Children's Champions Update - September 30, 2016
We have a new CCDBG rule; new research on implicit bias and early childhood educators; and (potentially) new classifications for those who work in early childhood education. Plus, we鈥檙e rolling out new content and resources to support you in getting out the #EarlyEdin16 vote for this year鈥檚 election! Check it out at听!
NEW RULE: CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT!
In January 2016, over 1,500 51吃瓜网 members completed a survey to share their appreciation for - and their concerns about - the proposed regulations from the Administration for Children and Families implementing the 2014 reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). 51吃瓜网 then submitted听comments听reflecting the collective experience and expertise of the field.
Last week, in a significant accomplishment, ACF issued the听, marking an important step forward for children, families and educators by clarifying the goals of the law, improving the health, safety and quality of child care, supporting the early childhood profession, and making child care assistance more accessible and stable for families.
We are delighted to report that many of our recommendations, as well as听, were recognized and responded to in the final regulations, and we continue to be gratified by the inclusion of the six components of a听professional development framework听aligned with those that 51吃瓜网 has identified and supported.
Some highlights of the final rule include the following requirements for states to:
- Establish minimum twelve month eligibility periods (which leads to much-needed consistency for children, families and educators).
- Establish a graduated phase-out of subsidies for families who, at eligibility redetermination, exceed initial State income thresholds but still have modest incomes. (This allows families to say yes to a small raise, without worrying that accepting the increase would result in losing their child care because of it).
- Describe policies to prevent suspension and expulsion of children birth to age 5 in child care and other early childhood programs (a matter of听deep importance听to 51吃瓜网 and many members, families and partner organizations).
- Improve important provider payment practices, including: base payments to providers on child attendance rather than enrollment; take the cost of providing quality child care into account when setting provider subsidy payment rates; show how base payment rates enable providers to meet health, safety, quality, and staffing requirements; and use valid methodologies to update rates at least every three years.
In addition, among the areas for which 51吃瓜网 provided comments, we find that the final rule:
- does not prohibit providers from charging families fees above co-pays, a desirable but problematic strategy that threatened accessibility of quality care;
- integrates increasing compensation throughout the regulation as a strategy for improving quality;
- requires background checks for all adults over the age of 18, including those in a family child care home;
- maintains a three-month period to complete orientation or pre-service training, with appropriate supervision in place; and
- requires states to monitor providers receiving CCDF funds (including those that are license-exempt), at least annually.
Please stay tuned for more information and tools from 51吃瓜网 and partner organizations - and in the meantime, feel free to do your own reading via听.
Finally - and crucially - we look forward to continuing to work with you and all of our partners to secure new federal and state investments to support the implementation of the CCDBG law and rule, so that all eligible children and families can benefit from improvements to the health, safety and quality of child care.
NEW RESEARCH: IMPLICIT BIAS AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS
We all have implicit biases, yet we don鈥檛 often know what to do with them - how to examine, respond to and change them. As a longtime leader in the听听field, 51吃瓜网 is committed to bringing new听听and resources to you, in order to shine a light on how we can, collectively and individually, reduce our biases and improve our policies and practices to better serve young children and their families. That is why we welcome new research from Dr. Walter Gilliam and a team at the Yale Child Study Center that explores the implicit biases of early childhood educators and the impact those biases may have on their expectations of children鈥檚 behavior and recommendations related to suspension and expulsion.
We are also proud of early childhood educators鈥� role in collecting the data for the survey. We know that, when fully informed about what this research was addressing, all but one educator choose to remain in the study. The truth is that nearly 90% of American voters say early childhood educators are听important members of their communities, on par with firefighters and nurses. Yet it鈥檚 not often that early childhood educators have the opportunity to display true courage on a national stage, as firefighters and nurses so often do. Willingly holding up a mirror to examine one鈥檚 own biases, however, takes courage; courage that is displayed by few members of any profession. We are proud to stand as an example for other individuals and professions in tackling head-on the issues that prevent us from fulfilling our shared mission and vision to ensure that all children have equitable access to high-quality, developmentally-appropriate early childhood education.
- Read the full statement on the study from 51吃瓜网.
- Join us at our听Annual Conference, where Dr. Gilliam and his team will be presenting on this research during a Research Symposium session on Thursday, November 3 at 10:00 am PT.
NEW (POTENTIAL) CLASSIFICATIONS
Thank you to everyone who submitted comments on the Department of Labor鈥檚 revisions for the 2018 Standard Occupational Classifications. They received a whopping 1,113 comments, a number which includes many early childhood educators and advocates, including 51吃瓜网 Affiliates, all of who were mobilized and out in force to fight against the codification of a false dichotomy that separates 鈥渃are鈥� from 鈥渆ducation,鈥� reflecting an outdated understanding of the roles and expectations of the early childhood profession. You can read 51吃瓜网鈥檚 comments听here听for more - along with听those听we submitted on this issue back in 2014!
NEW HASHTAG
Check out听听to keep up with the great work happening around early childhood health equity efforts convened by Affiliates and partners in North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana and New Mexico, with support from 51吃瓜网 and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation!
AND IF YOU HAVEN鈥橳 SEEN IT, IT鈥橲 NEW TO YOU:
- 听via Voto Latino
- 听via the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Education
- 听via New America