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Archive for the ‘MA governor’ Category

Rising Stars

Posted in MA governor, MA Legislature, Pre-kindergarten on April 23, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

sfc stars

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

Children are the state’s rising stars: from babies to finger-painting four year olds to third graders learning to multiply. And children from across the commonwealth have been sending multicolored stars decorated with glitter, feathers, pompoms, stickers, and paper cutouts to the State House to keep early education in the minds and hearts of legislators. Like the children, each star is original and unique.

So far this year, thousands of stars have been sent to Governor Patrick and to members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate. Freshmen legislators receive framed stars and a letter explaining how high quality early education and care can have a positive impact throughout children’s lives.

Children in grades K to three can also send letters marked with stars that include their handwritten messages about what they want to be when they grew up and why. One little boy wrote that he wants to grow up to be a businessman who sells “paper related products” because he admires the characters in the television show “The Office.”

Adults can participate, too. Future early educators and general supporters can customize letters urging legislators to support early education and care. More than 3,000 have been submitted thus far.

Legislators, excited to be receiving glitter-filled mail, have responded positively to Emily Levine, our executive star tracker. And sending stars is a great way for children to participate in the governmental process. So if you and your preschoolers or young school-aged children would like to help, you’ll find all materials and information about Rising Stars here.

Please keep the stars and letters coming.

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House Ways and Means Releases FY14 State Budget

Posted in Achievement gap, Dept. of Early Education and Care, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on April 11, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

State HouseYesterday, The Massachusetts House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released its recommendations for $33.8 billion in state appropriations for the fiscal year 2014 (FY14) budget. The proposal represents a 3.88% increase in spending over FY13.

Overall funding for the Department of Early Education and Care is at $472 million, down from $488 million in FY13.

In his letter about the proposal, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Dempsey states,“In the area of early education, the House proposal takes a firm stand on reforming the agencies tasked with fostering safe educational environments for our youngest citizens. We establish a special commission to examine the need for greater, affordable, quality early education and care services and to determine methods for addressing the high cost of such services.”

The HWM budget recommendation does not fund the $131 million in new investments proposed in Governor Deval Patrick’s fiscal year 2014 budget recommendation that he released in January.

 Carolyn Lyons, President and Chief Executive Officer of Strategies for Children, issued the following statement:

 “It is critical that we make new investments in early education to close the achievement gap. The House Ways and Means budget released today decreases funding for early education by $15.8 million. While we acknowledge and appreciate the Committee’s proposal to ensure efficiency and timely placement of children in high-quality education programs, Massachusetts has a stagnant and costly achievement gap which has remained intractable over the last decade. According to the 2012 MCAS results, 40% of Massachusetts third graders are not proficient in reading, a critical predictor of future academic success. We will not close this gap until we invest more in high-quality early education. Research shows that children from low-income families who enroll in high-quality early education and care are 40% less likely to be retained a grade or require special education, 30% more likely to graduate high school and twice as likely to attend a four-year college.  We look forward to working with the Legislature as the budget process continues.”

Click here for more information about the HWM Committee’s recommendations for programs administered by the Department of Early Education and Care and for other line items related to high-quality early education.

State representatives have until Friday, April 12, at 5 p.m. to file amendments to the House Ways and Means budget. The House will begin debate on the budget the week of April 22.

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OK Pre-K Prepares Children for School

Posted in MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten on April 10, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

In calling for universal access to preschool in his State of the Union address, President Obama gave a shout-out to Oklahoma as a state that has made it “a priority to educate our youngest children.” The Sooner State established a preschool program for all 4-year-olds in 1998. Today, 40,000 Oklahoma children attend its state-funded pre-kindergarten.

“Many Oklahoma children now arrive in elementary school so well prepared that some districts have overhauled their kindergarten curricula,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Like Oklahoma, the federal plan that President Obama has proposed includes quality standards such as curriculum and well-trained teachers paid at a salary comparable to K-12 teachers.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all,” Roberto Rodriguez, special assistant to the president for education policy, tells the Journal. “But we want to ensure the dollars invested at the federal level are invested in high-quality programs.”

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, three quarters of the country’s four million 4-year-olds attend pre-kindergarten, in either a public or private setting. Only 30% are in high-quality program, the Obama administration says.

Implementing the broad pre-k program in Oklahoma has presented some challenges, the Journal reports. Some Oklahoma districts have opened pre-kindergarten classrooms in shopping centers, nursing homes and community-based early education centers, for instance, and some have delayed opening classrooms until a qualified teacher could be hired. The popular program has a wait list of 5,000 children.

One mother, Rachel Moore, tells the Journal she was “stunned” by her young son’s growth in pre-kindergarten. “I was really worried about him going into kindergarten,” she tells the newspaper. “I feel confident he’ll be ready.”

(For more information on Oklahoma’s universal pre-kindergarten program and the unconventional way it was established, read How Did OK Adopt Universal Pre-Kindergarten? And Universal Pre-K is OK in Oklahoma.)

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Early Childhood Summit 2013: Innovation and Opportunity

Posted in Achievement gap, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Early educators, MA governor, Play, Science & math, Strategies for Children on April 9, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

summit

Photo: Gus Freedman

“I’m glad there’s passion in the room. We’re gonna need it,” Governor Patrick said to warm applause last week at the Early Childhood Summit 2013: Innovation and Opportunity at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Strategies for Children partnered with the Boston Children’s Museum, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University to sponsor the summit. Support also comes from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the Boston Foundation and the TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition Leadership.

This is the second early childhood summit convened in recent years.  It builds on the success of the first summit held in November, 2011, and it is also part of the Boston Children’s Museum’s 100th birthday.

Patrick spoke in the Federal Reserve’s auditorium to a full house of nearly 400 pediatricians, educators, neuroscientists, museum professionals, business leaders, economists, parents and policymakers – all pursuing the same goal: devising and acting on bright, new ideas for the future of early childhood. (more…)

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Globe Endorses Governor Patrick’s Plans

Posted in Funding, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on March 27, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Momentum continues to grow in media outlets across the state including two editorials in the Boston Globe endorsing Governor Patrick’s plan to dramatically increase the commonwealth’s investment in early education by $131 million in fiscal year 2014.

On Sunday, “Patrick’s ambitious tax plan offers basis for compromise,” an editorial about the governor’s budget proposal, noted that while some on Beacon Hill are willing to put off an expansion of early education for another day, such a delay would come “at the cost of a generation of toddlers who are already falling behind their peers.”

Tuesday’s editorial, “Governor rightly pushes for earlier investment in children,” made an in-depth case, saying that the governor’s plan “to expand access to early education is a potential game-changer for poor children, working parents and even the state budget.”  The Globe also praised the governor’s plan to eliminate the wait list for state-funded early education and care, which is 30,000 names long.

The Globe called for strategic spending.   “Improving quality is essential,” the newspaper said, citing the need for qualified educators.  And “as the state ramps up this investment… it must monitor progress and demand results.”

Massachusetts is ready to expand its commitment to research-based investment in young children. The state has strong early education programs and practices as well as an eagerness to improve. Now all it needs is a substantial investment that offers a seat at the preschool table to more of the commonwealth’s children.

Massachusetts readers, please contact your legislators today and ask them to invest in high-quality early education in the FY14 state budget.

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Early Education Makes News

Posted in MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten, Reading proficiency, tagged , , , on March 25, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

High-quality early education – and efforts to expand it – continue to generate headlines in media outlets across Massachusetts. Here’s the latest round-up:

Patrick’s ambitious tax plan offers basis for compromise
The Boston Globe, editorial, March 24, 2013

Our View: “Investment, not consumption”
The (New Bedford) Standard-Times, editorial, March 22, 2013

Clear case for early childhood funding
Boston Business Journal, op-ed by Paul O’Brien, former CEO, New England Telephone, and Arnold Hiatt, former president, CEO and chairman, StrideRite Corp., March 22, 2013

Slow drive to early ed reform
Cape Cod Times, Sean Gonsalves column, March 21, 2013

New Jersey pre-k holds lessons for Mass.
CommonWealth Magazine online, March 21, 2013

Early ed. chief sees “good chance” for education investments
State House News Service, March 21, 2013

Education push gets backing  
Boston Globe, March 20, 2013

NJ pre-k holds important lessons for MA
Boston Globe op-ed by W. Steven Barnett, director, National Institute of Early Education Research, March 20, 2013 (more…)

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How NJ Expanded Early Education and Narrowed the Achievement Gap

Posted in MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten, Research on March 21, 2013 | 6 Comments »

David Sciarra at State House event

David Sciarra at State House event. (Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children)

In 1998, in the landmark Abbott v. Burke school finance ruling that the New York Times called “the most significant education case” since Brown v. Board of Education, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the state to provide high-quality pre-kindergarten in 31 districts with the largest concentrations of low-income families. Fifteen years later, New Jersey has built a nationally recognized, large-scale system of early education that embeds quality across the private and public settings where young children learn. The latest report from a longitudinal study of the program finds substantial benefits that persist through fifth grade.

The New Jersey experience carries lessons for states across the country, but has particular resonance here in Massachusetts, which has focused its early education policy on improving quality throughout a mixed delivery system that includes public school pre-kindergarten, community-based centers, Head Start and family child care.

This was the message two New Jersey leaders delivered at a standing-room-only State House briefing yesterday attended by more than 50 legislators, legislative staff and educators. It was the message W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute of Early Education Research, delivered in Washington yesterday when he released fifth grade results from the longitudinal study of children who were in an Abbott class for 4-year-olds in 2004-5. NIEER found a 10-20% narrowing of the achievement gap for children who had one year in an Abbott preschool and a narrowing of 20-40% for children who had two years of preschool. (more…)

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MA Business Leaders Support Investing in Early Education

Posted in Business and economy, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on March 20, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Eighty-seven business leaders from across Massachusetts have signed a letter in support of Governor Patrick’s proposed $131 million in new investments in early education and care. They “urge the Legislature to approve the Governor’s recommended FY14 budget package for early education and care and the revenue to fund it.”  (Read the letter.)

Signatories include Josh Bekenstein, managing director, Bain Capital, LLC; Jack Connors Jr, chairman emeritis, Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc.;  John Cullinane, the Cullinane Group, Inc.; Steve Fischman, president, New England Development; Arnold Hiatt, former president, chairman and CEO, the Stride Rite Corp.; Peter S. Lynch,  co-founder, the Lynch Foundation; Paul O’Brien, president, The O’Brien Group, Inc., and former CEO, New England Telephone; Robert Pozen, former chairman, MFS Investment Management; Kitt Sawitsky, director, Goulston & Storrs, Counselors at Law; Tom Schwarz, former president, Dunkin’ Donuts, and former chairman, Grossmans; Stephen Silverstein, founder and CEO, Not Your Average Joe’s Restaurants; Jed Swan, founder and managing partner, Drydock Ventures; and Karen Walsh, senior vice-president and general manager, John Hancock Personal Financial Services.

“As business people, we want the skilled well-educated workforce our enterprises need to prosper and the commonwealth needs to compete in an increasingly sophisticated global economy,” the letter states. “Governor Patrick’s proposal is a thoughtful, comprehensive plan focused on three critical outcomes – increasing school readiness, improving third grade reading and closing the achievement gap. The bottom line is that investing in young children is one of the most cost-effective uses of the public dollar.”

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NIEER Summarizes Pre-K Research

Posted in Federal, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Research on March 18, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Photo: Micaela Bedell for Strategies for Children

Ever since President Obama’s call for universal preschool, there’s been a lot of talk about the research on the benefits of high-quality early education. With the talk come questions. Decades of well-regarded research document the positive effects of high-quality early education, but are advocates overselling it? What about the criticism from opponents of the president’s proposal?  W. Steven Barnett, who is director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, provides some answers in “Getting the Facts Right on Pre-K and the Presidents Pre-K Proposal.”

“Public policy is best advanced based on impartial analysis of all the available evidence. The Obama administration’s new universal pre-k proposal comports favorably with our full review of the evidence,” Barnett writes in a two-page fact sheet. “Opponents’ attacks have been based on selected studies considered in isolation and even then, misinterpreted.” (Read the full policy report.)

Barnett answers four questions: (more…)

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300 Gather at State House to Advocate for Early Education

Posted in MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget on March 13, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Some 300 early educators and their supporters gathered at the Massachusetts State House yesterday for the annual Advocacy Day to urge their legislators to support Governor Patrick’s  proposed $131 million in new investments for early education in fiscal year 2014. His recommendation comes after funding for early education has declined by more than $80 million since FY09.

“This year is different,” Leo Delaney, CEO of Ellis Memorial in Boston’s South End, told the group. He is president of the Massachusetts Association of Early Education and Care (MADCA), a trade association of providers. “This is the first year we’ve gone to the Legislature, and we have a home run starting off. The governor’s budget has made it clear it’s time to invest in early education,” Delaney said. “We need champions in the Legislature. We need leaders to stand up and say, yes, it’s time to reinvest.’

Sateya Pritchard, a preschool teacher at College Bound Dorchester, made the case for increased investments in the early childhood workforce.

“I work full-time. I’m a parent. I’m also going to school working on my BA,” she said. “Our teachers have been going to school, learning best practices. In all of this, though, we have a decrease in funding available… It’s not OK.”

After the brief program, early educators carried this message to their legislators.

“There is a need to invest in the early education workforce,” Bill Eddy, executive director of MADCA, told the audience. “There is a need to invest in quality. There is a need to invest in the children of the commonwealth.”

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