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Archive for the ‘Early educators’ Category

A new business coalition supports early childhood

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, COVID-19, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation on February 11, 2021| 1 Comment »

 

Early education and care has a new local champion, the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education.

Launched this week by 70 Massachusetts CEOs and business leaders, the coalition is, as its website explains, “responding to overwhelming data and research showing a long-standing child care sector crisis, now being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The coalition’s goal is to “to make early childhood education more accessible, affordable, and stable for Massachusetts workers, more rewarding for early childhood professionals, and a point of differentiation in attracting and retaining a strong workforce across the Commonwealth.”

Specifically, the coalition will:

• advocate for state and federal government policies and programs to support “the early childhood education needs of the Massachusetts workforce”

• identify opportunities for strategic action and investments in improving access and affordability as well as program quality and stability

• explore best practices for supporting the early education and care needs of employees, and

• acknowledge that communities of color and working women disproportionately face the impact of poor access to child care and low program quality — and support efforts to advance equitable child care solutions (more…)

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“First Years Tour” – get to know your newly elected state legislators

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, MA Legislature, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children on February 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

 

We are delighted to launch our “First Years Tour.”

It’s an event that Strategies for Children does every two years, going to the State House and meeting with the new class of just elected, “first year” state legislators. We congratulate them on becoming state leaders, and we run an early education 101 crash course.

This year, as it is every year, our goal is to build positive relationships with our elected officials.

But, of course, this year, there’s the pandemic, so our tour is actually an ongoing series of Zoom meetings. Last month, to kick off the tour, Strategies’ staff and Representative Alice Peisch (D-Wellesley)co-hosted a legislative briefing for all 17 newly elected House members.

We’ve also invited the legislators to our daily 9:30 calls. And we’re asking everyone in the field to do their own outreach to these new lawmakers.

On the tour, we’re sharing information on the pandemic: (more…)

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A webinar on COVID-19 from Boston Children’s Hospital

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, Pre-kindergarten on February 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Boston Children’s Hospital slide

 

Navigating the pandemic is tough, but one way to keep up on news and trends is through webinars hosted by Boston Children’s Hospital.

In a webinar held last week — “Healthy and Safe Child Care during COVID-19” – a panel of speakers discussed the current challenges of the pandemic as well as some of the progress that’s being made. The webinar featured four speakers and was moderated by Amy O’Leary, Strategies for Children’s director of the Early Education for All Campaign.

Here’s a summary of what was discussed:

Dr. Ana Vaughan-Malloy, the associate medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Children’s, shared the latest data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Interactive Data Dashboard.

Since early January, she noted, the numbers of virus cases as well as virus-related deaths have all gone done. And while there is an increase in the number of children ages 0-19 who have been infected, Dr. Vaughan-Malloy says this is probably due to increased testing. She also points out that among children who are infected, there are very few hospitalizations.

She discussed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, pointing out that they do not contain live virus, so they cannot cause recipients to become infected. Both vaccines can have side effects, including fatigue, muscle aches, and headaches. But they only last for a day or two. These symptoms are a sign that “your body is reacting properly to the vaccine.” (more…)

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A new webinar on Covid testing parity

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, MA governor, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children on January 20, 2021| 1 Comment »

Screenshot: Early educator Camila Pontes 

 

Earlier this month, Governor Charlie Baker overlooked the needs of young children and their families as well early childhood programs when he announced that rapid COVID-19 testing would be available to K-12 schools, but not early education and care and afterschool programs.

Since then, advocates — including Strategies for Children and 250 other organizations – have sent a letter to the governor asking him to reconsider this decision.

Last week, Strategies for Children and Neighborhood Villages also hosted a panel discussion on this pressing issue, “Prioritizing COVID-19 Testing in Early Education and Care.” A recording of this event is posted here.

“… equity demands that public health measures made available to K-12 [schools] also be applied to early education and afterschool as well,” Binal Patel says in her introduction to the panel discussion. Patel is Neighborhood Villages’ Chief Program Officer.

“We know that testing works. It catches positives [test results] before teachers enter classrooms. And it allows us to identify and address potential exposures early.” (more…)

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Leading the Way: Sarah Mills — from preschool teacher to legislative aide

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Diversity equity and inclusion, Early educators, Family engagement, Infants and toddlers, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation on January 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Sarah Mills

How do you go from being a preschool teacher to working as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts State House? 

For Sarah Mills, it’s all about loving the work of interacting with young children. 

In elementary and middle school, Mills enjoyed helping out with infants and toddlers who were enrolled in her public school’s preschool program. 

As a Syracuse University college student, Mills got a work-study job at her campus’ early education center. 

And when she came to Boston to attend graduate school at Simmons University, she needed to work full-time, so she found a job at KinderCare in downtown Boston where she spent half her time working with infants and half her time working in the afterschool program. 

“When I was younger, I just loved kids; they were so much fun to hang out with,” Mills recalls. “It’s really exciting being with kids who are ages zero to five because you get to watch them go through so many significant milestones, whether it’s their first steps or their first words. Being with kids at this age is truly joyful.” 

“Another wonderful thing is that you get to know the families. I had a lot of families with first-time babies, and so I had the responsibility of helping to educate them and helping them to feel comfortable, because it’s scary to drop your child off for the first time with people you’ve just met. And I was working before the paid family leave law. So I saw parents who had no choice but to bring children who were six weeks or 12 weeks old to our program.”  (more…)

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Celebrating a champion for early education and care – a guest post by JD Chesloff

Posted in Business and economy, Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, Guest Blog, MA Legislature, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children on December 30, 2020| 1 Comment »

House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

 

In my nearly 30 years in and around state government, and currently as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, I’ve learned that three elements are necessary to move a policy agenda: unassailable data and research; a robust grassroots field operation; and a champion… someone who makes the issue their top priority. For years – since I worked for the Early Education for All Campaign and long before – Strategies for Children has produced great data and organized and energized the field. And for years, Speaker Bob DeLeo has been the champion.

As the Speaker ends an extraordinary career in public service, I’ve been reflecting on his determined and effective leadership in early education and care. It’s an issue that is a perennial priority for the Roundtable and one that has afforded me the opportunity to work closely with DeLeo. Early on, he understood the connection between high quality early education and economic growth. In a seminal speech before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in March of 2015, the Speaker noted the innate connection between economic growth and education, calling early childhood “game changing” and urging the business community to take a leadership role in advancing public policy in this area. (more…)

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Navigating the challenges of reopening early education and care programs

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, Federal, Funding, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten on December 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

 

Across Massachusetts, after closing because of the pandemic, early education and care providers have been reopening, navigating the challenges created by COVID-19.

“We still are ahead of many, many states in our reopening capacity,” Samantha Aigner-Treworgy, commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care, said at a recent department board meeting, public radio station WBUR reports. “While that is really great, what we’re hearing back is many of those [providers] are at a level of vulnerability that could easily put us behind the country quickly as well.”

WBUR adds:

“Eighty-two percent of the state’s licensed providers reopened as of Nov. 23, according to the latest survey from the Department of Early Education and Care. But, many providers told the state that reopening has come with a slew of financial challenges. Many reported struggles to find qualified staffers, or families to fill available slots. Some were forced to contend with the costs of temporary closures because of suspected or confirmed exposure to the coronavirus.” (more…)

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In quotes: “Child Care Providers Face a Bleak Future Without Relief”

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Early educators, NAEYC, Quotes on December 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

“The situation is dire for child care providers—the ones that are still open. Add to that the thousands of providers that have already closed and the magnitude of this national crisis is much, much greater.” — Rhian Evans Allvin, CEO, NAEYC

“We are temporarily closing as of tomorrow. I cannot find or keep staff. I have a waitlist and empty classrooms.” — Tanya Going, child care provider, Pryor, Oklahoma

“We are foregoing purchases that impact quality programming in an effort to save funds. The uncertainty and the increased expenses have caused us to postpone the purchase of needed materials, supplies, staff professional development and equipment.” — Melissa Colagrosso, child care provider, Oak Hill, West Virginia

 

— “Am I Next? Sacrificing to Stay Open, Child Care Providers Face a Bleak Future Without Relief,” NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), December 2020

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Early childhood workforce challenges before — and after — the pandemic

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Diversity equity and inclusion, Early educators, Federal, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Research on December 10, 2020| Leave a Comment »

 

A few months before the pandemic hit, the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted a survey of the early education and care workforce.

The survey results are a pre-pandemic snapshot of a shaky situation that policymakers can use to understand the toll that the pandemic has taken on providers.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that early care and education is a key piece of infrastructure for the economy,” Anne Douglass, the executive director of UMass Boston’s Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation, says in a blog post. “Parents need early care and education options that are high quality and affordable because when child care isn’t available, parents can’t work.”

The institute released a report on the survey results along with UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy and its Center for Social Policy. The survey was commissioned by the Department of Early Education and Care.

One important lesson from the survey, Douglass says, is that “returning to pre-pandemic ways of doing business is not an option.” (more…)

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State budget updates

Posted in COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on November 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

 

It has been a turbulent year for state budget proceedings in Massachusetts. The fiscal year 2021 budget has been delayed since July due to the pandemic. Instead of a full budget for the entire year, the state has passed monthly budgets which essentially extend the fiscal year 2020 budget one month at a time. There was also a supplemental budget for the FY20 fiscal year, which Governor Baker signed on July 24, 2020. That budget included critical funding related to COVID-19 relief for early education and care, including $45.6 million in federal CARES Act funding used for child care reopening grants.

In October, Governor Baker released his revised FY21 budget proposal, which he had originally released in January. This budget preserved and increased funding for early education and care, while also proposing a new Early Education COVID Recovery Fund.

Now in November, the FY21 budget is rapidly coming together. The House passed its budget last week; it contains much needed funding for early education and care, including a $20 million rate increase for early educators and $10 million for a reserve to reduce fees for parents enrolling in subsidized child care. The House budget also earmarks up to $50 million in the two child care access accounts for COVID-related child care stabilization funding and incentive pay for early educators.

House Budget: H.5150

Executive Summary

House Amendments, Consolidated Amendment A

(more…)

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