Federal Update
High-quality early education is one of the few research-based education strategies that has a demonstrated impact on the achievement gap and school readiness. Acting on evidence, the Obama administration has prioritized supporting young children's learning to ensure they succeed later in school, college, career, and society. Federal funds for high-quality early education are particularly necessary in the current economic climate to ensure momentum for young children is sustained in the states. This critical federal role makes advocating our delegates in Congress just as important as advocating state leaders in Massachusetts.

Strategies for Children monitors major federal initiatives to understand how they will support a high-quality early learning system nationally and in Massachusetts. Below you will find key information about federal policies, and links to national organizations that can provide more detailed information. This page will be updated periodically as new federal developments take place. For more information, contact Titus DosRemedios, research and policy associate at Strategies for Children, Inc., at 617-330-7387 or tdosremedios@strategiesforchildren.org.

Federal Budget: Fiscal Year 2011
On February 1, 2010, the Obama Administration released its budget proposal for the coming federal fiscal year, FY2011. House and Senate appropriations subcommittees released their proposals in July, 2010. As the below chart indicates, increases were proposed for many of the line items related to early education and care.

FY2011 begins on October 1, 2011 for the federal government. In the event that the budget does not pass by this date, Congress will adopt a continuing resolution to temporarily extend FY2010 funding levels.

Comparison of FY 2011 Proposed Funding Levels ($ billions):

Source: Early Ed Watch

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Early Learning Challenge Fund
This historic piece of federal legislation and funding to help states build systems of high-quality early education passed the U.S. House in September, 2009. The U.S. Senate did not take up this issue at that time. However, the Obama Administration is still committed to early childhood. As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted on March 18, “The president is absolutely committed on this issue, I’m absolutely committed, and we’re going to find another vehicle to help the early learning community.” 

Update
In its FY2011 budget proposal, released on July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $300 million for an Early Learning Challenge Fund. We will continue to monitor this proposal as the FY2011 federal budget process continues.

Background
On July 15, Representative George Miller (D-CA), Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced legislation to establish the Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF) as part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3221). These grants would allocate significant federal funding each year to provide states with incentives to develop high-quality early education systems, and increase the number of disadvantaged children enrolled in high-quality early education programs. On September 17, 2009 HR3221—The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which establishes the Early Learning Challenge Fund, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 253-171.

The Early Learning Challenge Fund would establish two types of competitive grants to states:

The Early Learning Challenge Fund is a key component of President Obama’s comprehensive early learning agenda and would offer Massachusetts the opportunity to build on investments in the Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) program and other quality supports for early education and care.

Early Learning Challenge Fund:
Secretary Duncan Press Call, 3-18-10 transcript [DOC]
Bill summary [PDF]
Checklist of components [PDF]
Full-text of bill, passed in House of Representatives [PDF]

For more information visit:
Education Week
Pre-k Now [PDF]
Early Ed Watch

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Race to the Top
On August 24, 2010, Governor Deval Patrick, members of the congressional delegation and state legislative leaders announced that Massachusetts is one of 10 award recipients in the federal Race to the Top competition and will receive $250 million over the next four years to implement landmark reforms in public education. The Commonwealth's application received the highest score among the winners, which, in addition to Massachusetts, are Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Margaret Blood, founder and president of Strategies for Children, Inc., issued this statement in response:

“We are thrilled that Massachusetts has been awarded a federal Race to the Top grant and offer our congratulations to Governor Patrick, Secretary of Education Paul Reville, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, the Legislature and all who made this possible. The commonwealth’s application for Race to the Top funds contains important provisions to link children’s early learning experiences with the state’s K-12 educational system in such critical areas as curricula, assessments, longitudinal data collection and the regional Readiness Centers. The research is clear. Third grade reading is an educational benchmark that strongly predicts a child’s chances of success in school and in life. Despite leading the nation, 43% of Massachusetts third graders read below grade level and the state continues to have a wide achievement gap. Research also tells us that the achievement gap is evident well before children enter school. Young children’s oral language development and vocabulary are important building blocks for their later success as students and as readers. The resources from Race to the Top -– along with investments in high-quality early education and care, full-day kindergarten and professional development for early educators as well as K-12 teachers with an emphasis on literacy – will help Massachusetts lay the foundation for an educational system that begins at birth and gives all children the opportunity to succeed.”

Background
Massachusetts was named one of 19 finalists for Phase Two awards in the Race to the Top competition. On March 29, 2010, Delaware and Tennessee were announced as winners of Phase One of the competition and awarded $100 million and $500 million respectively to help fund their comprehensive education reform agendas.

High-quality early education systems are clear priorities in several of the states that outranked Massachusetts in Phase One of the competition (see below). Race to the Top applications provide evidence that states are advancing this critical policy issue and integrating early learning into their larger education reform plans as a key strategy for improving student achievement and creating lasting change.

Innovations for improving early learning outcomes - Phase One applications

Longitudinal data systems – Most states, including Massachusetts, lack the data infrastructure needed to determine what services children receive prior to K-12 and link those early experiences to future child outcomes. In their Race to the Top applications, Ohio(#10), Pennsylvania(#7), and Kentucky(#9) all highlight their efforts to build statewide data systems. In Kentucky, this system includes public school pre-kindergarten, Head Start, Early Intervention and licensed child care. Child outcome data aligns with the state’s early learning standards. The state plans to use this longitudinal data to inform instructional supports in the early elementary grades.

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) – Operating in 19 states and the District of Columba, QRIS policies are used to assess, improve and communicate the level of quality of states’ early education and care programs. For example, Delaware (#1) has operated a voluntary QRIS since 2006. More than one-third of Delaware’s early education programs, reaching 10,600 children, participate in the rating system. The state has set a goal of having 75% of center-based programs participate in QRIS by 2015. Delaware also collects and reports data showing program rating increases over time.

Birth-5 standards – Acknowledging the importance of high-quality programs for their youngest children, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia (#3) and Tennessee (#2) have established standards for state-funded early education programs serving infants and toddlers. In Tennessee, these standards are tied to professional development via an online training module that 2,859 early educators have completed.

Professional development for early educators – Georgia uses the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) to measure teacher-child interactions and then target professional development to specific needs. An evaluation is planned to measure participants’ improvement in CLASS scores over time.

Program evaluation – A number of states have evaluated their state-funded pre-k programs to document benefits for children. In Delaware, a longitudinal study of the impact of pre-k on child outcomes in grades K-5 showed at-risk children who attended pre-k outperformed comparison groups by 21% in reading and math.

Kindergarten readiness assessments – Pennsylvania plans to introduce a norm-referenced standardized assessment for a sample of kindergarten children. This will complement formative assessments used by individual teachers to chart student progress over time. Illinois(#5) and Ohio also include this goal in their applications.

PK-3 alignment – Recognizing the barriers that often divide early childhood and K-12 practitioners, South Carolina(#6) is planning annual conferences to bring school district personnel and early childhood community leaders together to focus on school transitions and the needs of young children.

Race to the Top finalists, Phase 1, March 2010

Background (continued)
Federal stimulus funds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provide for a $4 billion competitive state grant program called "Race to the Top." These education funds would encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for innovation and reform, improving student outcomes, closing achievement gaps, preparing students for success in college and careers.

The goal of Race to the Top is for states to advance education reforms around four specific areas:

The Race to the Top program acknowledges the importance of high-quality early education by including "Innovations for improving early learning outcomes" in the grant application as an invitational priority for states. This includes enhancing the quality of pre-k accessed by high-needs students, improving school readiness, and transitioning children from pre-k to kindergarten. EEA is working hard to make sure that young Massachusetts children in early education and care programs are included in this historic reform.

For more information:
Press release from Mass.gov
EEA Chart: Race to the Top and Reading Proficiency [PDF]
EEA Policy Brief: 'Race to the Top' Finalists Prioritize Early Education [PDF]
US Department of Education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

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Investing in Innovation Fund (i3)
Through ARRA, an allocation of $650 million in education funding is reserved for a competitive grant program called the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). These funds are awarded to local applicants (districts, schools, nonprofits) with a record of improving student achievement, in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on improving student achievement or student growth for high-need students, as well as to promote school readiness, close achievement gaps, decrease dropout rates, increase high school graduation rates, and improve teacher and school leader effectiveness. The largest grants, for scale-up, are reserved for programs with the strongest program evaluation evidence of effectiveness. Smaller grants are reserved for research validation and the development of research-based promising practices.

Update
On August 5, 2010, The US Department of Education announced the 49 winners of the Investing in Innovation competition. Of the 49 winners, seven are located either completely or partially in Massachusetts. Also, several of the proposals address either early literacy or early learning more broadly. Stay tuned for more news about the winning grants that have relevance for Massachusetts, as well as future Investing in Innovation grant opportunities.

For more information visit:
US Department of Education
Eye on Early Education

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Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
This federal funding stream is the primary means by which states fund access to early education and care programs. With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, CCDBG received roughly a $1 billion increase for each of the two years covered by ARRA. With stimulus funding scheduled to expire by the end of federal FY2010, President Obama, as well as House and Senate appropriations subcommittees have proposed large FY2011 funding increases for CCDBG that attempt to maintain the funding levels achieved through ARRA. The largest of these increases, $1 billion, was proposed by the Senate. For more information, visit Early Ed Watch and CLASP.

CCDBG is divided into mandatory and discretionary funding. Recently, Sen. John Kerry introduced the Children First Act of 2010, a bill that would increase mandatory funds by $800 million for each of five years. Co-sponsors are currently being sought in the Senate to support the bill. Stay tuned for advocacy opportunities as this bill develops further in Congress.

For additional information visit:
NAEYC
National Women's Law Center

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
ESEA is the primary legislation by which the federal government funds and regulates public education. This law, currently known as No Child Left Behind, is scheduled for reauthorization in the coming months. On March 15, 2010, the Obama Administration unveiled its blueprint for reauthorizing ESEA, which included proposals addressing teacher quality, standards and assessment, and college and career readiness.

Early education advocates across the country are recommending that ESEA reauthorization include a new focus on early learning. This would provide a unique opportunity to build in federal support for state-funded high-quality early education systems that help prepare young children for success in school, college, and career. We will continue to monitor the reauthorization of ESEA and look for advocacy opportunities as they arise.

For more information visit:
Pre-k Now

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a $787 billion federal stimulus plan designed to create jobs, increase consumer spending and to address looming state budget deficits.

The Early Education for All (EEA) Campaign has been closely monitoring the federal stimulus bill and its impact on early education and care in Massachusetts. View EEA's policy brief, Summary of the Federal Stimulus Bill: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for an overview of funding levels and detailed explanations of the bill's various funding streams.

The final bill provides $5.24 billion in new funding for early education and care, including set asides to improve early education program quality. In addition, states can choose to use K-12 Title I funding and the $53.6 billion in stabilization funds to help support early education programs. There are also a number of competitive grants funded through ARRA that states and local entities can take advantage of, some of which have implications for early education and care. Massachusetts is estimated to receive around $8.7 billion in ARRA funding, with $1.88 billion allocated for early childhood, elementary, secondary, and higher education.

Read Governor Patrick's plan for investing the federal stimulus funding.

Early education funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Other funds that could be spent on early education, but are not mandated:

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