Connecticut’s Governor Ned Lamont has a bold vision for the long-term success of his state: He wants to make Connecticut the most family-friendly state in the nation. And he and other state leaders are grounding that vision with a forward-leaning investment in early childhood. Under the leadership of Beth Bye, Commissioner for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), they are going deep and wide in building a strong early childhood system because they believe that being family-friendly is a pragmatic, economic decision essential to secure the state’s future.

I am impressed with the comprehensive approach Governor Lamont and Commissioner Bye are taking to design their early childhood strategy, and think it is worth shining a spotlight on it for other states to consider.

Last month I was honored to join a convening of Connecticut’s government and advisory leaders, policymakers, and early childhood experts to participate in a panel discussion, “Shaping Connecticut’s Tomorrow: A Conversation with Early Childhood Leaders,” alongside Ellen Galinsky, President of Family and Work Institute, Michelle Kang, CEO of NAEYC, and Commissioner Bye.

When Connecticut’s leaders talk, I hear three themes that I think will ensure their success:

• Align your leaders and your resources
• Don’t play favorites: invest in all the essentials for a strong system
• Plan for multi-generational success

Align your leaders and your resources

Connecticut created a shared understanding and alignment around early childhood for the state’s governance bodies through its Blue Ribbon Panel Report. Connecticut is fortunate to have multiple entities, beyond the OEC, that provided guidance and input into the design of a system that will transform early childhood care and education. Together they co-created and committed to a plan featuring common priorities:

• Workforce and Quality
• Equity and Access
• Systems Building and Funding and Costs

I recall a conversation I had with Commissioner Bye several years ago about ways states could address the entire early learning system by taking an approach that better aligns all its resources. The Blue Ribbon Panel Report maps smart resource alignment and allocation to achieve shared goals – for example, providing stable housing for families in addition to high quality early childhood education, and health screenings to address the needs of the whole child. Additionally, as Connecticut strengthens their focus on Birth through Age 3, they are comprehensively approaching the infant/toddler funding challenge by blending and braiding federal and state funds to remove some of the burden on programs.

Don’t play favorites: invest in all the essentials for a strong system

Connecticut’s holistic approach to addressing early childcare and education is comprehensive and thoughtfully weaves together all the elements necessary for a high-quality, equitable early childhood system. Too often states invest unevenly, which diminishes (and sometimes undermines) their overall impact.

The Blue Ribbon plan prioritizes equity for the families with the greatest needs, prioritizes the success of the early childhood workforce, and focuses on stabilization and system building.

I want to particularly call other states’ attention to Connecticut’s focus on the early childhood workforce. The Connecticut plan highlights the importance of providing high quality professional learning for teachers, including career pathways for ECE professionals to get their credentials and increase their knowledge so that they are eligible to receive higher wages. We know that quality professional learning can provide powerful and rich onboarding to staff new to the field and improve the work environment to create a culture that is inclusive and supportive and fosters ongoing learning. As a field, we want to develop professionals’ skills, knowledge, effectiveness, and confidence to increase retention and wellbeing. And Connecticut is showing us how.

Plan for multi-generational success

Family voice is evident throughout Connecticut’s plan and early actions. From philosophically focusing on parents as their child’s first teacher to engaging with parents as thought partners in the convening I attended, Connecticut shows a commitment to thinking about the success of young children through the lens of the whole family. They encourage and prepare families to use their voices to advocate for the needs of their young children now, through their elementary years, and beyond. For the Governor’s “most family-friendly state” vision to be achieved, this is essential.

The early childhood ecosystem must include fully funding early learning and care, as we cannot provide high quality childcare on the back of parents. Connecticut understands that in order to do so, the state will need to provide equitable community and policy supports for parental leave, childcare subsidies, affordable housing and health care screening so that opportunity gaps are addressed. These investments in families create intergenerational benefits that will have a wide-reaching and lasting impact, from the socioeconomic success of individual households to the growth of the entire state’s economy.

Frederick Douglas said, “It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” I am heartened to see Connecticut carry out his words through policy and planning that invests in the early years. A family-friendly state indeed; let’s all pay attention to Connecticut’s next steps together. This is a model worth watching.

At Start Early, we point to Research, Program & Policy Partnership (RPP) as our guiding framework for data usage among our early childhood programs and services. RPPs consist of collaborations among different teams working toward improvement that is informed by research to understand what works and what does not work, and to allocate resources effectively for the most effective and sustainable progress.

To ensure continuous quality improvement, we recently sought to gain a better understanding of data literacy among Start Early’s Early/Head Start (E/HS) staff and how they currently use data for improving practice. We also recognized this as an opportunity to reaffirm the important role of RPPs in implementing effective changes through data.

Data Literacy: the ability to meaningfully explore, understand, use and communicate with data

The Early/Head Start Network and Research & Evaluation teams collaborated to conduct and analyze the annual Staff Data Utilization Survey from May 2023. This survey measured understanding of and experiences with data from various E/HS staff members across multiple Start Early programs.

Key Findings

95% of the 235 respondents reported that data is an important piece to serving children and families (Figure 1), affirming how important it is that all staff have the training and resources they need to understand and use data.

Figure 1

Our findings also highlighted that many staff, particularly content area specialists and coordinators, family support specialists and home visitors, reported overall high enjoyment, confidence and understanding of data use and management.

Other staff, specifically assistant and lead teachers, expressed less enjoyment in understanding and using data and noted the need for more personalized training in data use and management.

A common hurdle for staff in using data was found to be a lack of time available to enter and work with data, making it essential to find creative solutions that fit into busy schedules.

The Power of Research, Program & Policy Partnerships

Our findings confirmed and emphasized that ongoing training and professional development opportunities were needed. Thus, the Early/Head Start Network partnered with Start Early’s professional development experts, which provides customized professional development trainings for early childhood professionals, to develop a one and a half day training for its E/HS staff later that year.

This training was open to all E/HS staff and focused on breaking down steps in data analysis and utilization, creating awareness and understanding of data terminology, and building confidence in using data to inform practice.

Overall, training participants shared that they learned helpful tools, gained confidence and, as a result, now have a better understanding of data utilization for their work. All participants said this training met their professional development needs and would recommend it to their colleagues.

Conclusion

This example highlights the crucial role that exploring data literacy plays in informed decision-making and enhancing outcomes for children and families. The collaboration between Start Early’s Early/Head Start Network, Research & Evaluation and professional development teams led to a successful training program and demonstrated the value of this ongoing work. We are committed to continue using the RPP framework, showcasing how collaboration can bridge research and practice in data literacy and drive meaningful improvements in programs, policies and practice for children and families.

If you’re interested in exploring how an RPP framework and other tools can drive improvements in your early childhood system, please reach out! You can get in touch with Start Early’s Research & Evaluation team via email at Research@startearly.org.

Earlier this month I had an opportunity to participate on a panel at the Hunt Institute Summit alongside my good friend Connecticut Commissioner of Early Education, Beth Bye and Stanford Professor, Phillip Fisher. During the panel, we engaged with legislators, mayors, city council and school board members from 49 states and the Virgin Islands.

We were all gathered in one room to talk about the importance of early care and education.  Our conversation focused on four critical components of growth and impact for ECE programs identified by The Hunt Institute within their State Snapshots 2024 report:

• Access
• Affordability
• Funding
• Quality

Over the three-day Summit, we discussed how various states rank on each of these areas. Additional detail regarding the state rankings can be found in The Hunt Institute’s State Snapshots 2024 report. Currently, no one state is doing well in all four areas. In fact, most states scored around a 2 on a scale of 1-4 in each area.

Summer is in full swing! Along with the fun the season brings, young children, expectant parents, and those who care for them face many decisions about how to safely navigate heat, poor air quality, extreme weather, and more. Compared to the general population, infants, young children, and pregnant people are more susceptible to the effects of extreme heat.

It is important for child care providers to know how to manage these environmental risks as they plan to keep children and staff safe. Child care providers are also in a unique position to support families by providing resources and guidance to keep children safe while at home.

Below are some common questions caregivers might have about how to protect young children and families from extreme heat and resources to help answer them:

• How do I know when it’s too hot for infants and young children to play outside?
  • Check out this informative Child Care Weather Watch Poster from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. This resource tells us how to determine if the weather is suitable for outdoor play for infants and young children, both when it’s cold and hot outside.
• How can I find heat-related health information specific to my community?
  • Type your ZIP code into the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Heat and Health Index (HHI) tool. This tool helps you prepare for hot weather, prevent heat-related illnesses, and learn about the effects of heat on health.
• How do I know when extreme heat is coming to my community?
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) HeatRisk Forecast color-coded map shows a seven-day heat forecast and health risks. CDC also has a HeatRisk Dashboard with resources for high-heat days, local air quality details, and actions to stay safe. The CDC has guidance for heat health, focused on children with asthma, people who are pregnant, and people with cardiovascular disease.
  • Looking for heat updates in your inbox? Check out the Monthly Climate Outlook Reports by the HSS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) with forecasts for heat, drought, wildfire, hurricanes, and more for your region. Use this link (the “OCCHE” subscription option) to sign up for the monthly reports via email. See this link for the August report.
• What heat-related emergencies are happening in my community?
  • The OCCHE and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) NEMSIS Heat-Related EMS Activation Surveillance Dashboard has a map and graph with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data about heat-related emergencies. The information is useful for knowing heat-related risks in your area.

We encourage child care providers and those supporting networks of providers to share these resources broadly. Climate change is an early childhood issue and programs supporting young children and their families need tools to be responsive and climate-resilient. These resources can be helpful not only during the summer, but year-round, as communities around the globe face an increasing number of extreme weather events.

Interested in other resources supporting early childhood professionals? Sign-up for our newsletter here.

Looking for helpful resources about air quality? Find them here.

Summer is in full swing! Along with the fun the season brings, young children, expectant parents, and those who care for them face many decisions about how to safely navigate heat, poor air quality, extreme weather, and more. Compared to the general population, infants, young children, and pregnant people are more susceptible to the effects of poor air quality.

It is important for child care providers to know how to manage these environmental risks as they plan to keep children and staff safe. Child care providers are also in a unique position to support families by providing resources and guidance to keep children safe while at home.

Below are some common questions caregivers might have about how to protect young children and families if the air quality is poor, and resources that will help answer them:

• How can I monitor my local air quality to ensure that it is safe outside for infants, young children, and pregnant people?
  • The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) AirNow Air Quality Index (AQI) Map displays the air quality in your local area and recommends precautions to take when needed. The AirNow Fire and Smoke Map also provides real-time information about where wildfires are happening across the U.S. and Canada and how they might affect your local air quality.
  • As you’re planning the day ahead for yourself or those in your care, access the map on the go and sign up for notifications about local air quality alerts using the AirNow smartphone app.
  • AirNow also has easy guidance for when and how outdoor physical activity should be modified for young children and pregnant people based on air quality: if the air quality is at orange level or above (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups or 101–150) these groups should reduce prolonged and heavy exertion outdoors. EPA also offers educational activities and materials on air quality (recommended for children ages 4 to 7).
• What steps can I take to protect infants, young children, and staff on days with poor air quality or extreme heat?
  • This resource from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood includes information about protecting the health of children and staff on days with extreme heat or compromised air quality.
• Where can I find programmatic guidance about poor air quality and other disasters- before and after they happen?
  • Visit the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Community Services (OCS) Disaster Flexibilities Hub. This resource has live weather updates and tools from Ready.gov and Ready.gov/es (en español) to prepare for wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, drought, extreme heat, and more. Resources for Head Start providers and early childhood caregivers include ACF Emergency and Disaster Waivers and Flexibilities, Head Start ECLKC Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery Guidance, and Child Care Resources for Disasters and Emergencies. Programs that receive OCS funding can also visit the Disaster Flexibilities Hub for guidance on what types of flexibilities their programs have following climate emergencies.
• Where can SNAP and WIC be used when poor air quality and other disasters cause families to evacuate?
  • When poor air quality impacts communities, families sometimes face the difficult decision of evacuating their homes. For families who rely on nutrition assistance programs, relocating can cause confusion about how to transfer SNAP and WIC benefits across state lines. EBT can be used across state lines for SNAP and CalFresh. Families who have WIC can continue to use their benefits until their certification expires. Families must have proof that they received WIC benefits in another area or state and should contact their WIC office with any questions.
• How do I talk with young children and families about wildfires and other climate change issues?
  • Trinka and Sam: The Big Fire is both a coloring book and story, with a parents’ guide at the end of the book with prompts for how to talk about wildfires and their aftermath with families. The book is available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek. See a similar story about hurricanes by the same authors.

We encourage child care providers and those supporting networks of providers to share these resources broadly. Climate change is an early childhood issue and programs supporting young children and their families need tools to be responsive and climate-resilient. These resources can be helpful not only during the summer, but year-round as communities around the globe face an increasing number of extreme weather events.

Interested in other resources supporting early childhood professionals? Sign-up for our newsletter here.

Looking for helpful resources to protect yourself and the children and families in your care from extreme heat this summer? Find them here.

Child care remains inaccessible and unaffordable for too many families across the country. As a result of not having access to quality child care, families may lose their jobs, or be unable to complete school or training programs.

States have submitted three year plans for implementing the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) to the Office of Child Care (OCC) by July 1, 2024, and will be finalized by the end of September 2024. These plans address how states will meet the new rules that became effective April 30th (details are available here). The rule changes are designed to improve access, affordability and the stability of providers who accept vouchers. Below are highlights and considerations for state child care leaders and advocates to simplify CCDF eligibility and application processes.

• Making eligibility determination and application process easier and faster for families. States are required to design their eligibility policies to minimize disruptions for families, and are encouraged to consider presumptive eligibility, use documentation from other programs (i.e., SNAP, Medicaid) to enroll families, and to provide online enrollment options. Significantly, if a state does not provide online enrollment opportunities, they must describe why it is impractical to provide this option.
• Leveraging application guide for best practices in benefits application design and processes. The guide includes a sample online child care assistance application and provides examples of how states are already implementing recommended best practices. The intent behind the guide is to support states as they consider how to reduce long wait times for application approval and allow families to apply online at any time and from anywhere. The guide recommends reducing unnecessary documentation, which can reduce inequity in the child care subsidy program by improving access for families who most need services.
• Clarifying how states can implement presumptive eligibility. These policies allow families to access child care subsidy while their eligibility is being determined, so they do not lose their child care slot or end up turning down a job or school opportunity. States are expected to approve applications for child care assistance within 30 days, but it can take much longer for some families. States can apply presumptive eligibility to families that present circumstances that strongly suggest they will be eligible, such as enrollment in other income support programs (SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, etc.), enrollment in Head Start programs, as well as those families who are part of a priority group such as families experiencing homelessness, or children with disabilities.

Authentically and meaningfully engaging families in systems design and improvement work requires careful attention to how we value the expertise and lived experiences of these critical partners. Oftentimes, there is a contrast in our espoused beliefs and actual behaviors (explicitly or implicitly). How conscious are we of the disconnect? What tools and frameworks exist to help us as systems leaders on our journeys to be more genuine in our beliefs and equitable and liberatory in our practice? Here are some key insights from Start Early Consulting’s work focused on centering family and provider voice.

Systems leaders aiming to engage families more equitably and effectively in systems design and improvement efforts need to assess their progress towards meeting these goals. Start Early has developed a self-assessment tool focused on cultivating family leadership in systems building work through the establishment of Family Councils. Framed as a continuum for developing capacities, the tool incorporates tenets of the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership framework.

On January 19, 2024, Start Early and the Educare Network submitted comments to the Office of Head Start (OHS) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) related to changes to the Head Start Program Performance Standards. The proposed changes reflect important potential changes centered around improving workforce compensation and benefits, integrating mental services more broadly in programs, and enhancing program quality initiatives focused on engaging families, health and safety, and better meeting community needs.

The submitted comments represent feedback from over 150 staff and parent leaders across Start Early and Educare schools. Overall, both Start Early and Educare Network organizations applaud these efforts to promote quality through support for the workforce and recommend OHS provide additional guidance to programs on the implementation of the proposed changes. As one staff member noted, “These changes seem to be a big step in creating equitable and inclusive educational programs for students, families and staff. It supports teaching staff’s wellbeing and keeping them from burnout, while also creating more opportunities for families furthest from educational justice.”

Additionally, in order to fully realize the benefits of the proposed updates to the performance standards, Start Early and the Educare Network encouraged OHS to consider the significant resources that programs will need to successfully enact these changes and also to address the need for a more urgent timeline for these changes given the current workforce crisis. Download the full text of the letter below.

Focusing on the Needs of Early Childhood Professionals

The word “innovation” can be perceived as a buzz word. We see it everywhere – in job descriptions, in resumes, organizational websites, etc. and people almost instinctively pay attention to it. And rightfully so… it’s desirable to think of new ways of doing something, especially if it saves time, human effort, and money.

And yet, I often wonder if designing relevant and engaging professional learning for today’s early childhood educators is a matter of innovation, or rather a matter of focusing on the learner and what matters most to them.

The field of adult learning has provided some principles about how adults learn…and there have been research studies to confirm these. I like to think of these as conditions that we can create to center the needs of adult learners. Here’s a few of them:

• Give learners choice
• Respect learners and meet them where they are
• Show, don’t tell them
• Let learners practice
• Make it relevant

These conditions that support adult learning help us shift our focus from what we want (learning designers, subject matter experts, etc.), to what learners need. In my work at Start Early, we’re focusing on learner needs through centering equity using inclusive facilitation and offering microlearning.

The 2024 National Home Visiting Summit brought together advocates, home visitors, program leaders, funders, and researchers, alongside federal, state, and local level public sector system leaders for three days of learning, reflection, and action, both in person in Washington, D.C. and virtually with attendees joining from across the globe.

This year’s gathering spotlighted the tremendous progress public sector early childhood system leaders, particularly at the state level, have made to advance home visiting as part of an equitable, comprehensive early childhood system.

In breakout session presentations, small group discussions, and networking opportunities throughout the Summit, the four points below emerged as the key themes from system leaders regarding progress toward equitable early childhood systems:

1. Consolidation is not enough. There was energy and excitement about the lessons states are learning as they move towards consolidation of early childhood programs and funding streams into single, state agencies focused solely on early childhood. For example, state home visiting leaders shared promising practices around single statewide referral lines, and increasingly integrated funding streams. As more states consider consolidation, system leaders at the Summit asked attendees to consider how consolidation and integration are actually experienced by families and providers when they interact with public systems, and challenged leaders not to stop with integration at the top.
2. Look for “catalyst” funding opportunities. In a session about the Preschool Development Grants for Birth-Five (PDGB5) , state leaders reflected on approaching the funding opportunity with the question of “what can PDGB5 do for us, versus ‘how do we meet the requirements?” The Summit offered numerous examples of system leaders looking at federal, state, and increasingly philanthropic funding sources as catalysts – not carrying the full weight of system infrastructure but inspiring progress.
3. Communities are key. State system leaders are increasingly operationalizing infrastructure at a state level with reverence, respect, and leadership from the unique needs of individual communities. Home visiting programs, with their connection to community infrastructure, offer a unique opportunity for child care, preschool, and other early childhood programs and funding streams to leverage the existing relationships and networks of home visitors.
4. The Home Visiting Work Force is a part of the Early Childhood Education Workforce. Chronic staffing shortages, low wages, high turnover rates, and a feeling of lack of respect for the child care workforce have been well publicized in the media, but these issues are also being felt across the home visiting workforce. While it might sound obvious to those in the field, system leaders are increasingly implementing cross sector approaches to recruit, support, and retain the early childhood workforce, inclusive of those in the home visiting sector. These comprehensive strategies to lift all the professionals who support young children and their families send a message of value to all those in the field, while also attacking the structural impediments to an effective workforce.

How can you bring these takeaways into your state’s system? Mark your calendars for February 12-14, 2025, for the 2025 National Home Visiting Summit! We hope you will join us in person at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. for more peer learning on these topics.