Transcript Early Learning in Pennsylvania: Child Care, Education

A Call to Advocacy:
Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood
Initiatives
Office of Child Development and Early Learning
2008
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Why advocate?
 Advance the field
 Federal and state funding plays a major role
in early childhood education in PA
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Federal: Head Start, Child Care Development
Block Grant
State: Head Start Supplemental, Full Day
Kindergarten Accountability Block Grant,
STARS, PA Pre-K Counts
 Better serve children and families
 Support a quality early education continuum
 You have a unique perspective
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Your voice matters because
 You have expertise in ECE
 You have experiences that matter to
legislators
 You are the future of ECE
 You vote!!
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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What are you advocating for?
 Increased public recognition that quality early
learning matters
 Increased public investment in quality early
learning
 Increased support for building a quality early
education continuum
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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ECE in Pennsylvania: OCDEL
 The Office of Child Development and Early Learning
(OCDEL) promotes opportunities for all Pennsylvania
children and families by building systems and
providing supports that help ensure access to high
quality child and family services. The office is a joint
initiative between the Departments of Education and
Public Welfare.
 OCDEL’s focus in the upcoming year will be to build
and strengthen a quality early education continuum
for children and families.
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Our Programs
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Child Care Certification
Child Care Works
Early Intervention – Birth to Five
Family Support Programs: Children’s Trust Fund,
Nurse Family Partnership and Parent-Child Home
Program
Full-Day Kindergarten
Head Start Supplemental
Assistance Program
Keystone STARS/ PA Early Learning Keys to Quality
Pre-Kindergarten
Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts
Public-Private Partnership
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Pennsylvania is making
progress
 Pennsylvania has made great progress in
serving young children through early
education initiatives such as Accountability
Block Grants, Keystone STARS, Early
Intervention and the Head Start Supplemental
Assistance program, PA Pre-K Counts but it’s
just the start.
 Our enrollment in quality programs for
preschoolers has increased from 18% in
2002-03 to 35% in 2006-07.
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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But …we still face challenges
 Children in 70 percent of PA’s counties are
at moderate to high risk of school failure
 More than one-third of
Pennsylvania’s children
under the age of five live
in low-income families
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Building a quality early
education continuum
 OCDEL’s goal: a seamless system of quality
early education from birth – age 5
 What it takes:
1. Quality program design
2. Quality implementation & coordination
3. Meeting the diverse needs of families
4. Maximizing resources
5. Documenting positive impact and building
accountability into the program
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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OCDEL Moving Ahead
in 2008-09
In order for Pennsylvania to have
a quality early education
continuum,
we need to address:
Quality program design
Quality implementation &
coordination
Meeting the diverse needs of
families
In FY 08-09, Pennsylvania will focus on:
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Maximizing resources
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Documenting positive impact and
building accountability into the
program
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Ensuring alignment of Pennsylvania’s early childhood
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standards from infant through 3 grade
Monitoring of and technical assistance to early education
programs for continuous quality improvement
Building early childhood staff capacity
Deepening reach and risk study to include all OCDEL
programs
Promoting racial & cultural equity among OCDEL programs
Providing parents with online searches for OCDEL
programs
Convening a task force to assure programs can most
effectively access and coordinate multiple ECE funding
streams
Increasing funding for OCDEL Programs (PA Pre-K Counts,
Keystone STARS, Child Care Works, Early Intervention,
Nurse Family Partnership)
Data collection that provides the big picture of how we are
serving Pennsylvania’s children and families and what we
are missing
Working to develop a standard system of assessing child
outcomes
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Key programs to address
 Keystone STARS
 Child Care Works
 Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts
 Early Intervention
 Nurse Family Partnership
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Highlight: Keystone STARS
 A reliable indicator of quality child care and
demonstrates support for children’s early
learning and development.
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Over 170,000 children will be served in 2008
Funding to help participating programs move
up through the STARS Ladder
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Highlight: Child Care Works
 Supports parents who are working hard to
provide for their families and gives children
the opportunity to participate in an early
childhood program.
 Serve an additional 2600 children and their
families for a total of over 235,000 per year
 Provide families with young children with the
ability to search for child care information on
the web
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Highlight: Pennsylvania Pre-K
Counts
 A pre-kindergarten program currently serving over
11,000 3- and 4-year olds. The program supports
quality half- (2.5 hours) and full-day (five hours) prekindergarten in schools, Head Start, child care
centers, group child care homes and licensed nursery
schools during the school year.
 All children in participating
communities age three until
they enter kindergarten are eligible.
 Focus on children at risk of
academic failure due to income,
special needs, language, or
other issue.
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Highlight: Early Intervention
 Enhances family/caregiver relationships with
children building on their strengths, and
strives to maximize all the experiences,
opportunities, and resources within the
activities of daily living unique to each family.
 Assures that all eligible children from birth to
five with developmental delays receive
services and supports that maximize their
development so they achieve success in
early education settings
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Highlight: Pennsylvania Nurse
Family Partnership - NFP
 Registered nurses work with the expectant
mothers to ensure a healthy pregnancy, to
engage in activities with the baby that will
promote healthy development, and to make
plans for the future.
 Prepares parents to provide a stable and
nurturing home environment for their child
where they are the child’s first teacher
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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What you can do
 Meet your legislators
 Write your legislators
 Start a buzz on campus
 Hold a “Be a Kid Again” event
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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How to meet your legislators
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Letters are good, but meeting is better!
Meet in their district office
Go with a classmate or advocate
Prepare ahead of time – script out
Be pleasant
Get their position on ECE
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If they support the Governor’s budget, ask
them to write their leadership
If they don’t, ask why?
 Follow up
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Be a Kid Again
 Host an event on campus
 Plan a fun “kid activity” that students can do
to relieve stress, have fun
 Educate through play!
 Get signatures
 Invite campus or local media
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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You’ve got help
 Student advocacy toolkit
 Contact your Early Childhood Community
Engagement Group –
www.pakeys.org/CommunityEngagement
Groups.aspx
 Local AEYCs - www.pennaeyc.org/
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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Questions for discussion
 What types of activities would you plan for Week of
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the Young Child – April 13-19, 2008?
How do you measure quality in early childhood
education?
As students of child development and early childhood
education, what unique perspective do you have that
you can share with legislators?
If you had 3 minutes to explain to a legislator or a
decision maker why building a quality early learning
continuum is important, what would you say?
What other groups or individuals might assist you in
building support and/or awareness of early childhood
education?
Because every child is Pennsylvania’s future
www.papromiseforchildren.com
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