Early Childhood

Parade Magazine will run a story in tomorrow's print edition (available online now) highlighting the use and abuse of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. Parade reports:

Across the country each year, thousands of schoolchildren—especially disabled ones—are restrained or isolated for misbehaving. The Government Accountability Office reported more than 33,000 incidents of restraint or seclusion last year at schools in Texas and California, two of only six states that track such data. Nineteen states have no regulations at all regarding the use of restraint and seclusion in schools.

The Committee held a hearing in May on the findings of the GAO report and to hear testimony from parents of children that had been abused through the use of restraint techniques. The hearing generated considerable press coverage and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, pledged to asking all state school chiefs to submit their plans for using seclusion, restraint and other practices for physical intervention in their schools.

“Children’s safety has to be our number one concern before we begin to think about educating them and doing other things,” said Duncan. “And as we go into the summer and prepare for next school year I want to make sure that as we go into next school year that every state has a real clear plan as to how to do this in a way that makes sense. And doesn’t jeopardize, doesn’t endanger children.”

And again Parade says:

George Miller (D., Calif.) is working on a new set of rules that could limit the use of restraint and seclusion, provide funding to train school staff, and require communication with parents if extreme disciplinary measures are used. Says Miller: “We’re meeting with the Obama Administration and education experts about a federal action to keep kids safe and stop horrific abuses from going unchecked.”

We encourage you to read the entire Parade article and watch Chairman Miller 's recent interview on CNN about this topic.

Chairman George Miller was on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer last night discussing the use and abuse of seclusion and restraint techniques in schools. On May 19, 2009, the Committee held a hearing examining the abusive and deadly use of seclusion and restraint in schools. In response to the GAO report delivered at that hearing, Chairman Miller said, “The GAO’s report shows that in too many cases, a child’s life wound up being threatened even though that child was not a threat to others. This behavior, in some instances, looks like torture. The current situation is unacceptable and cannot continue.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation that will make college dramatically more affordable for millions of Americans, at no new cost to taxpayers, was approved today by the House Education and Labor Committee by a bipartisan vote of 30 to 17. The full House of Representatives will vote on the bill next.

The legislation, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, will generate almost $100 billion in savings over the next ten years that will be used to boost Pell Grant scholarships, keep interest rates on federal loans affordable, create a more reliable and effective financial aid system for families, and enact President Obama’s key education priorities.
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today introduced legislation that will prepare a new generation of children to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed by making a historic $10 billion investment to leverage reform in the nation’s early learning programs.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 embraces President Obama’s early education agenda. Building upon proposals included in his 2010 budget, the bill establishes the Early Learning Challenge Fund, a competitive grant program that challenges states to build a comprehensive, high-quality early learning system for children from birth through age five. The legislation is also fiscally responsible – it pays for itself by make changes to the nation’s federal student loan program that generate $87 billion in savings over 10 years.
 

A key piece of President’s Obama’s education agenda is supporting comprehensive and effective early learning programs for children from birth to age 5. The first five years of a child’s life has a lasting impact on their learning, health, and behavior. Economists, business leaders, and child development experts agree that smart investments in early education are vital if we want to close the achievement gap and ensure our children are well prepared to thrive in school and in life.

Nearly 12 million children under age 5 regularly spend time in child care arrangements and children with working mothers spend on average 36 hours per week in such settings. But currently there are no federal quality standards for child care and families are left with a patchwork system of child care with mediocre quality.  Our children deserve and need better.  By 4 years old, children from low-income families are already 18 months behind most other 4 year-olds.  From the start, education reform should include early learning, or we miss out on 5 critical years. A comprehensive range of high quality early learning opportunities from birth through age 5 is necessary to give children what they will need to grow and succeed.

To ensure more kids reach kindergarten ready to succeed, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act includes an Early Learning Challenge Fund to increase the number of low-income children in high quality early learning settings. Specifically, the legislation will:

Invest $1 billion each year in competitive grants to challenge states to build a comprehensive, high quality early learning system for children birth to age 5 that includes:   

• Early learning standards reform.
• Evidence-based program quality standards.
• Enhanced program review and monitoring of program quality.
• Comprehensive professional development.
• Coordinated system for facilitating screenings for disability, health, and mental health needs. 
• Improved support to parents.
• Process for assessing children’s school readiness.
• Use data to improve child outcomes.
  

Transform early learning programs by insisting upon real change in state standards and practices:

• Build an effective, qualified, and well-compensated early childhood workforce by supporting more effective providers with degrees in early education and providing sustained, intensive, classroom-focused professional development to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood providers
• Best practices in the classroom by implementing research-based early learning standards aligned with academic content standards for grades K-3.
• Promote parent and family involvement by developing outreach strategies to parents to improve their understanding of their children’s development.
• Fund quality initiatives that improve instructional practices, programmatic practices, and classroom environment that promote school readiness.  
• Quality standards reform that moves toward pre-service training requirements for early learning providers, and adopting best practices for teacher-child ratios and group size.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, July 8, the House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities will hold a joint hearing to examine strategies for improving school safety, including ways to prevent violence, bullying and harassment. Recent studies show students are more likely to succeed academically and graduate when learning environments are free from harassment and violence.

A new study released today by the Economic Policy Institute that concludes that claims of massive jobs losses if a ‘play-or-pay” proposal was enacted as part of health care reform are vastly overstated. In fact, health care reform in general, based on the Obama principles, would produce significant job gains, the EPI wrote.

‘Play or pay’ policy as a part of health care reform would require that employers either provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty as a percentage of their payroll in order to assist low- or moderate-income families to obtain quality and affordable health care.

Under the House Tri-Committee discussion draft proposal, employers who choose not to provide basic health insurance to workers would have to pay an 8 percent penalty based on their overall payroll. Those workers would then be able to choose a plan that best meets their needs from a menu of insurance options in the national health care exchange, which would include both private plans and a public health insurance option.

The EPI also found that past studies that claim significant job losses as a result of ‘play-or-pay’ were based on proposals not on the table today in either the House or the Senate.

View the EPI analysis of ‘play-or-pay’.
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The nation’s premiere early childhood programs for low-income children will begin receiving funding provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The plan invests $2.2 billion in Head Start and Early Head Start to expand the services for over 70,000 additional children.

(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.

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.

Next week, the House Education and Labor Committee will launch a series of committee and subcommittee hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education. The hearings will 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.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With millions of families losing jobs and becoming more vulnerable in today’s economy, it’s more critical than ever to expand access to high quality, comprehensive early childhood programs for the nation’s youngest children, witnesses told members of House Education and Labor Committee today. For many families, child care is the second highest monthly expense after housing.

(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.

Next week, the House Education and Labor Committee will launch a series of committee and subcommittee hearings devoted to strengthening early childhood education. The hearings will 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.

The Committee held a hearing on bipartisan legislation that would help strengthen American families and help more children arrive at school ready to succeed by expanding access to early childhood home visitation programs for parents and children.

Research shows that these programs, which provide a variety of services ranging from pre-natal medical care to school readiness and family literacy programs, can help improve student achievement, reduce child abuse rates, improve early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, and improve access to health services.

Opening Statement delivered by Vice-Chairman Dale Kildee