Maternity care deserts, reading legislation, and more

The Ohio Department of Education is conducting a survey of early educators to better understand decisions about leaving or staying in the profession; responses are anonymous.

Quotable & Notable

“Is the crisis the inability of families to afford child care? The struggle to land spots in licensed centers, or find care close to home or work? Is it a lack of support for parents who want to stay home with their kids, or the failure to provide support to other informal caregivers? Is it the inability to attract child care workers in the competitive labor market? Is it inequitable enrichment opportunities for children, or the challenges parents, particularly mothers, face when trying to work? Is it all of the above, or only some?... This matters because not all proposed child care solutions would address the respective concerns, and some interventions could even make aspects worse. The first step to solving a crisis is understanding it. And policymakers know less about the child care landscape than one might expect.”

Who:

Rachel M. Cohen

Where:

“Fixing the child care crisis starts with understanding it” in Vox

Fact of the Week

Of Ohio’s 88 counties, 13 are considered to be maternity care deserts according to March of Dimes data shared by the Akron Beacon Journal. A desert is defined as a location with limited or no access to maternity health care.

Policy Radar

Ohio

Groundwork offers a great break-down of current Ohio legislation that addresses maternal and infant health specifically by enabling Medicaid reimbursement for doula services.

Federal

A federal bill, the Build Housing with Care Act, would create new child care programs co-located with affordable housing. The $500 million investment would also help retrofit spaces for existing family care providers operating in housing developments.

New from Crane

Director of research Rebecca Dore co-authored a post on the Child and Family Blog that shares findings from research on toddlers’ screen time and language development.

New research from Crane authors finds that having many reciprocal friendships in the classroom can help preschoolers’ math and literacy skills.

Beyond the Buckeye State

Hechinger Report outlines what a few states are doing to finance early learning programs as federal emergency funds dry up, including tapping into one source we had not heard of before: tax revenue from sports betting programs. Ohio is among states that recently legalized sports betting.

What We're Reading

The First Five Years Fund has published a series of materials about the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the main federal funding source for states to subsidize child care programs for eligible families. This includes “the first five things to know ” about the grant, state fact sheets illustrating state-specific data points (Ohio’s is here), and an infographic on how the funding enables families to access the subsidy. There is a lot of data to take in, but one key discrepancy worth noting is this: nearly 2 out of 5 Ohio children are eligible for CCDBG (38%), but of these, only about 10% benefit from the subsidies. As Center for American Progress describes, this is because the current system has insufficient funding.

An article by Stateline outlines the status of third-grade reading legislation across various states. Some states have moved in a more forgiving direction, repealing policies that retain third graders (Michigan – and Ohio is currently debating doing so); others have modified the law (Tennessee); while still others are creating new reading guarantee laws (Arkansas). On a related note, many states are passing or debating science of reading laws, as Education Week explores here. Perhaps more importantly, states are adding reading-related investments, recognizing the need for professional development, literacy coaches, new curriculum, student tutoring/enrichment, and more. In Ohio, the state budget passed by the House has pared back those funds, but the Senate has a chance to restore them.

Research Round-Up

The University of Wisconsin recently highlighted new research on how creative writing can empower early childhood educators. Early childhood practitioners were particularly affected in the spring/summer of 2020 when programs closed – then childcare was later deemed essential, along with demands for racial justice and increased political turmoil. Researchers conducted a participatory case study of five teachers closely following the events of summer 2020 and examined how creative writing could help them reckon with their past experiences, while imagining a better future, and incorporating more inclusive teaching practices. Using qualitative methodologies, the researchers concluded that the creative writing helped teachers both transform their teaching practices and led to feelings of empowerment in their field.

This edition written by: Jamie O'Leary and Janelle Williamson

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