Happy 2019! This new year brings continued growth and progress to Pennsylvania's early learning field.

The 2018 release of the Early Childhood Workforce Index provided a description of early childhood employment conditions for the nearly 2 million early learning professionals throughout the United States, and a new document from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, How Can I Use the Early Childhood Workforce Index for Advocacy and Action in My State? shares additional guidance. In Pennsylvania, we are furthering that research with the Part I and Part II of the Child Care Funding and Finance in Pennsylvania: The True Cost of Quality. Pennsylvania congratulates The Consortium for Policy Research in Education as the recipient of the recent RFP and looks forward to sharing additional information in the future. 

If you're an early learning professional, obtaining additional education may be high on your list of priorities. New changes to the T.E.A.C.H. and Rising STARS Tuition Assistance Program helps target and support those in the early learning field obtain the education necessary to support Pennsylvania's youngest learners. Read below for additional information.

A new technical assistance opportunity from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations for commonwealth ECE professionals will further Pennsylvania's goal of reducing suspension and expulsion on the classroom setting. Providing support to early learning professionals translates into providing more opportunities for children to learn.

We look forward to your continued support and passion for quality early learning as we move through 2019. 

During a recent visit to Somerset County Technology Center (SCTC), Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Deputy Secretary for Workforce Development Eileen Cipriani announced a new registered non-traditional apprenticeship program for early childhood educators, in partnership with The Learning Lamp, a nonprofit organization in Johnstown.

 

SCTC will provide training for the new registered apprenticeship program, including obtaining the Child Development Associate Credential, a widely recognized credential in early childhood education, and a key stepping stone on the path of career advancement. The program’s second and third years of training will take place at Penn Highlands Community College. The Learning Lamp will provide the program’s hands-on workplace experience. SCTC is also working to expand the program with additional industry partners.  Read more.

Pennsylvania has been selected by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) to participate in the first State Consortium on Family Engagement. Including Pennsylvania, seven states total were invited to participate: Arkansas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and South Carolina. The goals of the Consortium are to support the development of a statewide coalition for Family Engagement, and to develop a Birth through Grade 12 Family Engagement Framework. On December 6, 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Education was recognized for completing both of these tasks. Pennsylvania will continue to utilize the members of Family Engagement Coalition to support the dissemination and communication of the framework.    

The frame through which family engagement is viewed is evolving. The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework highlights that family engagement is integral to the work of supporting learning and development for children birth through graduation. The framework will be used as a tool to guide the implementation of effective practices, use of shared language and a family engagement continuum for families cross their child’s educational lifespan.

Additional details and opportunities will be forthcoming. For more information, please contact Sarah Holland at [email protected] or Sue Polojac at [email protected]. 

Governor Tom Wolf’s Ready to Start Task Force,  established in September to develop a four-year framework of strategies to address health, human services, and education policy for infants and toddlers age zero to three in Pennsylvania, announced its key themes and initial findings on December 18, 2018.

The key themes and initial findings were developed following six regional listening sessions with stakeholders representing health care, human services, education, research, businesses and employers, foundations, and research organizations. These initial findings include a need to:

Read the full content of the initial findings  here.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is committed to investing in ECE workforce's educational attainment. OCDEL's funds both T.E.A.C.H. (administered by PACCA) and Rising STARS (administered by the PA Key) tuition assistance programs. Although OCDEL expanded funding for T.E.A.C.H. and Rising Stars the 2018-19 fiscal year, demand for scholarships outpaced new investments.   PACCA awarded new T.E.A.C.H. scholarships and filled all of their scholarship slots available for Spring 2019. As a result, some applicants are wait listed until additional funding becomes available.  

 

To help students still enroll for the Spring 2019 semester, any T.E.A.C.H. applicant who is eligible but waiting for funding can apply for Rising STARS Tuition Assistance through the PA Key in the interim. Applicants can apply for tuition assistance for semester(s) occurring between now and June 30, 2019.

 

IMPORTANT:   This temporary access to Rising STARS Tuition Assistance will only be made available to individuals who have applied to T.E.A.C.H. and who are eligible, but wait listed for funding.   Any staff interested in applying for T.E.A.C.H. for upcoming semesters, should still submit an application ASAP. Submitting an application helps PACCA demonstrate need for scholarships and make the case for additional funding from new sources. It also helps students to arrange for their financial assistance needs prior to their desired semester. 

For more information, or to apply for Rising STARS, visit the PA Key website .

Changes are coming to OCDEL's Rising STAR Tuition Assistance program. Rising STARS helps cover a portion of tuition costs for early learning professionals. Funding has been secured through June 30, 2019.

Beginning immediately, degree waivers for programs outside of the approved degree list will no longer be accepted. For early learning professionals already enrolled in a program with a previously approved degree waiver, funding will continue until their program is completed.

Applications for out-of-state institutions will also no longer be accepted. For early learning professionals enrolled in a program at an out-of-state institution, funding will continue until their program is completed.

To learn more, visit the Rising STARS Tuition Assistance page of the PA Key website.

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) has been selected as the recipient of the Child Care Funding and Finance in Pennsylvania: The True Cost of Quality Part II RFP to investigate the cost of providing high-quality early care and education across Pennsylvania.

 

Part II will build upon the previous work conducted in Part I , using a more robust data set to estimate the true cost of high-quality child care, as compared to child care that meets only regulatory standards, and how those costs vary across regions in the commonwealth.

 

The findings from Part II will inform the evolution of Pennsylvania’s child care financing and quality systems to enable the greatest access to high-quality child care for the most at risk children.

 

Since 1985, CPRE has contributed new, evidence-based knowledge to inform important decisions of social policy and practice. CPRE is a network of renowned researchers from seven institutional member universities (Teachers College, Columbia University, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania) and other institutions across the United States who study and publish on a range of topics relevant to education from early childhood to higher education at the local, state, and national level.

Pennsylvania's application for the cross-state technical assistance (TA) to aid in ensuring children remain in early learning settings was recently accepted by the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI). The TA from NCPMI will be provided to those who support Pennsylvania's Positive Behavioral Support (PAPBS) work. 

 

The Pyramid Model is the early childhood version of the three-tiered framework of positive behavior support that is the foundation of both program-wide and school-wide positive behavior support. Program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model aligns with OCDEL’s goals of supporting social and emotional development, supporting staff development through coaching, reducing suspension and expulsion and of including all children in instructional settings. 

 

In Pennsylvania, the Pyramid Model implementation is supported by the PAPBS Network. The focus of the technical assistance will be to improve Pennsylvania's statewide PAPBS efforts, particularly in the areas of supporting all children with equity, inclusion and reducing suspension and expulsion. 

Find out more about the Pyramid Model, go to eita-pa.org -> topics of interest-> Social emotional, or visit the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovation at www.challengingbehavior.org or the Pyramid Model Consortium at www.pyramidmodel.org.   

The Pennsylvania Head Start Association (PHSA) is now accepting online workshop proposals for the 2019 Annual Conference, to be held April 9-10, 2019 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, State College, PA. Proposals will be accepted through January 18, 2019. Visit the PHSA website for more info or to submit a proposal. Contact Kayle at [email protected] for additional info.

Scholarships valued at over $1,600 are available for the 33rd Annual National Child Nutrition Conference. Fifteen applicants will be chosen as scholarship recipients. Apply today and join over 1,400 attendees at the premier training and networking event for the Child and Adult Care Food Program, The Summer Food Service Program and afterschool meals and snacks. The conference will be held April 23-25, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, IL.  Apply before the January 17, 2019 deadline.

Physical activity for children is important--and winter is no excuse to omit it from a child's schedule. This article from Early Childhood Education Linkage System (ECELS) shares info about the importance of ensuring children get enough physical activity.

Early childhood is a key time to increase physical activity for young children. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics shows a decline in physical activity and an increase in sedentary behavior begins at around 6 years of age, earlier than previously thought. Girls had significantly greater decline in moderate-to-vigorous–intensity physical activity and increase in sedentary behavior.

Consider these resources to increase physical activity for children at your program:

The National Resource Center announced the following standards have been recently updated to the Caring For Our Children, 3rd edition (CFOC) Online Database as of 10/16/18. Below find a brief description of revision changes to each of the standards. Access them at nrckids.org or by clicking the links below.

The 2019 Gro More Grassroots Grant, presented by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and KidsGardening, is designed to bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens to communities across the United States. Nonprofits, including school districts, are eligible to apply.

Applications are due Friday, February 15, 2019. All the details, including eligibility requirements and a link to the application, can be found on the Gro More Grassroots Grant page.

In partnership with the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh, Westmoreland County Community College is offering a series of courses that will fulfill the educational training requirements for the infant-toddler, preschool or renewal CDA credentials. Also available are a series of professional development courses that can be taken individually for required DHS training hours or as a full 3-hour college credit course.  

Fifty-one percent of people in the United States live in a child care desert. A child care desert is any census tract with more than 50 children under age 5 that contains either no child care providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots. A new map feature from Center for American Progress (CAP) shows the number of child care programs in geographical regions.

CAP collected data on the location and licensed capacity of nearly 235,000 licensed or registered child care providers from every state plus the District of Columbia. The authors included all child care centers, family child care providers, Head Start providers, and public and private preschools in these states in order to get a full picture of the supply of licensed child care options available to nearby communities.

Two researchers at the University of Maryland released a new study of advocacy campaigns to fund the expansion of preschool programs through a local tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The researchers reviewed web-based materials available in 2018, interviewed key leaders and participants in the advocacy coalitions supporting each tax, and conducted one interview at a major media outlet.

While advocates in the two cities shared the same goals and advocated for the same financing mechanism, the study finds they operated in substantially different political landscapes and chose different strategies on everything from campaign financing to messaging. The report describes what advocates can learn from the campaigns.

In recent years, the early care and education (ECE) field has made strides to support the coordination and use of early childhood data to inform program practices and policies. A recent survey by the Early Childhood Data Collaborative found that 22 states--including Pennsylvania-- have established systems to support cross-agency data sharing and the use of integrated data to measure utilization and outcomes of early childhood services. The study shows that 19 states have developed an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) to combine, secure, and transform data into reports that can be used by decision makers to inform policies and practice. National findings and recommendations from the 2018 Early Childhood Data Systems Survey are available in the final report from The Early Childhood Data Collaborative. 

Families and early learning programs who want information and support from their Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRCs) can find them on the Raise Your STAR website. Now there are additional locations to get this info--on the Raise Your STAR Facebook and Instagram pages! Follow Raise Your STAR on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and get information on quality early learning opportunities.

Kindergarten teachers, are you ready to change your students' worlds, one smile at a time? The Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® classroom kit is full of easy-to-use classroom materials, plus Colgate® toothpaste and toothbrush samples for 25 kindergarteners or first-grade students. Make it easy to help kids learn healthy oral care habits that will last a lifetime.

Apply today to receive your classroom kit in February 2019 — just in time for February's National Children’s Dental Health month!

Prepare now for February's National Children's Dental Health Month (NCDHM). This year’s NCDHM campaign is brought to you by the American Dental Association (ADA). Join the “Smile Builders” in promoting oral health with their message, “Brush and clean in between for a healthy smile.” Posters are 12” x 18”, English on the front and Spanish on the back and are available in packs of 25. Poster orders are limited to 200 posters (8 packs of 25).  Click here to order Posters. They are also available to download on the NCDHM website along with activity sheets, coloring sheets, crossword puzzles, and calendar.

Start the year off with plenty of social media content to spread the word about the benefits of high-quality ECE to your social networks using these pre-drafted posts and sharegraphics from The Heckman Equation. The posts are divided by topic, making it easy to find what you need for your email campaigns, Facebook, Twitter and even website.

Winter storms cause hazardous driving conditions, hypothermia, and low visibility. Start preparing at home with a 72-hour emergency kit. Child care providers should have emergency evacuation plans posted visibly in every classroom. Is your home or classroom ready? Check out the list of winter weather preparedness tips from the Institute for Childhood Preparedness.

The December 2018 edition of Camille Catlett's Baby Talk is now available. The December edition shares information on how playing helps children learn and grow, effective discipline to raise healthy children, seven research-based ways families program early literacy learning and more.

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has launched their new website. Search by publication, resource or focus area. CSSP has many initiatives related to the well-being of children and families, such as child welfare, community change, young children & their families.