At Start Early, we believe that every child deserves the chance to reach their full potential in life. Our mission is to advance quality early learning for families with children, before birth through their earliest years, to close the opportunity gap.

As Washington state continues to grapple with the wide-ranging human and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Start Early Washington recognizes there are a number of strategies that could be deployed to respond to the emergent needs of families. The following are the most pressing budget and policy priorities identified by Start Early Washington to support children and families in the state:

1. Leverage the Home Visiting System to Support Families

   Throughout the pandemic, home visitors have continued working with and supporting families virtually. Depending on family preference, home visitors are engaging with families either on devices like
   laptops or iPads or by telephone. Visits have continued consistently and many home visitors are having more frequent contact with families who are experiencing increased isolation. The home visiting system is well positioned to address the resource connection and social and emotional needs of families. This is a strength of our state’s home visiting models and the system could serve as a vehicle to reach and engage isolated families, particularly those with newborns.

2. Reform Family Co-Pay for Working Connections Child Care

   Early in the pandemic, the Department of Children, Youth and Families waived the family co-pay due to uncertainty around participation in care and also to ease the financial burden on working families. That copay went back into effect on July 1st and the co-payment levels are temporarily capped, with $115 as the maximum co-payment level. The issue of the family co-pay, particularly the cliff that families hit the closer they get to the income thresholds, was identified as problematic long before the pandemic. Long-term copayment reform would provide relief for working families and address the cliff that has long been a barrier.

3. Maintain Working Connections Child Care Rate Increase

   Beginning July 1st, the Working Connections Child Care rate was increased to the 65th percentile of market rate. This increase is funded with CARES funding for State Fiscal Year 21. Ongoing funding is needed to preserve this rate increase. Similar to the family co-pay, the reimbursement rate for Working Connections Child Care has long been problematic. Maintaining this rate increase helps families have greater access while also reimbursing providers closer to the true cost of quality.

4. Preserve Funding for Health and Human Services

   COVID has resulted in far-ranging health and economic impacts for Washingtonians. Our state’s recovery is tied to the availability of systems and services. As such, Start Early supports passage of a fully-funded state budget with adequate revenue to address racial inequity and to fund early learning, child welfare, health and other prevention programs, including home visiting.

For Diana Barrios, the best thing about being a new mother is [click to hear audio] “seeing him smile. He’s such a happy baby. Knowing that he’s happy, makes me happy.”

Now 6-months old, Matteo is almost crawling and sitting up by himself, and Diana has enjoyed watching him grow. “He’s really strong,” she says. “I’m just amazed with him.”

Our Starting Early Begins With… three-part speaker series kicked off with a panel discussion between early childhood experts who shared the true power of advocacy in today’s world. One of the biggest takeaways? As one panelist stated, “… we are all advocates every day for various things, whether it’s for our children, or for some issue in our neighborhood.”

Panelists shared promising examples of advocacy efforts, encouraging individuals from all professional backgrounds and motivating interests to use their voice to influence change at local and large-scale levels. And, by centering and amplifying voices of those most directly and disproportionately affected by inequality, we can collectively inspire systematic change.

At Start Early, we know that federal support is necessary for early education programs and services to not only operate, but also to reach our children and families living in under-resourced communities. One panelist noted that the current pandemic has demonstrated how truly essential child care is and its influence on every American – whether it be through the workplace or in a community. That said, in order to ensure our child care system can rebuild back better, we need to share these diverse stories and perspectives with local, state and federal leaders.

In this blog, Amanda Stein, Start Early director of research and evaluation, shares findings and takeaways from our latest research study of pre-K access and enrollment policies in Chicago which aimed to remove obstacles and drive engagement for children and families in underserved neighborhoods.

Equity-Focused Research and Policymaking
At this poignant time, a public health crisis is both holding a magnifying glass to and further exacerbating racial and economic disparities and systemic injustices for young children and their families. The need for equity-focused policy making and research has never been more pronounced. And the field of early care and education (ECE) is no exception.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), in their 2019 position statement on advancing equity in ECE, defines equity as “the state that would be achieved if individuals fared the same way in society regardless of race, gender, class, language, disability, or any other social or cultural characteristic.” This means eliminating “differences in educational outcomes as a result of who children are, where they live, and what resources their families have.”

The Value of Early Care and Education
Given the well-established body of research evidence, there is no doubt that the type and quality of ECE experiences children receive both inside and outside of the home have an impact on their short-term learning and development and later life success. Furthermore, public investments in early education and intervention programs generate savings that benefit the economy long-term.

Yet children, their families, and the broader society are unable to reap the benefits of high-quality ECE programs if children and families are not able to access them. Existing research evidence shows that differential access is an important contributing factor to inequities in enrollment. The long-term benefits associated with strong care and education in the early years make these disparities particularly concerning.

A Focus on Pre-K Access and Enrollment in Chicago
Recently, Start Early partnered with a group of researchers from NORC at the University of Chicago, UChicago Consortium on School Research and policymakers in Chicago to explore whether and how policy efforts in the city helped to create more equity within the district’s early education system for high priority students. We examined access and enrollment to school-based pre-K in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), before and after significant policy changes that began in 2013-14, with a focus on re-allocating pre-K classrooms to schools throughout the city and increasing the number of full-day pre-K classrooms.

The overall goal was to improve access and enrollment for high-priority groups to help them better prepare for success in kindergarten and beyond – including students of color, students speaking a language other than English and students living in neighborhoods with lower income and higher unemployment.

Adopting A Neighborhood-Centered Approach in Chicago
In addition to examining changes in pre-K access and enrollment, we used a “neighborhood-centered” method to explore patterns of access and enrollment based on the neighborhood where students resided.

Our methodology resulted in a concise set of five neighborhoods groupings focused on the characteristics of residents and variations within communities, which is critical to informing policy decisions about how to most equitably allocate services, supports, and resources.

What We Learned: Evidence of Greater Equity
Prior to Chicago’s policy changes in 2013-14, White students and students living in the highest-income neighborhoods had the greatest number of full-day pre-K classrooms nearby and were most likely to enroll in full-day pre-K.

We found evidence of improvements following the policy changes:

• A larger portion of CPS elementary schools offered full-day pre-K, students lived an average of 0.6 miles closer to a school with at least one full-day pre-K and full-day pre-K enrollment rates grew nearly four-fold during the study.
• Enrollment tripled in school-based full-day pre-K among Black students and students living in lowest-income neighborhoods.
• Latinx students were more likely to enroll in full-day pre-K, at slightly lower levels than other groups.

In this blog, Kristin Bernhard, Start Early senior vice president of policy and advocacy, identifies measures voters overwhelmingly approved to improve access to early childhood education at community and state levels.

While large questions remain about the results of yesterday’s presidential election, we are proud and thankful for the overwhelming approval of measures that improve access to early childhood education at community and state levels. Across the country, voters expanded the reach of core early childhood development programs and supports, from paid family leave to universal pre-K. These election results are worth celebrating, as state and community systems are closest to families with young children and play a critical role in building an ecosystem that fosters their well-being.

Voters in Colorado approved a ballot measure that creates a statewide paid family and medical leave program, joining eight other states that offer this imperative benefit. Colorado is the first to accomplish it at the ballot box rather than through the legislature. With this new program, workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a new baby or adopted child, recover from an illness or care for a seriously ill relative. Increasing paid family leave is a positive step toward reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health outcomes and allowing more individuals to stay in the workforce.

Voters also approved new funding mechanisms to help finance the creation and expansion of high-quality pre-K programs. In San Antonio, Texas, voters approved Proposition A, renewing a one-eighth-cent sales tax that will continue funding pre-K programs in the city for the next eight years. Additional investments were approved for workforce development and infrastructure. Colorado voters approved a nicotine tax measure that will fund universal free preschool for children of age 4 statewide beginning fall 2023. In Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes Portland, voters approved Measure 26-214, known as Preschool for All. Through a tax on high-income residents, the county will provide tuition-free preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds, while also raising the pay of preschool teachers to parity with those of kindergarten teachers. Assistant preschool teachers will be guaranteed a minimum wage of $18 per hour.

In St. Louis, Missouri, voters endorsed a property tax that will raise an estimated $2.3 million annually for birth to age 5 programs and services through the St. Louis Mental Health Board’s Community Children’s Services Fund. This successfully passed measure builds on a collective focus of establishing the city and county of St. Louis as a regional leader in early childhood education.

While we await answers on control of the Senate and the presidency, we applaud these states and communities who have come together to build strong, inclusive and equitable places where families with young children can flourish – from before birth through kindergarten. While the need remains for a more robust national system of early care and education, these victories demonstrate that progress on early childhood can and will continue regardless of what happens at the federal level. We are encouraged by this broad community level engagement to grow support and investment for young children and their families.

In 2020, Start Early was selected to lead the implementation of the National Center for Parent, Family and Community Engagement (NCPFCE), one of four National Centers that develop evidence-based best practices for Early Head Start and Head Start programs across the country.

The NCPFCE identifies, develops and disseminates evidence-based best practices to support the growth and development of young children and strengthen families and communities.

Start Early will focus on creating high-quality responsive training and technical assistance, rooted in equity and cultural and linguistic responsiveness, to support staff, families and communities nationwide.

Our Work & Focus on Equity

Our belief that all change happens through relationships will shape the project activities, training, technical assistance, and resources produced by the NCPFCE.

Working with a consortium of partners, Start Early will lead the NCPFCE to support family well-being, effective family and community engagement, and children’s school readiness, including transitions to kindergarten. These partnerships will integrate the research-practice knowledge of family and community engagement, human services, early childhood, social work, mental health, parenting, leadership, and family economic mobility into the NCPFCE content and activities.

The NCPFCE will have a strong equity focus and seeks to bring program, family and community voice to the forefront of early childhood education. Throughout the project, schools in the Educare Learning Network and other Early Head Start and Head Start grantees will serve as on-the-ground labs for piloting and field-testing innovations in parent, family and community engagement.

Our Partners

• Child Trends
• LIFT
• Early Learning Lab
• Fred Rogers Center
• UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

Our Funders

The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) is jointly administered by the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care.

Head Start offers a critical opportunity to improve the quality of home-based child care and bolster the sustainability of providers, while enabling Head Start to meet its mission to meet the comprehensive needs of young children and families facing the greatest adversity.

Start Early and its partners supported Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home- based child care, to organize and deliver resources and technical assistance opportunities to potential Round 4 Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) applicants to increase the number of high-quality EHS-CCP applications supporting family child care home (FCC) providers.

Individuals from 40 states took advantage of the technical assistance opportunities offered to support new and existing Head Start grantees to include family child care in their EHS-CCP proposals. These included well-attended webinars; an online resource library housed on Home Grown’s website; and technical assistance through group and one-on-one peer learning calls.

Bolstered by recent data demonstrating that more parents are seeking smaller home-based child care settings during the pandemic, partnerships between Head Start and home-based child care providers offer promise for dramatically expanding access to high-quality, comprehensive early care and education services in home-based settings and establishing family child care network models that provide critical supports to sustain home-based providers.

Diana Rauner, president of Start Early and Dr. James Heckman, the Nobel prize-winning professor of economics at the University of Chicago kicked off last month’s ASU-GSV Digital Summit with a discussion on the state of innovation in early childhood.

Their discussion ranged from Heckman’s work on long-term impacts of early childhood investments, new ways of measuring social and emotional outcomes, and the importance of investing in parents during these unprecedented times. A video of the discussion and key takeaways are below.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the ground beneath us. It has illuminated the injustices that have existed in our communities for generations, from access to health care to affordable housing. And it has magnified stressors for our youngest children and families — disproportionately families of color — who are experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, lack of child care or financial instability.