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Archive for the ‘K-12’ Category

Silvia Moron: a Strategies for Children Intern

Posted in International, K-12, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Philanthropy, Strategies for Children, tagged #ece, #Interns, #mapoli, #StrategiesforChildren on May 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Silvia Moron and State Senator Jason Lewis

Silvia Moron grew up in Haiti, and when she arrived in the United States in 2009, she wanted to be a diplomat.

“My dream was to work for the United Nations and be an ambassador,” Moron says.

To start her career, however, she decided to become a nurse. She loves helping people, and this career would, she decided, give her the stability she needed to pursue her dreams.

Today, Moron is an intern at Strategies for Children. She’s studying political science at Bunker Hill Community College, and she plans to transfer to a four-year college to study foreign relations.

Moron also runs the Sephora Moron Foundation, which she launched in 2020 to raise money for poor children who don’t have access to education. Put all this work together, and it adds up to Moron’s vision of helping the world by becoming an ambassador who represents poor people, advocates for excellent health care, and promotes education.

What drew Moron to Strategies was the chance to learn about advocacy and policy.

Back in January, on the first day of her internship, Moron joined Strategies’ staff at the Massachusetts State House for the release of the Early Childhood Agenda.

“It was super-exciting. It was my first time at the State House, and I got to pose with Senator Lewis, and he posted the picture on Facebook,” Moron says of State Senator Jason Lewis (D-5^th Middlesex). “And I talked to him about Strategies.”

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In quotes: a documentary featuring child care providers

Posted in Child care, Early educators, K-12, National, tagged #ChildCare, #EarlyEducators, #ece, #InvestInChildCare on May 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Every child has the right to be cared for. Why aren’t we providing that as a society?”

— A trailer from the documentary Labor of Love: Stories from the front line of the childcare crisis, from Kids Count on Us, a statewide coalition of providers, parents, and teachers united to create quality, affordable child care across Minnesota. April 27, 2023. The featured child care providers have also shared their ideas about their state’s needs.

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Learn about The Early Childhood Agenda’s newly released plan

Posted in Child care, Developmentally appropriate practice, Early educators, Family child care, Funding, K-12, MA governor, MA Legislature, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #EarlyChildhoodAgenda, #mapoli on January 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

Thank you @EarlyEd4All for hosting @SenJasonLewis and me this morning for the kickoff of the #EarlyChildhoodAgenda. Providing access to affordable, accessible and high-quality early Ed & childcare remains a top priority for the Legislature for the new session. pic.twitter.com/upTVPkp99b
— Alice Peisch (@RepAlicePeisch) January 24, 2023

The Early Childhood Agenda has been released!

On Tuesday, early education advocates gathered at the Massachusetts State House for the release event. Watch a video replay here. And check out #EarlyChildhoodAgenda on Twitter.

“The Early Childhood Agenda imagines, prioritizes, and builds collective action around equitable and impact-driven solutions by providing a space for the early childhood community to work across sectors for better policy development,” a newly released brief explains.

It’s an exciting plan for unified action that can improve the experiences of young children and families in Massachusetts.

The Agenda includes the input of more than 1,000 people who contributed to a conversation that identified 10 priorities. They are:

1 Work with state government to “pass and implement comprehensive early education and care legislation that addresses family affordability and establishes a career pathway and funding mechanism to drive investments in workforce compensation.”

2 Ensure “early childhood professionals across multiple sectors have access to competitive wages and an affordable benefits package (health care, paid leave, retirement, child care)” by drawing on “operational grants, state-funded benefits, an opt-in group health plan, unionization, and premium assistance programs”

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Mo Barbosa: from zero to 24 and beyond

Posted in Achievement gap, Boston, Child care, College/career readiness, Cost and affordability, Developmentally appropriate practice, Infants and toddlers, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children, tagged #TheEarlyChildhoodAgenda, #ZeroTo24 on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

One of the most important lessons you learn in a conversation with Mo Barbosa is that everything in youth development work is – or should be – connected.

“The better we do with zero to five,” Barbosa says of working with young children, “the better we’re going to do with the next 10 to 15 years of development.”

Barbosa is the senior director of Community Engagement at Health Resources in Action, where his goal as a trainer and facilitator is to professionalize the youth work field. He is the facilitator for convenings of The Early Childhood Agenda, which are hosted by Strategies for Children.

Barbosa’s sweeping focus is on the zero-to-24 age range – “or 24-ish” he says, “as we’re starting to understand the brain, we’re going a little bit later.”

But instead of a well-paved road that leads from birth to early adulthood, children and families in Massachusetts — and the rest of the country — face a fractured system.

“There has been this historic difference between where you get child care and how much of it is early education and how much of it is just a place to put your kid,” Barbosa says. “And that difference has dictated quality. It has dictated pay. And it has dictated opportunity.”

Barbosa recalls running an early childhood program in St. Louis where children who lived in local housing projects would not go to kindergarten because they could not pass the screening test. Instead, they would enter first grade as six-year-olds with no early childhood classroom experiences.

The solution?

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Massachusetts can do better: a call for more equity in education

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Diversity equity and inclusion, Funding, Higher Education, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Standards and curriculum, Strategies for Children, tagged #ece, #Equity, #K-12 on September 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Massachusetts is a leader in educational excellence, but not for all its students.

As a new report – “There Is No Excellence Without Equity: A Path Forward for Education in Massachusetts” — from the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership (MEEP) explains, “for a long time now, our state’s high overall rankings have masked deep inequities in student learning experiences and outcomes.”

Strategies for Children is a MEEP member.

The disparities the report cites were bad before Covid hit, and many have been aggravated by the pandemic.

“In parts of Boston and cities like Chelsea, Brockton, and Springfield, where infection and death rates were highest, the pandemic inflicted new levels of trauma and anxiety on families already facing significant adversity,” the report says.

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In tweets: how child care shortages fed K-12 teacher shortages

Posted in Cost and affordability, K-12, National, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes, tagged #K-12, #SolveChildCare on September 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

One of the reasons teachers left the profession during the pandemic? #Childcare.

Teacher shortages are plaguing K-12 schools across the country. Educators need access to quality, affordable #childcare to continue their essential work. https://t.co/7CuTldYlUK
— First Five Years Fund (@firstfiveyears) September 15, 2022

“To meet the caregiving needs of the K-12 educator workforce and the developmental needs of the youngest students, the United States needs sustained, significant federal investments in the accessibility and affordability of high-quality child care.”

— “Why K-12 Teachers and Their Students Need Investments in Child Care,” by Emily Katz, The Center for American Progress, June 8, 2022

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KIDS COUNT

Posted in Child care, COVID-19, Diversity equity and inclusion, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, National, Pre-kindergarten, Research, Social-emotional development, tagged #KidsCount, #MentalHealth on September 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The new 2022 KIDS COUNT Data Book is out. It’s the annual, Annie E. Casey Foundation report that takes a deep dive into how the nation’s children are doing.

This year, the data book points out that while the pandemic and widespread economic uncertainty have caused harm, there are also pockets of progress.

This year’s report focuses on children’s mental health.

“As of July 2022, the health crisis had killed more than 1 million people in America, including more than 1,600 children,” the foundation says of the pandemic’s impact. “During this same time span, more than 200,000 kids had lost a parent or primary caregiver to the virus.”

This has “helped fuel what the U.S. surgeon general has called a mental health pandemic for youth. According to the Data Book, the incidence of anxiety and depression among kids has spiked. Comparing pre-pandemic to the first year of the COVID-19 crisis: The share of children struggling to make it through the day rose nearly 26% — from 9.4% (5.8 million kids) in 2016 to 11.8% (7.3 million kids) in 2020.”

Another challenge is racial and ethnic disparities that have contributed to “disproportionately troubling mental health and wellness conditions among children of color. Nine percent of high-schoolers overall but 12% of Black students, 13% of students of two or more races, and 26% of American Indian or Native Alaskan high-schoolers attempted suicide in the year prior to the most recent federal survey.”

In addition, “many LGBTQ young people are encountering challenges as they seek mental health support. Among heterosexual high school students of all races and ethnicities, 6% attempted suicide; the share was 23% for gay, lesbian or bisexual students.”

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Voices from the field… on WBUR

Posted in Child care, Cost and affordability, COVID-19, Early educators, Funding, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, tagged #EarlyEducators, #ece, #MARunsOnChildCare, #SolveChildCare on June 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

Check out this new feature from WBUR radio that is aptly titled: “We asked 8 child care workers about their joys and frustrations. Here’s what they said.”

It’s part of a week-long series on early education and care.

This particular article and audio clip features:

Bernadette Davidson

Kiya Savannah

Vanessa Pashkoff (whom we’ve blogged about)

Kitt Cox, and

WBUR asks these early educators to discuss “the joys and challenges of working in this industry, and why some are leaving the profession,” as the field grapples with challenges.

“The child care workforce in Massachusetts is about 12% smaller today than it was before the start of the pandemic, according to a recent analysis from the University of California, Berkeley,” WBUR explains.

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Voices from the Field: Vanessa Pashkoff

Posted in COVID-19, Early educators, K-12, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Strategies for Children on August 20, 2021| 2 Comments »

Vanessa Pashkoff

Vanessa Pashkoff spent time in high school and college working as a nanny. And she was always inspired by “the spark of children and wonder,” she says. But as a student in McMaster University, in Canada, where she’s from, she earned a degree in political science.

“I was convinced I was going to be a social worker.”

A friend, however, was going to teach in Korea, and that inspired Pashkoff to look into teaching abroad. She applied to a program, got accepted, took a crash course in teaching English as a second language and spent a year teaching a preschool class in Japan.

“I lived in Kobe,” Pashkoff recalls, “and I loved it. It was amazing to help people learn and to see another environment and the cultural differences. It really was what I was looking for without knowing it.”

“I created some incredible relationships with families, and I am still in touch with them to this day.”

While she was in Japan, Pashkoff decided to apply to Brock University in Ontario, Canada, so she could earn a degree in education.

“It was the kind of thing where everyone else seemed to know that I was going to end up being an educator or a teacher, and I just never wanted to admit it,” she says. (more…)