Why are these kids so short? An introduction to early childhood education
Sara MeadBellwether Education Partners March 2013
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-year-olds for success in school
Head Start
Kindergarten and early elementary school
Family literacy and parenting programs
Early childhood education encompasses many different programs and providers
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
• Improved understanding of brain development and importance of early years
• 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
• 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
• Easier and cheaper to prevent problems early than fix them later
• High-quality K-12 providers increasingly looking earlier
There are several important reasons to care about early childhood education
4
Science
Equity
Impact
Non-parental early care and education is a roughly $70 billion industry
Source: Partnership for America’s Economic Success (2010), NIEER (2011), figures adjusted by author
Non-parental Early Care and Education: ~$70 billion
FederalState and LocalParents
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
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics; U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
19751978
19811984
19871990
19931996
19992002
20050%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Maternal Labor Force Participation by Age of
Youngest Child
5 year olds
4 year olds
3 year olds
<6 years old
<3 years old
But the United States still lags in early childhood enrollments
Many low- and moderate-income children lack access to quality early childhood education
State Pre-k
Head St
art
All Public
<$10k
$10-20k
$20-30k
$30-40k
$40-50k
$50-60k
$60-75k
$75-100k
>$100k0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
4%8%
21%
42%
33%
20%
35% 37% 34%
44%52%
71%
28%
11%
45%
62% 63%55% 58%
62% 64%
77%84%
89%
Age 3Age 4
Participation in Pre-K
Federal and state governments make significant investments in early childhood care and education
Source: Partnership for America’s Economic Success (2010), NIEER (2011), figures adjusted by author
Federal Early Childhood Spending: $20 billion
Head StartChild CareChid Care FoodTax CreditsDODSpecial EdHome Visiting
State Early Childhood Spending: $17 billion
State Pre-KSpecial Ed and Early InterventionChild Care Subsidies
State and federal governments increased early childhood investment over the past decade
2002-03 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 $-
$1,000,000,000
$2,000,000,000
$3,000,000,000
$4,000,000,000
$5,000,000,000
$6,000,000,000
$7,000,000,000
$8,000,000,000
State Pre-K Head Start
Source: National Institute for Early Education Research, Administration for Children and Families
$7.6 billion
$5.5 billion
But funding remains inadequate
State Pre-K Head Start Est. Cost for High-Quality K-12 Public Schools$0
$2,000
$4,000
$6,000
$8,000
$10,000
$12,000
$14,000
$4,151
$7,600
$9,076
$12,463
Per-Pupil Funding
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
1 "Not Happen-ing-DOA"
2 3 4 5 "Absolutely-It's in the Bank."
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45% 42%
31%
12%15%
0%
Education Insiders’ Rating of Likelihood of Passage for High-Quality Preschool for Every Child
Source: Whiteboard Advisors, “Education Insider”
• SOTU proposal still has impact in raising national profile of preschool.
• States will need to be primary
drivers of policy going forward.
Expectations for quality are too low
We know what it takes to produce dramatically better early learning
outcomes for disadvantaged children, but by and large we are
not doing it.
Confusion about purposes and goals of early childhood education
Too-low expectations for children’s learning
Definition of “quality” focused on inputs
“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
0
20
40
2029
11
27
1422
31
11
27
1524
37
11
332727
36
11
34 37
26
38
10
3741
26
42
11
4146
26
44
14
4247
Class size 20 or lower Ratio 1:10 or better Screening/referral At least 1 meal Site visits0
10
20
30
40
50
31 31
1922
32 3327
22
35 37
2923
30
37 39
32
22
3540 41
33
23
3843 44
32
20
38
45 45
32
21
40
2001-2002n=43
2002-2003n=44
2004-2005n=48
2005-2006n=48
2006-2007n=49
2007-2008n=50
2008-2009n=51
Source: National Institute for Early Education Research: The State of Preschool 2009
A new generation of quality initiatives increasingly focus on process quality measures
Classroom organization & use of time
Emotional support
Quality of adult-child
interactions
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
Lack of reliable, adequate
funding streams
Few high-quality providers
Lack of attention to supply
When opportunities do emerge, there are few quality providers available to take advantage of them: • Head Start • DC • Abbott Pre-K
Traditional early childhood advocates do not think in terms of building supply
Efforts have focused primarily on marginal improvement in existing childcare providers
High-quality providers do exist:
Lack of ecosystem or community of high-quality early childhood entrepreneurs
Funding is not the only barrier, but a critical one
Addressing these challenges will require a multi-faceted approach
Improved access,
quality, and supply for
kids
Public Sector must fund adequate
programs
Private & nonprofit organizations
create/expand quality programs
and supportsPhilanthropy
supports research, advocacy,
investments needed to scale effective
practice
Sara Mead
Principal
Bellwether Education Partners
Contact
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