The political climate for investment in kids

Earlier this week I listened in on a conference call put on by the Invest in Kids Working Group of the Partnership for America's Economic Success. Two statisticians and pollsters, Republican Chris Blunt and Democrat Celinda Lake, shared their findings on attitudes of the public regarding early learning and the current political climate. The conversation was primarily focused on the national climate and the federal (especially presidential) races. If you are interested in seeing the powerpoints of the two presentations, Chris Blunt's is found here and Celinda Lake's is here.

A few key points:

• When discussing early childhood, the education frame is more effective than talking about child care. The public is very supportive of increasing investment and family supports for early learning, especially 4-5 year olds. However, people have a hard time picturing what early learning looks like for 0-3 and so are less supportive of public investments in that age range.

• "Investment" continues to be a good communication frame. In this tight economy (they called it a "pocketbook recession"), people don't want to see their money being wasted. Investment implies setting priorities and making choices, and making choices for things that will save money in the long run. Also, because of the tight economy, people don't want to see a whole bunch of new spending until things get fixed- like the war and the budget deficit.

• Currently only about 11-12% of eligible voters have children under 5, and those voters are also less likely to be civically active.This means that it's difficult to make early learning a big election issue.

• Many candidates are talking about early learning in their campaigns, but it is a values conversation and not a policy conversation. Candidates don't feel compelled to introduce a plan to support early learning the same way they do about putting out an economic policy plan or a plan for dealing with the Iraq war. Because of this, it is difficult to hold candidates accountable once they are elected.

• Most people are supportive of early childhood investments, but it is difficult to build intensity of support for people to advocate because the public concludes that no one could be again early childhood so if things aren't getting done it must be for a good reason (like lack of resources).

From these key points, I think that we have to continue to work to let the broader public know about early learning, the importance of the first five years and how policy change happens.

The research shows that while 90% of brain growth happens before age five, the majority of that growth takes place before age 3. If the public is less supportive of early learning for children ages 0-3, we need to take that into consideration as we promote opportunities for families with children under 3. When we talk about early learning for infants and toddlers, we don't mean academics. What we mean is giving families the ability to create a stimulating and nurturing environment to lay the foundation for future learning. Public investments in this area include resources for home visits and parent education.

To me, the points about 11-12% of the voting public have children under 5, that candidates are talking about early learning as a values and not a policy conversation and the difficulty of building intensity for the issue are all related. If we believe that everyone is in favor of little kids and simply trust that our policy makers would do more if they could, then we become apathetic. Policy makers pay attention to what people tell them to pay attention to. We need more voices to add to the 12% of parents with young children. Grandparents, business and community leaders, faith leaders, teachers, doctors and police. Everyone, really, benefits from strong investments in early learning. When we speak out together we can let policy makers know that we expect more than a values conversation about supporting young children. We can let candidates know that we expect to see policy ideas on how they will invest and make a difference in early learning. From there, we can hold policy makers accountable so they will follow through on their proposals.

It may be a hard time for large, broad, new investments for early learning. But we can make strategic investments and think creatively about how to make these investments so that we will continue to see an even greater public return in the future. And by speaking out together we can motivate our policy makers to do more on behalf of young children and our entire community.

What do you think? I would love to read your comments and thoughts. How do you see the current political climate for investments in kids?

Grassroots Leadership Network

The Ready 4 K Grassroots Leadership Network is a group of advocates from around Minnesota who have joined us to work in their communities to raise awareness and advocate on behalf of our youngest citizens. We depend on these advocates to let us know what's happening "on the ground" when it comes to families with young children. Ready 4 K holds regular conference calls with our Grassroots Leadership Network where we share the ins and outs of what's happening at the Capitol as well as give an opportunity for advocates to let us and each other know what's happening in their communities. Personally, I hope that this blog can become a forum for discussion between calls.

If you are interested in hearing our most recent conference call (held on Jan 18), you can click the link here. You do need Real Player for it to work.

If you are interested in being part of our Grassroots Leadership Network, the only thing you need to do is let us know! There's no prerequisite. You can visit the Take Action section of Ready 4 K's website to learn more.

And, a big thank you to everyone who is working on behalf of early care and education!

Early Childhood community will miss Ann Kaner-Roth

Ready 4 K friend, colleague and former board member Ann Kaner-Roth announced that after eight years as the executive director of Child Care WORKS, she is taking a position as the Associate Director of the Jewish Community Foundation. Ann has been a wonderful advocate on behalf of early care and education. She has worked to show the importance of early learning in child care settings and has advocated for community-based programs to be included in early learning projects.

We will certainly miss Ann, her passion, her insight, her experience and her humor. Thank you, Ann, for all that you have done on behalf of Minnesota's youngest citizens!

Minnesota Parents Know offers expanded website

Minnesota Parents Know is a website launched in 2007 by the Minnesota Department of Education to offer Minnesota parents a convenient source for trusted knowledge on their child's health, learning, development and safety. It is a truly comprehensive place to find a variety of information. Today, MN Parents Know announced an expansion to include more information for parents of children birth to five. Parent can find information broken down by age group: newborn, age 1-2, age 3-5, grade k-8, and grade 9-12. The website has over 75 video clips on various topics related to parenting that are helpful not only to parents and family caregivers, but also to educators and other professionals. I personally find MN Parents Know very helpful and clear; in fact, I think it's one of the best child development/ parent information sites I've come across. I hope you find it useful!

Child care costs impacting middle class families

MSN Money posted a story about the costs of child care on middle income families. One of the central arguments is that with costs so high, is it really worth having your children in care? Or is it better for a parent to stay at home?

I often hear from people who do not have young children or are not close to families with young children that if costs are so high, one parent should just stay at home. This perspective does not reflect the reality for families in the US in 2008. The reality is that most families cannot afford to own a home in a safe neighborhood, pay off student loans or other debt, save for the future and not have two incomes. Not to mention all the struggles of single-parent families. Of course we want parents to be able to raise their kids and be with them as much as possible. But wanting and wishing for parents to be able to stay at home.

If we believe that helping children grow up strong, healthy and successful in school and life benefits all of us (and it does benefit all of us in terms of reduced costs to society such as remedial education prison costs), then we must all play a part in helping families to afford quality care and to pay the teachers in quality settings a reasonable wage.

Ready 4 K is working to raise awareness with policy makers and with the public of the need for public investments to improve the quality of care and to make if affordable for families. We need to hear from you. What is your experience with searching for a care solution that works for your family? What do you think families need in order to give kids what they need for a solid start in life?

Policy committee update

The Ready 4 K policy committee met on January 7 to talk about ideas for improving the number of kids in Minnesota ready for school. The committee heard from two key people with big ideas for Minnesota's youngest citizens, Arthur Reynolds from the U of M and Art Rolnick from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. These two experts both have very interesting proposals that differ in key ways.

Arthur Reynolds is with the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Reynolds' most well known research is with the Child-Parent Centers in Chicago, IL. This research project is studying the effects of intensive early childhood intervention. Dr. Reynolds had a few key points to share with the policy committee:

• The state of Minnesota puts up very little money for Pre-K programs, especially for 4 year olds. Currently, just 2% of 4 year olds attend state funded Pre-K (see related post here.)
• Investments in high quality programs in any of the first five years has a good return. However, the strongest return in terms of kids being ready to learn in school comes from an investment in 3 and 4 year olds, especially with 4s.
• Programs must be high quality to truly see a return on investment. High quality includes:
• Small classes with a ratio of 18:2 between children and staff
• Highly trained staff with opportunities for ongoing training
• Comprehensive family services
• A strong literacy focus
• Other states are making great investments in providing Pre-K to 3 and 4 year olds and Minnesota is falling dismally behind.

Following Dr. Reynolds, Art Rolnick from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve took time to share his ideas with the committee. Dr. Rolnick is best known for his research demonstrating the economic return on investment for early childhood programs. Dr. Reynolds' research with the Child-Parent Centers was a key piece of Dr. Rolnick's analysis. Dr. Rolnick has been promoting an idea of early childhood scholarships for children most at risk of not being ready for school. Dr. Rolnick's scholarship model is being piloted by the MELF in the Frogtown area of St Paul. Key points of the scholarship model include:

• Start working pre-natal with families who are at-risk ('at-risk' defined primarily by income)
  
• Provide mentors and home visits for children pre-natal to 3 years
• Provide scholarships up to $13,000 per year for high quality early learning opportunities for 3 and 4 year olds.

The pilot in St Paul is being funded by $30 million of private dollars over 5 years and aims to serve 1,200 families with an annual income below 185% of the Federal Poverty Guidline (about $38,000 for a family of four).

Dr. Rolnick argues that this model could easily be expanded statewide by establishing an early childhood endowment totaling $2 billion, with the program funding coming from the interest earned on the amount. The benefit of the endowment would be a permanent funding source that would not be susceptible to the typical state budget debates.

These experts have differing but valuable proposals. Dr. Reynolds is promoting a voluntary universal Pre-K program for 4 year olds (eventually expanding to 3 year olds) as many other states have done and Dr. Rolnick argues for a targeted program starting pre-natal. The Ready 4 K policy committee will continue to discuss these ideas.

What do you think? What do you see as the most important components for getting the most kids ready for school and the highest economic return?

Winter indoor activites

With the holidays behind us, January is the perfect time the slow down and enjoy the quiet of the winter season. I love each of the seasons because they all remind me of something different. In the winter months I am reminded to take time to stay a little closer to home and appreciate all that I have around me. But, too much time close to home can make us all a little stir-crazy, especially with young children in the house. Our friends across the boarder in Wisconsin have some ideas to liven up inside play.

Babies to age 5

Color It: The Internet is full of printable coloring pages of your child's favorite characters. If you know your daughter loves Dora, and her playmate is a Diego fan, print out some of each and give your little ones a big box of crayons. Stacks of plain paper and colored construction paper are also good to have on hand.

Cut It. Paste It: Make a collage by turning old household items into original art. Tear out pictures or use old fabric or buttons, and paste them onto paper or cardboard. Give kids specialty magazines (sports, dance) to make a theme collage for their walls.

Shake It: Turn up the music. "We do fun games to music, like freeze dance or parachute," says Kimberly August of Garrison, N.Y., mother of 11-month-old Jillian, 3-year-old Colin and 5-year-old Kailyn. Chan also suggests moving the furniture to the edges of the room and blasting some favorite music to create a disco. For a variation, she says, show your kids your smooth moves (if you still have any) and let them copy you, or call out commands such as "Dance on one foot" or "Act like a chicken."

What are some of your favorite inside activities?