Source: NIEER

This year, in its annual Yearbook, NIEER is taking on the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the midst of this devastating crisis, NIEER (the National Institute for Early Education Research) is wisely calling on the country to act by drawing on some of the valuable lessons learned from the Great Recession.

As its executive summary explains, the Yearbook offers government policymakers “valuable information for planning short- and long-term responses to the crisis” that includes “information on where children are served, operating schedules, and other program features relevant to planning the education of children in a post-COVID-19 world.”

Since NIEER launched its Yearbook in 2002, states have made consistent but slow progress on investing in early childhood programs.

When the Great Recession took its toll, states cut early childhood spending.

Now: “Despite a brief upturn, pre-K’s long-term growth rate remains lower than before the Great Recession.” And some states “had not fully reversed their quality standards reductions by 2018-2019.”

“Unless states greatly accelerate their efforts, it will be centuries before the United States reaches levels of preschool attendance now common in other high income nations. Although some states serve most or all 4-year-old children, most do not. There is far more to be done to reach 3-year-olds, who are largely unserved except by a very few states.”

To address the inevitable losses that will be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, NIEER makes a number of policy recommendations, including:

• federal funding to states “to stabilize and expand preschool programs while maintaining or enhancing enrollment and quality”

• improved coordination of “Head Start and state pre-K policy to better serve preschoolers living in poverty”

• federal funding so state pre-K programs can develop “rapid response plans to the current crisis and long-term plans for its lasting consequences”

• the rapid development of new, state pre-K policies “to provide emergency services and educate young children remotely for the remainder of this school year and for the coming summer and fall,” and

• the development of long-term state plans to “incorporate a definitive timeline and realistic funding estimates for a high-quality pre-K program that provides access to all children”

(NIEER has shared a social media toolkit that can be used to promote these recommendations singly or together. And there is a PDF of all the recommendations in a single list.)

Here in Massachusetts, policymakers can take NIEER’s advice to stabilize early childhood programs by protecting the state’s budget allocations for the Department of Early Education and Care and its many programs. And to preserve high-quality preschool collaborations across the state, policymakers can continue funding the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI).

As we’ve blogged, the Department of Early Education and care distributes $5 million in CPPI grants to communities to expand their preschool programs. It is funding that has only partially replaced the federal Preschool Expansion Grants that have expired.

But CPPI could quickly run out of funding. In a letter to Massachusetts legislators, a group of educators and advocates explain:

“This funding supports high-quality preschool expansion in the collaborative “mixed delivery” system of public school and community-based agencies. The current nine grantee communities: Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, North Adams, Northampton, Somerville, Springfield.

“Please continue CPPI funding past June 30. Without action by the Legislature, the grant will face a hard stop on June 30, forcing grantees to layoff program directors, family support staff, and other employees essential to the success of this program.”

“CPPI is a model for what preschool expansion could be on a larger scale, serving more children in more communities. The grant enables innovative collaboration among many local early education programs, all contributing their unique strengths, sharing resources, learning together, and serving 1,000 children in full-day, full-year programs.”

“CPPI is the foundation for the future of program quality improvement and school readiness efforts in Massachusetts. This program must be preserved, with no disruption to current grantees on June 30.”

In addition to highlighting CPPI, we are also working with colleagues across the state on strategies for supporting children from birth through school-age.

The letter was signed by:

Amy O’Leary, Early Education for All Campaign Director, Strategies for Children

TeeAra Dias, Boston Universal Pre-K Director, Boston Public Schools

Dr. Stephen Zrike, Receiver/Superintendent, Holyoke Public Schools

Maria Gonzalez Moeller, Chief Executive Officer, The Community Group, Lawrence

Lisa Van Thiel, Early Childhood Coordinator, Lowell Public Schools

Lesley Guertin, Early Childhood Manager/Coordinator of CPPI Grant, New Bedford Public Schools

Anne Nemetz-Carlson, President/CEO, Child Care of the Berkshires, North Adams

John A. Provost, Superintendent of Schools, Northampton Public Schools

Lisa Kuh, Director of Early Education, Somerville Public Schools

Kate Asher, Supervisor of Literacy, Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Springfield Public Schools

What we’ve learned at Strategies — and what NIEER emphasizes in its Yearbook — is that even in the face of a historical crisis, smart, targeted action can address young children’s immediate needs, and we can as a state invest in their long-term wellbeing.