Ready 4 K

How to rebuild the foundation of Minnesota’s education system

2010-12-16T14:52:00.002-06:00

Guest blog post by Ready 4 K President Todd Otis for LearnmoreMN.

How do we know if things are getting better or worse in the world of early childhood? Early childhood education is a complex field with many players and components. In order to help the state move in a positive direction, and to gauge the impact of an array of programs and settings that young children find themselves in, it is important to have an agreed upon way of “keeping score.” In this case we need to “keep score” of our youngest children’s school readiness.

Our state conducts an annual “Minnesota School Readiness Study,” an assessment based on the observations of trained kindergarten teachers who know what to look for in terms of the skills and attributes of entering kindergarteners. The study provides a statistically valid sampling of school readiness. The assessment tool used is called the Work Sampling System and it turns out that it is a pretty good predictor of future school achievement, such as third grade reading skills. Ready 4 K’s mission is to “move the needle” of the number who are fully proficient from the current 50% to 100% — a goal the state of Minnesota shares.

A coalition of early childhood organizations* that Ready 4 K has helped to organize, has met regularly since March 2009 to develop a policy game plan for achieving that goal. This unified effort is the first time the early childhood community has come together this way. We have called our plan Minnesota’s Future, because we think that is exactly what is at stake in how well we provide early learning opportunities for our youngest citizens.

We are guided by this vision:

Children have access to high quality early childhood experiences
Parents are recognized and supported as their children’s most important teachers
Families and other adults in a child’s life are supported in helping children succeed
Communities embrace a collective responsibility for children’s success

It all boils down to providing a lot more children with access to quality early learning settings when they are in the care of others, and a lot more widespread parent education and support in raising their children.

The appropriate focus is on children in the lowest income families because the annual state assessment correlates not being ready closely with low income. Moreover, if at-risk children have access to quality programs, that is where the biggest return on investment occurs, according to Dr. Art Rolnick.

Perhaps the most important words in describing any meaningful policy agenda that will actually improve school readiness are “access to quality early learning.” A powerful demonstration of the importance of quality came in a study done by the Minnesota Department of Human Services five years ago, in which children in 22 accredited centers were assessed for their school readiness, using the same Work Sampling tool that the Department of Education uses in its annual assessment. Instead of numbers in the 40s or 50s, the percentages were in the 70s and 80s, for measurements of proficiency in language, literacy, social emotional development and all the other key indicators that go into school readiness. Quality really matters.

*Coalition members: Child Care Works, Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children/Minnesota School Age Alliance, Minnesota Association of Family and Early Education, Minnesota Child Care Association, Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network, Minnesota Coalition of Targeted Home Visiting, Minnesota Community Education Association, Minnesota Head Start Association, Ready 4 K.

Quality early learning pays dividends

2010-12-02T11:25:00.002-06:00

Guest blog post by Ready 4 K President Todd Otis for LearnmoreMN.

Quality early learning pays dividends

By Todd Otis, December guest blogger

I am going to start with a story about my mother 40 years ago, sitting in a dentist’s chair in New York City, shortly after she had moved there from St. Paul. The dentist was staring into her mouth, muttering small exclamations of approval and finally he blurted out, “Louise, are you from Minnesota?” My mother said that yes indeed she was. The dentist replied, “This is the finest dental work I have ever seen. I figured you were from Minnesota.”

Apparently our dentists were (and probably still are) world class. My dream is that not too long from now people will be able to say that about Minnesota’s system of education. Not that it is just solid, but that it is the best. So Minnesota graduates on the job anywhere in the world would be identifiable by their outstanding skills and personal qualities.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota “feeder system” for higher education is facing major challenges.

The red flags for education in Minnesota include the fact that only one-half of entering kindergartners start school fully prepared for success; annually 100,000 Minnesota students do not graduate from high school on time; and Minnesota has one of the worst achievement gaps between white students and students of color in the entire United States. Minnesota, which had prided itself on major investment in education, has fallen to the middle of the pack among the states.

A startling percentage of the budget in higher education in Minnesota goes toward remediation. I am totally convinced that if all children started school fully prepared, that number would go down dramatically. K-12 will perform markedly better when all the children are “Ready 4 K.”

Minnesota needs to regroup and move again toward educational greatness, and it all begins in the youngest years. The mission of my organization is to move the needle from 50% to 100% of entering kindergartners, ready for kindergarten. It is important, because quality early learning pays dividends, both to the students and to society, for years to come. Let me share a few facts from one of the longitudinal studies, the Abcedarian Project in North Carolina, to show the impact quality early learning can make on higher education.

The Abcedarian Project was a carefully controlled study with 57 infants from low-income families randomly selected to receive high quality early care and education and 54 children from a non-treated group. The treated children received full-time high quality care from infancy through age 5. The Executive Summary of the longitudinal study found that:

“Young adults who received early educational intervention had significantly higher mental test score from toddlerhood through age 21.”
“Reading achievement score were consistently higher for individuals with early intervention. Treatment effect sizes remained large from primary school through age 21.
“Those with treatment were significantly more likely to be in school at age 21 ? 40% of the intervention group compared to 20% of the control group.
“A significant difference was also found for the percent of young adults who ever attended a four-year college. About 35% of the young adults in the intervention group had either graduated...or at the time of assessment were attending a four-year college or university. In contrast only about 14% in the control group had done so.”

The bottom line is that quality early learning has benefits that last for life. In terms of private and public benefits, economist Dr. Art Rolnick maintains that investment in quality early learning for at-risk kids provides the highest return on investment of any public investment. Period. His claim has not been rebutted.

Entering kindergartners are the “raw material” our K-12 system must work with. It is unconscionable that Minnesota permits half the children to enter without the skills and attributes they need to succeed educationally. Minnesota only devotes 1% of the state budget to what are arguably the most formative years in any person’s life. While parents are of paramount importance as their children first and most important teachers, Minnesota does an inadequate job of providing economically challenged, working parents access to quality early learning for their children.

In my next blog post I will tell you what Ready 4 K and our allies doing to solve the problem. For now let me leave you with this thought and/or question:

Why can’t Minnesota start to think of our education system as one, coherent whole, with three components that need to coordinate and cooperate better: early childhood; K-12; and post-secondary (public and private)?

Why can’t we identify milestone goals and metrics to chart progress, and then cooperatively go about meeting the goals, measuring our success? Rather than fighting one another for funding at the Capitol, why can’t the three systems work together? For example, Ready 4 K wants 100% children ready for kindergarten and Growth and Justice wants a 50% increase of Minnesota students who successfully complete higher education by 2020. To quote Paul Wellstone: “We all do better when we all do better.”

Let me know what you think.

Comment on this post.

Good News for Early Childhood

2010-07-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

While the Minnesota Legislature is in recess and our attention is focused on summer vacations – and the upcoming statewide elections, of course – the U.S. Congress is busy debating the federal budget for the next fiscal year.

Early Childhood Legislation Moving through Congress

A particularly exciting development concerns the Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF). As you may remember, the ELCF was under consideration earlier this year, to be funded from reforms to higher education student loans. In the end, the ELCF was left out of student loan reform bill, but with continued pressure from advocates and a commitment from the Obama Administration, positive action is being taken.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education of the Committee on Appropriations approved a proposal that would provide $300 million for the Early Learning Challenge Fund. The ELCF would establish a competitive grant process for states to develop comprehensive quality early learning systems for children birth to five, particularly those who are at risk of starting school not fully prepared. Minnesota is well-positioned to apply for this funding, should it pass Congress, given the existing efforts of the Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council and others. You can learn more about the ELCF from this Ready 4 K Policy Brief.

The bill approved by the subcommittee also includes a $990.3 million increase for Head Start and a $1 billion increase for child care—exceeding the Obama Administration’s request and fully maintaining increased levels of funding secured with federal stimulus dollars. The bill still has a long way to go before it becomes law (it must be approved by the full Appropriations Committee, passed by the Senate and then approved by the House as well), but this is really good news. Neither of Minnesota's Senators serve on the Appropriations Committee. Stay tuned for an action alert when the bill reaches the Senate floor.

Minnesota 2020 Touts Early Care and Education

2010-07-01T13:47:00.009-05:00

Ready 4 K has known since our inception that investing in high quality early care and education has tremendous social, economic and educational benefits--indeed, it's our raison d'etre for existing. So it's always welcome news when other organizations, especially ones whose raison d'etre is not early childhood, touts its benefits and encourages policy makers to embrace it.

Recently, Minnesota 2020, a progressive, non-partisan think tank, issued a series of communications on the topic, concluding that:

"The question isn't whether these services are needed. They clearly are. We must ask: Why is Minnesota compromising its future prosperity by refusing to properly invest in early childhood education? If Minnesota children consistently start behind at Kindergarten, it undermines the state's long history of K-16 investment that has propelled us above our prairie competitors. The path to a strong, vibrant, nimble future for Minnesota's economy starts on rubber-tiled floors with miniature plastic chairs and trained educators delivering researched-based lessons that advance cognitive development, not in front of grandma or a neighbor's television."

Read their perspective on how the 2010 Legislative Session fared for early childhood here, a featured story here and their in-depth report here.

They also put together a wonderful video summarizing their findings.

Welcome, Minnesota 2020, to the growing array of voices advocating for high quality early care and education!

This week's candidate forums

2010-06-25T15:45:00.000-05:00

We at Ready 4 K were happy to be part of two Gubernatorial Candidate forums this week. Early childhood education was discussed at both forums and candidates expressed their support for investing in our youngest Minnesotans.

On Tuesday at a forum sponsored by Growth and Justice, Matt Entenza, Tom Horner, Mark Dayton and Rob Hahn gathered at Open Book in Minneapolis to discuss issues related to education. You can catch the audio of the forum here or watch the video thanks to The Uptake.

Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, Minnesota Rural Education Association, Parents United for Public Schools, and Ready 4 K co-sponsored this event.

A Political Forum Focused on Issues Affecting Women

On Wednesday the YWCA of Minneapolis and Minnesota Women Lawyers hosted a forum at the downtown YWCA building. Mark Dayton, Tom Horner, Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Matt Entenza were present to speak to issues affecting women. Video from this forum is also available on The Uptake.

This event was co-sponsored by Child Care WORKS, Ready 4 K, Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, Minnesota African Women's Association (MAWA), Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers (MABL), Pay Equity Coalition of Minnesota, and Civil Society.

We look forward to a busy summer of meeting and connecting with candidates. As you meet candidates in your area, you can use the Minnesota's Future agenda to guide your discussion on early care and education.

Ready 4 K is working with our allies to promote a set of shared policy recommendations for Minnesota's next Governor that will improve children's development and readiness for school and for life. Learn more at www.ready4k.org/minnesotasfuture

Poverty now, lasting impact later

2010-06-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

A recent article on MinnPost describes the challenges children face during a recession. (Recession taking a toll that may last a lifetime for many children throughout the nation and Minnesota)

Economic recession and the poverty it can cause for children and families can have lasting impact on their lives and on our society as a whole. Children who live in poverty are susceptible to “toxic stress” that impacts the very structure of their brain. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University describes toxic stress as:

... when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems, and increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment, well into the adult years.

MinnPost highlights the Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota’s annual Kids Count report (PDF) that shows the percentage of children living in poverty grew by nearly one third between 2000 and 2008. The challenges of living in poverty affect children the most as their developing brains absorb everything going on around them. These affects can significantly hinder a child’s ability to be fully prepared for school when they enter kindergarten.

The key to mitigating toxic stress is to have a strong support system of adults surrounding the child. We can encourage these support systems by advocating for home visiting, parent education and other programs that can ease these stressful situations. You can learn more about toxic stress at Toxic Stress Response: the facts.

Ready 4 K promotes policies that support the ability of parents, providers and community members to positively interact with children to help lay a stable foundation for later school achievement, economic productivity and responsible citizenship. Learn more about our policies at www.ready4k.org/minnesotasfuture.

End of Session @ the Capitol

2010-05-17T12:11:00.001-05:00

What a weekend! You've probably read in news reports that the 2010 Legislative Session wrapped up this morning, with a brief special session called in order to complete the work in a timely matter. The good news for early care and education is that there were no permanent cuts made to early childhood programs, most notably to child care assistance. A brief update is below, and we'll send out a more complete summary soon.

Saturday's session of the Legislature began with the good news that the Governor had signed the Early Childhood Policy bill into law, despite some heavy lobbying to veto the bill by key Republican members. For once, common sense and a commitment to continue to build an effective high quality early care and education system prevailed. See our Omnibus Bill Tracker for a complete summary of the new law.

The weekend was marked by fits and starts of floor sessions, conference committees and leadership meetings. Disagreements and clarifying of positions between all bodies over early enrollment of childless adults from General Assistance Medical Care to Medical Assistance, which would qualify for federal matching funds, was at the crux of the debate. As negotiations continued, the House and Senate passed an Omnibus Supplemental Budget bill late Saturday/early Sunday morning, which included a mix of cuts, K-12 payment shifts, medical surcharges and no tax increases. This set in motion a series of offers and counter-offers by the DFL-controlled legislature and the Republican Governor throughout the day on Sunday.

At nearly 11:45pm, legislative leaders and the governor announced a deal requiring a brief special session, which was called at 12:01am on Monday, to pass the contents of the agreed-upon bill. The bill was approved by both legislative bodies at 10 AM today and is headed for the Governor's signature. In the end, child care fared pretty well, given the challenges of the budget deficit and the legislative-governor politics. The legislation will take the Basic Sliding Fee underspending, but that is only a one-time move and no permanent cuts were made to child care. In addition, no reductions were made in other early childhood programs.

A successful albeit messy legislative session. We'll get out a complete legislative wrap up in the coming days!

Look for an end-of-session summary the early part of next week. And thank you for all you’ve done this year. Early care and education certainly wouldn’t faired as it has thus far without your support!

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - May 14, 2010

2010-05-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

This week at the Capitol, the Health and Human Services Conference Committee finished their work, the House E-12 Education Budget bill passed the full House, and the conference committee report for the Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed both bodies. While it feels like a lot happened this week, it seems we’re at virtually the same place as we were last week in terms of budget negotiations.

The Health and Human Services Conference Committee met throughout the past weekend late into the night, and wrapped up their bill Wednesday morning at 2am. Child care was in play up to the last budget offer, with its funding being pitted against other worthwhile budget areas, but in the end, the House position prevailed and no permanent cuts to child care were made. The final bill did include using the $7.5 million of “underspending” in the Basic Sliding Fee child care program, but it’s a one-time cut that will not result in families being kicked out of programs. Rep. Nora Slawik is owed a lot of credit for holding the line against permanent cuts.

Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed the HHS bill, adding yet another issue to be dealt with in the waning days of the 2010 Legislative Session. Read his veto message here.

Even though education budget bills have passed both bodies, the differences between the House and Senate bills seem impossible to resolve in the next two days, and it is unlikely that a conference committee will be appointed. There is of course the matter of the K-12 funding shift, which could end up in a separate final budget package as well.

We have some initial indications that the Governor may indeed sign the Early Childhood Policy bill. The conference committee report passed by wide margins with bipartisan support in both bodies, and we can expect action on the bill today or tomorrow. Follow Ready 4 K on Twitter for breaking news on the bill. Our Omnibus Bill Tracker includes a summary of the provisions in the bill.

As we head into the final weekend of the Session, much is still unknown. Closed-door negotiations are taking place, with key legislators making appearances in the Governor’s office at times. Even though the Governor is at his Fishing Opener today and tomorrow, his staff and Republican leaders continue to meet with DFLers to hammer out a deal. Because it’s the second year of the legislative session, they cannot pass bills on Monday, the final day, so we expect a solution to emerge by Sunday. There is speculation that this may not happen, which would likely mean that legislators would be called back for a special session. And given that all 201 legislators are up re-election, this is not an attractive prospect.

Family Home Visiting: A Proven Strategy for School Readiness

2010-05-13T11:39:00.001-05:00

Today's StarTribune and MinnPost both featured a articles on a critical program reaching some of the families most at-risk for sending children to school unprepared. The Minnesota Visiting Nurses Association (MVNA) sends nurses to visit with pregnant teens and teen mothers and new research is showing the important role these visits have in helping these babies one day start school fully prepared.

The nurses visit with the young moms and work with them to answer questions, connect them with resources and share important information about what to expect with their new baby. The Wilder Foundation has completed the first of a two year study on the program in Minneapolis. From the report, MVNA's nurses met with 523 pregnant and parenting teens in the city between Jan 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. Of these mothers, 83 percent were first-time moms and 27 percent were foreign born. The largest ethnic groups represented were African-American (43%) and Hispanic (27%). Ninety-five percent of these babies were born at a healthy weight (compared to 90% in the control group) and 95 percent were born at full term (compared to 89%). Both of these are key early indicators for future health and development.

The value of such a program is how it serves some of the hardest to reach families as early as possible and can connect them with other services that will help them get their children prepared to learn, which leads to an even greater return on investment.

Ready 4 K has long advocated for voluntary home visits to be viewed as a critical piece of a quality early learning system. We made significant progress in 2007, when Ready 4 K was successful in securing additional resources for Minnesota's Family Home Visiting Program and making changes to the law to include school readiness as a goal of the program. As a result of our efforts, Ready 4 K is a member of the Minnesota Dept. of Health's Family Home Visiting Steering Committee, which oversees the implementation and evaluation of the program.

We continue to form alliances and work with a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure that this funding remains intact, and thus far we've been successful. One important step in doing this has been to join forces with the Coalition for Targeted Home Visiting, whose mission is to find a secure and stable funding source for targeted home visiting. The Coalition includes members from public health, schools, community programs, and other deliverers of home visiting, and keeps a watchful eye on the legislative process, both federally and at the state level.

The Coalition is also a member of Minnesota's Future, an alliance of early childhood advocacy organizations advancing a set of shared policy recommendations to Minnesota's next Governor that will improve children's development and readiness for school and for life. In fact voluntary home visiting and parent education programs for every first-time parent is one of the five points on Minnesota's Future platform for the next governor.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - May 7, 2010

2010-05-10T12:15:00.003-05:00

This week at the Capitol finally feels like it should in early May at the Capitol: conference committees began meeting, new funding cuts came forward, and twists and turns are keeping everyone on their toes.

The Health and Human Services Omnibus Budget Bill was finally sent to conference committee yesterday, and conferees began reviewing the side-by-sides. They pledged to get their bill done by Sunday evening, meaning those Saturday evening plans and Mother’s Day celebrations will likely take a back seat to the legislative process. If your Representative or Senator is serving on the HHS conference committee, look for an action alert today. Conferees include: HOUSE: Huntley, Thissen, Clark, Abeler, Hosch, Murphy, E.; SENATE: Berglin, Sheran, Lourey, Prettner Solon, Dille, Lynch.

Your calls and emails made a big difference this week, as the Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed the House and Senate early in the week and was approved by the conference committee today. We expect the final bill to be approved by both bodies and hopefully signed by the Governor in the next few days. Check out the Ready 4 K home page and the Omnibus Bill Tracker for more details.

Early in the week, we learned that the Senate had proposed a $1.3 million cut to Head Start to help minimize a proposed cut to the school districts of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. We were of course shocked that the Senate would play politics with low-income families, and again, your calls and emails to the Senate are helping to put a stop to the proposal. It’s not wrapped up yet, but we feel somewhat confident that, at least for now, the cut to Head Start is not on the table.

The big news of the week was that the Supreme Court ruled that Govenor Pawlenty’s unallotments last year exceeded the authority granted by the state’s unallotment statute. The Minnesota Budget Project sums it up nicely by saying, “It is still unclear whether the Governor’s other $2.7 billion in unallotments are immediately impacted. If the other unallotment actions aren’t reversed by this ruling, it at least opens the door for affected parties to bring forward additional lawsuits to overturn other unallotment actions. There is already a lawsuit pending regarding the Governor’s unallotment of the Renters’ Credit. So, we’ll have to wait and see what the budget implications will be.” Read their full article on the decision here.

Ready 4 K and our allied organizations will be holed up in a stuffy hearing room all weekend, and likely into next week, fighting for young children. Feel free to call, email or stop by with any questions. And of course, follow our activity on Twitter.

Ready 4 K @ The Capitol - April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T16:05:00.000-05:00

This week at the Capitol was marked by a flurry of activity, as committees reviewed and moved several of the omnibus bills we are watching. Having faced two shortened weeks sandwiched between the DFL and GOP endorsing conventions, and with a little more than two weeks remaining in the 2010 Session, Legislators and those following their work certainly feel the crunch of time.

The plan for early childhood is to move an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill in the House, as well as to place all of the provisions in each corresponding omnibus budget and policy bill. Please note the links may not include the most up-to-date version of the bill.

The House Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed out of House Finance with little fanfare this week and will be heard again in Ways and Means on Monday.
The House Health and Human Services Omnibus bill, which includes the Basic Sliding Fee child care under spending cut, the realignment of quality improvement dollars with QRIS and the CCAP teen parent provision, passed Finance and will also be in Ways and Means on Monday.
The House K-12 bill will likely be amended in Finance this week to include the provisions which expand the duties of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council and the Dept. of Education-recommended changes to the School Readiness and early screening statutes.
Over in the Senate, the Education Budget Committee released their Omnibus Budget bill, which includes no cuts to early childhood. The policy bill will be out on Tuesday.
This cannot be said for the Senate HHS Budget bill however, as it includes not only the use if the BSF under spending, but also a 5% cut to the base of BSF, or about $5 million. The policy portions will be released on Monday.

The House and Senate omnibus budget bills should be up for a vote by both bodies next week, with conference committees getting underway shortly after, setting the stage for a busy final week of the session. It’s a lot to follow, so track the bills on our Omnibus Bill Tracker, and follow the action by following Ready 4 K on Twitter.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - April 23, 2010

2010-04-27T16:01:00.001-05:00

This week at the Capitol, you could almost just read last weeks’ update, as not much has changed. With the DFL State Convention this weekend in Duluth, and the Republicans heading to Minneapolis to endorse their state-wide candidates next weekend, the pause button was still pressed at the Capitol this week.

We did learn this week that the House is moving forward with an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy Bill, which will include all the non-budget items in the previously-passed Omnibus Early Childhood Finance and Policy bill. (The only budget item is use of the $7.5 million Basic Sliding Fee “under-spending.”)

How will this happen? The language will be amended onto the Senate companion for the “getting-ready-for-QRIS” bill, which passed the Senate last week and landed in House Finance, which will take it up on Tuesday. It will then go to House Ways and Means, then the floor of the House for a vote sometime in the next couple weeks, eventually back to the Senate for comparison, and, should the Senate not accept the amendments, onto conference committee. It’s exciting to have an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill this year! View the proposed House bill here.

The capture of the BSF under spending will move forward in the House Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, and line up with the Senate HHS bill in conference committee. This also means that, depending on what the Senate recommends, early care and education may not be a part of the Education Conference Committee.

The Conference Committee Tracker has been updated with notations about which pieces specifically are included in the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - March 26, 2010

2010-03-26T15:33:00.003-05:00

This week at the Capitol, the House Early Childhood Committee released their omnibus bill. It was unveiled on Monday, testimony was taken Tuesday, and it was amended and voted out on Thursday. It includes the following provisions:

A one time cut of $7.5 million, accomplished by capturing the underspending in Basic Sliding Fee child care;
Re-purposing $500,000 of existing quality dollars at DHS for providers to use to get ready for a quality rating system;
Ensuring parents who receive child care assistance, and are under the age of 21 and in high school or pursuing a GED are eligible for CCAP for the full school year. This was a recommendation of the CCAP Simplification Task Force;
Several new duties were added to the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, including adding a representative of the Dept of Health, requiring the Council to make recommendations on screening and assessments, requiring the Council to create and implement school readiness report card, and creating a task force to develop recommendations by January 2011 for the creation of an Office of Early Learning;
Requiring that charter schools that provide early childhood screening must inform families that apply to the charter school about the availability of the program;
Clarifying who is eligible to participate in School Readiness programs.

The bill passed out of the committee and was re-referred to the full House Finance Committee, where it will be divided and the child care portions will be amended onto the Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, and the education provisions will be amended onto the Omnibus Education bill. We expect this to happen in the next couple weeks, after legislators return from Spring Break. The full bill can be read here.

The Senate has yet to release their Education and Human Services Budget.

Read our full mid-session report, which aligns Ready 4 K’s policy agenda with corresponding legislation.

Our bill tracker may also be a useful resource for you, and it has been updated to reflect action on the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill. However, once we have omnibus bills from the Senate, we will no longer update the tracker and will focus our attention on tracking the omnibus bills and conference committee activity.

In federal news, the Health Care Reform Package that passed Congress this week includes $1.5 billion over five years for a new grant program for evidence-based home visiting services. Within the next six months, states will have to conduct a needs assessment, develop three-to-five year outcome benchmarks to measure improvements, and to choose program models that meet certain criteria as evidence-based models. The first $100 million in federal funds will be distributed before the end of the current federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2010. The Minnesota Department of Health has announced that it will be taking the lead in collaboration with the Departments of Human Services and Education to do the planning that will be required for Minnesota to prepare a grant application. There is still much to learn much about what will be required from states, and through our continual involvement with the Minnesota Coalition for Targeted Home Visiting, we will stay abreast of news and share what we learn with you.

Coming up @ the Capitol

Over the weekend, it is expected that the conference committee on the first budget balancing bill, which includes essentially everything except health & human services and education, will complete their work and each body will take up the bill on Monday, March 29.

The Legislature goes on a week-long break starting at the end of the day on Monday, March 29, returning Tuesday, April 6. So what does this mean? Your legislator will be back in their district for a full week, and should be expecting to hear from you, their constituents. So take a moment to call, write or find your legislator at the local café and tell them how important it is to hold early care and education harmless.

Have a good break, and we’ll see you next month!

Ready 4 K@ the Capitol - March 19, 2010

2010-03-19T20:10:00.002-05:00

It's been a couple weeks since we posted the updates here. If you'd like past updates, please contact Eric Haugee, eric at ready4k.org

March 19, 2010

This week at the capitol, we received the disappointing news that the Governor once again line-item vetoed bonding for Early Childhood Facilities, and again, gave no indication why. It was one of dozens of projects he eliminated from the bill, cutting it from $1 billion to $680 million, well below his suggested $725 million level. It seemed he had hoped that the Legislature would pass another, smaller bill to get funding for some key projects that the Legislature hadn’t included in their bill, but Capitol Investment conference committee chairs Sen. Keith Langseth (DFL-Glyndon) and Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul) have shown little interest of doing a second bill thus far.

Ready 4 K President Todd Otis said recently that “if ever there were a dramatic example of why we need to pay attention to the person we elect as Governor, this is it.” Read his full statement here.

In more positive news, several bills Ready 4 K is supporting moved further along in the process, with the Senate Education Committee dedicating an entire hearing this week to early care and education legislation. The wonderful folks from Invest Early in Grand Rapids came down to testify in support of the Early Childhood Community Partnership bill, a key initiative of the Minnesota’s Future early care and education allies group. As Blandin Foundation Program Officer Mary Kosak testified, “It was as if [bill author] Sen Tom Saxhaug, after his many visits to Invest Early, carefully crafted this legislation from what he learned.” Committee members gave helpful feedback about some of the provisions in the bill, most notably about the geographic area for grants to be made in and how the collaboration should take place. Given the fiscal challenges that the state faces, it is unlikely these grants will be funded, but it’s always good to keep this issue in front of committee members.

Other bills the committee heard included the legislative package put forward by the School Readiness Funders Coalition. The bills—making recommendations on screening and assessments of children, creating and implementing a statewide school readiness report card, and creating the Office of Early Childhood Care and Education—all received favorable comments from the committee and were re-referred to other committees for further action. The final bill the committee heard creates a program for at-risk four-year-olds, and allows school districts to levy up to $9,000 per eligible pupil to pay for it. Ready 4 K believes this bill moves the state in a positive direction by allowing districts to levy for early care and education programs.

The big news on the House side was the announcement of “budget targets” for each of the House Finance Committees. This year, since we are facing a budget deficit, the budget targets are the amount of funding committees must cut from their budgets. The House Early Childhood Policy and Finance Committee was given a target of $7.5 million. While we won’t know until next week how the Early Childhood Committee plans to allocate this cut, the $7.5 million is equal to the “underspending” in Basic Sliding Fee (BSF) child care assistance. While this would mean fewer low-income families would be served, at least it wouldn’t be a permanent cut to the program. The best of the worst, really. Click here for more information about this.

The House Early Childhood Committee this week began winding things down in preparation for their omnibus bill to be released. On Tuesday, the committee heard a proposal to allow programs that receive three or four stars on the Parent Aware quality rating and improvement system pilot to receive a 15 percent rate increase. While a step in the right direction, we would agree with Child Care WORKS Executive Director Susie Brown, that “this bill does not present a perfect long term solution as it rewards 3 and 4 stars at the same level, consistent with other Parent Aware quality incentives. We would like to eventually see in the statewide QRIS a higher rate for each star, creating incentives to move to the highest level of quality.”

At the same hearing, members heard a presentation on potential federal funding for home visiting programs. Maggie Diebel from the Mn Dept of Health was joined by Jill Briggs and Jane Kretzmann, co-chairs of the Targeted Home Visiting Coalition (which Ready 4 K is a part of). They assured the committee that the state is fully prepared to act quickly, once it becomes clear what the grant process is going to be.

The House companion bill creating an at-risk four-year-olds program was heard Thursday in the same committee, as were a presentation on Minnesota’s application for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding for Early Childhood State Advisory Councils and a presentation of the MN Parents Know website.

Finally, we learned just today that federal funding for the Early Learning Challenge Fund was removed from the US Senate’s budget bill, essentially signaling that it will not happen in this go-around of federal budget negotiations. Stay tuned.

Track all the early care and education bills here.

Coming up @ The Capitol

Next Friday is the third and final legislative deadline, which is for divisions of the House and Senate Committees on Finance to act favorably on omnibus appropriation bills. We haven’t heard yet what the plans are in the Senate, but the House Early Childhood Committee will be posting their omnibus bill on the committee’s webpage at 11a.m on Monday. Amendments and testimony will follow on Tuesday and Thursday. Please show up and show your support (but note the new time below)!

The legislature goes on spring break Tuesday, March 30 to Tuesday, April 6. As such there will be not be a Ready 4 K @ the Capitol next week. Instead, as is the tradition, we will send out and post here a mid-session update.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - March 5, 2010

2010-03-07T23:23:00.002-06:00

March 5, 2010

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol, committees ramped up their work, as deadlines loom in the near future. The Capitol Investment Work Group (formerly Conference Committee) continued to meet and try to reach an agreement on the overall size of the bonding bill. The pace of the session makes it feel like late April, with the warming temperatures not helping—even though we know there are three more months left and more snow eventually on the way.

The week kicked off with hundreds of parents, children and providers raising their voices for continued investments in early care and education. The twelfth annual “Voices for Children” advocacy day on the hill sent a powerful message to legislators and the Governor that an economic recession is exactly the wrong time to cut your best performing stock, our children. Photos and more can be found on the “Voices for Children” Facebook page.

The February Forecast was released this week with little fanfare, showing a small decrease in the state deficit from $1.2 billion to $994 million. There is no sign that the Governor plans to reduce any of his proposed cuts based on the forecast.

On Tuesday, the House Early Childhood Committee took up a bill to fund local early childhood partnerships to collaborate to get the best outcomes for young children and their families. Ready 4 K Policy and Civic Engagement Director Karen Kingsley joined Rep. Sandy Peterson, author of the bill and co-chair of the Early Childhood Caucus, in reviewing the legislation, which is the product of months of work of Minnesota’s Future, a collaborative effort of several early care and education organizations to put forward an agenda for Minnesota’s next governor. We are encouraging organizations from across the state to endorse this effort, and you can join by visiting the Minnesota’s Future website and completing the online form.

Providing an example of local collaboration, Jane Patrick, Early Childhood Initiative Coordinator from Fergus Falls and Nancy Jost, West Central Initiative Early Childhood Coordinator, gave wonderful testimony about the success they’ve had in their communities bringing people together from health, schools and early childhood to give children and families the support they need to be successful. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. Watch the hearing here.

The committee also heard a presentation of the Child Care Assistance Simplification Task Force, which laid out a series of recommendations to improve the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and make it easier for families and providers to participate. Legislation to implement one of the recommendations —to allow teen parents to have continuity of care for their children for up to one year—was also heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

On Thursday, the House Early Childhood Committee heard presentations about evaluations of the School Readiness Connections program, Pre-K Allowances and the Early Childhood Scholarship program. All evaluations showed largely positive results, however the evaluations did generate some lively discussion in the hearing about the best way to finance increased access to high quality early learning.

Over in the Senate, the bill to designate $500,000 of current child care quality dollars specifically to help providers get ready for QRIS passed another committee and was sent directly to the floor of the Senate. During the hearing, members of the committee had good questions about the quality dollars, but did note that of the nearly $10 million total dollars set aside for quality efforts, $1.3 million of those are state dollars. The lack of any increase in the state allocation in the past several years—in fact it was cut by two percent in 2008—will hopefully deter any further erosion of these important resources.

Also, the Senate Higher Ed Budget Division presented its budget, and thankfully did not accept the Governor’s $500,000 cut to child care grants for low-income college students.

In a chess-like maneuver, the Bonding Work Group passed a slightly trimmed down bill, adding some of the Governor’s key priorities and removing some of theirs that he had objected to. Expect it to be passed by both bodies next week and sent to the governor. This differs from “normal” negotiations, which usually involve trading written offers between the conference committee and the Governor, before passing a final agreed-upon bill. While early childhood facilities grants remain intact, given the size of the bill, we anticipate the overall bill will have the same fate of the first bill and be vetoed. So, we'll have to keep fighting to make sure early childhood facilities remain in the (really) final version of the bonding bill.

Check out the updated bill tracker here.

Coming Up @ the Capitol

The first deadline is Friday, March 12, meaning that committees must act favorably on bills in the House of origin. All of the bills we are working on have or will have met first deadline.

Visit the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date hearings.

"Leaving the Little Ones Behind"

2010-02-16T15:19:00.002-06:00

Marian Wright Edelman, President and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, shares this article with the Huffington Post.

Leaving the Little Ones Behind

When people talk about the "achievement gap" at-risk children face, they often think of it in terms that apply to school-age children -- but that gap can start much earlier than most people might guess. A recent report by the nonprofit, nonpartisan research group Child Trends showed that disparities actually begin appearing before a child's first birthday. The report, "Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort," was funded by the Council of Chief State School Officers. It found that gaps in child development are already apparent when babies are just nine months old, and grow even larger by 24 months. These disparities in infants' and toddlers' development can be measured across cognitive, social, behavioral and health outcomes.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - February 12

2010-02-12T16:23:00.001-06:00

This week at the Capitol, the bonding bill was the focus of most of the activity, passing the full Senate on Tuesday and clearing all the committees in the House. The $2 million for early childhood facilities remains intact in both bills; however, in the House Finance Committee hearing, the grant program language was amended to the increase the amount that projects may receive. Under current law, a grant for an individual facility must not exceed $300,000 for each program that is housed in a facility, up to a maximum of $750,000 for a facility that houses three programs or more (programs include Head Start, School Readiness, Early Childhood Family Education, licensed child care, and other early childhood intervention programs). The amendment changes the amounts to $500,000 and $2 million, respectively.

The full House is expected to take up the bill on Monday. Upon passage, the House and Senate will work out the differences between the two bills, and submit it to Governor Pawlenty, where he can sign it, line-item veto individual projects, or veto the entire bill. We will be working to ensure that the facility grants do not end up as a casualty of the veto pen, so if have any connections to the Governor, please use them!

The House Early Childhood Committee held their first two hearings of the 2010 Legislative Session this week. On Tuesday, the committee had an update from the Department of Human Services and the Head Start Association on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 funding. Yasmina Vinci, national Head Start Director, had been in town for a previous engagement and thankfully for the committee, her return flight to Washington DC was delayed due to the winter storms. She was able to tell the committee about federal budget activity, and in particular speak about the recent Head Start Impact Study findings , which showed, among other things, that “providing access to Head Start has a positive impact on children’s preschool experience.”

On Thursday, the committee heard from Kathryn Tout, project director at Child Trends, on key findings from the Year 2 Evaluation Report of Parent Aware, as well as two providers—Nicole Joy Frethem from Lexington Kids Christian Childcare and Shelly Thunborg from New Horizon Academy—about their experience with the rating system. The committee members engaged in a thoughtful discussion about the research methodology and the next steps with Parent Aware.

Our bill tracker is up! While only two bills relating to early care and education have been introduced, expect more in the coming days.

Coming Up @ the Capitol

The big news next week is that the Governor’s budget will be released on Monday. While he outlined in his State of the State that he would hold programs for the military, veterans, core public safety functions and K-12 classrooms harmless, he declared that “nearly all other areas will be proposed for reduction.” Many committee hearings next week will be focused on hearing from the administration about the governor’s budget. We are bracing for the worst, and hoping for the best.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - February 5

2010-02-08T14:14:00.004-06:00

This week at the Capitol, legislators returned to St. Paul with essentially two tasks: solve a $1.2 billion budget deficit and pass a large bonding bill in the hopes of putting Minnesotans back to work. The deficit is expected to balloon to $5.4 billion in 2012-13, and there is some interest in starting to take a whack at this future deficit as well. And, with legislators running for re-election this fall and several of them running for Governor (current Governor Tim Pawlenty is not seeking re-election), it could get very messy.

So what’s in store for early care and education? As you may remember, last session, thanks in large part to your efforts, funding for early childhood programs was held harmless. Our top priority this session will be once again to make the case that an economic downtown is exactly the wrong time to cut funding for early care and education. However, even with Senate and House leadership acknowledging that early care and education is one of their top priorities, it may be difficult to withstand cuts in this environment. But that doesn’t mean we won’t fight!

Our other priorities this session are to encourage and support efforts happening at the local level, by giving communities the authority to fund early childhood initiatives through local revenue options and by encouraging the establishment of local early childhood community partnerships. We are still developing these initiatives and will be seeking your feedback and support soon.

We will also continue to support ongoing efforts to develop the voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement System. In addition to tracking what is happening with the Parent Aware pilots, Ready 4 K is supporting a bill to realign current funding to provide additional resources for providers to help them get ready for the statewide expansion of the QRIS. Once this bill is introduced we will let you know.

Ready 4 K is taking the lead again to secure bonding dollars for communities to build early childhood facilities, and we’re happy to report that $2 million for these grants was included in the House and Senate bonding bills! As you may remember, the Governor has vetoed this funding the past two years, so we’re focusing most of our efforts on reaching out to him for his support. Please talk to your local legislator and urge them to contact the Governor about this funding.

Check out our full 2010 Legislative Session Policy Recommendations here. We are still developing this years’ bill tracker, and you can expect it to be up and running by next week.

Take Action!

Now is the time to send your legislator a note to welcome them to session. Let them know that we must continue to make early care and education a top priority. Visit our Take Action page to send a message to the governor and your legislators.

In the face of deficit, to cut early childhood is like dropping our best performing stock

2009-12-02T13:24:00.001-06:00

Today we found out that the state of Minnesota will face a $1.2 billion deficit over the remainder of the biennium (ends June 30, 2011). This is on top of a $6.4 billion deficit originally dealt with by the legislature. The picture does not improve going forward; a $5.4 billion deficit is already projected for the 2012-2013 biennium. This $1.2 billion deficit is the result of a slower than anticipated economic recovery with higher than expected unemployment and lower wages. These factors combine to create a decrease in income tax revenue. Check out Minnesota Budget Bites for more detailed analysis of the budget picture.

One thing from this picture is clear: we must continue to make investing in early care and education a priority. We know this is the best investment we can make for both our short-term and long-term economic prosperity. To cut early care and education to solve the projected $1.2 billion state deficit would be like dropping our best performing stock and is exactly the wrong thing to do.

When parents know their children are well cared for they receive the assurance they need to be productive at work. Plus, giving children access to high quality programs maintains jobs for the trained professionals who work in the field. These investments also lay the foundation for future economic prosperity by ensuring that our youngest Minnesotans will be successful in school, career and life.

Ready 4 K is committed to being a voice for Minnesota’s youngest citizens. We are preparing for the 2010 legislative session and protecting our investments in the face of the $1.2 billion deficit. But we need your help. Join our network today and find out more about how you can be an advocate for children. Stay tuned for more information about Minnesota’s budget picture and its impact on Minnesota’s youngest children and families.

Join Ready 4 K by Giving to the Max!

2009-11-16T18:19:00.006-06:00

Jumpstart your year-end giving by joining Ready 4 K and participating with GiveMN.org in Give to the Max day on November 17.

GiveMN.org is a new online forum connecting donors with local and national nonprofits and charities.

From 8am on Tuesday, November 17 to 8am on Wednesday, November 18 donations to Ready 4 K through GiveMN.org will be partially matched through a $500,000 fund donated by GiveMN.org partners. Also, all transaction fees are covered by GiveMN.org partners, so Ready 4 K will receive 100% of your contribution.

With your gift, Ready 4 K will continue to advocate for the resources and programs to give young Minnesotans the opportunity to develop the skills they need to be ready to learn in kindergarten.

Click the donate button to visit Ready 4 K’s GiveMN page and mark your calendar to come back November 17.

Early Lessons: a radio documentary

2009-10-30T15:29:00.004-05:00

What has been the biggest, fastest expansion of public education in American history? Preschool. A new radio documentary by American Radio Works, Early Lessons, examines how early child care and education are changing public schools.

Starting with the Perry Preschool Project in the early 1960s researchers have begun to note how quality early learning can have a lasting impact on the lives of individuals and bring positive outcomes for society. Early Lessons describes how the Perry Preschool Project was conceived and the surprising outcomes from the study. It's fascinating to listen to the teachers from the Perry Preschool talk about how they developed their developmentally appropriate curriculum. They were focused both on giving the children the confidence and desire to learn as well as mastering skills that would help them improve their IQ scores, a measure that was believed to be crucial for a child's future success.

The results from the Perry Preschool study has also changed how we define the success of a program. The results from the project indicated that while the IQ score gains can "fade out" over time, the program participants benefited in other ways not measured by IQ - more likely to own a home, have a savings account, stay out of prison, have a higher paying job and more. These other benefits have an even greater impact on the community as a whole, beyond an individuals supposed IQ score, this is where the return on investment can be measured.

The Perry Preschool Project continues to be a cornerstone piece of research that influences public policy in Minnesota and around the nation.

The challenge is taking the good pieces of the Perry Preschool and replicating them in cost effective ways. Pieces like the quality of the program and the developmental appropriateness of the curriculum are more easily measured and can be replicated. The more challenging thing is to replicate the activities and lessons that gave the children the skills and motivation to continue to do well in school and later in life.

On the American Radio Works website you can listen to the documentary, download the audio or read the transcript.

Change the first 5 years and you change everything

2009-10-16T12:34:00.002-05:00

Our friends at the Ounce of Prevention Fund in Illinois have created this powerful video. If we invest now, we can change so much in the future.

Child Poverty in Minnesota Increases

2009-10-01T16:16:00.003-05:00

The Children's Defense Fund - Minnesota has released their 2009 Kids Count Data book, The Building Blocks for Successful Children. According to this research, 140,000 children in Minnesota lived in poverty in 2008 - an increase of more than 20% from 2000. These numbers do not include any additional families that may have fallen into poverty due to the current economic recession. CDF estimates that an additional 44, 000 - 56,000 children could now be counted as living in poverty.

Poverty is a significant predictor for a child's future success in school and in life. Without investments in the early years to lay a solid foundation, these children will struggle to become our future leaders.

From the CDF press release:

KIDS COUNT Fact Sheet

Losing Ground:
• 11 percent of Minnesota’s children lived in poverty in 2008.
• 24 percent of Asian children in Minnesota live below the poverty level in 2007, the worst among all 32 states participating in KIDS COUNT with enough Asian children to produce reliable estimates.
• 88,000 Minnesota children did not have health care coverage in 2008, an increase from 2007.
• 270,247 (33 percent) Minnesota children received free/reduced price lunch during the 2008-2009 school year.

Gaining Ground:
• Students dropping out of school has declined 57 percent since 2000.
• 6,277 children were abused and neglected, a 33 percent decrease from 2002.
• 10,895 children were arrested for a serious crime, down from 15,398 in 2000.

The Children's Defense Fund - Minnesota also has county-level data that shows how children are living compared to other years.

US House Approves Legislation to Support Quality Early Learning

2009-09-29T17:24:00.000-05:00

It was an exciting week last week, as the US House passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) by a vote of 251 to 171 on Thursday. The bill includes $8 billion for the new Early Learning Challenge Fund which would provide competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high-quality early learning systems for children up to age five. The Senate is expected to take up their version of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, be sure to thank the Minnesota representatives who voted in favor of the legislation, Reps. Ellison, McCollum, Oberstar, Peterson and Walz. You can be connected to your representative by calling (202) 225-1904 or find out who represents you by clicking here.

Senator Harkin is New Chair of HELP Committee

The sad passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) last month left vacant the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), which oversees the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, education for young children with disabilities and special needs, Title I, and Higher Education.

We are pleased to announce that longtime friend to Minnesota and champion of education, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has graciously accepted the chairmanship, while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) will replace Sen. Harkin as Chair of the Agricultural Committee, which is responsible for child nutrition programs including the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Read his announcement here.

Innovation for Family, Friend and Neighbor Care continues

2009-09-22T14:44:00.008-05:00

Today in Minnesota is the second of a two day national meeting on Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) care. The meeting is put on by the national Build and attendees from various Build states are attending. Ready 4 K is the home of Build in Minnesota. According to the National Build Initiative, the goals of the meeting include:

Increase dialogue and build momentum among all stakeholders to advance support for Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers.
Provide a forum for peer-to-peer and expert information and strategy sharing to examine emerging models and the lessons that can be taken from them.
Foster an understanding of how to integrate FFN care into early childhood systems and how to create and advance a policy agenda for FFN care.
Foster an understanding of how the strengths of FFN care relate to our long-standing conceptions about quality and quality improvement, particularly related to cultural compatibility between a child’s family life and his/her child care life.
Stimulate thought about next steps to forward our shared agendas in the field.

Minnesota was chosen to host this meeting partly because of the groundbreaking legislation passed in 2007 that made Minnesota the first state to dedicate money to supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor caregivers. Richard Chase from Wilder Research published a case study of Minnesota's success, State Policies for Supporting Family Friend and Neighbor Care.

There's also exciting things happening around the country. Representatives from Washington state and Illinois also share what is happening in their states. In Illinois, great innovation is happening by using dollars from their Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to reimburse FFN providers when the children they care for participate in the state's Pre-K program four days a week and have a weekly home visit.

The next steps in Minnesota are:

to continue DHS FFN pilots with CCDF quality set-aside/ARRA stimulus funding (see Ready 4 K's Milestones article, "Family Friend and Neighbor Grants Renewed")
create a webpage on the Child Care Resource & Referral network website devoted to FFNs
further work from systems building efforts such as Build and MECCS and state departments to improve quality of FFNs

Take Action! US House to Vote on Early Learning this Week!

2009-09-15T10:44:00.003-05:00

What’s Happening

This week, Congress is going to vote on the most major piece of federal early care and education legislation in almost a decade. The Early Learning Challenge Fund, included in H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, would support critical quality improvements for young children.

The legislation would provide $1 billion a year for eight years to states to develop and enhance high-quality early learning opportunities for all young children, especially those at-risk of not coming to school ready to learn.

This bill, paired with existing supports for current providers, sends a strong signal about the need to invest in comprehensive initiatives at the state level to increase the quality of early learning programs to ensure that children succeed. The bill will also create federal partnerships to help improve the quality of early care and education programs for children from birth to five in all educational settings.

What you can do

Please e-mail and call your US Representative today and urge them to:

Support the Early Learning Challenge Fund included in H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. This bill supports critical quality improvements so that young children are prepared for school. It will give states like Minnesota the support we need to deliver high quality early learning programming for young children. Please support the Early Learning Challenge fund in H.R. 3221.

See Ready 4 K's Action Page for more information.

Deadline: End of the day, Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Find your US Representative here (enter zip in upper left corner). If you know your US Representative, you can reach the main Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to them.

photo by kimberyfaye

Momentum for Early Care and Education at the Federal Level

2009-07-21T16:18:00.002-05:00

More resources to states in support of early care and education are one step further in the political process. Demonstrating a strong commitment to early childhood, Congress is proposing $8 billion over eight years to states in the form of Early Learning Challenge Grants. The Early Learning Challenge Grants are part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (also known as SAFRA or HR 3221). SAFRA passed the House Education and Labor Committee today with a 30-17 vote. The Early Learning Challenge Grants are under Title IV of SAFRA.

What does this bill do?

The focus of this legislation is to encourage states to develop a comprehensive quality early learning system for children birth to five, particularly for children who are at risk of starting school not fully prepared. The system needs to include:

Early Learning Standards Reform
Evidence-based program quality standards.
Enhanced program review and monitoring of program quality.
Comprehensive professional development.
Coordinated system for facilitating screenings for disability, health, and mental health needs.
Improved support to parents.
Process for assessing children’s school readiness.
Use data to improve child outcomes.

There will be two types of challenge grants, Quality Pathways grants for states that already have many of the system components in place and Development grants for states that have pieces of a system but need resources to move to a comprehensive system. States can use the grants to further several aspects of a quality early learning system such as professional development of the early learning workforce, a quality rating system, improving the quality of programs, parent outreach and coordination with other programs that serve children and families. Because of the comprehensive nature of the system, all types of early learning settings would be eligible to receive resources including child care, Head Start and school based programs.

What does this mean for Minnesota?

This will mean more resources for our state to help more kids start kindergarten fully prepared. Minnesota has pieces of a quality early learning system and federal resources will help families and children be able to access higher quality early childhood opportunities.

What’s next?

The bill will need to be heard by the full House and take a floor vote. The Education and Labor Committee is hoping to take the bill to a floor vote before Congress takes their August Recess. A companion bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate. The earliest this will happen is this fall. A Senate version will need to be heard in committees and voted on by the full Senate before going to a Conference committee and eventually being signed by President Obama.

What can you do?

Call your Congressperson and urge them to support the Early Learning Challenge Fund in H.R. 3221.

You can contact your Congressperson by calling the U.S. House at (202) 224-3121.

The Message: Please support the Early Learning Challenge Fund as part of the higher education student loan program changes in H.R 3221. It will provide a significant increase in resources for improving the quality of early childhood education in Minnesota. Raising the quality of early learning and development wherever children spend their time is important to their school and lifelong success.

See our Action Alert page for more information.

Links and resources

On Monday July 20, several national groups held a conference call with Dr. Ruth Friedman, Senior Education Policy Advisory to the House Committee on Education and Labor. You can find an audio recording and transcript of the call here.

There is also a summary of the Early Learning Challenge Grants put out by the House Education and Labor Committee and the full text of the legislation.

Only in Minnesota! National Civic Summit

2009-07-16T14:46:00.003-05:00

Today and tomorrow I'm participating in the National Civic Summit, put on by Secretary of State Mark Richie, the Citizen's League and the Minnesota League of Women Voters and sponsored by Target, Best Buy, Blue Earth Interactive, the Midwest Democracy Network, and Genral Mills.

As the Civic Engagement Specialist at Ready 4 K, I get excited about how we can work together to strengthen our communities for young children through shared participation. I strongly believe that we all need to work together to create social change and we all have a roll to play in making it happen.

Presenters from around the country are gathering to discuss how we can create a civil civic society. The opening keynote was given by Nate Garvis (@nategarvis) as he discussed how we can create a civic society were process is more important than issues. We as citizens can’t just be customers of government, we have to be the co-producers. We get the government that we create and it’s time for all sectors of society - nonprofits, business, education, faith - come together to create a process that benefits as many people as possible.

Themes throughout this summit include:

• Voter engagement and participation

• The role of social media in democracy

• Working toward a common good and building strong connections

The National Civic Summit is free and open to the public. If you are in the Twin Cities, stop by the Minneapolis Hilton and join us. If you are not able to be here in person, join the discussion online at http://www.nationalcivicsummit.com/ or by following @civicsummit09 on twitter.

-kat

ps- don't forget to also check out Ready 4 K on twitter @ready4k and Facebook facebook.com/ready4k

Star Tribune Echoes Concerns about Kindergarten Readiness

2009-06-29T12:26:00.007-05:00

Today's editorial in the StarTribune once again highlights the need for greater investments in quality early learning experiences for our youngest citizens. Citing the Kindergarten Readiness Study released earlier this month, the editorial shows how a lack of investment has created a lack of progress in getting our children prepared for school. While legislative leaders have taken steps to recognize the importance of high quality early care and education, that support has yet to be translated into funding increases.

Editorial: Make preschool a funding priority

Scores show that talk alone isn't improving early learning

What may be Minnesota's most important educational report card was issued earlier this month, and the marks weren't good. The fall 2008 results of a yearly school readiness assessment of new kindergartners were down from 2007 on all five aspects of development measured.
Fewer than half of the 6,310 kindergartners surveyed -- 10 percent of the state total -- were deemed "proficient" and fully ready for school. About two out of five were rated "in process" toward readiness. On two key measures, language/literacy and mathematical thinking, one child in eight was judged "not yet" prepared.
Those are troubling findings -- particularly since they come in the sixth year of the assessment, five years after the formation of the Legislature's early childhood caucus, and almost a decade after research and grass-roots advocacy efforts coalesced to put early education on state policy agendas.

Despite those efforts, too many children are still arriving in kindergarten behind and, research says, prone to stay behind throughout their school years. "Why would there have been progress?" asked Todd Otis, executive director of the advocacy group Ready 4 K. Though policymakers are talking more about the value of early learning, "we haven't done anything different to change these numbers."

Read the full Star Tribune editorial here.

Lack of Investment = Lack of Progress

2009-06-24T14:36:00.007-05:00

Results from the Minnesota Department of Education’s 2008 School Readiness Study, released this month, confirm what we already know: Minnesota’s lack of additional investment in early care and education has negative consequences. The study, which uses the Work Sampling System to gain a sense of how Minnesota kindergartners are doing in five domains of development, shows that the number of Minnesota children who are rated “proficient” in kindergarten readiness skills has decreased from past years’ studies.

All five domains—physical development, the arts, personal and social development, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking—saw decreases of 3 to 6 percentage points in the number of children rated proficient, with the only domain above 50% proficient being physical development. What does it mean to be proficient? Based on MDE’s definition, “proficient” means that the child can reliably and consistently demonstrate the skill, knowledge, behavior or accomplishment.

In addition, the percentage of children rated as “not yet” ready (indicating that the child cannot perform the indicator) has grown from last year, by as much as four percent.

Does this mean that early learning programs aren’t performing? NO. High quality early learning programs consistently demonstrate good outcomes in terms of school readiness. But the study results aren’t really a surprise. State funding for high quality early learning has been stagnant for years, and has failed to keep up not only with inflation but with the growing need. Early learning programs – like Head Start, School Readiness and child care – that are funded are showing good results, but far too many children lack access to these quality programs. For instance, Head Start funding in Minnesota is sufficient to serve just 1 out of every 3 children who are eligible for the program.

Does funding actually make a difference? Of course it does. For example, in Maryland, where they use a similar method for assessing school readiness, 68% of children are rated proficient (they call it “fully ready”) and the state has consistently shown improvements over the last six years. Since Maryland has increased its investment in early care and education, children’s performance has steadily improved in every domain, including for all racial groups.

Ready 4 K is concerned that even though we know that a majority of our children are coming to kindergarten unprepared, we continue to withhold the resources necessary to move the needle. While the Minnesota Legislature has proposed significant investments in early care and education, those proposals have not been approved. It’s time to reverse this trend, which will not only have the short term benefit of getting out children prepared for school, but better prepare our children for life.

Build or rehab an early childhood facility?

2009-06-09T16:58:00.005-05:00

Has an early care and education program you work with been thinking of expanding? Does a program you work with have a building rehab or construction project under way? Then think about putting in a budget request for a capital improvement project!

As you likely know, for the second year in a row, the Governor line-item vetoed $2 million in bonding for the early childhood facilities grant program. Ready 4 K will likely seek funding for the grant program next session, but we are also exploring other avenues to meet the demands for early learning facilities. One way is for local projects to submit budget requests for capital improvement through the "regular" bonding process.

In early May a letter and questionnaire from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) Director Jim Schowalter was sent laying out the process by which local governments and political subdivisions of the state may request state appropriations for capital improvement projects. Given the difficulty we have had in securing funds for facilities bonding, we would like to encourage those of you with projects on the docket to submit requests to MMB. The deadline is June 25, 2009. If you cannot answer all of the required questions in the questionnaire, you should still submit the application. Please contact Eric Haugee at Ready 4 K (eric at ready4k dot org) if you have questions about this process.

For those who are not affiliated with political subdivisions, you will need to partner with a subdivision, like a city, county or school district, as you similarly would need to if you applied for an early childhood facilities grant. You may want to start by contacting your school superintendent or your city or county administrator.

Once projects are submitted, Ready 4 K can work with the project sponsors to get legislation drafted and introduced. The effect of this will be three-fold. One, it will help to showcase the actual need for early childhood facilities. Two, it will build a broader base of support for bonding for early childhood facilities within local communities. And three, it will build a base of support with local legislators.

This is a great opportunity, and we hope you'll consider submitting a request for your project. Let us know if you do!

(Photo: Steffe)

Communities working together

2009-06-03T14:01:00.006-05:00

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, NY. Canada came to Minnesota to speak at the Minnesota Meeting, hosted by the Minneapolis Foundation. Over 1,000 people attended and gave Mr. Canada a standing ovation. The event was covered in numerous local media including MinnPost, HomeTown Source and Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Following the luncheon, Mr. Canada addressed a special hearing of the House Education Policy committee who were joined by other interested members of the House and Senate.

What I found most inspiring is how a community can come together to make a difference in closing the achievement gap.

The HCZ is a non-profit organizing located in a 100-block section of Harlem, NY that is committed to educating all children, providing social-service and community building programs and breaking the cycle of poverty for families. It has been heralded as a model for education and community building by President Obama and has appeared on numerous national news programs.

The principles Mr. Canada bases his program upon are:

Begin Early
Provide continuous, high quality programming throughout the child’s educational experience
Engage and empower parents
Redesign schools with the success of each child in mind
Build communities that support children and their learning
Use clear and timely evaluation methods

Of course, Ready 4 K knows that beginning early is one of the keys to educational success. The HCZ takes it further to provide high quality educational opportunities and a supportive community all the way until the child graduates from college.

What’s happening in Minnesota (Northside Achievement Zone)

Inspired by a visit to the Harlem Children’s Zone in 2007, leaders in Minneapolis are creating the Northside Achievement Zone. The mission of NAZ:

“Resources and opportunities will be aligned in The Zone to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all children (birth to 18 years) to promote educational achievement and life success.”

Projects that NAZ is working on include creating a NAZ-tested Seal of Approval for organizations providing high quality programs and collaboration in the Zone, establishing From the Northside to the Campus to prepare kids for success in college and life, and On the Block where neighbors will work together to support youth achievement.

500 under 5, a project working to reach 500 children under aged 5 and their families on the Northside and engage them in early learning opportunities, is part of NAZ.

The Harlem Children’s Zone is an incredible project and Geoffrey Canada brought great enthusiasm to Minnesota. Building on the lessons learned by NAZ on the Northside, we can work together to create a state where all children succeed and supported by their communities.

What's in Store for QRS in Minnesota?

2009-05-27T09:31:00.008-05:00

Following the allocation of new federal money this legislative session for Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating System pilot, it’s important to have a sense of the issues that have risen as this new system is implemented and evaluated. Particularly useful will be lessons from other states that have launched statewide systems, as well as states that, like Minnesota, are piloting QRSs or are in the development stages of a QRS.

A recent Child Trends issue brief entitled “Issues for the Next Decade of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems” takes a look at what other states have learned, and identifies new research areas about QRS. In many ways, Minnesota is well-poised to benefit from past research, and in fact, the evaluation of our QRS already underway is taking these points into account. Child Trends is a non-profit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development, and prepared the brief in conjunction with the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) at the Administration of Children and Families.

For example, the brief notes that new observation tools are needed to determine positive outcomes based on children’s experiences and environments, and to this end, Minnesota is an example of a state using multiple tools to address this. Also, some states have not included parents in the design and planning of their rating systems, and the brief highlights Minnesota as one state that has been intentional about gathering feedback from parents.

I’d encourage anyone interested in gaining a better grasp on the national scene related to QRS to take a few minutes to read the brief. Minnesota is mentioned throughout, and as we move forward with our QRS, its great to be able to learn from other states—and hopefully influence future work around the country.

End of Session Report

2009-05-19T11:27:00.002-05:00

Today at the Capitol, the 2009 Legislative Session wrapped-up without fully addressing the $6.4 billion dollar deficit. With no agreement between the DFL-controlled Legislature and the Republican Governor on how to solve the deficit, the Legislature adjourned at midnight, leaving the budget a few billion out of balance. The DFL made a last ditch attempt to solve it by sending the Governor a bill to shift K-12 payments and increase taxes shortly before adjourning. Should the governor not sign the bill, he has pledged to make more line-item vetoes and use unallotment come July 1, as was reported on Friday.

Since last week's update, the Governor signed the E-12 Education bill, leaving intact all of the early childhood provisions. But we can no longer claim zero cuts to early childhood this year, as the Governor line-item vetoed several items when he signed major omnibus spending bills. Specifically:

He signed the Higher Ed bill, but line-item vetoed all state funding for TEACH early childhood provider scholarships. ($500,000)
He signed the Bonding bill, but line-item vetoed $85 million worth of projects, including $2 million for Early Childhood Facility Grants.

A more complete update and summary will be sent out in the coming days. Until then, please check out our bill tracker. We'll also be monitoring the Governor's unallotment process and keep you up to date on any actions involving early care and education programs.

Thank you for your continued support this session. Despite the small cuts at the end of the day, we can all be proud of the work we did to keep them to a minimum this year. Be sure to thank your legislators for their support of our youngest Minnesotans.

Capitol update for May 8, 2009

2009-05-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

This week at the Capitol looks a lot like last week at the Capitol. In fact, last week's update wouldn't be entirely inappropriate to just re-send. Both the Education and Health and Human Conference Committees continue to meet irregularly, making it difficult for those following the committees to, well, follow them.

On a broader sense, DFLers continue to try to get the Governor to accept revenue increases, sending him their first bill of the year to increase taxes to pay for Education, Health Care and Long Term Care, which the Governor promptly and expectedly vetoed. To this point, consider joining Invest in Minnesota's Rally Monday, May 11 at Noon. Invest in Minnesota's non-profit, faith and labor communities will gather at the State Capitol Rotunda for a rally that demonstrates organizational and citizen commitment to raising revenues fairly to maintain adequate funding for jobs, dignity, and public services that meet essential needs in communities.

As was mentioned last week, some early care and education organizations submitted memos to conference committee members out lining our priorities. The memos can be found here.

Here are some other links to useful information:

Ready 4 K omnibus bill tracker (updated and organized by conference committee now)

Legislative side-by-side of bills

Article 6 of the education bills—early childhood side-by-side

Article 2 of the human services bills—child care side-by-side (article 13 includes federal stimulus dollar spending, and is not posted on-line yet)

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Please check the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date schedule information.

The end is near...

2009-05-06T12:33:00.003-05:00

Signaling the legislative session is coming to an end, conference committees have been meeting at the capitol this week. They are going over omnibus bills effecting early childhood education and a host of other issues as they work to resolve our state's budget $6billion deficit. Ready 4 K, along with our allies, has issued memos to conference committee members on the E-12 Education Conference Committee, the Health and Human Services Conference Committee, the Higher Education Conference Committee and the Conference Committee on Taxes. The memos outline priorities and provisions we hope to see, and they are posted on the Public Policy section of our website. Also, you can see a side by side comparison of the early childhood pieces of the bills being discussed in committee on our Omnibus Bill Tracker.

While our representatives are going through the final negotiations on omnibus bills, it is important that we show them our support and gratitude for making early childhood a top priority. In the face of the deficit, neither the House or Senate has proposed cuts to early care and education programs, a sign of a strong commitment to our youngest Minnesotans.

Please call and thank our leaders, Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller for all of their hard work on behalf of our youngest citizens! Also, encourage them to maintain their commitment to Minnesota’s young children as the session concludes.

Capitol update for May 1, 2009

2009-05-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol began in earnest the conference committee process, as all the major conference committees began going section by section through the budget bills, adopting some same and similar language, and hearing testimony on a few provisions. Sitting in a Capitol hearing room on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May is an important part of the process!

There is not much specific activity to report. In the Education conference committee, some discussion has occurred about both the QRS and the proposed changes to School Readiness. Expect the committee to take action on some of the early childhood provisions on Monday.

Finally, some early care and education organizations are submitting memos to conference committee members, outlining our priorities. As these are completed, they will be posted in the Public Policy section of our website.

Here are some other links to useful information:

Ready 4 K omnibus bill tracker (updated and organized by conference committee now)

Legislative side-by-side of bills

Article 6 of the education bills—early childhood side-by-side

Article 2 of the human services bills—child care side-by-side (article 13 includes federal stimulus dollar spending, and is not posted on-line yet)

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Conference committees are expected to meet often and late throughout the week, as the final deadline of Thursday, May 7 approaches. Their work is of course dependent on leadership and the Governor reaching consensus on budget targets, which is not a foregone conclusion at this point. Please check the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date schedule information.

What you can do
Visit the Capitol to see the action up close. You can always stop by your legislators' office or send them a note on the House or Senate floor. For information on the state legislature, including directions to the State Capitol and State Office Building, visit the Legislature's website.

Capitol Update April 24

2009-04-26T09:10:00.004-05:00

This week at the Capitol, the two major activities to note are the passage of the House Omnibus Early Childhood bill, and the release of the Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill.

On Thursday, the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill passed the full House on an 84-47 vote, largely the same as it left committee. Going forward, the child care articles will be conferenced with the Health and Human Services bill, and the early education articles with the Education bill. Expect those conference committees to begin next week.

Read the Pioneer Press article about the bill here.

Rumors were flying all week as to the release date of Sen. Berglin’s Omnibus Health and Human Services bill. It finally was released on Friday, and rejects most of the Governor’s cuts to child care. While the bill does use the unallocated funds in Basic Sliding Fee to help solve the budget deficit, it rejects harmful cuts to the integrity of child care assistance, specifically, it does not include the an increase in parent co-pays or a decrease in provider reimbursement rates. With regards to the federal stimulus dollars, the bill specifies that the quality set aside dollars must be used to continue the Family, Friend and Neighbor grant program, continue the Parent Aware quality rating system, and fund quality improvements to help providers get ready for the rating system. The remaining $22.6 million is used to buy down the increased caseload in MFIP child care. Going forward, we will continue to advocate for continuing the School Readiness Connection pilot.

Be sure to thank Sen. Berglin for her commitment to child care!

Check out our omnibus bill tracker, updated with the proposals included in the Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill.

Capitol update for April 17, 2009

2009-04-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol saw further movement of various omnibus bills, including three separate hearings of the House Omnibus Early Childhood bill.

On Tuesday, the House Early Childhood Committee took up its omnibus bill, at which point members had an opportunity to offer amendments. The most noteworthy one deleted the requirement that School Readiness programs serve children for a minimum of 12 hours a week, despite the lack of new funding. It passed unanimously. Other adopted amendments included a provision making it easier for Head Start programs to serve homeless children and their families, clarifying that the QRS is voluntary, and adjusting the uses of the federal stimulus dollars. Amendments to eliminate the Office of Early Learning and the QRS from the bill were defeated. The bill passed out of the committee, had quick stops in Finance and Taxes by week’s end, and will be heard in Ways and Means next week before being voted on by the full House.

The other omnibus bills we’re tracking—the Higher Education Omnibus bill, which contains funding for TEACH scholarships and child care assistance grants for college students, and the Public Health and Housing Omnibus bill, which contains funding for Family Home Visiting—also continued moving through the process. Funding for home visiting is currently untouched in the House bill, however, early childhood funding in the House Higher Education bill is being adjusted. The base funding for TEACH scholarships is eliminated, and replaced with one-time funding, but increased in the current biennium from $500,000 to $600,000. Additionally, funding for the higher ed child care assistance grants is increased by $982,000 in the biennium. The Senate leaves the funding at current levels.

The Senate Omnibus Health and Human Services bill has yet to be released.

For a more detailed analysis and comparison of the various omnibus bills, see our new omnibus bill tracker. (Note: this will replace the overall bill tracking going forward.)

Week of the Young Child 2009: April 19-25

2009-04-15T11:11:00.009-05:00

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

Here are a few descriptions of recent WOYC events in communities around the country:

"We held a Family Writing Workshop where parents were invited to create a book with their children. A book-writing kit was provided, and children and parents shared their books at a show and tell. The books are now part of our library collection."

"We displayed children's artwork throughout the center and made a DVD slide show of the children. Monday was Parent Appreciation Day, where parents were served light refreshments and received a card from their child. Tuesday was Hat Day. Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation Day, with a pot luck lunch for staff. It was also Beach Party Day. Thursday was Inside Out Day and Friday we had an ice cream social."

"Our city granted us a permit to hold a parade and children's fair celebrating young children. There were over 500 children who paraded down the main street in decorated wagons, tricycles, or on foot. They marched with their child care providers or early childhood teachers. The free fair had booths representing all of the early childhood agencies and other services and also childcare providers."

"A group of parents and children marched to City Hall. The mayor joined us and read a proclamation adopted by our City Council about the Week of the Young Child. Additionally, we held a press conference sharing information about the importance of quality early care and education."

For more ideas and information, visit the NAEYC website.

Capitol update for April 10, 2009

2009-04-13T12:52:00.001-05:00

The House Early Childhood Committee released their Omnibus Early Childhood Bill on Tuesday, and took public testimony on it. Ready 4 K Policy and Civic Engagement Director Karen Kingsley testified in support of it, especially the portions of it which effectively begin laying out an early childhood system. However, she did raise concerns about the proposed requirement that School Readiness programs serve children for a minimum of 12 hours a week without additional resources, and that the director of the Office of Early Learning is not a part of the Governor's cabinet, which we think he or she should be.

The bill was laid over, and next Tuesday members of committee will have a chance to offer amendments to the bill before passing it out. It should be noted that Rep. Paul Rosenthal, Vice-Chair of the committee, is working with community members to come up with some new language on the School Readiness 12 hour provision, and we can expect to see that on Tuesday. He is well aware of the concerns that have been raised about the requirement and is working to figure out a good way to proceed.

On Tuesday, the Senate Omnibus E-12 Education bill passed the full Senate, and contains mostly the same provisions as we reported on last week. (It also includes the 12 hour provision, but since it has already passed out of the Senate, the best place to influence the process at this point is the amendment Rep. Rosenthal is drafting and then in the conference committee process.)

Both the House and the Senate have passed their bonding bills, which both include $2 million for early childhood facilities. Conference committee members have been named, and the first meeting is scheduled for next week. Senate conferees include Sen. Keith Langseth (chair), Sen. Tomassoni, Sen. Lynch, Sen. Sieben and Sen. Day; and House conferees include Rep. Hausman (chair), Rep. Scalze, Rep. Wagenius, Rep. Rukavina and Rep. Howes

To track the omnibus bills, please see our updated mid-session bill tracking document.

Capitol update for April 3, 2009

2009-04-09T12:51:00.001-05:00

This week at the Capitol, committees packed their schedules in preparation for the coming spring break, beginning on Tuesday, April 7 at midnight. The delay in this week’s update was due to the detailed analysis of the budget, included below!

Of most interest to early childhood advocates was the release of the Senate Omnibus Education Bill on Wednesday, which included a comprehensive package of policy changes, as reported in last week’s update, as well as $14 million in spending.

Not only did the Senate not include any cuts to early childhood on the education side of the ledger, but, under Sen. Tarryl Clark’s leadership, the Senate also recommended continuing the Pre-k Allowances pilot project for another year, expanding the Allowances into several other areas of the state in FY 2011, and also adding them to the base budget beginning in the same year. In conjunction with the Allowances, $500,000 was included in the next biennium for the Parent Aware quality rating system, plus $1 million each additional year going forward. The final bill passed out of the Senate E-12 Education Budget Division on Thursday, was heard and passed out of full Finance on Friday, will be heard in Taxes on Monday, and hopefully pass the full Senate prior to the break. Whew!

Switching to the human services side of things in the Senate, Sen. Berglin is not expected to release her budget prior to the break. While child care has typically not fared as well in the Senate, this year the federal stimulus dollars may help reverse this trend to some degree. On Thursday, representatives of Child Care WORKS, the Minnesota Child Care Association, and the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network testified before the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division in support of legislation to direct the $26 million in child care development fund dollars included in the federal stimulus package. Along with our allies, we are recommending using the $3.4 million in required quality set aside dollars to continue the Family, Friend and Neighbor grant program, fund Parent Aware, and fund provider training in preparation for a statewide QRS. The bill also specifies that the remaining $22.6 million should be spent to increase provider reimbursement rates, eliminate the basic sliding fee waiting list, and continue the School Readiness Connections pilot. It was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

Over in the House, Rep. Nora Slawik’s committee heard the House companion to the federal stimulus bill, several bills related to child care licensing, and Ready 4 K lobbyist Eric Haugee testified in support of legislation charging the Early Childhood Advisory Council to conduct a comprehensive inventory of early care and education program funding and usage. Both it and its Senate companion passed their committees, and are waiting for votes on their respective floors.

Coming Up @ the Capitol

Like springtime in Minnesota, expect a somewhat unpredictable week. Will is rain? Will it snow? Maybe the sun will come out? While you should check out the legislative schedule pages for up-to-date hearings, the following items are currently scheduled.

What you can do

Visit the Capitol to see the action up close. You can always stop by your legislators' office or send them a note on the House or Senate floor. For information on the state legislature, including directions to the State Capitol and State Office Building, visit the Legislature's website.

Voices for Children Advocacy Day brings energy to the capitol!

2009-04-01T11:03:00.022-05:00

On March 19, more than 800 children, parents and early care and education providers gathered at the Capitol to raise their voices for our children! During the rally in the capitol rotunda, Rep. Nora Slawik, Rep. Sandy Peterson, and Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher spoke to the enthusiastic crowd showing their support for Minnesota’s children. Sarah Caruso, president of the Minnesota Children’s Museum and chair of the Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council and Todd Otis, president of Ready 4 K also spoke. Parents of children in early childhood programs across the state gave testimonials about their wonderful experiences with the programs their families have benefited from. The Teddy Bear Band gave a special performance, bringing even more energy to the event. The kids were so excited they couldn’t stop cheering!

Children filled the Great Hall throughout the morning enjoying all sorts of fun activities.

Included in the activities were hilarious stories from the St. Paul Public Library, songs by musicians from the MacPhail Center for Music, necklace-making stations from Lakeshore Learning, and exciting games from the Minnesota Children’s Museum. The kids got crafty making flowers to give to our representatives. Colorful posters with their work were created with the message “Plant the Seeds: Help Children Bloom." The messages were hand delivered by the children to the Speaker of the House.

The day ended with great news for the world of early childhood. The Speaker of the House announced that the House majority caucus has made a commitment to investing in early childhood care and education!

Capitol update for March 20, 2009

2009-03-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

This week at the Capitol, little happened in terms of early childhood care and education legislation moving through the system. But that doesn’t mean that the week wasn’t crammed with happenings about early childhood!

Governor’s Supplemental Budget

To account for the growing budget deficit as announced earlier this month and the infusion of federal stimulus dollars into the state coffers, the Governor revised parts of his budget this week. The only change to early childhood is a delay in the CCAP rate cuts and copay increases to Oct. 1, 2010. (His previous budget had CCAP cuts beginning in July 2009.)

Voices for Children Day

Thursday was Voices for Children Day at the Capitol. Over 800 children, parents and providers showed up and raised their voices for children! Sarah Caruso, president of the Minnesota Children’s Museum and chair of the Governor's Early Childhood Advisory Council spoke, representatives from ECFE, Head Start, school-based programs and child care gave rallying speeches, and Rep. Sandy Peterson, Rep. Nora Slawik, and Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher all spoke to the crowd. Thanks to all who attended, met with their legislators, and kept the issue in front of their legislators. We couldn’t have done it without you. Photos of the event will be posted at the Ready 4 K and Voices websites for photos from the event.

House Targets

Ready 4 K and our allies have been working very hard to ensure that early care and education is a top priority for legislators as they set their budget targets….and it paid off. Right on the heels of Voices for Children, the leadership of the House DFL (Speaker Kelliher and Majority Leader Tony Sertich) announced that education, including early childhood, would be spared from any cuts by the House. This is a tremendous victory given the daunting budget deficit, and is a recognition by legislators of the high return on investment the state gets when it invests in quality early learning.

In other happenings, we remain concerned about the use of unallocated funds in Basic Sliding Fee child care. This week, the Senate HHS Finance Committee proposed using a portion of the funds to fill a hole in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. We will continue to work with committee chair Sen. Berglin to find a long-term solution to the distribution of the BSF funds.

Next week's schedule will be a bit hard to predict, with committees jamming their agendas as the first bill deadline approaches on Thursday. Hearings may be long, go in and out of recess often, and be announced at the last minute. If you are interested in a particular bill, check out the Ready 4 K bill tracker.

Capitol update for March 13, 2009

2009-03-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

This week at the Capitol, the pace really picked up, as March 27, the first legislative deadline (for committees to act favorably on bills in their house of origin) appeared in sight. With hearings on two more of the Ready 4 K-supported bills, all of the Ready 4 K bills have met the first deadline!

The week kicked off with the House Early Childhood Committee hearing the Governor’s budget and policy bills, which could be amended when the Governor’s budget comes out. While the governor recommends increasing the duration and intensity required in School Readiness programs, a laudable goal to be sure, it comes without new funding, meaning many programs would have to shutter their doors. As Tom Holton, Community Education Director at Bloomington/Richfield schools, testified, some time in a pre-kindergarten classroom is better than none. Rep. Nora Slawik, author of the bill, pledged to continue working on the bill.

Wednesday, the Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee heard the bill to create an Office of Early Learning. Ready 4 K Director of Policy and Civic Engagement Karen Kingsley testified in support of the bill, which was amended to stream line and simplify the language. It passed with little questioning, was re-referred to Finance, and will eventually make its way to the Education Committee. The House companion bill was also heard this week in the House Early Childhood Committee. Rob Grunewald from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank gave an overview of what other states are doing, and Zoe Nicholie, Early Childhood Systems Specialist at Ready 4 K, also testified in support of the bill. It was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

The Early Childhood Facilities Bonding Bill, which Ready 4 K is actively supporting, was also heard at this hearing. As you may remember, last year the Governor line-item vetoed $2 million that the Legislature had included for this project. Nedra Sims Fears from First Children’s Finance testified to the economic importance of early childhood bonding, and two past recipients of the funding talked about their projects. The bill, with $3 million for early childhood facilities, was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. The Senate this week released their omnibus bonding bill, which includes $2 million for this project.

At the same hearing, a bill to increase child care provider rates and eliminate the Basic Sliding Fee child care waiting list was heard, and laid over for possible inclusion

Most legislators, lobbyists and the press corps spend lots of time right about now discussing spending targets in the House and Senate. These decisions will determine the level of funding (or cuts this year) that each budget committee has to make. On Friday the Senate released it’s proposal, recommending across the board cuts of 7%. This means $973 million from E-12 Education, and $719 million from Health and Human Services. Expect the House to release their targets by the end of the week, as well as the possible release of the Governor’s supplemental budget.

Ready 4 K at the Capitol

2009-03-06T16:37:00.001-06:00

This Week @ the Capitol

This week at the Capitol provided more direction for the legislative session, as the February Forecast was released on Tuesday. It showed that the total state budget deficit has grown by nearly $2 billion—25%—since the last forecast was released in November, totaling $6.4 billion for the next two-year budget cycle. A portion of the federal stimulus funds recently approved by Congress will be available to help solve the deficit, which brings the remaining shortfall to about $4.8 billion. More information on the forecast is available at the Minnesota Management and Budget Department.

The Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division heard testimony on the budget forecast, and how it relates to Health and Human Services. Senator Linda Berglin, chair of the committee, asked specifically about the unallocated Basic Sliding Fee funds—inaccurately referring to it as a “surplus”—and whether it made sense to tie child care to MFIP growth in this economy. Ready 4 K and our allies will be working to help clarify that the “surplus” funds are not that, but represent under-spent funds by counties due to the difficulty of predicting child care use throughout the year, and should be used to serve families and children—not balance the state budget.

Tuesday also saw more bills making their way through the process, as the House Early Childhood Committee moved legislation to fund the Minnesota Reading Corps program and Words Work for early literacy. Both bills were referred to the House K-12 Division. The committee also heard testimony about the wonderful work that the St. Paul Public Schools and Resources for Child Caring are doing with Project Early Kindergarten, and some testimony from child care providers about ParentAware.

In the same committee on Thursday, a bill to fund after school programs was heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. Also, you may remember that last week the bill to continue the three early childhood pilot programs was tabled. At this hearing it was removed from the table and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.

To track this and other legislation, check out the Ready 4 K bill tracker.

This week as well, Dr. Bruce Perry, a nationally recognized expert on childhood trauma, visited Minnesota. He spoke at two legislative committees about the effects of and solutions to early childhood trauma. Visit childtrauma.org to learn more.

Federal Stimulus

Ready 4 K continues to provide analysis about the federal stimulus package. We are working with our allies to offer suggestions about potential uses for the funds, and have created a webpage to help do that.

What you can do

Early childhood in the Federal Stimulus package

2009-02-17T14:56:00.002-06:00

Now signed into law, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has a lot of expectations riding on it. The good news is that early childhood programs are recognized as part of the package. A quick summary from the National Women's Law Center gives the basics (link to summary):

The Act will help low-income parents obtain the child care they need to get and keep jobs and help children get the early learning they need to succeed by providing:

$2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, with the entire amount available upon enactment. Of this total, $255.2 million is reserved for quality improvement activities, of which $93.587 million is targeted to improve infant and toddler care.
$1 billion for Head Start, allocated according to the current statutory formula, and $1.1 billion for Early Head Start, to be awarded on a competitive basis.
$2.33 billion for Department of Defense facilities, including quality of life and family-friendly military improvement projects such as family housing, hospitals, and child care centers.
$13 billion for Title I grants for education programs for disadvantaged children, including early childhood programs and activities.
$11.7 billion to local education agencies for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs for children ages 3 to 21, including $400 million for preschool grants (section 619) programs.
$500 million for formula grants under IDEA Part C to help states serve children with disabilities and special needs age 2 and younger.

Advocates at Early Ed Watch have put together a more comprehensive summary here.

While we are still waiting to learn how exactly the dollars will flow to Minnesota, it is good news for our elected officials to recognize early care and education as part of keeping America on track and building for a sustainable future. Children don't stop learning just because the economy is bad and many more families will face challenges that can hinder a child's ability to be ready to learn at the start of school.

Stay tuned as we learn more about the stimulus plan and how it will impact Minnesota's state budget.

photo by Tracy O

Four easy things to support young children

2009-01-21T10:43:00.003-06:00

There are many challenges facing our state and our nation today, including a significant state budget deficit that must be resolved by June. As our new President told us in his inauguration speech, we must all work together in order to meet these challenges. To help Minnesota move through this time of budget deficits and changing priorities, it is important that we all take part in advocating for our youngest Minnesotans. Legislators need to hear from each of us that we value prioritizing our state dollars and investing in programs that help children be ready to learn when they start kindergarten. We know that this is the best economic and educational investment that we can make. It’s important that legislators know that, too.

So, here are four things you can do to make a difference for our youngest Minnesotans:

1. Know your legislators

If you don’t know who represents you, visit the District Finder and get contact information for your legislators.

2. Download and use Ready 4 K's advocacy toolkit

Ready 4 K has a variety of resources for learning how to communicate with elected officials. We have an advocacy toolkit available for download that includes how to write a letter, make a phone call, or set up a visit with your legislators.

3. Sign up for Ready 4 K Action Alerts

Ready 4 K also sends out Action Alerts during the legislative session giving specific messages and timely actions to take with your policy makers. Sign up to be part of our Action Alert network here.

4. Spread the word

Tell your friends and neighbors that now, more than ever, elected officials need to hear from us. Take a moment and write a quick note to your legislators. Thank them for the work they are doing serving our state and encourage them to continue to make early care and education a top funding priority.

photo by a.drian

Reading, Writing and Hungry

2008-12-23T15:12:00.004-06:00

A new report by the Partnership for America's Economic Success highlights the importance of food security and nutrition for early learning; Reading, Writing and Hungry: the consequences of food insecurity on children, and on our nation's economic success.

From the summary:

Food insecurity during a child’s earliest years can cause potentially significant physical, mental and psychological damage to the individual. Furthermore, the impact on the successful healthy development of these children has long-lasting negative implications for the national economy. Food insecurity imposes indirect costs in a variety of ways. For example:

Food insecurity increases the likelihood that a child will be judged to need special educational services; children who are not only food insecure but are classified as hungry are twice as likely as those who are not hungry to be receiving special education services. By the third grade, children who were food insecure in kindergarten experienced a 13 percent drop in their baseline reading and math test scores, compared to their food-secure peers.
Children whose families experienced food insecurity while the child was a toddler are 3.4 times more likely to be obese at age 4 ½, which itself carries a number of costly health outcomes.
Food insecurity impairs proper physical growth and development in young children and creates pathways for poor health. Poor health limits children’s ability to grow and learn, thus reducing adult earnings and increasing adult health costs.

Research shows that prevention is cost-effective and federal nutrition programs that mitigate early childhood food insecurity, such as WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) and the Food Stamp Program, offer far greater returns than many remedial programs. For example, WIC saves between $1.77 and $3.13 in Medicaid costs for each dollar spent, and every five dollars of food stamps benefits creates nearly double that amount in local economic activity. Investment in alleviating early childhood food insecurity helps family budgets today, and it is one important factor in creating the workforce we need for the future.

Check out the brief and learn more at www.PartnershipforSuccess.org.

Have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic new year!

Other media reaction to the Minnesota budget deficit

2008-12-04T14:14:00.004-06:00

A variety of media outlets are commenting on the newly announced $5.2 billion deficit between now and the end of 2011 (not counting inflation). A few to note:

Dane Smith, president of Growth and Justice, wrote an editorial for the StarTribune: Three fundamental facts for Minnesota, where he questions the notion that small government is best for our economic woes.

The StarTribune also had an editorial, State shouldn't spurn federal aid, criticizes Governor Pawlenty for recent comments indicating unwillingness to take federal money to help the deficit and quotes an economic adviser to John McCain that “extending unemployment insurance benefits, food stamps and aid to state government would be the most effective spurs to economic growth.”

Minnesota Budget Bites is a great resource for understanding the logic behind the deficit numbers.

Long story short, this deficit cannot be fixed by the shell-games of the past. This is a long-term problem that requires a long-term solution. While it is important to examine all options, why not strategically spend in areas what will actually save money down the road? Early care and education is critical to building the foundation for our future.

Ready 4 K Comments on State Budget

2008-12-04T11:09:00.000-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ready 4 K says during poor economy it is the wrong time to dump state’s ‘best earning stock’ – early childhood care and education

St. Paul – With the state facing a major budget shortfall, the governor and legislative leaders have indicated that every spending area is on the table for cuts as they look to solve the state’s budget shortfall. But Ready 4 K President Todd Otis urged state leaders to use a ‘scalpel’ rather than a ‘meat cleaver’ as they move through the budget process.

“A bad economy is exactly the wrong time to dump the best earning stock in your portfolio. If the Governor and legislators want to get Minnesota on the right track, they should continue investing in high quality early childhood education and care.”

Research by economists has shown that the public return on strategic investment in quality early childhood education and care can return up to $12 for every $1 invested. This research also demonstrates that at-risk children who participate in high quality early learning are more likely to graduate from high school, earn higher wages as adults, and are less likely to need remedial education, use public assistance or be involved in crime.

“Minnesotans know the incredible return on investment they receive by investing in quality early care and education, and if there’s one budget area that should be off limits for cuts, it should be early care and education,” Otis continued.

The state faced an over $5 billion deficit in the 2003-04 biennium. Despite accounting for merely one percent of the state budget then, early childhood care and education was cut by sixteen percent. Funding for children in the early childhood area still has not fully recovered from those cuts.

Ready 4 K is a non-partisan non-profit organization, building the foundation for our future through quality early care and education. More information on Ready for K is available at www.ready4k.org.

The challenge of assessing early learning

2008-11-12T12:15:00.002-06:00

As news of a down-turning economy continues to fill the media, early childhood has been brought forward as a solid, long term investment. This has been a key point for Ready 4 K as we move forward in Minnesota to ensure that every child starts kindergarten, supported, encouraged and fully prepared for learning success. Ready 4 K board member Art Rolnick has gained national attention for framing increasing access to quality early care and education as an economic investment.

Like any investment, we need to be sure it is generating the returns we expect. It's a complicated question to answer. Early learning is, of course, about bright, creative and unique individual children, not stock options or 401(k)s. One tool that is used in Minnesota is the Minnesota Kindergarten Readiness Assessment. (View a previous post to learn more about the Assessment and the most recent result.)

Currently, the Assessment is done with only a representative sample of children in Minnesota. Expanding the Assessment for all children has been part of Ready 4 K's legislative agenda in recent years and is still part of a larger vision for creating an early childhood system that supports all children and families.

Minnesota 2020, a nonpartisan think tank, has recently published an article on Assessing an Early Investment. Ready 4 K President Todd Otis and Early Childhood Systems Specialist Zoe Nicholie have much to say in the article about the Assessment and how it should be used.

Creators and supporters of the assessment remain vocal that it should not be viewed as a test.

Todd Otis, President of Ready 4 K, an organization that promotes school readiness initiatives in the state, phrased it this way, "Instead of thinking of it like the SATs, think of it like a check up with your doctor."

Trained teachers observe children's behavior as they participate in regular activities, rather than administer an actual test. The assessment's purpose is to review overall progress, not create specific skill mandates that define passing or failing grades. The MDE is not saying that by the time a child enters kindergarten he/she must be able to recite the alphabet, tie his/her shoe and solve basic arithmetic problems. Instead, the assessment outlines a range of behaviors and skills that demonstrate progress in a variety of areas deemed important for later success.
...........
Otis and his colleague Zoe Nicholie of Ready 4 K warn against mutation of the assessment into a high stakes testing system. The logic of high stakes testing such as that mandated by NCLB is that schools should be held accountable for their test results, and by linking progress to funding levels schools will be more motivated to improve. One of the problems with this logic, however, is that it fails to account for the myriad of outside influences that impact young people's ability to learn and be successful. Health, parental involvement, and early education exposure are only a few of the factors that, according to Nicholie and Otis, influence a child's early development. If assessment results are directly tied to kindergarten or preschool funding, they ignore the complex web of influences shaping children's growth.

It's important that we know how are kids are doing so that we can create early learning opportunities that work best for them. It is also important for communities to understand how well their children are prepared so that the entire community can work together to ensure their success in school and in life.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on how to best determine the success of our early learning investment in the comments below.

photo by FrancoisRoche

Looking for something to do?

2008-11-10T11:36:00.002-06:00

After all the excitement around the election (and then some time to digest all the results), it's time to begin looking ahead and answering the question, "Now what can I do to support young children and their families?" One important thing you can do it be in touch with your newly elected officials.

Write a letter or make a quick phone call to congratulate them, thank them for serving their community in this way and encourage them to make early childhood a top priority. Ready 4 K has a Guide for Policy Makers that outlines why early care and education is an important investment and what Minnesota needs to do about it.

You can find out the results of your local elections by visiting the Minnesota Secretary of State website. For the new members of the Minnesota House, there is a roster of the new membership. (To write a letter to a new House member, look up their name on the roster, use the room number listed and complete the address for the State Office Building in St Paul, MN. For example, Room xxx State Office Building, St Paul, MN 55155-1298. For newly elected members without room numbers, simply send your letter to the State Office Building.)

The most effective advocates are those who develop a personal relationship with their elected officials. It's never too early or too late to start building that relationship. It's important to keep open and respectful communication with our leaders. Remember, advocacy is a marathon and not a sprint. Keep it up and over time we will continue to see policies made that benefit our youngest citizens.

It's almost time!

2008-10-31T13:56:00.002-05:00

The big day is fast approaching. That's right... election day 2008! Over the past couple of months, we've outlined the early childhood policy positions of the presidential candidates and encouraged you to get to know your own local candidates. But soon, all the talk will be over.

First, the most important thing is to vote on November 4. If you live in Minnesota and don't know where to vote, check out the polling place finder. If you want to know who will be on your ballot, the League of Women Voters has a tool to help you find out.

If you haven't registered yet, don't worry! In Minnesota we have same-day voter registration. You just need to go to your polling place on election day and provide proof of residence. Just just need to provide one of the following as proof (from the Secretary of State website):

A valid Minnesota driver’s license, learner’s permit, Minnesota ID card, or receipt for any of these
A valid student ID card including your photo, if your college has provided a student housing list to election officials
A Tribal ID card that contains your picture and signature
A valid registration in the same precinct under a different name or address
A notice of late registration sent to you by your county auditor or city clerk
A voter registered in the same precinct as you who can confirm your address with a signed oath
An employee of the residential facility where you live who can confirm your address with a signed oath

Alternatively, you may provide both 1) a photo ID from the list below, and 2) a current bill with your current name and address in the precinct.

Photo IDs (may be expired)	Bills (delivered electronically or by mail)
Minnesota Driver's License Minnesota ID Card United States Passport United States Military ID Card Tribal ID Card Minnesota University, College, or Technical College ID Card	Utility bill due within 30 days of election day: Telephone (landline, cell, VOIP, etc.) TV (cable, satellite, etc.) Internet services Electric Gas Solid Waste Sewer Services Water Rent statement dated within 30 days of election day that itemizes utilities Current student fee statement

If you have problems getting to, registering or voting at the polls, call the non-partisan Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Second, help us Get Out the Vote! Ready 4 K is part of the Election Day Community Coalition to do voter turn out in North Minneapolis. We will have three four-hour volunteer shifts from 8am-12pm, 12pm-4pm, and 4pm-8pm. Volunteer activities include phoning, door knocking, giving rides to the polls, and being poll watchers. No experience necessary. Contact Kat for more information.

This is such an exciting time for our community and our country. Join us in this historic occasion and VOTE!

photo by Vaguely Artistic via flickr

Early Childhood gains national attention

2008-10-17T15:25:00.002-05:00

If you missed the final presidential debate, early childhood and education received attention in the final question. Here is the transcript of that portion of the debate.

Question: The question is this: the U.S. spends more per capita than any other country on education. Yet, by every international measurement, in math and science competence, from kindergarten through the 12th grade, we trail most of the countries of the world.

The implications of this are clearly obvious. Some even say it poses a threat to our national security.

Do you feel that way and what do you intend to do about it?

Question: Do you think the federal government should play a larger role in the schools? And I mean, more federal money?

The election is fast approaching. Check back soon for nonpartisan volunteer opportunities to Get out the Vote in Minnesota.

A picture of quality early childhood

2008-10-09T15:55:00.002-05:00

Around Ready 4 K, we spend a lot of time talking about quality early care and education. One of our four principles is Promote Quality (the others are Support Parents, Increase Access, and Produce Results). Sometimes it's difficult for people who do not work with young children to envision what exactly does high quality early education look like. The following video by our friends at Pre-K Now demonstrates a high quality pre-k classroom and how it benefits all the kids who participate. Join us as we work to build the foundation for our future through quality early care and education.

Help set the Record!

2008-10-01T10:56:00.003-05:00

Join Ready 4 K Thursday as we help the nationwide effort to “Read for the Record.”

Read for the Record, sponsored by Jumpstart, aims to bring attention to early care and education and increase awareness of the importance of reading.

Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren and Ready 4 K Executive Director Todd Otis will read “Corduroy” to children at New Horizon Academy (401 Robert Street, St. Paul) on Thursday, October 2^nd at 11:30am. “Read for the Record” will be trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records mark for the highest number of people reading the same book in a day.

"Having a regular story time with parents and children provides a fun and effective way to develop language skills in little children,” notes Otis. “Those language skills will lead to the ability to read, the single most important building block for later school success. That is why Ready 4 K supports ‘Read for the Record.’”

If you would like to join in and register your own efforts to "Read for the Record", visit www.readfortherecord.org.

Get to know your candidates

2008-09-19T12:42:00.002-05:00

If you haven't noticed, election season is upon us. Now is a great time to engage your candidates and tell them to make early care and education a top priority. One way to get to know your candidates is to hold a candidate coffee. This informal gathering is a job interview for who you will hire to represent you. (We pay their salaries, so we're the bosses.) You can find out where the candidates stand on the issues that are important to you. It is also an excellent opportunity to educate candidates so that whoever is elected will start their job one day one knowing what is important to you.

A candidate coffee is simple. You can read our Holding a Candidate Coffee tips page in the Advocacy Resources section of our website.

Keep the group small and the setting casual. The goal is to have an open conversation, not a political speech. The group should be made up of constituents of the district. Candidates like to talk directly to the people they will be representing and it is the citizens of the district who will be making their choice.

In the last election cycle, I attended a candidate coffee in the home of one of our advocates. The advocate invited some of his neighbors who also had young children. About eight of us were there and we chatted ahead of time to figure out what questions we wanted to ask and what issues to discuss. We had treats and other refreshments to share. Candidates from both major parties were invited to come visit with the group at separate times. One candidate came first and the group talked with the him for about 45 minutes. The second candidate arrived and the group had a similar conversation with that candidate for about the same amount of time. Before each candidate left, the group provided information and materials on early care and education as well as their contact information in case the candidate had any additional questions.

The candidate coffee was interesting and informative for all who attended. We were able to hear directly from the candidates and move away from scripted speeches. The candidates were able to engage constituents and begin building relationships with early childhood advocates in their district.

View the Holding a Candidate Coffee page for more details on how the steps for setting up a candidate coffee and sample questions. If you would like to hold a candidate coffee in your Minnesota house district, contact Ready 4 K and we will work with you to set one up.

Stepping up for quality preschool

2008-09-05T13:24:00.004-05:00

Recently, the Wall Street Journal printed an opinion piece by Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell titled Protect our Kids from Preschool. The article took the position that early childhood education is not a good investment and can even be harmful to children. There are a number of inaccuracies in the piece that are pointed out in responses by Early Ed Watch, NIEER, Pre-K Now and others in the Journal. It is disappointing that the nation’s premier financial journal would allow such inaccuracies to be printed and to negate the strong investment that is early care and education.

Steven Barnett of NIEER and David Kirp from UC Berkeley had a counter piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, The War Against Preschool. They offer a strong point and counterpoint to the Dalmia/Snell article.

In a time of economic downturn, investing in the first five years of children’s lives is the smartest thing that we can do. Economists and policy analysts including Art Rolnick and Robert Reich agree that early investments are a key strategy to shoring up our long-term economic standing. As the election season kicks into the highest gear, it’s time to remind our candidates that strong early investments are the first step for our future.

photo by merebearlandon

Hopping on that school bus: Kindergarten transitions

2008-08-22T11:23:00.003-05:00

The state fair has begun and I think I saw some yellow leaves on some trees today. The start of school is right around the corner. This time of transition can be stressful for children and parents alike. For young children, starting kindergarten is a significant time of transition and change; new setting, new schedule, new classmates, new teachers, new expectations. It's a lot! There are some great resources online for kindergarten transition, such as Terrific Transitions. Even for younger children, starting preschool or a new child care setting is just as stressful. It's not too early to start thinking about kindergarten, even with your preschooler.

Some tips from Terrific Transitions:

The week before…

• Get the supplies requested by the school (book bag, crayons, glue, nap mat or towel, etc.)

• Label all personal items with your child’s name in permanent ink (clothing, lunch box, book bag, nap mat or towel, etc.)

• Discuss plans for drop-off and pick-up in detail with your child. (If possible, do a “practice run” prior to the first day.)

• Take to the school nurse or office any prescription medicine that must be administered during the day.

• Plan a separation routine. If possible, include your child’s teacher or carpool partner in the routine. Select a series of steps that you will take every day. (Child puts belongings away, parent describes what they will do after school and says goodbye, child goes to her teacher/drive/walking partner and greets them, parent leaves)

• Discuss any fears or questions your child might have. (What if I have to go to the bathroom? What if I forget where you are going to pick me up?)

The night before…

• Review a school-day routine with your child (bath time, bed time, wake time, schoolwork time, etc.) Try and keep a firm bedtime to ensure your child is well rested for the next school day.

• Put lunch money in an envelope with your child’s name and what it is for on the outside. Put the money in a safe place (book bag, secure pocket of tomorrow’s clothes, etc.)

• Help your child select their clothes for the first day. Make sure your child will be dressed appropriately for the weather and the school setting.

The first day…

• Wake up in plenty of time to prepare for school. You don’t want your child to feel rushed on this day. The calmer and more relaxed the morning is, the more comfortable your child will feel with the situation.

• Have your child eat breakfast at home or make sure that she has money and time for breakfast at school.

• Review the drop-off and pick-up procedures with your child.

• Make sure your child knows his full name, address, phone number, and the name and number of an emergency contact. If he does not know this, write it down and put it with his personal belongings.

• Arrive before school starts, but not so early that there is no supervision available.

• Leave your child promptly, with a positive attitude, after you have completed your planned separation routine.

At the end of the first day…

• Greet your child at the planned time and place.

􀂃Ask your child specific questions about her day. If you simply ask, “How was your day?” the response will likely be “Okay.” Instead, ask questions such as, “What was the best thing that happened today?” or “Tell me about some new friends you met today.” etc.

Also, early childhood programs in school districts also have information and resources specific for your district. Find your early childhood program here. In Minnesota, all children need to be screened before entering kindergarten. Schedule a time with your district's early childhood program for your child to be screened.

Good luck!

photo by kevindooley

In the news

2008-08-15T17:21:00.003-05:00

It was a busy week for Parent Aware and the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. Stories appeared in both the StarTribune and the Pioneer Press about the progress Parent Aware is making in helping to connect low income families to quality child care. A great editorial was also published in the StarTribune. The MELF was also highlighted in an article describing the economic investment needed for early care and education.

Expanding Parent Aware, a quality rating system for child care providers, to be state wide is a key piece of Ready 4 K's agenda of helping kids start kindergarten ready for learning success. Stay tuned as we head into the election season for questions to ask candidates on how they plan to get kids ready.

photo by pragmagraphr

Education -"The Biggest Issue"

2008-07-30T07:42:00.002-05:00

In his most recent column, David Brooks from the New York Times outlines the biggest issue facing Americans this election season. No, it is not gas prices, foreclosures or even the war in Iraq. The biggest issue is what he calls the "skills slowdown", that most of the growth in the US has been the result of an investment in human capital through education. But since 1970, the United States has been loosing it's competitive edge when it comes to educating it's citizens.

Indeed, Growth and Justice predicts that Minnesota will soon not have enough college graduates to meet the economic demand and stay competitive. This is a problem not just for the under-educated individuals stuck in low-wage jobs, but for all of us. We will all be affected when there are not enough doctors, teachers or other professionals to go around.

Of course, all this starts with investing in early childhood. As Brooks writes,

...big gaps in educational attainment are present at age 5. Some children are bathed in an atmosphere that promotes human capital development and, increasingly, more are not. By 5, it is possible to predict, with depressing accuracy, who will complete high school and college and who won't.

That is why Ready 4 K is working to promote investments in early childhood care and education. We need to let our elected officials know that this continued under-funding is not acceptable. Will you join us in making early childhood a top priority?

How you can participate in the election process now!

2008-07-24T16:23:00.002-05:00

The election season is starting to heat up. All candidates have filed for office and are ramping up their efforts to get out into their communities. Ready 4 K is planning several summer election activities including candidate forums, informal “candidate coffees”, and distributing early education information materials to candidates and voters.

To help you raise early childhood issues in your local elections, Ready 4 K has developed sample questions for candidates. Keep these questions close to you. When you see your candidates at public events or at your door, be sure to ask:

What is your plan to increase the number of Minnesota children who enter kindergarten fully prepared for learning success?

How will you help parents afford and access high quality early learning experiences for their children?

What will you do to increase the quality of early care and education programs?

How will you support parents in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher?

What will you do to support the professionals who educate our youngest citizens?

In addition to plugging into Ready 4 K’s election activities, here are some more things you can do between now and Election Day on November 4^th:

Find out who is running for legislative office in your district: http://candidates.sos.state.mn.us/

Send a postcard to candidates in your district with a message about making early care and education for young children a top priority

Attend a candidate forum in your community and ask candidates about early care and education issues (use the sample questions above)

Talk with candidates at community events about the need to invest in early care and education (again, use the sample questions)

Volunteer for or donate to the candidate of your choice, and let them know you care about early care and education. (Spending a couple hours door-knocking with a candidate is a great way to bend their ear on early childhood issues.)

Vote in the primary election on September 9^th for candidates who support investments in quality early learning

Vote in the general election on November 4th for candidates who support investments in quality early learning

Contact Kat at Ready 4 K if you have any questions or would like to get involved!

photo by rollerboogie

New Pre-K bill moving forward

2008-07-08T17:10:00.003-05:00

Keeping our eye on federal issues, a bill sponsored by Rep. Hirono (D-HI) is making it's way through Congress. The Providing Resources Early for Kids (PRE-K) Act of 2008 would provide $500 million a year for a grant program to states, tribes, and tribal organizations for improving state-funded pre-k programming.

States must provide a portion of matching funds and set aside 10% for children birth to age 3. The federal resources cannot replace any current funding for pre-k programming. The resources are to first be used to improve the quality of programs, providing such things as increasing the number of teachers with BA degrees in early childhood, improve child-teacher ratios, and increase the hours or days of classroom time.

The bill was approved two weeks ago by the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Our friends at NWLC have a nice summary.

In Minnesota, we do not have a state funded pre-k program. Three and four year olds may participate in School Readiness programs through the public schools. But these programs do not have the resources to meet standards such as the number of hours per week and weeks per year that most other pre-k programs have. According to Dr Arthur Reynolds form the U of MN, currently about 2% of Minnesota 4 year olds participate in School Readiness programs through their school districts.

A growing number of states are implementing pre-k programs and no two are exactly alike. See our chart of state pre-k programs. There are some ideas floating around the Minnesota legislature to implement a similar voluntary program in Minnesota. Stay in touch with Ready 4 K over the coming months and let us know what you think. How would a voluntary pre-k program best fit in Minnesota?

photo by Dazed81

Presidential Views on ECE

2008-07-02T10:17:00.007-05:00

As Independence Day rolls closer, I'm naturally inclined to pay more attention to national politics--as if the presidential race this year won't draw millions of new people into the process anyway. It’s an exciting year to be paying attention too, as Sen. Barack Obama-D and Sen. John McCain-R offer stark differences for voters in their style, policy positions and backgrounds.
Of course, Ready 4 K is interested in what the senators have to say about early childhood issues. Let’s take a look at some snippets from their websites to see how they fare:

Obama outlines his plan for early childhood here, and offered some suggestions in a speech last fall. Obama’s website gives more details as well:

Expand Early Childhood Education: Research shows that half of low-income children start school up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills and that these early achievement gaps continue throughout elementary school. Obama has been a champion of early childhood education since his years in the Illinois legislature….Read more here.
Support Parents with Young Children: Barack Obama would expand programs like the successful Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers….Read more here.

Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: Barack Obama will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses….Read more here.

McCain, on the other hand, sticks to broad generalities in most instances on his website. In the education section of his site, he focuses on the role of parents to choose their chidren's schools:

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.

“Early childhood” is not mentioned on his website.

It is still early in the campaign and this is reflected not only in the candidates own words (or lack there of), but also in the fact that it’s difficult to find a good analysis and comparison of where Obama and McCain stand on the issue.

What do you think? Which candidate has the better approach to early childhood?

Looking for new ways to finance early care and education

2008-06-27T15:47:00.002-05:00

A leader in the field, Louise Stoney from the Alliance on Early Childhood Finance has put forth a new model for thinking about state funding for early childhood programs. Stoney co-authored the paper, Smarter Reform: Moving Beyond Single Program Solutions to an Early Care and Education System and she has great ideas about how to integrate the pre-k movement with the early care and education system. Stoney's ideas have been influential for us at Ready 4 K over the past eight months or so. One key idea is creating a funding structure that integrates direct funding to programs with "portable" dollars that flow directly to families and that the dollars are tied directly to quality standards. We see this framework as a way to integrate the various ideas put forward by the Minnesota legislature. In 2007, the MN House supported investing in the current infrastructure of early learning programs and the Senate put forward creating Pre-K allowances (scholarships) for low-income families to afford high quality early learning.

The structure that Stoney proposes would create room for agreement between both the House and Senate and allow for each body to make the investments they desire.

Does this model make sense to you? What do you see as benefits or challenges with this kind of system?

Another way to encourage reading

2008-06-24T13:54:00.003-05:00

As we saw in the ECIPs post on Language and Literacy development, it's important to encourage early literacy with preschool aged children. The more exposure children have to books and reading, the better.

I came across this article about using therapy dogs as reading companions. Children practice by reading aloud to the dog (under supervision of the trainer). This low-stress environment and forgiving audience as well as the physical contact with the dog help boost the child's reading confidence. The children also learn compassion and basic pet-care.

Now, it is not expected that every 3 or 4 year old be able to read aloud fluently. But just pretending to read a story aloud to another person/pet/stuffed animal is excellent early literacy practice. The more children learn to read for pleasure, the greater the likelihood that they will read above grade level and eventually become life-long readers.

What do you think?

photo by acpl

Link love: new parenting site

2008-06-18T15:15:00.002-05:00

If you haven’t come across it yet, a new website for Minnesota parents launched recently: Minnmoms.com

The site is sponsored and supported by the Pioneer Press and covers topics such as time savers and discussion on topics such as child safety or how much to spend on your kids. There are also some great discussion boards and several bloggers sharing stories and insights.

Check it out and join in!

PreK in community-based programs

2008-06-12T12:32:00.003-05:00

Around the country, states are beginning to offer voluntary state-funded PreK programs to 4 year olds, and sometimes 3 year olds. See chart of 10 states leading the way in PreK. Most of these state PreK programs are part-time and delivered through school-based programs just during the school year. The teachers often are required to have a BA or even an MA in early childhood education.

One of the first questions to arise in this scenario is “what about children in child care centers?” or “what about working families who depend on full day care?” Many states have chosen to allow PreK programs to be delivered directly in child care settings. The National Women’s Law Center published a report on this topic, “A Center Piece of the PreK Puzzle”.

Some of the benefits of providing PreK in child care centers:

Gives a high quality option for families who need all day, year round care
Children do not have to change locations to participate in PreK programming
Parents with infants and toddlers as well as PreK aged children can have all of their children receiving care and education at the same center
Schools often do not have the space to provide PreK for all children in their community, by partnering with child care more children can access PreK
Child care centers receive stable funding to enhance the quality of all their programs
Builds on the experience of established centers in the community

Some of the challenges revolve around a variety of issues, including:

Financing the programs and who will cover which costs
Compensation and qualifications for teachers, directors, and other staff
Navigating relationships between school districts and centers
Programming issues such as curriculum and
Coordination and community planning

Each state does things a little differently and the way these challenges are tackled varies. Currently, these sorts of child care/school district partnerships are not common in Minnesota (though there are some exceptional partnerships). The only state-funding for PreK in Minnesota comes in the form of School Readiness dollars going to school districts to target children likely to not be ready to learn when they start kindergarten. School districts then combine these resources with other revenue to provide early childhood education.

Earlier this year, the NWLC held a conference call on financing state PreK programs in child care centers. Then, last month the NWLC held a conference call going into further detail about the workforce benefits and challenges of delivering state PreK in community-based settings. Listen to the calls or link to transcripts here.

Both the report and these calls cover all the angles of providing PreK in community-based settings.

What do you think? As a parent, how would you respond if your child care center began offering state-funded PreK? As a child care provider or school district staff, what sorts of challenges do you see? Are you part of a special partnership between a school district and child care? Please share.

Thank you to everyone who voted in our poll. 85% of you said you’re interested in policy and advocacy topics. Taking a cue from you, the majority of our posts will relate to policy and advocacy… not to say that you won’t see posts on child development, parenting and news and events from time to time.

Building on the successes: chart of state Pre-K programs

2008-06-04T14:48:00.003-05:00

After looking at what advocates in other states have done to advance early childhood funding, I thought it would be a good time to share a little more about what’s going on around the country.

Last fall, Ready 4 K’s fabulous HECUA intern, Taylor put together this chart outlining the programs in other states. We looked at the 10 leading states in providing state-supported Pre-kindergarten. The topics covered for each state:

How the program is funded
Is there a piece for infants and toddlers
Who is eligible for the program
How community child care is involved
How Head Start is involved
What sort of Professional Development is offered
The role of the governor
Whether or not there is a Quality Rating System
What kind of statewide governance structure is there

View the chart here.

As we move ahead, it's good to learn from our allies in other states and then develop a system that builds on what we have here.

What do think should be the key components of an early childhood system in Minnesota?

Today is the last day to submit your response to our poll: "What early childhood topics interest you the most?"

Looking ahead - lessons from advocates in other states

2008-05-29T13:11:00.002-05:00

Voices for America’s Children, a nation-wide network of early childhood advocacy groups, released a report outlining lessons learned and best practices from advocates in states who have increased investment in early care and education.

Increasing State Investments in Early Care and Education: Lessons Learned from Advocates and Best Practices.

The report outlines the recent work done by advocates in 10 states: Alabama, Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The report lists a quick summary of lessons learned.

Know Where You are Going. Create a Focused Policy Agenda.
Create Accountable ECE Investments.
Build and Sustain Broad-Based Coalitions.
The Message Really Matters. Get it Right. Keep it Short. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.
The Messenger who Delivers the Message is Critical.
Build Relationships with Elected Officials.
Cultivate the Grassroots.
Build Relationships with the Media.
Do not Move too Fast for the Field.
Change is Gradual. Small Steps Over Time Create Big Change.
Start Early.
Understand Politics and Play the Game as it is – Not as You Wish it Would Be.
Create Strategies for Long-term Success.

As we close the chapter on the 2008 legislative session and begin to look toward 2009, these lessons are especially timely. When I read the report I found my copy marked up with notes and highlights on every page. There were many helpful observations from the advocates in the profiled states.

We have made progress and done some of these things. This legislative session we set the table and made strategic policy changes that will lead to greater change over time. We have built a coalition and developed strong relationships with key legislators. We are working to build accountability through the Parent Aware Quality Rating System and work that the Build Initiative is doing around Outcomes and Indicators. We have cultivated a strong grassroots movement with more room to expand.

But we have more to learn and a ways to go. Taking what has been effective in other states and applying our own Minnesota flavor is the next step. I hope you will join us.

Don’t forget to share your opinion in our online poll, at the right of the main blog page. Let us know what early learning topics most interest you.

It's all about you - online poll

2008-05-28T15:04:00.004-05:00

This blog is all about you. Well, you and the young children in Minnesota. We hope this is a helpful resource to you on early care and education. So, we want to know what specific early learning topics most interest you. Is it policy and advocacy? Child development? Parenting? or News and events?

Complete our online poll to the right of the main page and let us know. If there is something else you're interested in seeing highlighted here, leave your ideas in the comments below.

Thanks!

photo by Orin Optiglot

Small Gains at the Minnesota Legislature

2008-05-20T17:14:00.003-05:00

Legislative Session ends with a few small victories

After a weekend of tough negotiations between the Governor and legislative leaders, the 2008 Legislative Session wrapped up Sunday evening with the legislature passing a budget balancing bill, a bonding bill, and several other provisions. For early childhood, all the provisions that were in the bills going into the weekend stayed in the final bills. Most notably, the supplemental budget bill includes funding for early screening, the creation of a State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care, a cut to basic sliding fee child care, and cuts to child care quality improvements. Additionally, the Governor and key Republicans would not agree to include bonding for early childhood facilities in the final bonding bill.

Specifically, the supplemental budget bill includes the following provisions:

The State reimburses school districts for a portion of the actual cost of health and development screening for three to five year olds, as required by law. The law change increases these reimbursements from $30 to $40 for 5 year olds, from $40 to $50 for 4 year olds and recognizing the importance of screening earlier, $50 to $75 for 3 year olds. This is a marked improvement and will help identify children who need assistance in getting ready for school earlier.

The bill as passed by the legislature creates a State Advisory Council on Early Education and Care. Under the federal Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, state governors are required to create such a council. The adopted language recognizes this process, and adds to the council's duties and membership. In addition to representatives from state departments overseeing early childhood programs, and from Head Start, school districts and local ECE providers, the legislation adds four legislators and two parents with children under the age of six. Parental involvement in the Council is paid for by transferring $12,500 from the Pre-K Allowances and $12,500 from the administrative costs of the Child Care Development Fund, unless other funds become available.

Unfortunately, the bill also includes several cuts to early care and education.

$9.227 million is cut from the Basic Sliding Fee child care appropriation. In a typical year, funds unspent by counties, due to projections with the current distribution formula, are redistributed to counties with families on child care waiting lists. This $9 million would have provided child care assistance to many of the approximately 3,700 families currently on the waiting list.
$250,000 is cut from the Pre-K Allowances pilot project. Earlier in the session, one budget bill had proposed that Pre-K allowances be cut $2 million but advocacy efforts by a number of early childhood organizations and action by Senator Dick Cohen, chair of the Finance Committee, made the cut much smaller. Thank goodness for small victories.
1.8%, or $110,000, is cut from Child Care Development Grants, which affects a small amount of dollars for Pre-K Allowances, the FFN grants, quality improvements, and child care resource and referral services.

As mentioned previously, bonding for early childhood facilities was not included in the final bonding bill. The Early Childhood Learning and Child Protection Facilities grant program is for facility construction and rehabilitation, for use by Head Start, early childhood family education, early childhood intervention, and crisis nurseries programs. Funding for the program was line-item vetoed in the first bonding bill, and despite strong leadership from some legislators who fought for the inclusion of early childhood bonding until the end, we were unable to secure funding in the final negotiations. Even so, Ready 4 K was successful in making some changes to the statute to make the grant program clearer and easier to use. Legislative leaders encouraged Ready 4 K and our allies to come back next year with another proposal and to do more work to educate legislators about the effectiveness of this bonding program.

The second year of the biennium, in addition to bonding, is also typically used for promoting changes to state policy. Key changes were made to child care, including the creation of a statewide task force to make recommendations about barriers facing families applying for and receiving child care assistance. Additionally, some changes were made to the formula by which basic sliding fee funds are allocated to counties to more accurately reflect the actual need in counties. These changes will help prevent situations such as the state faced this year, with regard to unspent funds.

Ready 4 K knew going into the 2008 Legislative Session that with the state facing a massive budget deficit, the opportunity to infuse the necessary dollars for young children would be difficult to realize. Despite the setbacks we incurred, the changes and funding allocated this year are meaningful, and will continue to help improve school readiness. Please look for a more detailed 2008 Session Summary soon.

Thank you for all you have done this session, and we look forward to your input and involvement as we prepare for this fall's election (including all members of the Minnesota House) and the 2009 Legislative Session.

Learning how to ride a bike

2008-05-16T15:05:00.004-05:00

With schools finishing up their programming and summer right around the corner (plus, today is National Bike to Work day), I thought this article to be timely.

Cycling experts are saying that the way most of us likely learned how to ride a bike is not the most effective way to get ourselves pedaling on two wheels. Rather, children should learn on their own how to balance and ride rather than be taught by someone else.

The article says that children as young as 3 can begin to teach themselves to ride by taking the pedals of their bike and lowering the seat to convert it to a "scooter". From here, children can learn the essentials of balance, steering and stopping while pushing with their feet on the ground. Eventually, the pedals can be replaced on the bike and the seat gradually raised until your child is able to zip along with the rest of the family. And don't forget, a properly-fitted helmet is essential bicycling gear.

Read more about Scooting Towards Riding a Bicycle.

What do you think? Do you know any kids who have learned to ride this way?

photo by RJ Ramos

Helping State Agencies Coordinate Early Learning

2008-05-13T15:40:00.002-05:00

A strong governance system, including coordinated state agencies, is an important part of providing accessible early learning. Ready 4 K's BUILD Initiative is specifically focused on creating the framework for a strong, coordinated early learning system in Minnesota.

One piece of legislation that Ready 4 K has been following is the creation of an Office of Early Learning. A great article summarizing this legislation and other related pieces can be found here. From the article:

Researchers, including Art Rolnick, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, see positive results from early childhood education. But it wasn’t until bank staff crunched the numbers that anyone had looked at this as an economic investment. By Rolnick’s calculations, the return would be equivalent to 16 percent annually on a $22,000 investment.

More focus on early childhood learning by establishing an Office of Early Learning might just help boost the bottom line, supporters say. The office would gather employees of the Health and Human Services departments who oversee day care programs and Department of Education employees who deal with programs like Head Start.

Rep. Sandra Peterson (DFL-New Hope) sponsors HF2983, which would create the office and appoint a director to coordinate childhood systems between the two organizations.

The Minnesota Legislative session is scheduled to end May 19. Stay tuned here for updates and an end-of-session summary.

Will my child be ready? Creativity and the Arts

2008-05-07T16:29:00.003-05:00

Today we continue our series exploring Minnesota’s Early Childhood Indicators of Progress by looking at the topic of Creativity and the Arts. Previously, we’ve taken time to look at Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, and Language and Literacy Development.

This domain emphasizes how children actively and receptively engage with the arts. The three components of this domain (Creating, Responding, and Evaluating) show how children can demonstrate what they know and expand their thinking through creative endeavors. The indicators for each component are taken directly from the ECIPs manual.

Creating
Creating is a wonderful opportunity to interact with the world in a new way. Children are developing in their creativity when they:

1. Use a variety of media and materials for exploration and creative expression
2. Participate in art and music experiences
3. Participate in creative movement, drama, and dance

Families can support children in creating by providing opportunities for their children to try out a variety of art materials and experiences and participating in community art events. Families can also encourage children's interest in the full range of arts expression such as dance, movement, music and displaying artwork around the home.

Teachers and Caregivers can encourage children to create by providing time and space for a variety of opportunities to explore and experiment with different materials and media. Additionally, teachers may Include exploration of space and objects in addition to color, balance and design.

Responding
Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum, we must all react and respond to what’s happening around us to grow in creativity. Children are showing progress in responding when they:

1. Show others and/or talk about what they have made or done
2. Show interest and respect for the creative work of self and other

Families can help children develop in their responding by showing interest in their child's creative activities and encouraging awareness of the arts and creative expression in their own and other cultures.

Teachers and Caregivers can help facilitate children's responding by encouraging children's participation in a variety of creative activities and spending time with children to describe and discuss their creative process as well as the product of their creativity.

Evaluating Open and honest evaluation is the last step in developing our creativity (a process many of us adults wish to recapture!). Children are growing in their evaluating skills when they:

1. Share experiences, ideas, and thoughts about art and creative expression
2. Share opinions about likes and dislikes in art and creative expression

Families may encourage children in evaluating by encouraging children to discuss their own art and the art of others as well as their likes and dislikes about the arts while respecting their work and the work of others.

Teachers and Caregivers can support children in their evaluating by helping children to develop their own personal preferences through discussions of likes and dislikes, by maintaining a collection or access to a variety of books and/or recordings depicting various media and cultures, and helping children develop an appreciation for the arts through attending events and performances.

For all components of this domain, community members and policy makers can encourage children and families in their creativity and the arts development by sponsoring and supporting community-based arts programs and resources for families to access arts education.

What do you think? How do you support and encourage creativity in your preschool age children?

Check back soon! Our next topic in their series is Cognitive Development.

Look to the Stars: Quality Rating Systems in Early Childhood

2008-05-02T15:31:00.004-05:00

Ready 4 K has promoted and many states are implementing Quality Rating Systems for early learning providers, much like hotel or restaurant ratings. According to NAEYC, there are 32 states (including the District of Columbia) that have implemented some form of a Quality Rating System (*** see comments for update). In Minnesota, our QRS is called Parent Aware Ratings and it’s being piloted in a few targeted areas by the Minnesota Early Learning Fund (MELF). The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has a column from 2007 about the expansion of quality ratings around the country.

Ratings are important because they help families to quickly know the level of quality a program provides. With a quick snapshot, parents know what type of care their children are receiving and the quality of that care. Ratings also provide a framework for allowing resources to flow to programs to help them improve and sustain their quality. and a rating system can lead to improvements to the quality of all the programs in a given area.

Rating systems vary by state. In Minnesota, we have a 4 star system that looks at how the program uses family partnerships, teaching materials and strategies, track learning progress, teacher training and education, and child safety. Programs are rated in each of the five areas and then are given a composite score of 1-4 stars. When programs are rated as one or two stars, they are eligible to work with resource personnel to help them improve their quality and be able to be rated again in the future.

Currently, the ratings are being piloted in just four areas: St Paul, North Minneapolis, Wayata School District, and Blue Earth and Nicollet counties. Visit the Parent Aware Ratings site for more information.

Do you work in a program that has participated in a Quality Rating System? What was it like? As a parent, how would a rating system be most helpful for you?

photo by barnabywasson

Quality Facilities Lead to Quality Programs

2008-04-30T15:50:00.003-05:00

In Minnesota, this is a bonding year at the legislature. Traditionally, this is the session when the legislature looks at passing money to build infrastructure such as public buildings, roads and of course bridges.

As part of our 2008 Legislative Agenda, Ready 4 K has worked in partnership with First Children’s Finance to increase state dollars for early childhood facilities through the Early Childhood Facilities Grant Program.

As a sign of the need around the state, in a recent Request for Proposals for this funding from the Department of Human Services, there were requests for twice the amount of the available funds. Earlier this session, thanks to the leadership of the Legislature, resources for the Early Childhood Facilities Grant program were increased from $500,000 to $2 million. However, the governor line-item vetoed these dollars. He cited that bonding proposals should come directly from the local communities, rather than through the grant program, even though the program has been in place for over 15 years and has helped to build 56 sites statewide totaling $13 million.

Click here to see our current action alert, asking you to call Legislative Leadership to ask them to include early childhood facilities dollars in the next round of the bonding bill.

If you’re interested in learning more about why public support for facilities are an important part of building a quality early learning system, check out this archived conference call from Pre-K Now, recorded in March 2008, Early Education Facilities: Buildings that Maximize Program Quality. This call featured presentations by David Wasch from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, Molly Munger from the Advancement Project, and Hon. Beth Bye a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. You can listen to the entire call and view slides and materials directly from the web page.

The key point of the call and the reason Ready 4 K is promoting early childhood facilities bonding dollars is that quality facilities lead to quality programs. If you are interested in learning about what a quality facility looks like, I recommend viewing the slide presentation Beth Bye shared during the call.

What do you think? Do you have experience with designing or building early childhood facilities? How has the facility impacted your program?

photo by momboleum

Will my child be ready? Language and Literacy Development

2008-04-24T16:59:00.001-05:00

The next in our series of posts based on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, Language and Literacy Development, explores how children acquire language and literacy. Previously, we’ve discussed Social and Emotional Development and Approaches to Learning.

As children grow during their preschool years, they increasingly use language to share how they are feeling, to interact with others, and to communicate their own thoughts and needs. Children do this both with spoken and written language. The Language and Literacy Development domain has four components: Listening, Speaking, Emergent Reading, and Emergent Writing. As usual, we’ll briefly look at each component. The indicators within the components are taken directly from the ECIPs manual.

Listening
Children are developing normally in listening skills when they:

Understand non-verbal and verbal cues
Listen with understanding to stories, directions, and conversations
Follow directions that involved a two or three-step sequence of actions
Listen to and recognize different sounds in rhymes and familiar words

Families can help facilitate children’s development in listening by talking to their children regularly every day in a way that is equal to their level of understanding and encouraging children to respond. Also, introducing children to rhymes and songs will help children to gain broader interest in words and sounds.

Teachers and caregivers can assist children in developing this component by modeling language for children to use including questions and facial expressions, listening and responding to children as they communicate both verbally and non-verbally, and by providing opportunities for children to interact with adults.

Speaking
Children are progressing in this area when they:

Communicate needs, wants, or thoughts through non-verbal gestures, actions, expressions, and/or words
Communicate information using home language and/or English
Speak clearly enough to be understood in home language and/or English
Use language for a variety of purposes
Use increasingly complex and varied vocabulary and language
Initiate, ask questions, and respond in conversation with others

Families can support children in developing their speaking skills by talking with them every day and encouraging children to discuss and respond including adding to stories that are read to them.

Teachers and caregivers can encourage children in developing their speaking skills by responding to children when they attempt to communicate verbally or non-verbally, supporting children in communicating in their home language using interpreters when necessary, and talking with children on a variety of subjects demonstrating the various uses of language.

Emergent Reading
Preschool children show progress in this component when they:

Initiate stories and respond to stories told or read aloud
Represent stories to or read aloud through various media or during play
Guess what will happen next in a story using pictures as a guide
Retell information from a story
Show beginning understanding of concepts about print
Recognize and name some letters of the alphabet, especially those in own name
Begin to associate sounds with words or letters

Families can facilitate children in their emergent reading by making book reading special for their children and reading often for both information and pleasure. Parents can engage children in the reading by talking about the story and asking them to predict what will happen next. And finally, visit a library often to select books to read as well as point out reading materials around the home.

Teachers and caregivers can support children in emergent reading by providing a variety of books and story-making materials such as flannel-board sets and puppets. Teachers and caregivers can talk about words and what they mean, help children to understand the sequences in books and stories (such as beginning, middle and end), and give opportunities for children to repeat favorite rhymes and word-play.

Emergent Writing
Children are progressing normally in this area when they:

Understand that writing is a way of communicating
Use scribbles, shapes, pictures, or dictation to represent thoughts or ideas
Engage in writing using letter-like symbols to make letters or words
Begin to copy or write own name

Families can encourage children in their emergent writing by providing writing materials at home (paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc) and supporting children in their scribbles and "pretend" writing. Families can also engage children in everyday writing activities such as making a grocery list or writing a card or letter.

Teachers and caregivers can support children in this area by creating a "literary-rich" environment by having writing materials in many areas of the classroom and proving lots of opportunity for children to draw and paint. Teachers and caregivers can also encourage children in their attempts to copy or write letters and their name.

For all components of this domain, community members and policy makers can support children and families by providing opportunities for literacy-related events where families can participate together such as story hours and book fairs, encourage adults (both families and volunteers) to spend more time talking and engaging with young children, support and promote libraries and community awareness on the importance of reading with young children.

I think it’s important to be clear that children do not all need to be fully reading and writing when they start kindergarten. But, showing progress and interest in language and literacy is a key component to future learning success.

What about you? Do you have any tips or tricks for encouraging children in their language and literacy development?

Minnesota Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

2008-04-18T11:42:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Department of Education released the results from the 2007 Minnesota School Readiness Study. This is the fifth year of the study. You can view and download the report from MDE here. The study assess how ready children are for kindergarten in five domains:

Physical Development and Health
The Arts
Personal and Social Development
Language and Literacy
Mathematical Thinking

Children are rated as Proficient, In Process, and Not Yet in expressing competence in these domains.

Ready 4 K has released a statement responding to the fact that we are seeing fewer kids rated as Proficient in the 2007 study versus 2006.

You'll note that the domains in the School Readiness Study are closely aligned with the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress. Check out the series we are continuing on the ECIPS, including an introduction, social and emotional development, and approaches to learning.

What do you think? Do you have any comments on the MDE study? Has your program or district participated in assessing young children?

New Free Environmental Toolkit

2008-04-16T14:09:00.002-05:00

In honor of Earth Day and previous posts about helping children to experience nature, check out the new Environmental Education Toolkit for Early Childhood Family Education Programs. The toolkit is for ECFE programs and is produced by Hennepin County and Community POWER.

The toolkit:
--follows Minnesota's Parent Education Core Curriculum;
--was written by experienced ECFE leaders;
--includes detailed lesson plans and resources;
--is flexible and can be modified to fit many programs;

ECFE programs in Hennepin County may also request $3,000 to implement activities from the toolkit in the coming year. A short application is due May 8, 2008. Funded projects can take place June 15, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

I hope the toolkit will be useful to everyone, not just ECFE programs. I'd love to hear what you think about it. Check it out with a free download and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Time to take action! Governor vetoes Early Childhood Bonding dollars

2008-04-08T15:54:00.002-05:00

Governor Pawlenty Used His Line-Item Veto to Eliminate Funding for Early Childhood Facilities

Yesterday, Governor Pawlenty used his line-item veto to eliminate funding for a number of construction projects that were part of the legislature's Bonding Bill. One of the items that he vetoed was $2 million for the Early Childhood Facilities grant program, which local communities can use to build or rehab facilities for early childhood programming.

The grant program has received funding in previous years, helping to expand access to quality early learning across Minnesota. Recently, the Department of Human Services received a number of applications for grants with previously allocated.funds. Priority is given to communities with a high percentage of children living in poverty and to projects that involve partnerships between schools, Head Start and child care.

The Governor's veto is short sighted and is a missed opportunity to build quality safe early learning environments, especially when funding for quality programs is so limited. Past governors have supported funding up to $5 million for these grants. In fact, Governor Pawlenty has supported this funding in the past. There is a great need for early childhood facilities across the state.

In his comments, he stated that these are for local projects and should be funded locally. Like most bonding projects, these require local matching dollars, and build on and support existing collaborations and partnerships. He misses the point that these dollars can be a catalyst for that exact local funding.

What you can do

While the legislature is not able to override a line item veto, there is the possibility that legislators will pass another bonding bill that the Govenor will sign. Ready 4 K will be talking to legislative leaders in the next few days to understand what their next steps will be and will be encouraging them to include funding for Early Childhood Facilities in any new bonding bill. In the meantime, you can do two things to advance the cause.

Call the Governor and let him know that you are disappointed in his line-item veto of bonding for early childhood facilities. His phone number is (651) 296-3391 or Toll Free: (800) 657-3717
Write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper talking about how this veto is a missed opportunity to invest in quality early learning for our youngest citizens. You can use some of the points raised in this alert or download our talking points. You can also download Tips for writing a letter-to-the-editor.

Let us know if you write a letter or make a call by sending a quick email to info@ready4k.org or making a note in the comments. We will be watching the developments over the next week and will be in touch about other actions you can take on this, especially if the legislature starts to debate an additional bonding bill.

Thank you for your support of our youngest citizens!

What a three-year old can teach you about reading

2008-04-02T15:31:00.003-05:00

My friend Rachael works for First Book, a fabulous, award-winning organization that works to get books into the hands of kids. Of course, I'm a fan. :) She sent me a great story from another friend about reading to a three year old. It's a reminder of how important reading is for both kids and adults.

See story here.

Take time to read to a child!

Thank you!

2008-03-28T15:22:00.003-05:00

Thanks to all who attended and helped out at Voices Day. It was a great time and lots of fun. We heard from Rep. Slawik, Sen. Bonoff, and Sen. Clark... all great champions for early childhood. Jack Pearson was there to tell a couple of stories and there was even an appearance by Clifford!

If you didn't make it, don't worry! There is still time to make your voice heard. Call your legislator and ask them to maintain investments in early childhood and keep little kids a top priority. Find your Minnesota Legislators here.

Plan to come back to the Capitol with us for Voices next year!

Voices for Children Advocacy Day tomorrow!

2008-03-26T13:44:00.002-05:00

If you are around the Twin Cities tomorrow, March 27, join us at the State Capitol in St Paul for Voices for Children Advocacy Day from 10 -11am. This annual event is a time for parents, teachers, early care and education professionals and other from across the state to stand up an be counted as a voice for children. We'll have storytelling, crafts from the Minnesota Children's Museum and an appearance by Clifford the Big Red Dog!

If you can't come to the Capitol, your voice is still important. Call your legislator and leave the following message:

"Early childhood has made great strides in recent years, yet many families and children continue to lack access to high quality early care and education. As the state faces a deficit and a recession, now is the time to ensure that parents can access high quality early learning choices for their children to prepare them for school and for life. Our children, our families, our communities, and our state will benefit. Invest now!"

Let us know how it goes! Come back to this page and leave comments sharing your experience at Voices day.

How can I help my child be ready to learn? Approaches to Learning

2008-03-18T15:13:00.004-05:00

This is the next post in a series based on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota’s Early Learning Standards. These Indicators are what can be expected of children aged 3 to 5.

Series introduction

This post we’ll focus on approaches to learning, the second of the six domains. See my post on the first domain, Social and Emotional Development.

This domain is about both the styles and attitudes of gaining information as well as promoting a positive disposition toward exploring new things. The five components of this domain are curiosity, risk-taking, imagination and invention, persistence, and reflection and interpretation. We’ll take a little time with each component and share what families and caregivers can do to support this domain. The indicators for each component are taken directly from the ECIP manual.

Curiosity

Preschool-aged children often show a lot of curiosity. Children are developing normally in this domain when they:

Show eagerness and a sense of wonder as a learner
Show interest in discovering and learning new things

Families can encourage curiosity by encouraging children’s interests and providing a variety of learning environments and experiences both inside the home and on family outings.

Teachers and caregivers support this domain when they provide a variety of opportunities for learning and approaches to teaching that appeal to the full range of children’s abilities and learning styles.

Risk-taking

A healthy amount of risk-taking is an important part of exploring and learning new things. Children are progressing in this domain when they:

1. Choose new as wells as a variety of familiar activities
2. Use a variety of strategies to solve problems

Families can assist children in risk-taking by encouraging them to creatively solve problems and to try out new things. Parents can also intentionally introduce everyday objects including toys that can be used in more than one way. (see Life Bags) and monitoring children’s use of media such as computers/internet, television and movies.

Teachers and caregivers can provide opportunities for risk-taking by creating environments that give an appropriate amount of stimulation for children to try new activities while recognizing children’s individual differences and interests.

Imagination and Invention

Discovering new things takes a bit of imagination. Children demonstrate imagination when they:
1. Approach tasks and experiences with flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness
2. Use new ways or novel strategies to solve problems or explore objects
3. Try out various pretend roles in play or with make-believe objects

Families support children in this domain by providing a variety of activities and materials that are both new and familiar for children to explore without fear of making mistakes as well as encouraging pretend play.

Teachers and caregivers can encourage children in imagination and invention by giving children opportunities to experiment and explore without fear of making mistakes; providing tasks where the goal is to produce different results or strategies rather than right or wrong; encourage children when they demonstrate flexibility and inventiveness.

Persistence

One can only learn something when they take the time to truly understand it. Children demonstrate persistence when they:
1. Work at a task despite distractions or interruptions
2. Seek and/or accept help or information when needed
3. Demonstrate ability to complete a task or stay engage in an experience

Families can assist children in developing persistence by allowing space and time for children to give attention to age-appropriate tasks without being interrupted and responding to children’s requests for help without being intrusive.

Teachers and caregivers support children in this domain when they set up a learning environment to limit distractions and provide enough time for children to sustain their attention and engage fully in activities.

Reflection and Interpretation

Taking time to reflect on new experiences and information is key to gaining understanding. Children are developing normally in this component when they:
1. Think about events and experiences and apply this knowledge to new situations
2. Generate ideas, suggestions and/or make predictions

Families can create opportunities for children to develop their reflection by encouraging children to share their thoughts and ideas as well as asking questions for children to think about what they have seen, heard and done. Parents can also model thinking “out loud” and involving children in planning family activities.

Teacher and caregivers can facilitate children’s development in this component by allowing time for children to process and express thoughts and feelings about experiences through such methods as discussion, art, journaling or conversation and help children to think and talk about what they are learning.

To support all aspects of children’s approaches to learning, community members can provide a variety of activities and safe environments appropriate for families with young children such as libraries, parks, festivals and fairs that give young children opportunities to explore as well as giving opportunities for families to participate in community problem solving processes.

And policy makers can encourage cooperation and collaboration across systems and ensure that environments with activities for families with young children are affordable and accessible.

What do you think? How do you encourage children in their various approaches to learning?

Check back next time as we explore language and literacy development.

Wilder Research: early learning condidtions among low-income families

2008-03-17T16:47:00.003-05:00

In preparation for their mini-conference on April 10 in St Paul, the Wilder Foundation has released a report on the early learning conditions for children from low-income families in Minneapolis, St Paul, Blue Earth and Nicollet counties. The purpose of the study is to determine where children are at in regards to their early learning before the start of MELF projects in their areas.

Click here to view the report summary.

The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF) is funding a variety of pilot projects in these areas, including Early Childhood Scholarships in St Paul, 500 Under 5 in North Minneapolis, and Early Learning Allowances in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties. Each of these areas is also a test site for Minnesota's Parent Aware Rating System.

For more information about this report and other Wilder Research, click here.

Policy makers, play dough and Pre-K

2008-03-11T16:08:00.003-05:00

Our friend Karissa at Inside Pre-K has a post about the importance of sharing what goes on in her classroom to administrators and community members. This sharing is so important because so many of the decisions made about early childhood programs, especially their funding, are made by people who do not spend much time in early learning settings -- legislators, school board members, administrators and even community members.

As Karissa notes, it's important that early childhood teachers and caregivers be strong advocates for their programs. By inviting decision makers to your early learning setting, you are taking a big step toward ensuring quality early learning choices for all. Those who are making the decisions will then be able to do their job based on first-hand knowledge about what goes on in early childhood classrooms.

The Minnesota Legislature is taking a spring break March 20- March 24. This is a perfect time to invite your Legislators to visit your program, since they won't be as busy with committee hears and other meetings. If your Legislator is busy, don't worry! The summer and fall are also great times to invite policy makers and other leaders to your programs. Check out Ready 4 K's page on meeting with your Legislator (the second page has information explicitly about site visits).