Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education and Care: A Structural Approach

1
Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education and
CareA Structural Approach
john powell Kirwan Institute for the Study of
Race Ethnicity June 11, 2004
2
What We Know and Where to Go

• We know what needs to be addressed to equalize
  opportunity when discussing early childhood
  education and care (i.e. affordable and available
  childcare, free breakfast, etc.)
• We need a macro perspective, to not only be aware
  of other structures impacting children, but also
  to begin collectively addressing disparities in a
  way that has a sustained effect on the lives of
  children.

3
Opportunity Structures

• If we want to impact children, we must first look
  at families, at neighborhoods, at geographical
  space, and at racial space.
• Disparities do not occur in isolation, and while
  in-depth understanding of a single issue is
  important, we need to engage the larger context.

4
Opportunity Structures Exist as a Web
5
Opportunity Structures

• Opportunity does not exist in isolation, rather
  in a complex web of interdependent factors.
• Addressing a single structure in isolation will
  ultimately do little to disrupt the existing
  hierarchy.
• An equity-centered, multi-faceted approach is
  needed to drive a wedge in those factors which
  perpetuate and compound disparities.

6
Michigan Demographic Information
Source National Child Care Information Center
http//nccic.org/statedata/statepro/michigan.html

7
Key Indicators of Child Well-Being
Source Annie E. Casey Foundation.
http//www.aecf.org
8
Healthcare Prenatal

• Early childhood starts in prenatal care, and by
  the time children are born, children in poverty
  are already at a disadvantage.
• Low income is one of the most important
  predictors of insufficient prenatal care.
• In the United States, both Black and Hispanic
  women are more than twice as likely than white
  women to receive late or no prenatal care. In
  Michigan they are three times more likely, with a
  total of 8 of black mothers receiving late or no
  prenatal care.
• The prenatal period is when some of the most
  devastating effects on development may occur, and
  when preventative efforts can have the greatest
  benefits.

Source CDC National Center for Health
Statistics, 2000. http//www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/
prenatal.htm
9
Healthcare
Source The State of Children in Americas Union
2002. http//www.childrensdefense.org/
10
Health Environment

• Certain environmental factors modulate pre- and
  post-natal development such as nutrition and
  exposure to chemicals and toxins.
• Poor and minority children are at an increased
  risk of developing iron deficiency, which leads
  to long-term lower scores on measures of mental
  and motor functioning.
• Elevated levels of lead are nearly 9 times above
  average in communities where 20 of children
  under the age of 5 are living in poverty. Even at
  very low levels of lead in the blood, children's
  IQ points and their cognitive learning skills can
  be altered. One 2002 study reported that six
  million children have lost an average of more
  than 7 IQ points as a result of lead exposure.
• More than one in ten children in families
  receiving welfare had asthma in 2002, nearly
  twice the national average. Higher levels of
  vacant housing are also associated with a 40
  increased risk of asthma among children over the
  age of two.

Sources http//www.childtrendsdatabank.org/
Institute of Medicine, 2000. From Neurons to
Neighborhoods.
11
Health Environment

• These pernicious environmental factors are not
  experienced equally by all those who experience
  poverty, but instead fall along racial lines.
• African Americans are far more likely that whites
  to live in close proximity to uncontrolled
  hazardous waste sites (74 as compared to 54).
• The asthma-related hospitalization rate for
  African Americans is three to four times the rate
  for whites.
• Over 28.4 of low-income African American
  children have had lead poisoning, as compared to
  9.8 of low-income white children.
• Furthermore, black and Hispanic children are less
  likely to have insurance and to have poorer
  health status compared to white children.

Source Kay, V. (2003). Creating Regional Equity
for Families and Children. Institute on Race and
Poverty.
12
Home Community Healthcare

• In 1991, the Federal government implemented the
  Healthy Start program to improve maternal health
  and reduce infant mortality, particularly in
  African-American communities.
• One of the main components of the program was
  community involvement adopting a people- and
  place-based strategy.

13
Home Community Healthcare

• A PolicyLink study of the Healthy Start program
  in several cities found
• Healthy Start consortia helped communities and
  programs address issues of race and class.
• Community involvement continually enhanced
  program capacity and community infrastructure,
  including the creation of
• Residential programs for pregnant and newly
  delivered mothers
• Domestic violence prevention and response
  programs transportation support systems
• Housing partnerships that found families
  emergency and long-term affordable housing.

http//www.policylink.org/pdfs/HealthyStartBrief.p
df
14
Home Community

• The neighborhoods in which children are raised
  affect the childs development, as a function of
  both the environment and the social community.
• Children interact with kin, neighbors, religious
  communities, child care, and health systems.
• Neighborhood resources such as parks, libraries
  and childrens programs impact a childs school
  readiness and education.
• These interactions and resources can be limited
  in high poverty areas, as a result of lack of
  collective efficacy (the extent to which people
  in a community trust, help, and feel responsible
  for one another) as well as the parents
  perception of safety.

15
Home Community

• HOME, the Home Observation Measurement of the
  Environment scale assess childrens experiences
  both inside and outside the home along measures
  of stimulation, emotional support, structure and
  safety.
• Studies have found that the more positive
  environment a high-income child, as compared to a
  low-income child experiences, accounts for as
  much as half of the gap in test scores in
  pre-school children, and one-third of the gap in
  achievement scores for school age children.

16
Home Community Housing

• The Childrens Defense Fund found that a
  full-time, year-round minimum wage worker cannot
  afford to pay fair market rent in any
  jurisdiction in the country.1
• In 38 states and Washington, D.C., which together
  includes 90 percent of all renters nationwide,
  two full-time minimum wage workers cannot afford
  fair market rent at the standard affordable rate
  of 30 of income.1
• Only one-third of those living below the federal
  poverty line, whether receiving other welfare
  benefits or not, had housing assistance in 1999.2
• Housing is critical component in a childs life,
  providing safety structure and stability as well
  as affecting the familys equity.

Sources 1. Childrens Defense Fund, Affordable
Housing A Quiet Quest for Families with
Children. www.childrensdefense.org. 2. Zedlewski,
S.R. (2002). The Importance of Housing Benefits
to Welfare Success. The Brookings Institution
www.brook.edu. Both sources as cited in Kay, V.
(2003). Creating Regional Equity for Families and
Children. Institute on Race and Poverty.
17
Home Community Violence

• The prevalence of witnessing violence, defined as
  victimization from, witnessing of, and hearing
  about real life violent events, ranges from 1
  in predominantly Caucasian youth to 47 in
  low-income predominantly African-American youth.
• Research also shows that youth who have been
  exposed to community violence are also at greater
  risk for exposure to domestic violence.
• This exposure to violence puts low income
  children at great risk for psychological, social,
  academic and physical difficulties.

Buka, S. L., Stichick, T. L., Birdthistle, I.,
Earls, F. J. (2001). Youth exposure to violence,
prevalence, risks, and consequences.
18
Childcare

• There have been substantial increases in paid
  maternal employment over the last 25 years.
  Between 1975 and 1999, the proportion of children
  under 6 years of age with a mother in the labor
  force increased 36 to 61.1.1
• As employment rises, work-related expenses
  increase such as childcare, transportation costs,
  etc.
• As low-income families increase their earning,
  they rapidly lose eligibility for childcare
  subsidies and health benefits, the very supports
  that enable parents to keep their jobs.2

Sources 1. Institute of Medicine, 2000. From
Neurons to Neighborhoods. 2. National Center for
Children in Poverty. www.nccp.org.
19
Childcare

• Good child care and early learning contribute
  immensely to the health and growth of children,
  as well as to their physical, emotional, social,
  linguistic, and intellectual development.1
• Even if you and your spouse are both working at
  minimum wage jobs which pay at most 21,400
  before taxes, you cant afford child care,
  housing, transportation, and utilities. In 48
  states, center-based child care in urban areas
  averages more than public college tuition.2

Sources 1. Childcare Research and Resource Unit.
www.childcarecanada.org 2. Childrens Defense
Fund. www.childrensdefense.org
20
The Web Constraining Access to Opportunity

• You cannot look for or keep a job if you dont
  have child care, especially if you are a single
  parent. You may lose your job if your child is
  sick and you have to stay home or take her to a
  doctor. You cant hold it all togetherchildren,
  home, and workif you get sick, your child,
  spouse, or babysitter gets sick, if you dont
  have child care and health care. You cant make
  it to your low-wage job in a rural area if its
  far away, you dont have child care, a car, and
  theres no public transportation system.
• -Childrens Defense Fund, 2002
  The State of Children
  in the Americas Union.

21
ECE in the US

• The United States has invested more than any
  other nation in rigorous research on the effects
  of preschool programs, and has produced a strong
  body of evidence of the long-term benefits of
  good quality programs, especially for children in
  poverty, yet our nation continues to have one of
  the worlds most fragmented, incoherent and
  incomplete early childhood education systems.
• As we move forward, society has increasingly
  acknowledged this need for universal
  pre-kindergarten, with several states instituting
  early childhood education programs.

Source National Center for Education in Inner
Cities, 2000. Early Childhood Learning Programs
for a New Age. www.temple.edu/lss/pdf/ceicreviews
/CEICVol9No3.pdf
22
ECE Initiatives in the US

• Georgia In 1993, Georgia became the first state
  to offer universal pre-kindergarten for
  four-year-olds, with a program mission to serve
  economically disadvantaged families. Children who
  attended preschool in Georgia made gains of at
  least four points against the national norms on
  all four standardized assessments from the time
  they entered preschool until they entered
  kindergarten the following year.

Source Georgia State University Report Of The
Findings From The Early Childhood Study 2001-02.
http//www.gsu.edu/7Ewwwsps/publications/2003/ear
lychildhood.pdf
23
ECE Initiatives in the US

• Florida In 2004 legislation was enacted stating
  that every 4-year-old child should be provided
  with a high-quality pre-kindergarten learning
  opportunity no later than the 2005 school year.
  Parents, regardless of income, have the option of
  enrolling their 4-year-old in this free program.1
• Washington, D.C. The Public School
  Pre-kindergarten Program provides developmentally
  appropriate experience- and language-based
  instruction. All 4-year-old children residing in
  the District are eligible to participate. D.C.
  Public Schools are one of the few districts in
  the country with "universal" pre-kindergarten
  (regular all-day classes for 3- and 4-year-old
  children in every elementary school building).1
• Ohio A new Head Start Plus program for 10,000
  low-income 3- and 4-year-olds that will be
  implemented by July 2004 with recommendations
  from the Head Start Partnership Study Council.
  This program is designed for families who do not
  earn more than 100 of the federal poverty level
  (1,272 a month for a family of three in 2003).2

Sources 1. US Department of Health and Human
Services, Administration for Children and
Families. 2. Ohio Department of Education
24
ECE in Europe

• Despite our progress, Europe is far ahead of the
  US in providing free or inexpensive preschool
  programs.
• West Germany 60-70 of children between ages
  three and six attend half-day preschools at not
  cost to the parent.
• Sweden Publicly funded and serves all children
  under compulsory school age who have working
  mothers or mothers who are full-time students.
  The children of unemployed parents are guaranteed
  at least 3 hours of ECEC a day.
• France Preschool programs are a universal
  entitlement and are of high quality so that they
  are supported and used by both high- and
  low-income families.
• Denmark Comprehensive, largely publicly-funded
  program for all children under the age of seven.

Source National Center for Education in Inner
Cities, 2000. Early Childhood Learning Programs
for a New Age. www.temple.edu/lss/pdf/ceicreviews
/CEICVol9No3.pdf
25
The Economics Behind Early Childhood Education
and Care

• Every dollar invested in high quality early
  childhood programs saves 7 in later costs.
• Every 1 invested in quality early childhood care
  and education saves 7 by increasing the
  likelihood that children will be literate,
  employed, and enrolled in postsecondary
  education, and less likely to be school dropouts,
  dependent on welfare, or arrested for criminal
  activity or delinquency.
• Every year a child spends growing up in poverty
  will cost an estimated 11,800 in lost future
  productivity over his or her working life.
• Every dollar invested in the supplemental food
  program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
  saves 3 in later costs.

Source Childrens Defense Fund, 2002 The State
of Children in the Americas Union.
www.childrensdefense.org
26
National Spending and Priorities

• Justice is a right in a democratic society.
  Children have a human right to food and health
  care and education and safety regardless of the
  political and economic weather.
• Just one months military spending would lift
  nearly every American child from poverty for a
  year.
• Just half of the one year proposed defense
  increase (in 2002) would pay for child care or
  health care for every eligible child for a year.
• Just the money allocated to the Star Wars
  missile defense system in the Bush budget would
  provide housing for a million homeless and poorly
  housed children a year.

Source Childrens Defense Fund, 2002 The State
of Children in the Americas Union.
www.childrensdefense.org
27
Poverty

• Young people are now the poorest age group in the
  US. Our country has the highest child poverty
  rate of any wealth nation, with an American child
  more likely to live in poverty than a child in 16
  other wealthy industrialized nations.

Poverty and Affluence Among Young (Under Age 6)
Children in 16 Countries
Note Poor is defined as family-sized-adjusted
income less than 50 of country median income.
Affluent is defined as family-size-adjusted
income greater than 200 of country median
income.
Source Institute of Medicine, 2000. From Neurons
to Neighborhoods. Calculations by Lee Rainwater
based on data from the Luxembourg Income Study.
28
Poverty

• Poverty during the early years is more powerfully
  predictive of later achievement than poverty at
  any subsequent stage of development.
• The combination of family and neighborhood
  poverty poses double risk to a substantial
  minority of black children.
• Moving from high-poverty to low-poverty
  neighborhoods enhances the physical and
  psychological health of children.
• The Childrens Defense Fund found that in 2002,
  9.2 million children had no health insurance
  although 9 out of 10 of those children had
  working parents.
• When individuals cannot receive adequate
  healthcare, what does this say about our systems
  of access in the United States?

Source Childrens Defense Fund.
www.childrensdefense.org
29
Poverty Relative and Absolute

• Relative deprivation in terms of income can yield
  absolute deprivation in terms of capabilities.
• Individuals live and operate in a world of
  institutions our opportunities and prospects
  depend on what institutions exist and how they
  function.
• Being poor in a rich society, such as the United
  States, is fundamentally distinct structures
  such as healthcare and education are arranged to
  provide access to, and function optimally for
  middle and upper class citizens, ultimately
  reinforcing privilege.
• This illustrates a richer understanding of
  poverty, not based solely upon personal income,
  but measurable in terms of capability
  deprivation- the limiting of access to structures
  which are intrinsically important.

Source Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom.
30
Poverty Relative and Absolute

• African American men, as compared to individuals
  in third world countries, are financially richer.
  Despite this, African Americans have an
  absolutely lower chance of reaching mature ages
  than people of many third world countries such as
  China, Sri Lanka, and parts of India.1
• In the US, the healthcare system is least
  accessible to low-income individuals and
  families. In contrast, Europe considers
  healthcare a basic right of citizenship.
  Countries such as the United Kingdom, France,
  Spain, and Japan provide universal healthcare for
  all their citizens.2
• The creation of social opportunities makes a
  direct contribution to the expansion of human
  capabilities and the quality of life. There is
  every evidence that even with relatively low
  income, a country that guarantees healthcare and
  education to all can achieve remarkable results
  in terms of the length and quality of life of the
  entire population.1

Sources 1. Sen, A. (1999). Development as
Freedom. 2. Emerging Minds, Did you know?
http//emergingminds.org
31
The Effects of Universal Healthcare

• All countries here, with the exception of the
  United States, have some form of Universal
  Healthcare programs that allow the vast majority
  of the country's citizens access to healthcare
  for free or at minimal cost.

Source US Census Bureau, International Database
as cited by Emerging Minds. http//emergingminds.o
rg
32
Civic Responsibility

• Roberto Unger argues that the state and
  government has a civic responsibility to address
  persistent disparities in a meaningful way the
  role of society is to make up the social capital
  that the parent or family is unable to provide.
• This organization of civil society is lead by
  what can be described as the caring economy or
  the practical organization of social solidarity.
  This includes the practices by which we care for
  the very young, the very old, the infirm or the
  disabled.
• By this definition, the United States is failing
  to fulfill its civic responsibility.

Source Alternative Law Forum, Public talk on
Innovation and Inclusion in the World Economy by
R. Unger.
33
Moving Forward

• The obstacles that children in poverty face can
  seem insurmountable, especially considering the
  complex web of opportunity structures which work
  collectively to compound disparities.
• Individuals must be considered in relation to
  groups, who cannot be considered in isolation
  from the rest of society. Human destinies are
  intertwined, with intersecting factors shaping
  the experiences for both individuals and groups.
• Remedying disparities for children of color
  requires addressing disparities for the parents
  and caregivers, which implicates pursuing change
  at the family, neighborhood, and societal level.
• Through this comprehensive structural
  understanding and the development of a
  collaborative prevention agenda, we can make
  great strides in addressing and remedying
  disparities along racial lines.

34
Kirwan Institute For The Study of Race and
Ethnicity
www.KirwanInstitute.org