OCDEL In Action
BUILD ECE News Survey 2012: Share your thoughts! Deadline February 22
We want to know what you think about the BUILD ECE News! Please take a few moments to answer eight short questions and share your feedback. Your responses may help to improve the way important information about quality early learning is delivered within BUILD.
Click here to take the survey! Responses will be collected through February 22, 2012. To view past editions of BUILD ECE News or to sign up to receive BUILD via email, please visit the PA's Promise for Children website.
Updates from the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education
The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education has released Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition which are updated to reflect changes/additions since the second printing of CFOC3 in August 2011. These national standards represent the best evidence, expertise, and experience in the country on quality health and safety practices and policies that should be followed in today’s early care and education settings.
Major Change in Caring for Our Children, 3rd Edition (CFOC3) include:
- Standard 3.1.4.1: Safe Sleep Practices and SIDS/Suffocation Risk Reduction (p. 96 in hard copy)
- Change: The use of blankets is no longer recommended. (This is addressed in the COMMENTS section of the standard, under "Use of Blankets" on page 98). (updated December 2011)
To download copies of the document, please visit the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education website.
Help Pennsylvania join the fight against childhood obesity
NACCRRA, the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of Child Care have announced a Let’s Move! Child Care State Challenge. Help Pennsylvania win this challenge by encouraging local family child care, center providers and families to join the fight against childhood obesity by taking an interactive quiz and signing up to show their commitment to helping fight childhood obesity. After signing up, participants can receive a Certificate for Participation; build a customized Action Plan exclusively for their program or home to help reach physical activity and nutrition goals; and access ideas and resources.
States will be recognized in two categories:
- Category 1: Highest percentage of licensed or legally operating child care programs that sign up as Let’s Move! Child Care participants
- Category 2. Largest percentage of Let’s Move! programs that successfully complete the initiative’s checklist quiz and action plans
Let’s Move! Child Care is an effort to promote children’s health by encouraging and supporting healthier physical activity and nutrition practices for children in child care. The five goal areas of Let’s Move! Child Care are:
- Increasing physical activity
- Reducing screen time
- Improving food choices
- Providing healthy beverages
- Supporting infant feeding
Winning states will receive national recognition including an award presentation during the 2012 Weight of the Nation conference. With more than 20% of children between 2 and 5 years old overweight or obese, the child care community is an essential ally in the effort to prevent childhood obesity, support children’s healthy development, and prevent the occurrence of later chronic disease. To sign up as Let’s Move! Child Care participant, visit the Healthy Kids Healthy Future website. ~ECELS
Trends and Reports
Abecedarian Project Update: Benefits of high quality child care persist 30 years later
A recent study led by the Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that adults who participated in a high quality early childhood education program in the 1970s are still benefiting from their early experiences in a variety of ways. The Abecedarian Project was a carefully controlled scientific study of the potential benefits of early childhood education for children from low-income families who were at risk of developmental delays or academic failure. Participants attended a full-time child care facility that operated year-round, from infancy until they entered kindergarten. Throughout their early years, the children were provided with educational activities designed to support their language, cognitive, social and emotional development. Of the 111 infants originally enrolled in the project (98 percent of whom were African-American), 101 took part in the age 30 follow-up.
According to the latest study of adults at age 30, Abecedarian Project participants
- Had significantly more years of education than peers who were part of a control group. They were also four times more likely to have earned college degrees; 23 percent of participants graduated from a four-year college or university compared to only 6 percent of the control group;
- Were more likely to have been consistently employed (75 percent had worked full time for at least 16 of the previous 24 months, compared to 53 percent of the control group);
- Were less likely to have used public assistance (only 4 percent received benefits for at least 10 percent of the previous seven years, compared to 20 percent of the control group); and
- Showed a tendency to delay parenthood by almost two years compared to the control group.
For additional information about the study, please visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill website.
More Trends and Reports
In The News
How Childcare Boosts Social Capital
A recent online article by writer Meera Lee Sethi, conveys that new research demonstrates how mothers using child care can reap social, psychological, and financial rewards. She identifies the “social capital” as the complex system of interpersonal ties and networks that scientists have linked to a host of benefits, from better health to stronger job prospects. She writes
This is an unusual way of thinking about childcare, especially since the national debate over it usually concerns its impact on children’s emotional, behavioral, and intellectual development.
Mothers using child care reap social, psychological, and even financial rewards; these rewards are especially pronounced for low-income mothers. Even when mothers make few friends through a child care center, they still benefit from the resources they find there.
To read the full article, please visit the Greater Good website.
Early childhood education in the News: October – December 2011
Over 40 early childhood education related articles were published across the state between October and December 2011. Programs covered throughout the quarter include Head Start, PA Pre-K Counts and Child Care Information Services. Over ten Letters to the Editor and Op Eds were published in support of PA’s Promise for Children Month and continued investment in early childhood education.
An article summary is available on the PA Keys website under Community Outreach/Tools & Resources. This is an excellent way to become familiar with the types of stories your local news reports on early education and get story ideas to pitch to media in your community. Thanks to the community engagement groups, PA Pre-K Counts and other early childhood education programs, Cathleen Palm and others who provided the stories for this summary. If you have seen stories published not included here or would like a copy of an article, email Ingrid Molinares at ingmol@berksiu.org. Please be specific in your article request - include the title, date and paper.
More In the News
In the Community
Getting Ready for Kindergarten
Spring may not havesprouted yet, but if your child will enter kindergarten next fall, now is the time to register. Many Kindergarten registration events throughout Pennsylvania are well under way--have you checked out the activities and events offered at your school? Early registration for Kindergarten can provide families the supports they need to ensure their child is ready for that all important first day of Kindergarten.
Find your school district Kindergarten dates and events at the PA Promise for Children website.
Engaging Families Wins Award for LEARN Team
Judges at the annual Columbia/Montour Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase held at the Columbia Mall during October's PA's Promise for Children month voted to award the Columbia and Montour County LEARN Teams "Most Creative" in engaging visitors of the event. This year the team chose a pirate theme, using the tag line “Children ARRRRe Our Greatest Treasure”. An information table was made to look like a pirate ship and a treasure chest filled with free early learning materials greeted visitors.
This event provided a great opportunity to educate and engage with the local businesses and community at large regarding the importance of high quality early learning experiences for all children. Each year the Columbia/Montour Chamber of Commerce encourages participants to display materials in a creative way.
For more information on quality early learning in Columbia County, please contact Amanda Schell at 570-275-4047 x257 or aschellLEARN@gmail.com. In Montour County, please contact Beth Cherwinski at 570-275-4047 or bcherwinski@danvillecdc.org. For more information about quality early learning opportunities in your county, visit the PA's Promise for Children website, or contact your Local Education and Resource Network (LEARN) Team Coordinator.
Community Partners bring Learning is Everywhere to families
Tucked away in a cozy corner of Family Library at Community Services for Children in Allentown is a wire shelf that holds eight of the thirteen books suggested in the Learning Is Everywhere activity guide for the month of January, whose theme is "In The Kitchen". The hardcover books are neatly arranged alongside a play toaster, a felt cooking set, and a pile of the guides available free to parents
Marie Louesy and Athena Greenspan, librarians at Family Library located in the Fowler Building, 1520 Hanover Ave., discovered this free resource for parents when they attended a state sponsored professional development day in December. They realized the value of the activity guides for the families that come in for one of the library's twice-weekly story times for children from birth to twelve.
Greenspan said most of the parents coming into the library are looking for things to do with their young children. The guide features no- or low-cost activities that align with Pennsylvania's Early Learning Standards, which provide information about what children usually know or are able to do within specific age ranges. The activity guides help the librarians explain to parents what the early learning standards are for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners, and how parents can support their children in learning new skills.
Find out more about the Learning is Everywhere activity guide on the PA's Promise for Children website. To get your own copy, contact your Local Education and Resource Network (LEARN) Team Coordinator.
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Into Action
Participate in the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s Online Survey, deadline February 3
Call for Abstracts: 5th National Research Conference on Child and Family Programs and Policy, deadline March 5
Applications still being accepted for Expand the Brand Communication & Development Series, deadline March 9
After school artists needed to design the 2012 Lights On Afterschool Poster, deadline May 1
PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, deadline July 13
Resources
Pittsburgh Perinatal Comfort Care offers guidance & support to families after unanticipated diagnosis during pregnancy
Family Engagement in Early Childhood: A Resource Guide
United Through Reading Military Program
Reading Rockets: The Vocabulary of Science
Free Books for Kids Now Also Available in Braille
Out-of School Bibliography now available for access to descriptions, citations, and links to evaluations and research studies for over 500 OST programs
Funding Opportunities
New Leaders Aspiring Principals Program, deadline February 7
Jamba Juice It’s All About the Fruit and Veggies grant, deadline February 15
The Great American Teach-Off, deadline February 20
Dollar General Literacy Foundation Family Literacy and Summer Reading Grants, deadline February 28
Ashoka Changemakers: Activating Empathy, deadline March 30
Employment Opportunities
Community Services for Children, multiple positions. Allentown
National After School Association: Executive Director
Higher Education
Early Childhood Education/Early Intervention AAS at Lehigh Carbon Community College
One Family's Story
I honestly can say, Early Intervention got our family through some of the most trying times we'd ever experienced as parents. My children were paired with knowledgeable and caring professionals who truly helped them achieve their full potential. Their doctors are amazed at their progress and refer to them as miracle babies. We know that we owe a lot of this success to a very high quality Early Intervention program.
Bradford Sullivan County mom shares about Early Intervention experience
Discover the experiences of other Pennsylvania families on PA Promise for Children
PA Promise for Children on Facebook
Become a fan of PA Promise for Children on Facebook and get up-to-date information on how to help Pennsylvania children reach their promise!
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