(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Dina Titus, Education and Labor Committee Member and Member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.)
With nearly 12 million of the 18.5 million children under age five in the United States in some type of regular child care or early education setting, we must ensure that high standards are met for the care of these children. A solid early learning foundation helps children succeed later in school, helps America compete in a global market and gives all Americans a better opportunity to succeed in life. In short, we know that those who start earlier, do better, and stay in school longer.
At today’s
hearing, Gina Adams, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, told us that research shows that the general quality of care that children receive in our country is not adequate. She recommended focusing our policies across the age spectrum from birth to age five, investing in efforts that support the ability of working families to access high quality services, and improving the quality of child care.
Harriet Dichter, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Child Development and Early Learning of the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Public Welfare and co-chair of the Pennsylvania Early Learning Council, stated that there isn’t just one investment or program that is the “silver bullet.” “What matters,” said Dicther, “regardless the program, is a common framework of high standards, accountability, and sufficient investment to make a difference.” Dichter explained that we must expand federal funding that will insist that states have research-based standards and accountability based on nationally acceptable minimums and that it is possible to have a national baseline that does not interfere with the states’ autonomy.
The Deputy Secretary pointed out that we need to develop a consistent national framework of standards. A question I would pose to Dichter and others is how the federal government might both implement national standards and preserve states’ autonomy and creativity in programming. Further, I would welcome her input, and those of others, as to how we might implement national accountability standards without creating a “No Child Left Behind Act” for pre-school children. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with Dichter and others in future Committee hearings on early childhood development.
We know that children’s experiences in the first five years of life greatly influence brain architecture and chemistry in ways that can have lifelong impacts on learning, behavior, and health. And we know that the knowledge and skills gap between children from less advantaged families and those from higher-income families is evident before elementary school. A high-quality early education – one of the most important opportunities we can give our children – will ensure future generations’ success in school and beyond.
Today, the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee continues the series of hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education with a hearing on “Improving Early Childhood Development Policies and Practices”. The hearing will further examine the early learning and child care needs of children and families, as well as collaborative state efforts and other initiatives to deliver high quality care and education to children from birth through age five.
This effort comes a week after President Barack Obama delivered his first major speech on education, in which he discussed early education as a critical part of his agenda.
(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Dale Kildee, Education and
Labor Committee Member and Chair of the Subcommittee Early Childhood,
Elementary and Secondary Education.)President Barack Obama has called for a reformed 21st century education system, and comprehensive early childhood education is critical to that vision. The President set a goal of ensuring that every child has access to a complete, competitive education from birth forward.
That is why Congress and the President worked together to increase funding by $2.3 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, and by $2.1 billion for the child care and development block grant in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the appropriations bill for 2009.
Those investments will preserve and create jobs and improve access and quality for the children who need those programs. That is why I was so pleased to see that President Obama’s budget will commit significant new resources to early childhood development.
The federal budget should reflect our values as a nation. And that is just what the President’s budget will do.
I look forward to this committee’s work with the President to help
parents and educators make the early years of children’s lives
nurturing and enriching. Ensuring that children and their families have
access to high-quality, comprehensive services that help the children
develop cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally enables them
to succeed in school and in life.
Children who receive quality
early childhood education and development services do better in reading
and math, and are more likely to graduate from high school, attend
college, and hold higher paying jobs. The support and security that
these services provide infants, toddlers and young children help their
brains develop in the early years and set the foundation – literally –
for later development and learning.
Last Congress, we
reauthorized the Head Start Act to prioritize teacher quality and Early
Head Start. I was proud to have been the chief sponsor of that
bipartisan reauthorization along with Chairman Miller, Mr. Castle, Mr.
Ehlers, and others. The committee also reported my colleague Ms.
Hirono’s PRE-K Act.
We took some important steps.
But
meeting the goal that we share with President Obama is about more than
any one program. It’s about ensuring that wherever children are, there
are high standards, and the resources and accountability to ensure
those standards are met.
As a father, grandfather, and former teacher, I know that is the key to their success and our success as a nation.
(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Mazie Hirono, Education and Labor Committee Member and Member of the Subcommittee Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.)
In today’s Education and Labor Committee
hearing, we heard from experts in early education and child care from across the country. The panel testified to the importance of investing in high quality early education and child care opportunities for children from birth to five. We also saw that the entire panel agreed that the debate about the importance of quality early childhood education is over; study after study has shown that high quality early education does make a positive difference in a child’s life. Children who attend good preschools are more likely to perform well in school and graduate from high school, and are less likely to commit a crime or use drugs. With that important debate settled, we need to work with states to encourage investments in quality early education opportunities.
The states represented in today’s hearing – Nebraska, Georgia,
Illinois, New York, and Kansas – have demonstrated that state and local
commitments to investing in early education and child care can be
successful. As Jessie Rasmussen, vice president of the Buffett Early
Childhood Fund in Nebraska, explained, “common quality standards, clear
pathways to meeting research-based standards of quality, sufficient
funding for not only reaching these standards but for sustaining
quality operations, and flexibility in meeting family needs have been
essential elements in our efforts to build a comprehensive, highly
effective, birth to five early childhood system.” Those same
sentiments were echoed by other panelists who also pointed to
research-based policy making and statewide collaboration as critical
components of successful early education initiatives.
Other common themes we heard in today’s hearing had to do with ensuring
access to high quality child care and early education opportunities,
supporting families in their role as children’s first and most
important teachers, and the need for improved data collection and
analysis so we can learn from and improve on what we know works. We
also heard that federal early education policy should foster
collaboration at the state level and allow flexibility for states, as
some states are further along the spectrum of access and quality, and
every state has its own strengths and cultural needs.
Many states – including my home state of Hawaii – have a lot of work
ahead of us before our children will have access to high quality child
care and preschools. From what we’ve heard from our panel today,
investments in early education are especially important now during this
economic downturn. As more parents lose their jobs and more homes are
lost through foreclosures, we must continue to support families in
providing affordable, safe, consistent learning environments for their
children.
