Transcript Bellwether Power Point template

Why are these kids so short?
An introduction to early childhood education
Sara Mead
Bellwether Education Partners
March 2013
Early childhood education encompasses many
different programs and providers
Experts generally define early childhood as the
period from birth through age 8.
Early childhood care and education includes a
variety of programs:
Childcare for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
Pre-kindergarten programs that prepare 3- and 4-yearolds for success in school
Head Start
Kindergarten and early elementary school
Family literacy and parenting programs
Early childhood education is different from K-12
K-12 Public Education
Early Childhood
Access
Universal
Depends on geography, income,
luck
Quality
Varied
Highly varied
Delivery
School districts dominate
Diverse delivery
Choice
Limited parental choice
Emphasis on parent choice
Regulation
Highly regulated
Ranges from high to low
Workforce
BA + certification, highly
regulated
Varies. Low-skill workers and little
regulation in many settings
Accountability
Accountability for student
learning
Limited measurement of learning
outcomes
Funding
Publicly funded
Mix of government and consumer
funding
There are several important reasons to care about
early childhood education
• Improved understanding of brain development and importance of early years
Science
• Young children can do much more than previously realized
• Early years lay critical foundations for language, social-emotional, and cognitive skills
• Disadvantages and at-risk youngsters often lack high-quality early learning
experiences
Equity
• Achievement gaps emerge as early as 9 months
• “30 million word gap”
• One-third to one-half of the achievement gap exists before children begin 1st grade
• Increasing demands on K-12 public education system
Impact
4
• Easier and cheaper to prevent problems early than fix them later
• High-quality K-12 providers increasingly looking earlier
Non-parental early care and education is a roughly
$70 billion industry
Non-parental Early Care and Education:
~$70 billion
Federal
State and Local
Parents
Source: Partnership for America’s Economic Success (2010), NIEER (2011), figures adjusted by author
Research shows that high-quality early childhood
education programs make a difference
High-quality early childhood
programs narrow gaps for
disadvantaged youngsters while
improving learning and readiness
for all children
• High/Scope Perry Preschool
• Chicago CPC
• Oklahoma UPK
• New Jersey Abbott Pre-K
• Tennessee
Improved outcomes benefit both
individual children and society at
large
• Reductions in grade retention,
special education placement,
crime, unwed childbearing, public
dependency
• Increased educational attainment,
employment, and earnings
• Estimated returns vary from $2.62
to $10 for every dollar spent
Caveat: These results were produced in high-quality programs. Not all
programs meet this standard of quality.
The early childhood field faces critical challenges
Access
Funding
Quality
Use of early childhood care and education has
grown dramatically in the past 50 years
Percent of Children
Enrolled in Pre-Primary
Maternal Labor Force Participation
by Age of Youngest Child
70%
5 year olds
<6 years old
60%
<3 years old
50%
4 year olds
40%
30%
3 year olds
20%
10%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics;
U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2005
2002
1999
1996
1993
1990
1987
1984
1981
1978
1975
0%
But the United States still lags in early childhood
enrollments
Many low- and moderate-income children lack
access to quality early childhood education
Participation in Pre-K
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
84%
89%
77%
71%
62%
63%
55%
45%
21%
4%
11%
8%
62%
52%
44%
42%
35%
33%
28%
58%
64%
20%
37%
34%
Age 3
Age 4
Federal and state governments make significant
investments in early childhood care and education
Federal Early Childhood Spending:
$20 billion
State Early Childhood Spending:
$17 billion
Head Start
Child Care
State Pre-K
Chid Care Food
Tax Credits
DOD
Special Ed
Home Visiting
Source: Partnership for America’s Economic Success (2010), NIEER (2011), figures adjusted by author
Special Ed and Early
Intervention
Child Care Subsidies
State and federal governments increased early
childhood investment over the past decade
$8,000,000,000
$7.6 billion
$7,000,000,000
$6,000,000,000
$5.5 billion
$5,000,000,000
State Pre-K
$4,000,000,000
Head Start
$3,000,000,000
$2,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$2002-03
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
Source: National Institute for Early Education Research, Administration for
Children and Families
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
But funding remains inadequate
Per-Pupil Funding
$14,000
$12,463
$12,000
$10,000
$9,076
$7,600
$8,000
$6,000
$4,151
$4,000
$2,000
$0
State Pre-K
Head Start
Est. Cost for High-Quality
K-12 Public Schools
Current state and federal fiscal climate poses
challenges for early childhood funding
•
•
•
Fiscally strapped states have cut services:
o
States cut pre-k spending by $90 million over past 2 years
o
37 states have cut childcare funding or reduced access, even as number of
eligible families has grown
Expanded federal funding since 2008 has helped
maintain services, but current fiscal debate threatens
funding
Major philanthropic funders of pre-k advocacy have
cut back support
There are some signs that climate for early
childhood spending may be improving
•
•
States are starting to reinvest in early childhood
education
o
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has proposed a 60% increase in pre-k
spending, with the goal of moving toward universal preschool
o
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed increasing pre-k funding from $109
million to $239 million over 2 years
o
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a $131 million increase in
early childhood funding for 2014
o
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a $25 million increase to expand
pre-k access
President Obama’s State of the Union Address called
for federal-state partnership to expand pre-k access
Experts see little prospect for the President’s
proposals in Congress, however
Education Insiders’ Rating of Likelihood of Passage for High-Quality
Preschool for Every Child
45%
42%
• SOTU proposal still has impact in
raising national profile of preschool.
40%
35%
31%
30%
• States will need to be primary
drivers of policy going forward.
25%
20%
15%
12%
15%
10%
5%
0%
0%
1 "Not HappeningDOA"
Source: Whiteboard Advisors, “Education Insider”
2
3
4
5 "Absolutely-It's in
the Bank."
Expectations for quality are too low
Confusion about purposes and
goals of early childhood education
Too-low expectations for children’s
learning
Definition of “quality” focused on
inputs
We know what it takes to
produce dramatically
better early learning
outcomes for
disadvantaged children,
but by and large we are
not doing it.
“Quality” in the early childhood context has multiple
dimensions
Structural Quality
Process Quality
Outcomes
Advocacy has often focused on structural features,
such as class sizes and teacher credentials
50
42
46 47
44
41 42
37 36 38
40
30
20
20
22
24
27 26 26 26
29
33 34
31
41
37
37
27 27
11 11 11 11 10 11
10
27
14 15
14
0
Teacher has BA
50
40
31 32
35 37
40
Specialized training in
EC
43 45
31 33
41
37 39
Assistant has CDA or
higher
At least 15 hours inservice
Early Learning
Standards
44 45
27 29
30
19
20
35
32 33 32 32
38 38 40
30
22 22 23 22 23 20 21
10
0
Class size 20 or lower
2001-2002
n=43
Ratio 1:10 or better
2002-2003
n=44
2004-2005
n=48
Screening/referral
2005-2006
n=48
Source: National Institute for Early Education Research: The State of Preschool 2009
At least 1 meal
2006-2007
n=49
2007-2008
n=50
Site visits
2008-2009
n=51
A new generation of quality initiatives increasingly
focus on process quality measures
Classroom
organization
& use of time
Quality of
adult-child
interactions
Emotional
support
Instructional
support &
richness of
content
Children’s actual experience in early
childhood settings
Most early childhood classrooms demonstrate
good quality on indicators of emotional support
But average quality of instruction is weak
Quality of teaching is most important predictor of
early learning outcomes
Effective preschool teaching
includes:
• Responsive interaction style
• Content that predicts school
readiness
• Planning
• Balance of teaching strategies
• Flexible groupings
To do this, effective preschool
teachers need
• Understanding of children’s
cognitive, language, social and
emotional development
• Content and general
knowledge
• Practical knowledge and
instructional strategies
• Ability to work with diverse
children and families
Many early childhood educators have limited formal
education and lack skills and knowledge to do this work.
Supply of quality providers is limited
Funding is not the only barrier, but a
critical one
High-quality providers do exist:
Lack of reliable,
adequate
funding streams
Few high-quality
providers
When opportunities do emerge,
there are few quality providers
available to take advantage of
them:
• Head Start
• DC
• Abbott Pre-K
Lack of ecosystem or community
of high-quality early childhood
entrepreneurs
Lack of attention
to supply
Traditional early childhood
advocates do not think in terms
of building supply
Efforts have focused primarily on
marginal improvement in
existing childcare providers
Addressing these challenges will require a multifaceted approach
Private & nonprofit
organizations
create/expand
quality programs
and supports
Public Sector must
fund adequate
programs
Improved
access,
quality, and
supply for
kids
Philanthropy
supports research,
advocacy,
investments needed
to scale effective
practice
Contact
Sara Mead
Principal
Bellwether Education Partners
[email protected]