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Massachusetts Birth to School-Age Task Force Phase 1: Pre Birth to Age Three November 2010

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Charge

Governor Patrick’s Education Agenda, Ready for 21

st

Century Success (June 2008), called for:

“ the immediate creation of “a Task Force to establish a statewide birth-to-school-age strategy to ensure the healthy development of children, particularly those from low-income families. This strategy should include various service agencies, link multiple funding streams, and align preschool and school-age care.”

The Task Force was charged with:

Putting forth recommendations to strengthen supports and services to effectively meet the needs of children birth to school-age, their families, and other significant caregivers to ensure continuously improving development and learning outcomes for children in the earliest years.

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Diverse Composition of the Task Force

While EEC established by and convened the Task Force:  Membership represents the work of more than 50 practitioners, policymakers, educators and advocates from myriad disciplines and service sectors throughout the state.

 Based on the diverse expertise of this coalition, this report lays the foundation for an integrated system of early care and lifelong learning that begins pre-birth.

Alignment of the Work

The work will be accomplished in phases:

Phase I:

began in March 2009  Focused on children pre-natal to three years old  Will result in a report to be voted on for approval by the Board of Early Education and Care (November 2010)    

Alignment with Existing Report from the Massachusetts Action Planning Team

Ready for Lifelong Success: A Call for Collaborative Action On Behalf of Massachusetts’ Children and Youth

Focuses on desired outcomes for all children and youth, ages five to twenty one, and their families Submitted to Governor Patrick and the Readiness Cabinet in June 2009

Phase II:

 will build on the existing bodies of work and will focus on children between age three and five

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ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK

In order to create an actionable plan focused on ensuring the healthy development of all children, pre-birth to age three in the Commonwealth, the following frameworks were used to structure the work of the Task Force.

Subcommittees

    The Zero to Three’s [1] “Infant-Toddler Policy Agenda framework was adapted by the Task Force . As a result, four committees were formed to focus on the following areas:

Good Health Strong Families/Communities Positive Early Learning Experiences Strong Systems

 In addition the Task Force added a Diversity Subcommittee as they felt diversity was an essential component of any framework given the current national and state demographic trends. [1] ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.

http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller

Target Beneficiaries

When we think about early education and care, particularly for infants and toddlers in the first three years of life, there are three primary target interconnected beneficiaries that policies, programs and

services must reach: 1) Children (Infants and Toddlers)

 Within the context of their families, children must have their fundamental needs met before they can progress toward a more sophisticated level of development that allows them to actualize their full capabilities.

2) Families

 Most children live within the context of a family structure and that system requires basic supports in order for each member to fully thrive and reach their full potential in all domains of life.

3) Communities and Programs

 Families and children live within communities and many are served by early education and family programs; both can provide supports to advance the abilities of infants and toddlers, and their families, to progress toward meeting their desired achievements.

Areas of Focus The Task Force’s work across subcommittees was organized by the following focus areas:

1) Basic Needs 2) Health and Well-Being 3) Positive Relationships 4) Development and Learning

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12 OUTCOMES DEVELOPED BY TASKFORCE

For each of the target beneficiaries in each area of focus, the Task Force delineated the results -- the OUTCOMES – to be achieved

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Outcomes

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BASIC NEEDS OUTCOME STATEMENTS

1. Infants and toddlers are safe from physical harm in their homes; safe in their early education and care and community settings. 2. Parents/families caring for infants and toddlers: have adequate, stable and affordable housing options; are economically secure and have stable work that generates a livable wage; and receive sufficient paid leave to care for sick children, newborn or adopted infants/ toddlers. 3. Infant and toddler caregivers/educators receive respect, support, and adequate compensation for their work.

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HEALTH AND WELL BEING OUTCOME STATEMENTS

4. Infants and toddlers are born, and remain, physically and mentally healthy, have quality primary care (continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and culturally effective), and with their families have access to and are informed consumers of health care and receive consistent, coordinated health, dental and mental health services. 5. Pregnant women receive comprehensive pre and postnatal health care and support.

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Outcomes

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DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING OUTCOME STATEMENTS

6. Infants and toddlers:

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are on track for their optimal development, receive adequate nutrition, have access to high- quality, affordable early education and care and have high-quality learning experiences with their families/ primary caregivers; and

enter school confident across all developmental domains

(physical, social, emotional, cognitive, language, and approaches to learning), and are performing well across those domains by the third grade.

7. Parents/families are competent in their role as their infant and toddler’s first teacher and have the knowledge and resources to support the optimal development of their infants and toddlers. 8. Parents/families have meaningful choices in services for infants and toddlers and are supported in accessing services and have informal and formal support networks. 9. All communities have the capacity to strengthen families and support the healthy growth and development of its infant/ toddlers and have a coordinated network of high-quality, accessible services and resources.

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Outcomes

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POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS OUTCOME STATEMENTS

10. Infants/ toddlers have consistent, stable, responsive, nurturing & culturally responsive relationships in their out of home care settings and have predictable, responsive and nurturing relationships in their family settings. 11. Families have access to community-based parent/family support groups that will include information on resources and supports for families with infants and toddlers, strategies are consistently promoted to strengthen maternal/paternal/familial infant attachment and families have access to early, hands-on pre and post partum support for new caregivers/parents. 12. Families of infants/ toddlers at risk for out of home placement have: 1) access to strength-based family support services that work together to prevent disruption, provide permanency if needed, 2) access to pre and post-permanency supports and 3) access to a coordinated system for visits between children, placement and families as appropriate.

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GOALS DEVELOPED BY TASKFORCE

Based on the desired outcomes, the Task Force developed the following twelve corollary GOALS for all infants/toddlers, families and community/programs in the Commonwealth

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Goals

Basic Needs

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Ensure children’s homes and early education and care programs are safe.

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Decrease the rate of poverty of young child and mitigate its pernicious impact on infants and toddlers.

Health and Well Being

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Ensure pregnant women receive comprehensive pre and postnatal health care.

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Provide infants and toddlers with quality primary care and ensure their families are informed consumers of health care.

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Goals

Development and Learning

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Continue efforts to build a diverse, stable, competent workforce to meet the needs of infants, toddlers, and their families. Expand the number of high-quality child care slots for infants and toddlers, especially those impacted by poverty or other risk factors.

Support families in their role as their infant and toddler’s first teacher and encourage high quality learning experiences between infants and toddlers and their families/ primary caregivers.

Strengthen supports to ensure infants and toddlers are on track for optimal development and have access to high quality, affordable early education and care and related resources to facilitate learning so that they enter school performing well across all developmental domains. Build capacity to allow families with infants and toddlers to have meaningful early education and care choices and support in accessing informal and formal services/networks.

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Goals

Positive Relationships

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Support all communities in developing the capacity to strengthen families and support the healthy growth and development of its infants/ toddlers and have a coordinated network of high-quality, accessible services and resources.

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Support consistent, stable, responsive, nurturing and culturally and linguistically responsive relationships in infant and toddler’s out of home settings, including early education and care and family service programs, and family settings.

Ensure access to community-based parent support groups and disseminate strategies to promote maternal/familial infant attachment and hands-on pre and post partum support for new mothers/fathers/families. . Provide families of infants/ toddlers at risk for out of home placement with access to: strength-based family support services, pre and post-permanency supports and to a coordinated system for visits.

Next Steps

November 2010:

 Board vote to send Report to Governor Patrick via Executive Office of Education and to the Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet

Next Steps / FY 2011:

Work to prioritize the goals and strategies put forth by the Task Force and identify lead conveners to take ownership of moving identified components of the work forward.

  Reconvene Task Force Research & Outreach Committee