The version we sent earlier this morning incorrectly used the word "infamous"; we meant to say the well-known Khan Academy.
Sal Khan of the well-known Khan Academy describes new online programming for early learners.
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“Many Ohio child-care centers are experiencing staffing shortages, limiting the number of children they can enroll for the summer as some parents begin the transition back to the office after working from home during the pandemic... While dealing with staffing shortages is not new to child-care providers, the pandemic exacerbated the issue, according to many providers. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average early child-care worker earned just $11.65 an hour, according to the biennial 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. And the situation hasn’t improved for many child-care workers, with many providers having to make cuts through layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts.” |
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State
Legislation to expand broadband internet service was signed by Gov. DeWine this week. (His budget proposal also includes a large expansion, funded at $250 million.) As you might imagine, the pandemic underscored just how difficult it is to work remotely or learn digitally without reliable internet access, which affects people across Ohio and especially in rural regions. The new law funds a grant program for service providers to build more infrastructure; lawmakers have signaled the need to also address affordability for internet users.
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Federal
This article explains what may be missing in Pres. Biden’s much-lauded and robust package of investments for young children and families: home visits, or nurse-family partnerships. It also offers a brief history of these programs and their patchwork funding, as well as an overview of their long-term positive outcomes.
Child tax credits are on their way to U.S. families, as described in USA Today and in Cleveland.com. The monthly payments for eligible children and families – which are phased out at certain income levels – will reach 88% of children in the U.S. in almost 40 million households.
For the politically interested, here’s a brief explanation of what lies ahead for the American Jobs Plan, specifically whether a bipartisan deal can be reached. USA Today’s editorial board calls for Congressional Republicans to step up and support major investments, including the ones outlined for child care, rather than reject them reflexively.
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Ohio State News recaps how Schoenbaum Family Center staff and educators pivoted the Summer Success Program, which helps preschoolers from lower-income families prepare for kindergarten, into a virtual model last summer. Crane researchers found that virtual delivery of the program was popular with teachers and parents and had at least modest success in helping children learn literacy skills, early math skills and emotional understanding. “We weren’t sure at the beginning how well it would work. We never met the families and children in person, and we made everything run remotely,” said Dr. Rebecca Dore, lead author of the study.
Another Crane study led by Dr. Dore on screen time use among young children received coverage in WOSU.
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Brookings describes how research-practice partnerships between university-based researchers and practitioners can help children in times of crisis with local, real-time data. One stellar example of this type of partnership comes from Virginia, where education leaders describe a pressing need for data to address policy challenges. Through data from research-practice partnerships, the Virginia Department of Education and the governor’s office are trying to better understand the impact of COVID on the state’s children and make investments into these children and their needs.
Louisiana lawmakers are debating legislation to make kindergarten compulsory for children and families; districts are already required to at least offer it. It’s an interesting reminder of the widely varying state requirements related to kindergarten. Ohio, in contrast, requires kindergarten but does not fund it fully across the state.
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The Ohio Statewide Engagement Center at The Ohio State University is teaming up with educators from our partner school, the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning, to present “RealTalk”: a webinar series on parenting young children. These 30-minute conversations will happen throughout the summer and are geared toward parents of young children. The first will be held on Wednesday, May 26 from 12:30-1 pm, and will focus on kindergarten readiness and transition with school principal Anneliese Johnson. Learn more about the series here.
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A report from the Lego Foundation, described here by Hechinger Report, reaffirms the importance of free play as an activity for young children. Drawing on 26 research studies that took place across 18 countries, the authors of the report call for more research on play as well as support for teachers.
This article in The Conversation breaks down salary inequities facing early childhood educators and its impact on children and the quality of care environments.
Here’s a look at the farming industry and child care, and how issues of access and affordability intersect in ways that could threaten the stability of U.S. food systems. The article hits close to home not just because Ohio’s agricultural industry is sizable but also because it was written by OSU Assistant Professor Dr. Shoshanah Inwood.
NASBE, the National Associate of State Boards of Education, has a report on what these statewide governing entities can do to improve early learning in their respective states.
This article in The Hill examines the pandemic’s impact not just on women, but on mothers attending college in particular. While “college women have proven remarkably resilient during the pandemic,” the author discusses ways that institutions of higher education as well as policy makers can amp up their support for working parents.
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The impacts of racism on children and families cannot be understated. A study described here by Chalkbeat and published in Public Administration Review surveyed principals across the U.S. to try to measure racial discrimination against Black families. The study’s authors found that white principals in particular were less likely to respond to emails from Black families, by nine percentage points. Yet they also found that evidence of discrimination “vanished” if the email indicated a student was struggling or excelling, at which point principals were equally likely to respond to Black or white parents. This can be explained, according to the researchers, that “stereotypes thrive in a vacuum of knowledge.”
A new study from MIT examining Boston’s preschool program found that it had long-term positive effects for its participants, who were more likely compared to nonparticipants to have graduated high school, taken the SAT, and enrolled in college. NPR has more on the findings, which were published in NBER.
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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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