This toolkit will help you navigate your child’s journey from pre-kindergarten through high school. It is designed to help you track and support progress at each stage.

Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to help get the word out about new online modules that are available to providers/practitioners. Bradley Early Childhood Clinical Research Center in collaboration with Bradley Department of Behavior Education (DBE) and the Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health (RIAiMH) developed an online course entitled, “Foundations for Infant/Toddler Social Emotional Health and Development: Provider Modules”.  This course augments work completed by The National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative (NITCCI) at ZERO TO THREE, a project of the federal Child Care Bureau. Bradley’s Foundations Course offers high quality professional development for front line providers across various community sectors serving infants, toddlers, and families. Attached is more detailed information about these modules.  If you have any questions you can contact Susan Dickstein at susan_dickstein@brown.edu.

Happy New Year

Jodi Whiteman, M.Ed.

Director, Center for Training Services and Special Projects

ZERO TO THREE

1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 350

Washington, DC 20037

202-857-2634 (direct office line)

919-426-5271 (cell)

202-638-1144 ext.2634  (main office)

202-638-0851 (office fax)

jwhiteman@zerotothree.org | www.zerotothree.org

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS WANTED!

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is developing a new assessment tool to measure parents’ perceptions of their strengths and is looking for individuals to help test the technical adequacy and usefulness of the instrument. 

Information provided by this new tool can be used in designing, implementing and monitoring effective service plans, as well as in evaluating the effectiveness of programs that aim to support parents in building their protective factors.

In order to field test this new instrument, CSSP needs help in recruiting a minimum of 2,000 parents and other primary caregivers of young children. We need volunteers:

• Who have at least one child birth to 8 years old
• Who are fathers, mothers or other primary caregivers
• From all age groups(teen parents to grandparents who are primary caregivers)
• From all racial and ethnic/cultural groups
• From all economic groups
• From all regions of the country

Although CSSP cannot offer compensation for completing the survey, volunteers will play a very important part in the development of a new instrument that assesses parents’ perceptions of their strengths, unlike many other instruments that focus on parents’ problems and what they may be doing wrong.

 

 

 

The survey takes roughly 20 minutes and can be accessed by clicking on or copying and pasting the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VSLWS7R

Submissions must be completed by January 5, 2014.

All information and survey answers are anonymous and will be used for research purposes only.

Please distribute this message to individuals in your networks and ask them to encourage parents to complete the survey. Also, if you or members of your network meet the eligibility criteria or have family members who do, please complete the survey as well.

Charlyn Harper Browne, PhD

Senior Associate and QIC-EC Project Director
Center for the Study of Social Policy
1575 Eye Street, NW, Suite 500 
Washington, D.C. 20005 
404-456-9624 phone | 770-210-1599 fax

charlyn.harperbrowne@cssp.org
www.cssp.org

 

"Ideas Into Action"

More than 500 state lawmakers from 49 states have signed a letter urging Congressional budget writers to increase federal spending on early childhood education.

The letter, delivered to Capitol Hill Thursday, urges Congress to prioritize early childhood education to “provide greater access to children in need, and produce better education, health and economic outcomes.” The letter does not call for a specific amount of spending, nor does it suggest a source for the money.

“We believe that maintaining and expanding high quality early childhood education is an effective and efficient expenditure even when budgets are tight,” the letter states. “We urge you to make these investments in young children a priority in your deliberations.”

The letter, coordinated by the First Five Years Fund, an early childhood education advocacy group, includes signatures from 437 Democrats, 67 Republicans and one Independent. The lawmakers come from every state but Indiana. According to recent poll, early childhood education is a rare issue that enjoys bipartisan public support.

President Barack Obama has proposed making high-quality preschool available to every four-year-old. To pay for it, he has suggested increasing the federal tax on cigarettes by 94 cents a pack (from $1.01 to $1.95), which would generate an estimated $78 billion for preschool over 10 years.  Obama has said he is open to alternatives to that approach, which has not attracted much support.

The Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which is being pushed by Democrats but has a handful of Republican supporters, would create federal-state partnerships to provide prekindergarten to low- and moderate-income children. The measure would send federal money to states to help them pay for prekindergarten for 4-year-olds from families earning below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $47,100.

 “Increasing federal funding in early childhood education, as proposed in the bipartisan Strong Start for America’s Children Act, is the way to help states and families create opportunities for young children,” said Kris Perry, executive director of the First Five Years Fund. “Such federal investments will support states as they grow their programs, serve more children and families and develop robust early childhood systems which will more than pay for themselves.”

Supporters of early childhood education point to research that shows it is a good investment. James Heckman, an economist at the University of Chicago, argues that every dollar invested in early childhood education results in a $7 return based on increased school and career achievement and reduced costs in remedial education, health care and the criminal justice system. Critics, such as Grover “Russ” Whitehurst , director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, argue the evidence is mixed at best.

Meanwhile, states have forged ahead with a wide variety of policies on early childhood education. A recent reportby the Education Commission of the States  looking at 38 bills from 25 states during the 2013 legislative sessions found that state legislatures this year strengthened oversight of early childhood programs, expanded access to high-quality early childhood programs and redirected funding to early childhood education. Minnesota created a new prekindergarten scholarship program for low-income families and Hawaii and Mississippi established statewide voluntary prekindergarten programs, for example.

We are sharing news that our friend, Geoffrey Nagle, has been named president and CEO of the Erikson Institute.  Geoff served as a member of the Partnership’s Board for many years and truly has been the architect of the good early childhood work that has taken place in our state for the last decade.  We will miss him.  Here’s the link to the full news release: http://www.erikson.edu/news/geoffrey-nagle-named-president-of-erikson/ 

I know I speak for so many in our state in thanking Geoff for his leadership and congratulating him on this new and exciting endeavor.  We wish him and his family the best!

 

Sherry Guarisco,

Louisiana Partnership for Children & Families

 

 

Geoffrey A. Nagle named president of Erikson

November 25, 2013 

Geoffrey A. Nagle, a leader in early childhood policy and research, has been named president and CEO of Erikson Institute, effective January 1, 2014.

He also will hold the Irving and Neison Harris President’s Chair.

“Geoff is an innovative 21st century leader who will help guide Erikson undefined and the entire early childhood field undefined to new levels of influence and impact,” says Kate Neisser, chair of the Board of Trustees and member of the search committee. “His presidency will build on Erikson’s history of leadership, while also extending its entrepreneurialism in the service of children and families.”

Nagle is currently the director of the Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Tulane University School of Medicine. He is also a licensed clinical social worker.

A record of success

While at Tulane, Nagle worked closely with Louisiana government leaders to strengthen the state’s early childhood system and expand high-quality early care and education. His advocacy resulted in Quality Start, Louisiana’s child care quality rating system, and laws creating the Early Childhood System Integration Budget and School Readiness Tax Credits.

He is a prolific researcher, focusing on the economic benefits of prevention and the influence of early childhood research on public policy decisions. Additionally, Nagle’s deep social work experience will help inform the launch of Erikson’s M.S.W. degree program in 2014.

Nagle succeeds Samuel J. Meisels, who ended his 11-year presidency in June to become the founding executive director of the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Since June, professors Barbara Bowman and Frances Stott have served as interim co-presidents.

“Geoff’s record of successfully advocating for some of the most vulnerable children and families makes him an exceptional choice for Erikson,” says Bowman, who also is a co-founder of Erikson. “Geoff understands and embodies Erikson’s founding commitment to help all children, regardless of their background, reach their potential.”

Introducing President Geoffrey Nagle

A native of New York City and raised in Connecticut, Nagle studied political science at Duke University. Drawn to the promise of creating social change through mass media, he worked for five years in the film industry in Los Angeles. Looking to work more directly with children, he then traveled to Central and South America to serve as an English teacher and volunteer with orphaned and sick children.

Inspired by his experiences, Nagle returned to the U.S. to pursue a Master of Social Work and a Master of Public Health from Tulane University. While working for the Louisiana Office of Public Health, he completed his doctoral work at Tulane in mental health policy research, an interdisciplinary degree that combined social work, biostatistics, and epidemiology.

“I am excited to join the talented students, researchers, educators, alumni, and trustees of the Erikson community,” says Nagle. “Now is a moment of change and opportunity as the nation continues to examine the policies and programs that will impact children from birth to 3rd grade, and even beyond. Together, we will continue leading innovative change for our nation’s most precious asset, our children.”

Nagle and his wife, Gabriela, have two children, Jake (13) and Juliana (4).

 

Plan now to attend the Fourth National Summit on Quality in Home Visiting Programs, January 29-30, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, DC.

Registration information and a fuller agenda is available at www.homevisitingsummit.org.

 

Panels will focus on enhancing quality in home visiting; policy and financing; break-through system changes; adaptations and enhancements to evidence-based models; and more.

They are excited to announce an exciting line-up of speakers and feature breakout sessions on important topics. You will hear from:

• Andrew Garner, M.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine on the importance of the early days
• Bill McInturff, principal at Public Opinion Strategies on public opinion and messaging strategies for home visiting
• Mary Dozier, Ph.D., University of Delaware on interventions that work
• Kathryn Edin, Ph.D., Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University on fathers and home visiting
• Brenda Jones-Harden, Ph.D., Department of Human Development and  Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park on preventive measures to reduce toxic stress and many more home visiting experts.

The Summit is jointly hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Every Child Succeeds, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

New Study Offers Insights into Strengths and Needs of Early Care and Education Workforce

The early care and education workforce is more highly educated and more stable than previously believed, according to a new study from HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The study finds that 53 percent of center-based early care and education providers have at least an associate degree.  This is an increase from the 36 percent indicated in previous studies.

“Improving access to high quality early learning is a key element of the administration’s education agenda,” said HHS’ Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Mark Greenberg.  “We have made an unprecedented effort to improve child care training, health and safety regulations and professional development. We have also strengthened Head Start through new quality monitoring and requirements for competition, as well as increasing the education requirements for Head Start providers.”

Despite these improvements, some challenges remain.  The median income for a full-time center-based provider is just $22,000 per year and 24 percent of providers report having no health insurance.  President Obama’s Early Learning Initiative would link the salaries of early education providers who have a bachelor’s degree with the salary of their peers teaching K-12. 

“Despite low pay and benefits, we find that the average early child care provider has stayed in the career field for more than ten years,” said HHS’ Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development Linda Smith.  “This suggests that investments in strengthening the early care and education workforce can have long-lasting returns.”

The study was based on surveys completed by more than 10,000 early childhood care providers in 2012 and provides the first thorough picture of the early care and education workforce in two decades.  Understanding and improving the early care and education workforce is essential because these providers not only support working parents, but also help educate and care for children during the most rapid period of brain development – from birth to five years old.

The full study is available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/resource/number-and-characteristics-of-early-care-and-education-ece-teachers-and.

 

To learn more about this administration’s Early Learning Initiative, please visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/presidents-early-learning-initiative-early-care-education.

The Early Childhood Advisory Council was authorized by Executive Order on September 3, 2013. To access the official document and the listing of who sits on the ECAC, click here.

Judge Richard Ware, former chairman of the

Louisiana Children’s Trust Fund Board of Directors, was a “living” testament to the  importance of prevention of child abuse and neglect.  He served as an advocate for all of Louisiana ’s children and fought on their behalf.  Judge Ware often said: “The most precious gift a person has is his or her Time here on earth.”  He chose to use his time for the betterment of tomorrow by helping children. Although his time was tragically shortened, he left behind examples we must continue to set as standards.  This award, sponsored by the Louisiana Children’s Trust Fund, is established in his honor.  It is to recognize an individual who works in child abuse and neglect prevention and is an example of the extra commitment to children set by Judge Ware. 

Past recipients include: 

• Judge Billy Ezell
• Judge Nancy Konrad
• Judge Salvadore Mule’
• Brenda Kelley
• Lucy McGough
• Carol Christopher
• Kay Kay Warner
• Myra Magee
• Dr. Stewart Gordon
• Dr. Margaret Pereboom
• Dot Thibodeaux
• Danna Spayde
• Ronnie Rossitto
• Dr. Rebecca “Becky” White
• Judy Watts
• Dr. Gerald “Gary” P. Mallon, DSW
• Kerry Andersen

INSTRUCTIONS: Entries must be submitted on this form only.  You can request a copy of the form via e-mail by e-mailing

Michele Rabalais.  No additional information will be accepted (i.e. resumes, vitae, etc.).  All information must be provided.  Entries must be submitted via postal mail or e-mail by October 14, 2013.  If you are submitting form by e-mail please send to:  Michele Rabalais.

THE JUDGE RICHARD WARE AWARD WILL BE PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND GRANTEE MEETING AND LUNCHEON TO BE

HELD ONNOVEMBER 4, 2013 AT THE WEST BATON ROUGE CONFERENCE CENTER AT 12:00 P.M.

The facts about the 188,193 infants and toddlers in Louisiana tell us an important story of what it is like to be a very young child in this state and the important resources that can change the future life course for the many children who are not getting off to the best start. Read the State Baby Facts: Louisiana.