About Us
In 2010, after a decade of building a statewide movement for high-quality early education and care, Strategies for Children (SFC) broadened its focus to incorporate a crucial outcome for children, third grade reading proficiency. To guide this work, SFC commissioned a report—"Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success"—from Nonie Lesaux, Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert in literacy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At the report's release in June 2010 SFC launched a 10-year campaign to ensure that children in Massachusetts read proficiently by the end of third grade. SFC is working to implement the report's recommendations and improve children's literacy through legislation (An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency) introduced in January 2011 and through the alignment of practice, policy and research.

High-quality early education is a critical building block of reading success, and SFC's ongoing work in early education is a critical component of the reading proficiency campaign.

In December 2011, Massachusetts was one of nine states awarded a federal Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge (ELC) grant, an exciting development for the commonwealth and an exciting validation of SFC's work. A total of 35 states—plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico—applied for the $500 million program, which rewarded states that had already laid a foundation for quality. Massachusetts earned the second highest score in the country and was awarded the full $50 million over four years for which it was eligible. A number of features that reviewers of the state's ELC application highlighted were the direct result of SFC's advocacy and policy work, and many of the projects detailed in the application rely on this foundation.

Both the reading campaign and the Early Learning Challenge grant build on the significant impact that SFC has had on policies and resources for children and families in Massachusetts. SFC led efforts that:

	Created the nation’s first consolidated Department of Early Education and Care in 2005, merging the early education and child care bureaucracies into a streamlined governance structure.
	Secured more than $210 million in public investments in early education and care since 2005.
	Created the Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) grant program in 2006 and established UPK in statute in 2008 with unanimous legislative approval; secured cumulative funding of $45 million for UPK, which serves more than 6,400 children a year.
	Created the state’s Early Childhood Educators Scholarship Program, which since 2005 has provided more than 5,000 scholarships to early educators to pursue AA and BA degrees.
	Expanded quality grants for full-day kindergarten, which have helped propel a doubling of the proportion of kindergartners in full-day programs from 38% in 2000 to 80% in 2010.
	Ensured that the 2010 Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, the commonwealth’s most significant education reform legislation since 1993, included important early education and literacy provisions.
	Resulted in the launch in 2011 of a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), which awarded $2.8 million in grants to 445 early childhood programs in its first year.
	Raised awareness and support for high-quality early education as a critical strategy for raising academic achievement and spurring economic development, exemplified by more than 130 supportive newspaper editorials and the support of 77% of Massachusetts voters.

SFC, a 501c(3) non-profit organization founded in 2001, values its role as an independent advocacy and policy organization and accepts no government funding.

SFC’s other accomplishments include:

	Launching a new generation of leaders for children and families through a robust internship program and the development of young staff members. EEA Campaign Director Amy O'Leary, a former preschool teacher and program director, is a member of the Children’s Defense Fund Emerging Leader Fellowship and was elected in 2011 to the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. A former legislative director chairs the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care and serves as executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable. Also serving on the state’s early education board is a former SFC research and policy director, and a former SFC legislative director is now undersecretary of education in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education. Other former interns and young staff members have served as communications director for the governor, interim commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care, and member of the board of the Massachusetts Association for the Education of Young Children.
	Providing technical assistance and public speaking. SFC staff members are sought-after public speakers at state, regional and national meetings and guest lecturers at area universities. For instance, SFC President Margaret Blood has addressed meetings sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Grantmakers for Education. SFC has provided technical assistance to philanthropic and advocacy groups in more than 26 states and continues to provide technical assistance to the Read! initiative in Springfield, MA. EEA Director Amy O’Leary has appeared on panels at national conferences, including events sponsored by Pew and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and has been invited to testify at legislative hearings in other states, including Connecticut and Michigan.
	Publishing the nationally recognized Eye on Early Education blog.