Child Care in Low Income schools and neighborhoods

This People for Education report has been receiving media attention including in the Spec.

The smaller number  of before and after  child care programs in poorer schools with full day kindergartens is commented on.

 In Hamilton you will also find that schools that serve poorer families have less extended day programs that more affluent neighborhoods.  Poorer neighborhoods also have less access to all licensed child care. The Hamilton Early Years Community Plan 2012-2015 shows that the most licensed care  is available in Ancaster. The percentage of child care spaces by population 0 to 12 shows that central lower Hamilton has 12.3%, East Lower Hamilton has 10%, north lower Hamilton has 0% spaces, Ancaster has 32%.

Licensed care for poorer families faces hurdles. There are subsidies available to cover the cost of the fees, but not sufficient subsidies are available in the Province for all children who qualify.  

In Hamilton, subsidies paid must be at a rate  below the fees charged to other families served by the child care organisation, and the subsidy belongs to the family . Parts of the lower City have high mobility so that families move taking their subsidies with them. There is a waiting list, and although families need care, they may have to wait for service. Spots in child care remain empty sometimes at a cost to the provider because families are waiting for subsidy or have moved taking their subsidy with them. Sometimes these hurdles make child care operators reluctant to provide care in low income areas.

From the People for Education News release:

Full day kindergarten a success, but lack of extended day programs raises concerns

The report lauds the province for the implementation of full-day kindergarten (FDK) for 4- and 5-year-olds, calling it the biggest transformation in the Ontario education system in a decade. But it also raises concerns about large FDK class sizes, and the lack of extended day programs:

·         8% of FDK classes have 30 or more children

·         only 62% of schools with FDK have extended day programs, and they are much more likely to be in schools with higher average family incomes

“The FDK program appears to be getting stronger over time,” says Kerrie Proulx, Research Manager for People for Education. “Children who participated in the third year of FDK, compared to those who participated in the first year, show better outcomes on phonological awareness, number knowledge and writing. And compared to children who attend half-day kindergarten, FDK kids have higher “executive function” which includes things such as working memory, cognitive flexibility and attention.” Full report::

http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/annual-report-2014-WEB.pdf

Summary of Research on Positive Effects Early Childhood Education

Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Early Education Interventions on Cognitive and Social Development

by Gregory Camilli, Sadako Vargas, Sharon Ryan & W. Steven Barnett — 2010

Background/Context: There is much current interest in the impact of early childhood education programs on preschoolers and, in particular, on the magnitude of cognitive and affective gains.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Because this new segment of public education requires significant funding, accurate descriptions are required of the potential benefits and costs of implementing specific preschool programs. To address this issue comprehensively, a meta-analysis was conducted for the purpose of synthesizing the outcomes of comparative studies in this area.
Population/Participants/Subjects: A total of 123 comparative studies of early childhood interventions were analyzed. Each study provided a number of contrasts, where a contrast is defined as the comparison of an intervention group of children with an alternative intervention or no intervention group.
Intervention/Program/Practice: A prevalent pedagogical approach in these studies was direct instruction, but inquiry-based pedagogical approaches also occurred in some interventions. No assumption was made that nominally similar interventions were equivalent.
Research Design: The meta-analytic database included both quasi-experimental and randomized studies. A coding strategy was developed to record information for computing study effects, study design, sample characteristics, and program characteristics.
Findings/Results: Consistent with the accrued research base on the effects of preschool education, significant effects were found in this study for children who attend a preschool program prior to entering kindergarten. Although the largest effect sizes were observed for cognitive outcomes, a preschool education was also found to impact children's social skills and school progress. Specific aspects of the treatments that positively correlated with gains included teacher-directed instruction and small-group instruction, but provision of additional services tended to be associated with smaller gains.

Conclusions/Recommendations: Given the current state of research on the efficacy of early childhood interventions, there is both good and bad news. The good news is that a host of original and synthetic studies have found positive effects for a range of outcomes, and this pattern is clearest for outcomes relating to cognitive development. Moreover, many promising variables for program design have been identified and linked to outcomes, though little more can be said of the link than that it is positive. The bad news is that there is much less empirical information available for designing interventions at multiple levels with multiple components.
Link: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=15440

Early Childhood Education : is it worthwhile?

from " Issues That Matter" 
Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Fellow in Early Childhood Policy  OSIE

Margaret Wente contends the Education Minister fudged the numbers in her September announcement on the benefits of full day kindergarten for children. The true story she claims lies in the ‘full report’ released by Queen’s University. (“Ontario's $1.5-billion kindergarten hoax”. Nov 30, Globe and Mail) 

Ms. Wente is referring to two different reports with two different purposes. Both were commissioned by the Ministry as part of the same evaluation. The job of the Queen’s researchers was to identify challenges during the 2010 school year; the first year full day kindergarten was made available. Not surprisingly there were bumps. In repeating the challenges Ms. Wente neglects to mention that the very purpose of the Queen’s report was to identify problems so remedies could be developed. She also fails to note the steps the ministry and school boards have since taken to address them.

The Ministry’s part of the evaluation was to analyze child outcomes. It used the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a validated tool employed across Canada and internationally to assess children’s preparedness for school. Based on the largest sample ever used for this type of study, it found that children who had attended two years of full day kindergarten were better prepared for school. Queen’s also looked
at EDI results but only for children with one year of full day kindergarten. Its findings were not as promising but the report notes ongoing evaluation is required.

Thus Ms. Wente’s confusion -- one report is looking at inputs; the other at outcomes. The most promising finding is that even with all the challenges identified, children with two full years of early learning showed gains. Imagine the good we can offer Ontario’s children when the kinks are ironed out.

Yet there is much more to the FDK plan than children’s preparedness for school. FDK is part of a package which includes before and after school, and summer programming for 4 to 12 year olds. These activities have been found effective at closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.

The plan also makes schools the preferred location for early learning, care and family support programs for the under 4s. A single location for a range of services is associated with reduced stress for children and families. Parents don’t need to coordinate multiple pick-ups and drop offs. Siblings are able to stay together. Parents have time to talk to their children’s educators.

All this makes life a little easier for harried parents, which is more than just a nice
thing to do. Stress disrupts parents’ ability to manage their own conduct, leaving them with fewer resources to regulate their children’s behaviour. The more hassled the parent the less likely they are to engage positively with their children. Chronic parental stress has been connected to poor academic outcomes in children.

Opening up schools to younger children also eases their fears. Familiarity with the school staff, the environment and the routines makes for smoother transition into formal schooling. Younger children in the school environment have also been found to have a positive impact on the social behaviour of older children.

Wente contends that extended day programming is another public cost. Not true.
Extended hour before and after school, and summer programming for 4 to 12 year olds is entirely cost recovery. In school districts where the boards of education directly operate these programs (Ottawa and Kitchener/Waterloo) over 5,500 new spaces have been created without a single additional dollar of public funding. Moreover parent fees in school-operated programs have decreased while ECE wages have gone up. This all comes from the efficiencies inherent in having one entity responsible for both education and care.

Finally in throwing around the cost of FDK it is worth considering the benefits. Thesecome from parents who experience fewer work conflicts; children who are happy and confident in school; ECEs who are earning a fair wage and the social cohesion which comes when societies get behind their kids.

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson/UserFiles/File/Policy%20Commentaries/FDK-KMcCuaig-Dec_2013.pdf

Waterloo’s Story: Implementing a Comprehensive Vision for Seamless Care

Ontario’s implementation of the bold vision for school board operated seamless child care across Ontario that was described in With Our Best Future In Mind 1, has hit a few road blocks. After a great deal of lobbying, some general election politicking, and resulting legislative changes, today,most school boards in Ontario have reverted to the status quo in terms of how before and after school programs are delivered. In the majority of school boards before and after care programs are delivered by a third-party agency resulting in access to service that ranges from comprehensive to skeletal. 

The exception to this pattern exists in Waterloo, Ontario. Today in Waterloo Region, the school boards are the largest operator of before and after school
programs, access to school age child care is rapidly expanding, and parent fees have been reduced in each of the three years that the school board has operated programs. This begs the question, then, “What happened in Waterloo Region that allowed school boards to “follow through” with the vision described by Dr. Pascal?”

It was clear, even prior to the announcement of the Ontario government’s plan to operate Full-Day Kindergarten and board-operated extended day programs, that Waterloo Region suffered from a significant shortage of accessible, high-quality programs for young children. While some third party providers were offering services in the Region, there were significant gaps and needs across the
system, mainly in communities that reflected lower socio-economic status. For this reason the school board was “called to action”. Clearly, if school boards were to meet the intended long-term outcomes of full day early learning, we needed to embrace the vision of the Pascal report and move away from the historically piecemeal and patchwork approach to child-care in our community.
Waterloo became determined to participate, as full partners, in the delivery of high quality early learning programs.

To that end, the Waterloo Region District School Board established an effective infrastructure by forming an Early Years Task Force. This task force brought  together business, planning, facilities, human resources, and program staff within the board and also included staff from the Region of Waterloo Children’s Services division. To provide leadership, realignment of an existing staff position within the board occurred to hire a System Administrator of Early Learning to ensure there was internal capacity to follow through on initiatives and provide leadership across the system with key aspects of implementation. Trustees were also regularly updated and engaged in our broader vision and informed of implementation status on a regular basis. Early learning supervisors were
added to the team.

The Waterloo Region District School Board, with the support of our regional partners, began to operate before and after school programs for children ages four to seven in four schools in 2010- 2011 serving around 80 students in the first year of Full Day Kindergarten. The Region of Waterloo partnered with the Board to administer the billing, fee collection and seamless handling of all child-
care subsidy. Year two of Full Day Kindergarten saw programs expand to eight school sites serving 200 families. This year, 2012-2013, in the third year of Full Day Kindergarten Implementation, there are 32 programs serving approximately 1600 families, and this represents only 49% implementation of Full-Day Kindergarten. We anticipate doubling this number by the time the
program is fully implemented.

The Board and Region had a belief in the vision “if we build it, they will come”…families have overwhelmingly responded. The success and growth of the programs have necessitated the hiring of two Early Childhood Educator Supervisors to continue to support the program quality and management of the programs while also supporting Principals with implementation. Helping school-based staff see the value of the programs, and not over-whelm them with details has made
the process of implementation more effective.

However, the road has not been an easy one. Issues around supply DECE deployment, staffing ratios, communication with parents and program registration logistics have all stretched the capacity of the school board staff. Relations with third party child care operators and their parents were strained as a very intense and public debate ensued over the merits of Pascal’s vision. Through collective effort, compromises were made and parents have come out ahead as all programs in the Waterloo Region District School Board feature common hours, flexible enrollment, access to quality spaces with no waiting lists. In the end, no challenge has trumped the benefits of offering readily accessible, seamless care for families.

For more information, please visit http://www.wrdsb.ca/
MaryLou Mackie, Executive Superintendent of Education
Scott Podrebarac, System Adminstrator Early Learning
Wendy Goulden, Early Years Consultant
November 29, 2012

For more information on this topic, as well as about the Atkinson Centre, please visit: www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson

Work Progresses on Ontario’s Early Years Puzzle
January 24, 2013 By Kerry McCuaig

The task of creating coherence out of the province’s early years services took a step forward on January 23, 2013 with the release of the Ontario Early Years Policy Framework. It’s not the kind of document that gets media attention or stirs attention deep in the sector. The framework is about governance and while that isn’t as exciting as money or legislative change it is an essential forerunner if the latter are to be accomplished effectively.

First, the proposal moves fully funded programs to the Ministry of Education. Ontario Early Years Centres migrate from the Ministry of the Children and Youth Services. These will combine with Parenting and Family Literacy Centres, Family Resources Centres and Better Beginnings Better Future sites under a single mandate and brand—Best Start Child and Family Centres. This should
involve more than new signage. From the parents’ perspective being able to identify a community service and know what to expect when they enter the door breaks down access barriers. Inside each BS Centre families can expect to find similar programs and supports provided by qualified staff guided by a common approach to early learning.

The document also promises expanded resources and supports through a provincial website. If this created one great online resource rather than hundreds of okay ones it would be an accomplishment.Australia’s official site for parents is a good example with chat rooms, and timely multimedia resources http://raisingchildren.net.au.

If the above all transpires by the 2014 deadline, Ontario will actually have an integrated family support program.

Responsibility for the Early Development Instrument (EDI) also moves to Education along with the Data Analysis Coordinators (DACs). The EDI is an important planning and accountability tool and should reside with the ministry leading early years programming. Yet to be determined is whether
the DAC functions will move to municipalities. They might; the document signals greater local management authority for municipalities.

The document is right to recognize the leadership being shown by the French language school boards to integrate and expand access to early learning and care. Credit is also due to the province for its efforts to collaborate with First Nations and Aboriginal peoples to improve programming on and off reserves.

The framework is more ambiguous in other areas. It acknowledges the problems emanating from the many players involved in Preschool Speech and Language but leaves it to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to reengineer the quagmire.Work Progresses on Ontario's Early Years Puzzle.Child care will have to wait for the legislative changes that could help it weather the transition to full day kindergarten.

Despite the interlocking puzzle motif depicted in the document, much more will need to happen in the way of funding reform if child care is to join up
with its fully funded early years cousins.

A missing piece is public health. It needs to be a visible partner with municipalities in program planning and delivery so Best Start Centres are connected to Healthy Babies Healthy Children and other family health programs. Public health also provides an important accountability element, accommodating the inking of data from prenatal and birth through to school.

A very positive signal in the report is the intention to keep the full day kindergarten roll-out on track for 2014. Also promising are commitments to develop a common program guide for all early years settings and to improve access for children with different abilities.

Next steps: Naturally service providers will be asking what all this means for them. Timely direction will relieve some angst in the already angst filled sector.

Kerry McCuaig, is the Atkinson Foundation Fellow in Early Childhood Policy at the Atkinson Centre.
For more information on this topic, as well as about the Atkinson Centre, please visit: www.oise.utoronto.ca/atkinson

Children need to Play!

EXPERTS SAY: PUT STRESS ON PLAY, NOT ON CHILDREN

A new statement, issued by the Alliance for Childhood, condemns the
increasingly academic curriculum in kindergartens and preschools, which is
replacing child-initiated learning through creative play and hands-on
activities.  Experts say many early education policies are based on
"unproven methods" and are "fueled by political pressure." According to
the statement, "Education is not a race where the prize goes to the one
who finishes first." Instead of strengthening the "drive to learn,"
current trends in early education policy and practice heighten pressure
and stress in children's lives, which can contribute to behavioral and
learning problems." The statement expresses strong support for efforts to
establish universal preschool, "provided that preschool programs are based
on well-established knowledge of how children learn and how to lay a
foundation for lifelong learning -- not on educational fads." The group
makes five specific "calls to action": 

(1) For early education that emphasizes experiential, hands-on activities, open-ended creative play,
and caring human relationships; 

(2) For a reversal of the pushing down of the curriculum that has transformed kindergarten into de facto first
grade; 

(3) For research on the causes of increased levels of anger, misbehavior, and school expulsion among young children; 

(4) For additional research that examines the long-term impact of different preschool and
kindergarten practices on children from diverse backgrounds; and

(5) For teacher education that emphasizes the full development of the child including the importance of play, nurtures children's innate love of learning, and supports teachers' own capacities for creativity, autonomy,

and integrity.
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/pdf_files/call_action_education.pdf

Why Quality Child Care and Early Learning is Needed:

 How well do kids do if they go to child care compared with other forms of care? 

The  Canadian Centre for Knowledge Mobilisation  did a study

• Research results represented 563 tests of the development of nearly 28,000 children in fi ve countries.

• Results were obtained after removing possible confounding infl uences of quality of child care setting as well as family factors such as income and educational level.

• Researchers used large scale databases and standardised tests of cognitive, language,and behavioural development.

• Researchers measured quality of child care in home settings and in centre settings.

• Higher quality of child care is linked to better cognitive, language, and behavioural development.

• Compared with care in home settings, care in centres is typically higher in quality.

• Compared with care in home settings, care in centres is linked to better cognitive and language development.

• Earlier entry in non-parental care is linked to better cognitive and language development; more time in centre care is linked to better language development.

• Children’s development is better when caregivers have more education and training.

To learn more and to obtain child care research resources go to www.cckm.ca

WHAT ARE THE2006 © Canadian Centre for Knowledge Mobilisation 

An  article with excellent references on the link between quality child care and early learning from the Canadian Centre for Learning can be found at

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Reports/LessonsInLearning/20060530LinL.htm?Language=EN

From the Council for Early Child Development  CECD 2009

THE SCIENCE IS WELL-ESTABLISHED.

A good beginning to life is the foundation for future development, health and well-being. We recognise the importance of the early years but why is the field so fragmented and lacking integration of research,policy and practice?

In Canada

• Over one quarter of children start kindergarten with challenges so entrenched many are at risk of not graduating high school.

• Canada ranks 21st out of 30 OECD nations in terms of infant mortality and 27th out of 29th in childhood obesity.

• 70% of high school students report having been physically assaulted.

• Four in ten adults do not have the literacy skills necessary to adapt to the growth in knowledge and technology that marks the 21st century.

• A stagnating birth rate means a stagnating economy; by 2015 there will be more seniors than children.

Did you know?

• Five year olds from low-income families in Monterrey, Mexico are better prepared for school than the average Canadian child.

• Infant mortality is recognized internationally as an important health measure. Iceland has reduced its rate to 2.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, a benchmark for the world.

•Cuban schools report one-quarter the number of fights as other schools in Latin America.

• 34% of Sweden’s adult population performs at top levels of literacy.

• Québec has reduced its rate of child and family poverty by half; and turned its falling birth rate and school test scores around.

WHY THE DIFFERENCE?

Children in Monterrey,(Mexico), Iceland, Cuba,Sweden and Québec

regularly attend early childhood programs.In Canada, outside Québec, they do not 

Recent Reports with Recommendations about All Day Early Learning:

1. With Our Best Future in Mind, Charles Pascal’s report to the Premier of Ontario on Implementing Early Learning in Ontario. Please visit:  www.ontario.ca/earlylearning.

 2. Hand in Hand: How the Province and municipalities can create the best early learning and child care service system for Ontario.

Please find the paper on the OMSSA website at: http://www.omssa.com/singlepage.asp?itemcode=OMSSA-HANDINHAND