This reflection on the year – “2021: A year in pictures” from the Hechinger Report – is worth a look. Children, adolescents, teachers, parents and caregivers, health care workers – EVERYONE – has been through so much. Our hope for 2022 is that when we see resilience, bravery, kindness, and sacrifice, we are inspired to do much more than lionize with empty words. We hope the hard-won lessons and collective gratitude of living through trying times can translate more consistently into action; that we respect, compensate, and invest in teachers and caregivers; that we fight for equity; that we insist our leaders make decisions that protect the most vulnerable among us. 
Quotable & Notable
“As the nation looks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to address the crisis of children left behind... For these children, their whole sky has fallen, and supporting them through this trauma must be a top priority.” 
Fact of the Week
A report from COVID Collaborative and Social Policy Analytics estimates that a staggering 1 in 450 children, or an estimated 167,082, in the U.S. have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID. 
Policy Radar
Ohio 
Gov. DeWine preserves Step Up to Quality ratings through veto 
Last month Gov. DeWine signed a $4 billion COVID relief bill for Ohio, while also vetoing a provision that would have suspended the quality rating system, Step Up to Quality, required for publicly funded child care providers. His veto message did instruct the Department of Job and Family Services to find ways to reduce bureaucratic burdens for providers.  
 
Legislation 
Sen. Bill 214, sponsored by Sen. Tina Maharath – Ohio's first Asian American woman in the state Senate, would require that Ohio schools teach Asian American history. The Dispatch describes more about the bill and the efforts of Sen. Maharath and student advocates. 
 
Meanwhile, a new bill would require teachers at all public and private schools in Ohio to share curricular plans online, specifically to “’conspicuously’ post class syllabi on their websites as well as any mandatory course materials like books, articles or videos,” according to the Dispatch. Notwithstanding the fact that such measures create tremendous extra work for teachers – who are already inundated with helping students maintain progress in the midst of COVID-19 (and dodging the virus themselves) - who out there has time to read lessons plans for a teacher or school that’s not theirs? Not a rhetorical question; we truly would like to know.  
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Federal 
Build Back Better Act 
The U.S. Senate returned this week to the negotiating table on the Build Back Better Act, which was not finalized in December as many had hoped and anticipated. As a result, the recently expanded Child Tax Credit expired on December 31, and the fate of Pres. Biden’s child care and preschool expansion proposals hang in the balance. Here are several good reads for those of you closely following the federal bill. 
Beyond the Buckeye State
Child care providers in California recently received a 15% minimum pay raise and are now setting their sights on securing paid sick leave and affordable health care. The child care workers’ union is also pushing for retirement benefits with required state contributions. 
 
Teachers in D.C. are more racially diverse than the national average, yet schools there are struggling not only to recruit and hire Latinx and male teachers of color but also retain them. 
 
An aptly named article from The 74 Million, “The Kids Are Not All Right”, lays out how four states - Maryland, Colorado, California, and New Jersey – have passed laws to expand youth mental health care. These laws are in response to the rising number of young people struggling with mental health connected to the pandemic. 
What We're Reading
An opinion piece from Drs. Iheoma Iruka and Elizabeth Pungello Bruno makes the case for why early childhood research needs "a proactively anti-racist scientific method". Anti-racist methods don’t just examine racial differences and problems faced by people of color but show how racism creates inequities and "values communities for the unique perspectives and strengths they bring to the table."
 
Education Week shares 10 charts and accompanying analyses to illustrate the challenges of the teaching profession in 2021. 
 
Also from Education Week, this piece discusses reading challenges among older students – an increasingly common phenomenon for those whose formative K-2 years were disrupted by the pandemic.  
 
The Ohio Department of Health shares out findings from listening sessions conducted last year to hear from Black families and address racial disparities in infant mortality. 
Research Round Up
Early Learning Network highlights a study from Crane researchers which found that instructional practices in pre-K differed notably from those in grades K-3. Instructional alignment, or the consistency of learning experiences across pre-K to grade 3, can help to narrow opportunity gaps and assist children in maintaining skills. However, the study’s findings show that instructional alignment is lacking from pre-K to kindergarten. “The sharp distinctions found between the pre-K and kindergarten may make children’s transition to kindergarten difficult and contribute to stagnant growth over time,” said Dr. Laura Justice, principal investigator of the study and Crane/SFC executive director. 
 
Research from a team at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the Child Development journal – summarized here by the Hechinger Report – found that young children’s persistence could be influenced by parental praise. The study specifically looked at toothbrushing habits, but the researchers hope to test the influence of parental praise on other areas – like motivation to learn to read. 
This edition written by: Jamie O'Leary, Associate Director of Policy and Caitlin Lennon, Communications & Policy Specialist
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