Recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force on

Early Childhood Care and Education

Karen McIntyre, Ph.D.CEO and President of the Education Policy and Issues Center

Presentation for the Education Policy and Leadership Center Breakfast Forum

November 14, 2002Pittsburgh, PA

The Task Force Process Task Force composed of 34 members representing

leaders from both the public and private sector Business Foundations Education Early Care and Education Providers Child Advocacy Faith-Based Organizations Health Care Family Services Communications Community Organizations State Officials

Research Consortium – Universities Children’s Policy Collaborative (UCPC)

Task Force Goal All Pennsylvania children should

come to school ready to learn and prepared to succeed ensuring Pennsylvania strong families, a responsible citizenry, and an effective and educated future workforce.

Recommendation A: Leadership and Vision

Gubernatorial leadership The governor should make school

readiness a top administration priority through personal leadership and commitment, by establishing a powerful entity in the governor’s office to align programs of state agencies with this priority and ensure a comprehensive and coordinated approach to implementing the recommendations of the Task Force report.

Recommendation B: Quality Early Care and Education

System Components System Component: Care and Education

Infant and toddlers – A voluntary system of care for infants and toddlers that focuses on health and safety in a developmentally appropriate environment should be developed.

Preschool – Quality preschool should be available, in a variety of settings, to all 3- and 4-year-olds on a voluntary basis and funded beginning with children who are at risk of school failure.

Kindergarten – Kindergarten should be available and funded for all children at age 5 at the choice of their parents, with funding for full-day kindergarten available to school districts for children determined by research to most likely benefit. Consideration should be given to lowering Pennsylvania’s compulsory school age to 6 years old, from its current level of 8 years old.

Recommendation B: Quality Early Care and Education

System Components System Component: Health

Health Services – Preventive and therapeutic health services including physical health, nutrition, behavioral health, oral health, and environmental health services should be available to all children.

Recommendation B: Quality Early Care and Education

System Components System Component: Family Support

Parenting Education – A voluntary and coordinated system of resources and supports should be developed for parents, expectant parents, and those in parenting roles.

Tuition Assistance – Financial support should be made available to families who otherwise could not afford to access high quality, comprehensive early care and education services. Parents should be able to access the most appropriate and highest quality early care and education for their children.

Recommendation C: Foundation Elements for Early Care and

Education High-Quality Standards – Research-based

standards of excellence should be adopted through a process that fully engages diverse constituencies for all early care and education services, and quality should be supported through promotion of best practices and continuous quality improvement.

Accountability – An accountability system should be developed for state-funded or regulated early care and education services through a process that fully engages diverse constituencies, with appropriate evaluation mechanisms.

Recommendation C: Foundation Elements for Early Care and

Education Financial Incentives to Achieve

and Maintain Quality – A statewide system of financial incentives, building on Keystone Stars, that supports the efforts of all early childhood providers to reach and maintain the standards of excellence should be established.

Recommendation C: Foundation Elements for Early Care and

Education Qualified and Competent Workforce –

Quality in the early care and education work force should be improved through:

Pre-service Qualifications – Early care and education professionals should have some minimum level of experience and/or training prior to employment.

Professional Development - Early care and education professionals should receive ongoing professional development, including pre-service and in-service professional development opportunities.

Credentials – A system of credentialing early care and education professionals should be developed.

Compensation - Early care and education professionals should be appropriately compensated and motivated commensurate with their skills and responsibilities.

Recommendation C: Foundation Elements for Early Care and

Education Resource and Referral System – Pennsylvania

should enhance its resource and referral system, maintaining a statewide, full-service, comprehensive, and independent resource for parents, providers, businesses, and communities.

Transition Information – Resources should be developed and available to identify the strengths and needs of a child, from birth through age five, to support strong transitions for the child from one setting to another. With parental involvement and informed consent, this information should follow the child from one setting to another and through to school age programs.

Recommendation D: Public Engagement

Public Awareness, Education, Engagement, and Advocacy – Marketing and mobilization approaches should be developed to educate and enlist support for early care and education, including the following:

Parents – A long-term public awareness campaign to encourage parents to take a more active role in learning more about effective parenting.

Public – A long-term public campaign regarding the importance of investing early in the lives of children.

Policymakers – Advocacy strategies to engage, educate, and influence state and local policymakers.

Business, foundations, and community organizations – A conscious and concerted organizational effort to identify, engage, and sustain a diverse cross-section of early childhood advocates in business, foundations, and community organizations.

Early Childhood Task Force: Highlights from the Surveys of Higher Education Institutions and Providers in Pennsylvania

Kelly E. Mehaffie, Robert B. McCall, Christina J. Groark,Wendy A. Etheridge, Robert Nelkin

University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Developmentand the

Universities Children’s Policy Collaborative

Presentation for the EPLC Breakfast Forum and Early Literacy Task ForceNovember 14, 2002

Pittsburgh, PA

UCPC Research Studies The State of Early Childhood Care and

Education in Pennsylvania: The 2002 Higher Education Survey (University of Pittsburgh)

A Baseline Report of Early Childhood Care and Education in Pennsylvania: The 2002 Pennsylvania Provider Survey (University of Pittsburgh)

From Science to Policy: Research on Issues, Programs and Policies in Early Childhood Care and Education (University of Pittsburgh)

Benchmarking Early Childhood Care and Education in Pennsylvania: The 2002 Pennsylvania Family Survey (Temple University)

The Pennsylvania Early Childhood Quality Settings Study (Pennsylvania State University— To be released December 2, 2002)

Survey Method

Schools--46% (45 out of 97 schools) of all relevant higher education institutions in Pennsylvania responded 40% of the programs contacted at those

schools responded (67 out of 169)

Survey Method cont.

Classified into: Two disciplines

Early Childhood Education (N=42) Elementary Education (N=25)

Three degree levels Certificate/Certification/Associates (N=28) Bachelors (N=44) Masters/Doctorate (N=22)

Selected Results ECE Bachelors Programs provide more

training directly relevant to early childhood and kindergarten personnel than do ElEd Bachelors Programs. More course coverage in early childhood

development (e.g., early academic skills, developmental domains, etc.)

More required practicum with 3-5 (91% ECE, 65% ElEd) More accredited by NAEYC (33% ECE, 15% ElEd) More faculty trained in early childhood (54% ECE, 13%

ElEd)

Selected Results (cont.)

Yet, more than half of the Bachelors graduates going on to teach children birth to five come from Elementary Education programs rather than Early Childhood Education programs.

Selected Results (cont.)

More training is needed: Working with children with disabilities

96% of centers, preschools, and Head Start have a child enrolled with a disability.

Only 58% ECE and 35% ElEd Bachelors programs required one or more courses on this topic

Selected Results (cont.)

More training is needed: Working with children with behavior

problems 71% of centers and preschools

threatened or actually expelled a child for aggressiveness

Only 25% ECE and 20% ElEd Bachelors programs required one or more courses on this topic

Selected Results (cont.)

More training is needed: Transition practices

Only half of the centers/preschools engaged in best practices in school transition.

95% of ECE and only 64% ElEd Bachelors programs required part of a course or one or more courses on this topic.

Selected Results (cont.)

Results specific to Early Literacy: Percentage of Bachelors programs

that require training in early literacy skills (reading, writing)

ECE (n=24) ElEd (n=19)

No courses 8% 0%Part of one or more 29% 58%One or more entire 63% 42%

Selected Results (cont.)

Results specific to Early Literacy: Percentage of Bachelors programs

that require training in early language skills

ECE (n=24) ElEd (n=19)

No courses 4% 0%Part of one or more 50% 75%One or more entire 46% 25%

Selected Results (cont.)

Results specific to Early Literacy: Percentage of Bachelors programs

that require training in early number skills

ECE (n=24) ElEd (n=19)

No courses 8% 0%Part of one or more 50% 90%One or more entire 42% 11%

Selected Results (cont.)

College/Faculty Infrastructure 63% of both programs said that the

State should grant more funding to schools to increase faculty.

43% of higher education programs said that attracting and retaining ethnically-diverse faculty was a large problem.

Selected Results (cont.)

It is expensive and difficult for many students to get a Bachelors degree. Cost of tuition (~$10,000 in tuition and fees per

year)

Little scholarship assistance (39% ECE and 20% ElEd get no assistance)

Difficulty repaying student loans (43% ECE, 16% ElEd)

Can’t complete if work full-time (only 21% of ECE and 15% of ElEd can be completed if student works)

Selected Results (cont.) It is difficult to attract and retain

Early Childhood Education graduates. Even in ECE, only half (50%) of Bachelors

graduates take jobs in early childhood including kindergarten

More than one-quarter of the ECE Bachelors graduates that go on to work with children birth to five leave PA

Selected Results (cont.)

Wages are too little for providers to earn First-year teachers in centers/preschools

earn $17,250 “Big challenges”

Finding qualified staff (50% centers) Low pay (66% centers, 51% preschools) Inadequate benefits (64% family, 53%

group homes)

Selected Results (cont.)

PA does not meet the National Academy of Sciences recommendation of one teacher/group with a Bachelors degree Primary staff without Bachelors degree

42% Preschools/Nursery 61% Head Start 78% Child Care Centers 82% Family homes, group homes, unregulated

Conclusions & Recommendations Standards of training should be

reviewed. Personnel need training and preparation

to work with children with disabilities More training in handling children’s

social-emotional development and behavior problems

More scholarships and loan forgiveness programs

Conclusions & Recommendations (cont.)

Bachelors degree classes should be offered at times students who are employed full-time can take them

Salaries and working conditions in early childhood services need to be improved to attract students and graduates into the field.

Colleges and universities need to train and hire more faculty in early childhood care and education, especially more ethnically diverse faculty.

Reports Task Force Report:

www.state.pa.us

Research Reports:www.pitt.edu/~ocdweb/policy21.htm

Perspectives from a Teacher Educator

Rita Bean, Ph.D.University of Pittsburgh Department of

EducationPresentation for the EPLC Breakfast Forum and

Early Literacy Task ForceNovember 14, 2002

Pittsburgh, PA

Perspectives from a Teacher Educator

What do we need in order to build workforce capacity through training and professional development?

We know from research that there is a strong correlation between teachers’ level of education and areas of study with outcomes for children.

Key Findings Pennsylvania lacks both a well-

educated ECE workforce and a well-articulated system to support ECE professional development. Nearly half of preschools and 80% of

childcare centers do not have a teacher with a bachelor’s degree.

No clearly defined, easily accessed,, seamless path where training and education build from one level to the next.

Highlights of Survey of Higher Education

Providers Two programs preparing ECE: Early

Childhood Education and Elementary Education

Major problems: Attracting and retaining ethnically diverse

faculty Attracting and retaining students (limited

wages, scholarships, family responsibilities) Full time employees have difficulty

obtaining bachelor’s degree

What Do Graduates of These Programs Do?

Graduates of all programs and degrees are more likely to work in public or private post-kindergarten environments (only ¼ of those with degrees in early childhood education go into preschool/childcare settings).

Majority(2/3) of those who teach kindergarten come from elementary education programs.

Some graduates from elementary education

go into early childhood programs.

Implications for Higher Education Institutions

We must be certain that students in EE and in ECE have the knowledge and skills to teach in early childhood education programs. Review programs – Do students have knowledge/understanding

of five essential domains? What are the competencies for the various

certificates/degrees? (including director skills)

Do programs ensure knowledge and skills to work with children with disabilities, to handle social- emotional development and behavioral problems?

Implications Recruit and find means to

retain highly competent individuals in the programs. Provide more scholarship and loan

forgiveness programs. Create programs that enable

students who are employed full-time to obtain their certificate or degree.

Implications Hire more faculty with expertise in

early childhood education, especially more ethnically diverse faculty.

Provide professional development for current faculty in ECE and elementary programs (research findings about young children and how they learn).

Encourage interaction between faculty of the two programs.

Implications Become involved in

professional development efforts in ECE programs.

Partner with ECE and with schools that will receive students (to enhance transition).