 March, 2023 /

Politico
By Madina Toure
March 15, 2023
The New York City Department of Education has received more than 40,000 applications for 3K — early childhood education for three-year-olds — amid parent demand for the program, the agency told the City Council on Wednesday. There were 42,000 3K applications, compared to 33,000 in 2021 — a 27 percent increase, according to Kara Ahmed, the DOE’s deputy chancellor of early childhood education. Pre-K applications are also up, approximately 54,000 applications, compared to 50,000 last year. Schools...

15 March, 2023 /

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
March 15, 2023
Early education advocates cheered when President Biden’s State of the Union address noted that children who attend preschool are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a two- or four-year degree, no matter their background. Shortly after the speech, Early Learning Nation magazine (ELN) spoke to Nonie K. Lesaux, co-director of the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, about seizing this momentum and informing policy through research....

15 March, 2023 /

Business Insider
By Juliana Kaplan and Ayelet Sheffey
March 9, 2023
Right now, the US is one of just six countries without paid leave. President Joe Biden wants to change that with his next budget through mandating time off — and making childcare cheaper across the country. In his budget for fiscal year 2024, Biden is proposing establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, which would give workers up to 12 weeks off to tend for a newborn, recover, or care for a family...

09 March, 2023 /

Education Week
By Libby Stanford
March 9, 2023
President Joe Biden hopes to expand funding for high-need schools, early childhood education, and students with disabilities in the next fiscal year. The president released his 2024 budget proposal Thursday, requesting $90 billion to fund education, a $10.8 billion increase from the Education Department’s budget for fiscal 2023, which started last fall. In a March 9 speech about his spending priorities, Biden focused on preschool, including a proposed program that aims to provide all 4-year-olds with...

09 March, 2023 /

Ed Source
By Karen D'Souza
March 9, 2023
President Biden’s 2024 budget plan aims to boost childcare and early childhood education funding by billions of dollars, as Reuters reported. The proposal, which Biden will deliver to Congress today, revisits key items from the president’s 2023 budget proposal that were later removed during negotiations with Congress. However, prospects may well be even slimmer this year, as Reuters noted, given the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. The White House argues that lack of access to childcare is...

09 March, 2023 /

NPR WFYI
By Sydney Dauphinais
March 8, 2023
Early Learning Indiana announced a new initiative Wednesday to expand early childhood education across the state. The Early Years Initiative is a grant program for organizations that serve children from ages zero to three. The program makes $50 million available for eligible social service providers, child care providers, and nonprofits across the state that serve young children’s developmental needs. “We have a real opportunity to help children get started on the right foundation,” said Maureen Weber, CEO...

08 March, 2023 /

EdSource
By Karen D'Souza
March 8, 2023
Toddlers are famous for throwing tantrums, stomping their feet and screaming as tears roll down their chubby cheeks. It’s par for the course of life as a preschool teacher, child care worker or parent that you will have to cope with your fair share of developmentally-appropriate misbehavior, including hitting and biting. And yet not all small children get the benefit of the doubt when they act up in class or on the playground. Some of them...

08 March, 2023 /

EdSource
By Karen D'Souza
March 8, 2023
Toddlers are famous for throwing tantrums, stomping their feet and screaming as tears roll down their chubby cheeks. It’s par for the course of life as a preschool teacher, child care worker or parent that you will have to cope with your fair share of developmentally-appropriate misbehavior, including hitting and biting. And yet not all small children get the benefit of the doubt when they act up in class or on the playground. Some of them...

06 March, 2023 /

New America
By Aaron Loewenberg
February 27, 2023
While child care and early learning have been underfunded in this country for decades, the pandemic took a major problem and turned it into a full-blown crisis. Even prior to the pandemic, parents were paying more than they could afford for child care and early educators were earning poverty-level wages. The pandemic only worsened many of these trends: According to Child Care Aware of America, about 9,000 child care centers and 7,000 family child care programs...

27 February, 2023 /

World Health Organization
Department News
February 27, 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new package of measures, the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED), to monitor the development of young children at population level up to three years of age. The new GSED methodology allows for a comprehensive assessment of the development of young children up to 36 months of age, capturing cognitive, socio-emotional, language and motor skills. The GSED provides a developmental score (D-score), a new common unit to measure...

27 February, 2023 /

The New York Times
By Jim Tankersley
February 27, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to leverage the federal government’s expansive investment in the semiconductor industry to make progress on another goal: affordable child care. On Tuesday, the Commerce Department will announce that any semiconductor manufacturer seeking a slice of nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies will need to essentially guarantee affordable, high-quality child care for workers who build or operate a plant. Last year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers passed the CHIPS...

27 February, 2023 /

KRWG
By Amber Wallin, MPA
February 23, 2023
The year was 1940. As the U.S. was entering World War II, women were being recruited to fill factory jobs that men were leaving so they could enlist. “Rosie the Riveter” was born and Congress passed the Lanham Act, which took care of an issue that was central to getting women into the workforce: providing care for their children. That was the first time – and the last – the federal government made a concerted...

23 February, 2023 /

Ed Surge By Emily Tate Sullivan
February 21, 2023
While the national labor force has long since rebounded from the pandemic, the child care sector has lagged behind, experiencing a slow recovery that continues to this day. In the three years since the arrival of COVID-19, families have struggled to find high-quality, affordable child care for their children. Child care providers have been hard-pressed to find qualified workers to fill their open positions, often because retail and service industry employers have emerged as better-paying competitors. And...

21 February, 2023 /

The Colorado Sun
By Erica Breunlin
February 20, 2023
Colorado’s rollout of expanded preschool has community-based providers across the state fearful they will lose critical revenue and struggle to keep their doors open as more children shift to free school-based programs. Operators of community-based preschools worry that 3-year-olds who leave their centers to attend a school district program won’t come back once they turn 4 to continue preschool before they enter kindergarten. Colorado currently has 3,405 providers licensed to educate preschoolers, and they need...

20 February, 2023 /

Mass Live
By Carolyn Robbins
February 19, 2023
After a decade of planning, the Springfield Public Schools have achieved the goal of making free universal pre-kindergarten education available to every 3 and 4 year old in the city - becoming the sole school district in commonwealth to do so. The city believes providing early education opportunities to urban students – many of whom are disadvantaged compared to their suburban counterparts - is a proven way to help level the academic playing field, says Patrick...

19 February, 2023 /

CBS News Chicago
By The Associated Press
February 15, 2023
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Wednesday for making preschool available to every 3- and 4-year-old in the state within four years, starting with a $440 million investment to bring 5,000 additional children into the program this fall. Details about the "Smart Start Illinois" program dominated the fifth annual State of the State and budget address by the Democratic governor, who easily won reelection in November and has hinted at an eventual...

16 February, 2023 /

Crain's Chicago Business
By Greg Hinz
February 15, 2023
Declaring that investing in the next generation is “the most important thing we can do,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker today will call for the state to spend another nearly half-billion dollars a year on much-expanded early childhood education, child care and related activities. The plan to do more will be the centerpiece of the proposed fiscal 2024 budget Pritzker is to introduce in a Springfield speech at noon today. It follows promises from the governor...

15 February, 2023 /

The Hill
By Lexi Lonas
February 7, 2023
President Biden in his State of the Union address on Tuesday made the case for universal preschool and teacher raises to help create the “best-educated workforce” in the world. During his speech before a joint session of Congress, Biden said universal K-12 education helped create “the best-educated, best-paid nation in the world” in the past century, “but the world has caught up.” Biden gave a node to his wife, Jill Biden, who teaches at a community college,...

09 February, 2023 /

We Are The Mighty
By Joel Searls
February 7, 2023
Saul Zaentz started out in the music industry post his service in the Army during World War II. He worked with the Jazz at the Philharmonic which included him managing tours for such musicians as Duke Ellington and Stan Getz. He joined Fantasy Records in the mid-1950s and stayed there through the 1960s having discovered Creedence Clearwater Revival. Although CCR and Zaentz didn’t end on the best terms they did find a lot...

09 February, 2023 /

CBS Colorado
By Karen Morfitt
February 7, 2023
When Colorado's Universal Preschool program starts in the fall, Monica Staffieri is hoping her son Miles will be among the first to take part.
"I would love for him to be in preschool. I know it's really important that they get that first taste, and that learning is really important especially pre-5, so I never understood why we didn't (always have it)," she said.
But until just a few days ago, she wasn't entirely sure her family...

08 February, 2023 /

NBC Connecticut
By Jane Caffrey
February 7, 2023
Advocates for early childhood education from Connecticut shared ideas on how to improve programs for young kids on the state and national level Tuesday.
A lack of affordable childcare is costing the country $122 billion a year, according to a new report from Readynation. The report indicates that figure has more than doubled since 2018. It states that policy inaction combined with the pandemic is costing businesses, parents and taxpayers billions of dollars in lost productivity,...

07 February, 2023 /

The Hechinger Report
By Jill Barshay
February 6, 2023
The research on early childhood education can seem as messy as a playground sandbox. Some studies show that preschool produces remarkable academic and social benefits for low-income children, and some don’t. One 2022 study found that children who went to preschool in Tennessee ended up worse off, on average, than those who stayed home. Even among success stories, the benefits of preschool can be fleeting. Children who didn’t go to preschool still learn their...

06 February, 2023 /

UMass Boston
Office of Communications
February 6, 2023
The Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at UMass Boston is one of six core partners in a collaborative that was awarded $30 million over five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Administration for Children and Families. The collaborative will launch and implement a new National Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Center that will coordinate and provide technical assistance and rigorous research to advance the recruitment and...

06 February, 2023 /

Five Thirty Eight
By Monica Potts
February 3, 2023
California is in the middle of implementing a plan that will create a free, universal pre-K program (known as transitional kindergarten) for every 4-year-old in the state by the 2025-2026 school year. It sounds like a big, blue state priority, but it’s also a red state one. California will join states like West Virginia, Alabama and Oklahoma in aiming to provide universal preschool programs that serve all of their states’ 4-year-olds.
Welcome to the weird,...

03 February, 2023 /

The Hill
By Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
February 2 , 2023
A new bill introduced to the Vermont state legislature would give parents the option to send their young children to free, public prekindergarten classes for the full school year. Under current Vermont law, children between the ages of three and five years old are entitled to 10 hours of prekindergarten education a week for up to 35 weeks a year. The new bill would amend that law to grant three-, four-,...

02 February, 2023 /

Detroit Free Press
By Jennifer Brookland
January 28, 2023
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement during Wednesday’s State of the State address that she was proposing free preschool for all 4-year-olds was cause for celebration for many parents and early childhood advocates — but a source of worry for private child care providers.
“There is much evidence that connection to quality, evidence-based programs have the power to permanently improve kids' lives,” Cindy Eggleton, co-founder and CEO of Brilliant Detroit, said in an email. “Universal pre-K is...

28 January, 2023 /

Business Insider
By Jacob Zinkula
January 27, 2023
America has a childcare crisis. New Mexico is trying to show the rest of the country a better way forward.
The state's legislature is set to approve plans in the coming weeks to allocate childcare providers more money per child, make more families eligible for free childcare, give the industry's workers permanent raises, and establish a wage floor of $15 per hour.
It's happening because last November, over 70% of New Mexico voters supported a constitutional amendment...

27 January, 2023 /

K-12 Dive
By Kara Arundel
January 26, 2023
Hawaii, California, Michigan and New Mexico are among states dedicating money toward large-scale expansion of preschool programs.
“Children who have attended high-quality preschool or child care programs are much better prepared for success in Kindergarten, but not every family has access to early learning programs,” said Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke in a statement. Luke is leading Hawaii’s preschool expansion efforts. “If we can provide enough classrooms at an affordable price, we can make sure...

26 January, 2023 /

CBS Colorado
By Dillon Thomas
January 20, 2023
Free Universal Pre-K education is rolling out this year in Colorado and the time to apply for your child is already open. An estimated 30,000 Colorado children are expected to be seeking free Pre-K education. However, some rural districts say they are still working out logistics on how they can best meet the demand.   "It is a very exciting time," said Michelle Spencer, Early Childhood Coordinator for Weld RE-4 School District.   Weld RE-4 serves Windsor,...

26 January, 2023 /

CBS Colorado
By Dillon Thomas
January 20, 2023
Free Universal Pre-K education is rolling out this year in Colorado and the time to apply for your child is already open. An estimated 30,000 Colorado children are expected to be seeking free Pre-K education. However, some rural districts say they are still working out logistics on how they can best meet the demand.   "It is a very exciting time," said Michelle Spencer, Early Childhood Coordinator for Weld RE-4 School District.   Weld RE-4 serves Windsor,...

26 January, 2023 /

The New Yorker
By Jessica Winter
January 20, 2023
The Red Balloon is part of the university’s progressive history, but it may not have a future.
For a half century, the Red Balloon has operated out of a-thousand-plus square feet on the lower level of 560 Riverside Drive, a Columbia University-owned residential building near the northern tip of Riverside Park. Despite the subterranean location, the space feels bright and airy, primary-colorful, and includes an indoor playground and a small library lined with a grass-green...

26 January, 2023 /

By Libby Stanford
January 25, 2023
Universal pre-kindergarten has become a buzz term lately, capturing the attention of federal and state politicians as evidence shows that students do better when they start school earlier.
But determining whether a state-funded preschool program is truly universal isn’t as simple as it seems, and states that have universal pre-K laws or programs don’t always achieve high enrollment.
“What constitutes universal preschool is fuzzy because people use the term differently,” said Steven Barnett, the director of the National...

25 January, 2023 /

The Denver Gazette
By Nicole C. Brambila
January 9, 2023
The Polis Administration is reminding parents that enrollment for Universal Preschool starts next week.
Pre-K enrollment for the fall begins Jan. 17. Children will be matched with providers in mid-February.
More than 29,000 pre-K seats are available across the state from roughly 850 providers, according to the governor's office.
“We are bringing high-quality preschool to Colorado kids, saving families thousands of dollars, and making sure Colorado students get a strong start in school,” Polis said in...

09 January, 2023 /

Fortune
By Megan Leonhardt
January 3, 2023
Breanna Dietrich was on the wait list at a day care before her daughter was even born. Nearly two years later, a slot has yet to open up. Even if there was an opening at a childcare center in her hometown of Wheeling, W.Va., Dietrich isn’t sure she’d be able to afford it. “I have no idea what I can afford. The thought of that makes my chest hurt,” she tells Fortune. Dietrich, 36, is now...

04 January, 2023 /

The Center Square
By Steve Bittenbender January 2, 2023
The Beshear Administration announced Kentucky will receive nearly $12 million a year in federal funding over the next three years to help prepare more children for kindergarten. The money will come from a grant program administered by the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services. Its Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five initiative had $266 million available, which it said would fund initiatives in about 35 states. Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement Kentucky will...

02 January, 2023 /

The Hill
By Lisa Dodson and Amanda Freeman
December 23, 2022
Current spikes in RSV, flu and COVID are drawing attention to the shortcomings of the childcare system in America. With many parents being forced to take their sick children to work or risk being fired, the need for reliable child care has never been more evident. And this glaring need is serving as a catalyst for local action. In the midterm elections, for the first time in history, the residents of one...

23 December, 2022 /

Politico
By Madina Touré
December 23, 2022
NEW YORK — Six years ago, New York City hosted leaders from a dozen cities across the U.S. to share lessons learned from its free early childhood education program for over 70,000 4-year-olds. The immensely popular universal prekindergarten program was the brainchild of former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014. Three years later, he began expanding it to 3-year-olds. The pioneering education policy remains the single biggest achievement from de Blasio’s two terms in office. It was...

23 December, 2022 /

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
December 22, 2022
Last year at this time, early childhood advocates and experts were cautiously optimistic about massive federal relief in the form of the Build Back Better Act, and last year’s Big Wins for Little Kids webinar reflected those high hopes. Although the optimism gave way to disappointment soon thereafter, 2022 nevertheless produced an impressive number of big wins, which the Hunt Institute and Alliance for Early Success explored December 5 in this year’s edition. Hunt’s...

22 December, 2022 /

The Hill
By Javaid Siddiqi
December 2, 2022
In November, New Mexico voters approved a constitutional amendment that will create a dedicated funding stream for early childhood education. The measure, which will increase distributions from the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund, is projected to infuse $150 million annually into programs for young children....

05 December, 2022 /

MSNBC
November 27, 2022
Childcare advocates are calling for investments in children and families to be a part of president Biden’s agenda in 2023. Reshma Saujani, CEO and founder of The Marshall Plan for Moms, joined Alicia Menendez on American Voices to discuss the importance of investing in children and families....

02 December, 2022 /

Early Learning Nation
By Mark Swartz
November 22, 2022
The new Stanford Center on Early Childhood (an initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning) held a launch event November 3. Members of its interdisciplinary leadership council spoke, as did Linda Darling-Hammond—emeritus professor at Stanford, founding president of the Learning Policy Institute and president of the California State Board of Education. The event also featured local schools with Stanford connections, including the Primary School and Synapse School....

22 November, 2022 /

Forbes
By Alison Griffin
November 21, 2022
As a single, working mom, I know firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated instability across the childcare industry. I also know that the last two years have required families — particularly those who are resource constrained — to make unimaginable sacrifices. I experienced these challenges from a place of privilege and resource, and even I had days that felt insurmountable....

21 November, 2022 /

By Dana Suskind
November 18, 2022
Compared with other wealthy nations, the United States is a uniquely difficult place to raise children. One in four mothers returns to work within two weeks of giving birth, and we’re the only rich country that doesn’t have federally mandated paid leave for new parents. While other wealthy countries invest an average of $14,000 a year for every toddler’s care, America spends $500. The pandemic sharpened our awareness of these problems—parents left the workforce in droves, child-care...

18 November, 2022 /

K-12 Dive
By Kara Arundel
November 17, 2022
WASHINGTON – Being attentive to early childhood educators’ well-being is critical not only to retaining teachers but to helping them be better classroom leaders, said speakers at a Wednesday session at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  During a two-month pilot program last summer with eight early childhood educators in the Washington, D.C. area, the speakers said they explored how wellness coaching could reduce teachers’ stress and increase their self-confidence and optimism. ...

17 November, 2022 /
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