Kindergarten Readiness

KEY SELLING POINTS

• Hot Topic: Kindergarten/school readiness and quality early childhood education have become a hot topic in education policy and initiatives at the state and federal level (further information provided below).
• Funding: As a focal point of federal and state initiatives, early childhood and Pre-K programs are receiving additional funding and specifically are looking for professional development tools.
• The Author: Cappelloni is a seasoned ECE educator, researcher, and consultant. Her background allows her to be relevant, informed, and a self-promoter.

Funding Opportunities

State-funded prekindergarten for 4-year-olds has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, with the number of such programs up by 40 percent over the last five years alone. One factor contributing to the growth is strong evidence that early-childhood experience influences the development of the brain's architecture. Another is the record of producing beneficial long-term effects and solid returns on investment established by high-quality prekindergarten for children living in low-income families.

-From "Creating the Best Prekindergartens: Five ingredients for Long Term-Effects and Returns on Investment" by Lawrence J. Schweinhart, in Barack Obama's The Obama education plan: an education week guide, 2008.

Federal

• Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF overseen by HHS) $2 billion www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/218833 www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/acf/childcare.html
  www.cfda.gov/index?s=program&mode=form&tab=step1&id=cd84f9d325894d075c3244862c901cd4
• Early Head Start and Head Start (HHS) $2+ billion
  http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/acf/hs-ehs.html
• Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge (US DOE) $500 million (2012 disbursement)
  Priority 1: Absolute Priority - Using Early Learning and Development Standards and Kindergarten Entry Assessments to Promote School Readiness
  http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/index.html
• IDEA 619 1112
• William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Program (Title I, Part B, Subpart 3)
  $200K-$1million depending on the State, e.g.:
• California: $800K
• Georgia: $692K

State Initiatives/Funding

Most States have ECE initiatives that tie directly to Kindergarten readiness and standards. For example:

• Washington: WAKIDS is a program for Kindergarten readiness, working with parents and educators, including PD. http://www.k12.wa.us/wakids/
• California: Develops and funds statewide programs and public education efforts that directly benefit children and families and also advocates for a sustainable early childhood system for future generations. http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/
• Oklahoma: OK has almost universal preschool education. Their success is school readiness and student achievement has been documented in Developmental Psychology http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/dev-416872.pdf (2005)
• Nebraska: Early Childhood Grant $11.1 million to fund the creation of more pre-K public education.
• DC: Pre-Kindergarten Enhancement And Expansion Program Assistance Grant $625K
• Connecticut: School Readiness Grant $2 million

Government Initiatives for Improving Early Childhood Education

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Sebelius

Key Initiative: Promote Early Childhood Health and Development

http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/about/promote.html

• Improve Early Learning Program Quality and Young Children's School Readiness Outcomes
  HHS will work to foster high quality in its early care and education programs, including Early Head Start, Head Start and the Child Care and Development Fund. HHS will revise the Head Start Program Performance Standards and improve training for teachers and program directors, utilizing the latest research. HHS will ensure that Head Start programs meet the educational, health, and nutritional needs of the children and families they serve. HHS will promote the use of Quality Rating Improvement Systems in child care programs, which can provide families with valuable information about the quality of child care providers while encouraging providers to invest in quality improvements and assisting them in such efforts.

FROM the Testimony of Joan Lombardi, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Before the Subcommittee on Children and Families Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions United States Senate, June 9, 2011

Evidence continues to mount demonstrating how children's earliest experiences provide a foundation that can have a profound influence on their later success. Nurturing and stimulating care given in the early years of life literally builds optimal brain architecture that allows children to maximize their enormous potential for learning. On the other hand, hardship in the early years of life can increase the odds of towards later problems. Interventions in the first years of life are capable of helping to shift the odds for those at risk of poor outcomes toward more positive outcomes. Because of the relationship between early experience and later success, investments in high quality early childhood programs can pay large dividends.

FROM NEA's 2008 Policy Brief on Early Childhood Education and School Readiness¹

NEA is concerned about the growing number of children who enter kindergarten already behind their peers socially and academically. Evidence suggests this "school readiness" gap begins before children enter school and places children at risk of failure in school. The Association believes all children deserve access to early learning opportunities that will increase their chances for success in school and in life.

Two of the best known longitudinal studies on the long-term benefits of early childhood education are the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project² and the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project³. The Perry project found that individuals who were enrolled in a quality preschool program ultimately earned up to $2,000 more per month than those who were not, and that young people who were in preschool programs were more likely to graduate from high school, to own homes, and to have longer marriages. The Abecedarian project offered similar and equally compelling results: Children in quality preschool programs are less likely to repeat grades, need special education, or get into future trouble with the law.

¹ National Education Association. Brief on Early Childhood Education and School Readiness. (2008) http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/mf_PB03_EarlyChildhood.pdf

² L. J. Schweinhart, J. Montie, Z. Xiang, W. S. Barnett, C. R. Belfield & M. Nores. (2005). Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40 (Ypsilanti, Michigan: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation). www.highscope.org/Research/PerryProject/perrymain.htm

³ Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project, www.fpg.unc.edu/~abc/