This letter provides you with additional information about Good Start, Grow Smart, including the DRAFT revised State Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan Preprint and Guidance that address the three child care-related goals of Good Start, Grow Smart: 1. Voluntary State guidelines or content standards on early literacy, language, pre-reading and numeracy skills for children ages 3 to 5 that align with State K-12 standards and describe what children need to know and be able to do to succeed in kindergarten; 2. State plans for the professional development and training of child care teachers, providers and administrators to enable them to support the school readiness of young children; and, 3. State plans for coordination across early childhood programs and funding streams. As indicated in the President's April 2002 announcement, Good Start, Grow Smart is envisioned as a Federal-State partnership that creates linkages between CCDF, including funds set-aside for quality, and State public and private efforts to promote early learning. The announcement specifically indicates that States will address the above Good Start, Grow Smart goals in their biennial CCDF Plans. Statutorily, this initiative is supported by sections 658D(b)(1)(D), 658E(c)(3)(B), and 658G of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 1990, as amended. These sections require States to coordinate the provision of services with other Federal, State, and local child care and early childhood development programs, and to use a portion of the funding they receive to improve the quality of child care services. Read in conjunction with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Pub. L 107-110), Good Start, Grow Smart and the CCDBG statute call upon States to support the school readiness of young children through nurturing child care environments that foster early literacy, language, pre-reading, and numeracy skills. The attached DRAFT Preprint and Guidance are subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This process was announced in the December 18, 2002 Federal Register and provides States and others with the opportunity to comment on the drafts. To ensure that State Lead Agencies have a copy of the draft materials and can plan for the July 1, 2003 State Plan submissions, we are providing copies of the draft documents as an enclosure to this letter. With the exception of a new subsection that deals with Good Start, Grow Smart, we have made only minor editorial changes to the preprint and guidance. The new subsection is intended to provide you with the opportunity to tell us about your State's efforts in support of Good Start, Grow Smart. Since Good Start, Grow Smart was announced, the Child Care Bureau has actively sought input from ACF Regional Offices, States and other stakeholders about ways we can work together to further the school readiness of young children served in the range of child care settings. This has included discussions during Regional Child Care Administrator Meetings, with national organizations, and during the Annual State Child Care Administrators' Meeting in July 2002. The Bureau has also consulted with members of its State Issues Work Group (comprised of State agency representatives) and staff in ACF Regional Offices. In addition, the Child Care Bureau has consulted with early childhood researchers associated with the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal and non-federal research organizations. In September, the Child Care Bureau, in cooperation with the Head Start Bureau and the Department of Education, sponsored a State Early Learning Guidelines Roundtable in Washington, DC. Teams were invited from ten States that have established early learning guidelines. These States provided information about their processes in developing guidelines, including motivating factors, guiding principles, leadership, participants, timelines, dissemination and implementation, resources, and challenges. The participating States also offered advice to the Federal agencies and other States about the development and implementation of voluntary early learning guidelines. The summary of proceedings from this meeting is available on the Child Care Bureau's web site at /programs/ccb/policy1/current/ACF118/summary.doc . In Fall 2002, ACF Regional Offices convened a series of Regional State Roundtable discussions that included State Child Care Administrators and representatives from Head Start, the Department of Education, and other early childhood professionals. The Department of Education is sponsoring Early Childhood Educator Academies that define and describe best practices on voluntary early learning guidelines, professional development, and instructional practices. The Child Care Bureau has worked with the Department of Education on the inclusion of child care content and audiences in the Academies. These consultations have taught us a great deal about the important work that is being done in States and communities throughout the country to improve the school readiness of young children, as well as some of the challenges we all face. What we have heard has helped us better understand how the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative can build on the work you are doing to help child care providers support the development of early literacy, language, pre-reading, and numeracy skills. More specifically, we have come to understand that:
We have benefited greatly from our consultations with you and other stakeholders; your input has directly influenced the enclosed DRAFT State Plan Preprint and Guidance. We encourage you to provide comments and suggestions about these documents to me at the address provided in the December 18, 2002 Federal Register Announcement. The Announcement is available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a021218c.html. As indicated in the Administration's announcement of Good Start, Grow Smart, we view our work together on the next CCDF Plans as part of a long-term partnership to improve the development and school readiness of young children in child care. Sincerely, /s/
Enclosures |
Index: ACYF-PI-CC-03-04 | Guidance | Plan Preprint | Dear Colleague Letter (01/20/03) |
Related Items: ACF Regional Administrators | FFY 2002-2003 State Plan |