OSU is collaborating with Westerville Schools on the Bilingual Storybook Project, a unique collaboration that builds family engagement and provides children with materials in their home language.
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“The U.S. has long been an outlier in its lack of support for families with children. That helps explain why child poverty in the U.S. is comparable to that in Mexico and Chile, and far higher than child poverty in other wealthy countries... One reason most industrialized countries have lower child poverty rates is that they make monthly payments to families with children. These payments are standard in Europe and have been since around World War II.”
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who:
Joya Misra, Professor of Sociology & Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
where:
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COVID vaccines
This week Gov. DeWine said that the state does not plan to expand current vaccine eligibility, which is more bad news for Ohio’s early educators. As reported by WOSU, a spokesperson for the governor said "Whether it’s pre-school workers or early childhood educators, caregivers, law enforcement, people who work at funeral homes, they all make compelling cases on why they should receive the vaccine as soon as possible... We simply do not have enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone right now."
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Student testing
Some Ohio lawmakers were hoping to cancel this year’s standardized testing requirements – as evidenced by proposed legislation to do just that. But the US Department of Education announced this week that state exams must go on. More specifically, states are allowed to administer them in alternative ways (online) or delay them until the fall, but cannot cancel them entirely. Ohio’s state superintendent reminds folks that testing data should be used diagnostically, not punitively.
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Federal policy impacting young children
This article outlines hopes that President Biden can leave a legacy as an “early education president.” It makes a good case for why the timing is right, despite being short on policy details for what those investments can/should be. Meanwhile, this New York Times article examines whether Pres. Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus would be good for working mothers, and this article takes a deeper look at what’s embedded in the relief plan for various stakeholder groups. Regardless of what ends up being finalized in the federal relief bill, it likely won’t be enough to stabilize the child care industry, as Brookings explains here.
This proposed bill would double the amount that families could invest in Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, the limit on which has not changed for 35 years (!).
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This article looks at temporary and permanent closures of child care providers in California by county. They found that 3,122 providers in the state reported permanent closures as of January 25.
Lawmakers in Montana introduced a bill to increase the child to staff ratio in the state’s licensed child care facilities. The bill is intended to address the shortage of affordable child care options, but opponents of the bill feel increasing the ratio could endanger children in care.
In Maine, schools are texting, calling and knocking on students’ doors to try and connect with those who have “disappeared” from remote learning during the pandemic. The school groups are delivering food to families and connecting them with assistance to basic needs.
Wisconsin's governor is proposing a $140 million investment in early childhood education in the state’s biennial budget. The funds would be directed to addressing quality, access and equity in early childhood.
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USA Today discusses declining kindergarten enrollment trends around the country, including in a Columbus-area district, and what the long-term implications may be.
Here’s a thoughtful read published in The Conversation (written by professors of gender equality) about how “father-friendly” policies could go a long way toward helping women.
New America does an excellent job at defining and describing the “mental load” that faces women. The author also argues that society needs better ways to measure the mental load so that families can communicate and problem-solve for it. And lest it sounds like relieving the mental load is solely the responsibility of women and their partners, the authors also point out the need for a comprehensive caregiving policy in the U.S. to alleviate stress on families.
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New research examined whether the timing of food stamps had an impact on student testing performance (specifically the SAT). Spoiler: it did. “While the declines in test scores are modest, they can have very real consequences for low-income students, who are less likely to attend a four-year college right after high school, the research concludes.” Education Week describes the findings and implications of the working paper, which was published in the National Bureau of Economic Research.
A study by University of Pennsylvania psychology researchers and published in the Child Development journal found that children’s persistence at completing tasks was negatively impacted when adults stepped in to take over or assist in the completion of the task.
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This edition written by: Jamie Davies O'Leary, Associate Director of Policy and Caitlin Lennon, Communications & Policy Specialist |
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