The State Early Childhood Policy

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The State Early Childhood Policy Technical
Assistance Network (SECPTAN)
Resources and Lessons Learned from Working with
School Readiness Indicators Initiative (SRII)
Charles Bruner, SECPTAN Director
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SECPTANs Mission

• To provide help to state policy makers to move
  forward early learning/school readiness agendas
• Evidenced-based
• Timely
• Customized
• Nonpartisan
• To produce resources for the field based upon
  technical assistance requests and experiences

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From Indicators to Policy Most Frequently Raised
TA Questions

• How can we describe our work to get attention?
• How can we mobilize support to produce action?
• How can we organize our work to fit together and
  achieve results?
• Whos doing something we should look to for ideas?

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Message Box SECPTANs Interconnected Answers

• Focus on results. (We have a problem.)
• Show ways to achieve them. (We have solutions.)
• Identify the investment gap. (We know where and
  how to invest.)
• Develop allies and mobilize support. (We all need
  to step forward.)
• -- chorus, not cacophony --

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Answering the Questions A Checklist Approach

• Focus on Results. The SRII Foundation.
• What all children need to start school ready to
  learn Equation
• Current status of children on starting school
  "ready Indicators
• Family and societal consequences of not starting
  ready Indicators
• Shows Ways to Achieve Them.
• Effective programs, services, and practices to
  improve school readiness Evidenced-Based
  Strategies
• Identify the Investment Gap and How to Address
  It.
• Investment opportunities to develop system Gap
  Analysis
• Implementation design to efficiently and
  effectively develop system Governance/Management
  
• Identify Allies and Mobilize Support.
• Education and mobilization strategy to secure
  resources Political Will-Building

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Results and Evidenced-Based Strategies

• Equation Elements
• Ready Families.
• Ready Communities
• Ready Services (Health).
• Ready Services
• (Early Childhood Education)...............
• Ready Schools.

Strategies Selected home visiting, family support
programs, developmental child welfare
services Toxin removal, public awareness/action
campaigns Health insurance, medical homes and
developmental health services, early intervention
(Part C) Quality, affordable child care, supports
for FFN providers, pre-school enriched
pre-school for low-income/vulnerable
children Transition plans, community schools
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Identifying the Investment Gap (1)Composite
Nine-State DC Average Per Child Investment by
Age
7,889
4,113
1,683
709
Early Learning Left Out Closing the Investment
Gap for Americas Youngest Children
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Identifying the Investment Gap (2) Potential
Investments in School Readiness Equation
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Implementation DesignA System of Systems
Family Support System
Health and Nutrition System
Early Learning System
Special Needs/Early Intervention Systems
Early Care and Education System
Building an Early Learning System The ABCs of
Planning and Governance Structures
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Rules of Thumbin Planning and Governance
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Developing Allies and Mobilizing Support
Strategies for Different Champion Groups
Beyond the Usual Suspects Developing New Allies
to Invest in School Readiness
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The Completed Checklist

• Focus on Results.
• What all children need to start school ready to
  learn
• Current status of children on starting school
  "ready
• Family and societal consequences of not starting
  ready
• Shows Ways to Achieve Them.
• Effective programs, services, and strategies to
  improve school readiness
• Identify the Investment Gap.
• Investment opportunities to develop system
• Implementation design to efficiently and
  effectively develop system
• Identify Allies and Mobilize Support.
• Education and mobilization strategy to secure
  resources

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Whos Doing Something We Should Look to For Ideas?

• Health Care and School Readiness
• Child Welfare and School Readiness
• Community Building and School Readiness

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Health Care and School Readiness

• Current Thinking
• Health Insurance Medical Care
• Medical Care Child Health
• Needed/Reframed Thinking
• Medical care content as well as insurance
  coverage important for ensuring child health.
• Transmedical services, including those focused
  upon family pediatrics, needed to ensure child
  health.
• Health includes developmental (social, emotional,
  cognitive) as well as physical health services.
  
• Implications of Reframed Thinking
• Expanded Use of EPSDT
• Incentives for broadened practice

Health Care and School Readiness The Health
Communitys Role in Supporting Child Development
New Approaches and Model Legislation
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Expectations for Well Child Care - Birth to Five

• Physical health and development
• No undetected hearing or vision problem
• No chronic health problems without a treatment
  plan
• Immunizations complete for age
• No untreated dental caries
• No undetected congenital anomalies
• Good nutritional habits and no obesity
• No exposure to tobacco smoke
• Emotional, social and cognitive development
• No unrecognized or untreated developmental delays
  (emotional, social, cognitive, communication)
• No unrecognized maternal depression, family
  violence, or family substance abuse
• Parents knowledgeable and skilled to anticipate
  and meet childs developmental needs
• Parents linked to all appropriate community
  services

Commonwealth Fund
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Child Welfare and School Readiness

• Opportunities for Action - Best Practices
• Identifying developmental needs during
  investigation and assessment
• Providing developmental services and service
  referrals as part of in-home services
• Addressing developmental needs during placement
• Addressing developmental needs in adoption
• Role of judicial leadership

Child Welfare and School Readiness Making the
Link for Vulnerable Children
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Community-Building and School Readiness Focus
on Vulnerable Neighborhoods

• Rich in young children (50 more young children
  as percent of population)
• Significant in size (8 of all children, but
  one-quarter of school unreadiness population,
  with 2-5 times the rate of single parenting,
  child poverty, low education, lack of savings and
  home ownership)
• Diverse in ethnicity (83 children of color, and
  where 23 all African American and Hispanic
  children live)

Census Tracts and Child Raising Place-Based
Implications for Child and Family Policy
Investments and Reforms
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Poor Neighborhoods Wealthy in Young Children
Very Young Children (0-4) as Percentage of
Population by Child-Raising Vulnerability
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A Snapshot of America
Differences Across Census Tracts by Child Raising
Vulnerabilities (school, education, economic,
wealth indicators)
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Place and Race Sharp Distinctions
Racial Composition of Census Tracts by
Child-Raising Vulnerability
Note 1.7 of all White Non-Hispanics, but 20.3
of Blacks, and 25.3 of Hispanics live in census
tracts with six or more vulnerability factors.
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Implications of Place for Policy and Practice

• Place matters, particularly for closing the
  countrys achievement gap
• Color blind approaches (bringing credentialed
  White, non-Hispanic teachers from suburbs in to
  teach preschool) wont solve, and could compound,
  problem
• Place-based strategies can improve school
  readiness, while building community and economic
  opportunity
• staff and career development for people in
  neighborhood
• community building around school readiness
• re-entry and re-integration around fatherhood and
  school readiness

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From Indicators to Policy Overall Implications
for State/National Policy

• Medicaid, SCHIP, and EPSDT/Developmental Health
• Early Head Start, Zero to Three, Early
  Intervention as Part of School Readiness
• Child Welfare and TANF as Entry Points for
  Developmental Services
• School Readiness Community Building in Vulnerable
  Neighborhoods as Explicit Focus

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Additional SECPTAN Resources

• Seven Things Policy Makers Need to Know About
  School Readiness (basic arguments)
• Up and Running (description of multi-site
  initiatives)
• On the Path to School Readiness (discussion of
  universal pre-k)
• Many Happy Returns (ROI analyses)
• Measuring Childrens School Readiness (assessment
  options)

www.finebynine.org
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Additional Resource Basic Talking Points About
School Readiness

• 1. Learning begins at birth.
• 2. Nurture, as well as nature, matters.
• 3. School readiness is more than just what
  children know.
• 4. School unreadiness is costly.
• 5. Parents work.
• 6. Quality matters.
• 7. Investments pay off.

Seven Things Policy Makers Need to Know about
School Readiness
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Additional Resource Description of Multi-Site
Early Childhood Initiatives

• Initiatives in health, family support, early
  childhood education, economic self-sufficiency,
  child abuse prevention, pre-school, and
  comprehensive early learning initiatives
• Description, state/community locations,
• and contact information

Up and Running A Compendium of Multi-Site Early
Childhood Initiatives
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Additional Resource Considerations Regarding
Universal Pre-School

• Expected contribution to school success (part of
  answer, but not silver bullet
• Parental desires and needs (culture and
  time/space needs)
• Features of effective programs (high quality, but
  different responses for different children and
  enriched pre-school for low-income/disadvantaged
  children)
• Workforce development considerations
• (importance of diversity)
• Pre-school as part of larger early learning
  system
• (integrated to other approaches and needs)
• Avoiding unintended consequences (limit
• disruptions of current early childhood programs)
• Financing (free vs. sliding scale, phase-ins,
• public/private roles)

On the Path to School Readiness Key Questions
to Consider Before Establishing Universal
Pre-Kindergarten
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Additional Resource Three Economic Development
Cases for Early Childhood Education

• Child Human Capital Development Four Seminal
  ROI Studies
• Community Capital Development Economic Modeling
  of Contribution of Early Care to Local Economy
• Adult Human Capital Development Economic
  Development in Poor Neighborhoods

Many Happy Returns Three Economic Models that
Make the Case for School Readiness
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Additional Resource Measuring Childrens School
Readiness

• Discussion of value of kindergarten assessment of
  what children know and can do for benchmarking
  purposes
• Description of issues in ensuring appropriate use
• Highlight and comparison of three state
  approaches in providing comprehensive assessment
• Annotated bibliography of resources on
  kindergarten assessment

Measuring Childrens School Readiness Options
for Developing State Baselines and Benchmarks