Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2 State Efforts In Early-Childhood Education With Support From the Pew Charitable Trusts Building Blocks For Success

Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2

State Efforts In Early-Childhood

Education

With Support From the Pew Charitable Trusts

Building Blocks

For Success

Building Blocks

For Success

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUCCESS

Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2

Quality Counts Special theme each year

Focus on state policy

Comparable state-by-state data

Analysis of research and trends

States graded on standards and accountability, improving teacher quality, school climate, and adequacy and equity of education resources


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Why early-childhood education?

Children learn from the moment they are born

Just like in K-12 education, when we look at

early care and education, quality counts

Research shows that young children benefit academically and socially from high-quality early-childhood programs

The reality today is that the majority of preschool-age children are cared for outside the home for at least part of the day by someone other than their parents


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During a typical week, about 62 percent of children under age 5 spend part of their day cared for outside the home – 30 hours per

week, on average …


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These almost 12 million children are cared for in a variety of settings – from public schools

and Head Start centers to churches and private care homes …


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What are states doing to ensure quality in early-

childhood education and care?

Access

Funding

Program standards

Teacher quality

School readiness and assessment


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Education Week’s Report Card on the States

For the 6th year, Quality Counts tracks the health of public education systems in the 50 states and, for the first time this year, the District of Columbia

This year, states are graded on standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, and education resources

States averaged a C across categories

States earning the highest overall grades include Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Carolina


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Quality Counts provides a wealth of information, not only on early-childhood policies,

but on K-12 education – including how states will measure up on the new ESEA testing

requirements …

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Education


Building Blocks

For Success

Building Blocks

For Success


Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2

Quality Counts 2002 takes

a look at the uneven landscape of state efforts

in early-childhood education and care …


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Kindergarten

Every state and D.C. provides at least some funding for kindergarten

But 9 states – Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania – still don’t require districts to provide kindergarten

Only 8 states and D.C. require districts to provide full-day kindergarten

Just 13 states and D.C. require children to attend kindergarten


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Prekindergarten

39 states and D.C. have state-financed pre-K programs for 3- and 4-year-olds

In all, states are investing about $1.9 billion to help more than 765,000 children attend pre-K

But efforts are uneven – per-child expenditures range from just a few hundred dollars in Minnesota to almost $8,000 in Oregon

A quarter of the states with pre-K programs are serving at least 20,000 children. Four states are serving 500 or fewer children


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Head Start In 2000, states received approximately $4.5

billion in Head Start grants

21 states and D.C. are supplementing Head Start with state funds – Ohio has made the largest commitment to expanding Head Start access with about $100 million in added state funds

Head Start provides access to early care and education to more than 760,000 poor children


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Child Care

In 2001, states received $4.4 billion from the federal Child Care and Development Fund to subsidize child care

States transferred about 14 percent of their $24 billion in welfare funds (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) to bolster child-care efforts

States spent about $1.5 billion of their 2000 welfare allocation directly on child care

26 states and D.C. provide child-care tax credits to families


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Are state efforts adequate to meet children’s needs? In 19 states, a family of three earning as little as

$25,000 per year could not qualify for child-care assistance in 2000

A 2000 study by the federal Child Care Bureau indicates that nationwide, only about 12 percent of children eligible for federal child-care subsidies receive them. No state did better than serve 25 percent of eligible children with federal subsidies

Pre-K programs serve a range from about 2 percent to 50 percent of 4-year-olds in the states

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Education


Building Blocks

For Success

Building Blocks

For Success


Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2

Quality Counts 2002 finds great variability

in states’ efforts to ensure quality across

early-childhood settings …


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State Licensing Standards

Traditionally, “quality” in early-childhood education has focused on ensuring basic protections such as physical safety – not on learning

20 states have no regulations for the maximum group size of child-care centers

18 states do not regulate child-care providers who care for up to four children

In many states, certain settings are exempt from state licensing entirely


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Standards for Pre-K Almost all states have standards for elementary

school, and 19 states and D.C. have specific expectations for kindergarten

Only 15 states and D.C. have specific standards for pre-K

5 states are drafting pre-K standards

But many of those states don’t require pre-K programs to adhere to the standards. Only 6 states – California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, and Washington – require programs to follow pre-K standards


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Efforts to Improve Program Quality

The federal government requires states to use 4 percent of their Child Care and Development Fund grants and 25 percent of new Head Start dollars for quality initiatives

7 states require state-financed pre-K programs to earn accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children

26 states and D.C. offer tiered reimbursements to child-care providers that meet quality standards


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As a nation, the U.S. pays about as much to parking-lot attendants and dry-cleaning

workers as it does to those who care for children …


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Teacher Training Every state requires teachers to have at least a

bachelor’s degree, but only 20 states and D.C. with state-financed pre-K programs expect the same from pre-K teachers

With the exception of Rhode Island, no state requires teachers in child-care centers to hold a bachelor’s degree and have early-childhood training

30 states don’t have ANY preservice education requirements for child-care workers


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Efforts to Improve Teacher Quality

By 2003, 50 percent of Head Start teachers must have at least an associate’s degree in early childhood

18 states have Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH) programs. States spent more than $17 million to provide more than 14,000 scholarships in 2000-01

9 states have compensation programs that reward child-care providers for improving their education credentials


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Ensuring School Readiness

17 states mandate readiness testing for kindergartners, primarily to identify children with special needs or help plan instruction

6 states use kindergarten assessment to provide a snapshot of school readiness statewide

15 states and D.C. require diagnostic or developmental testing of prekindergartners

No state uses these assessments for high-stakes purposes

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Education


Building Blocks

For Success

Building Blocks

For Success


Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2

Quality Counts 2002 grades the states on standards

and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality,

and the adequacy and equity of education

resources …


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Student Achievement

New math and science scores released in 2001

17 states showed significant gains in the percentage of 4th or 8th grade students scoring at or above proficient in math since 1996 – 9 states showed significant improvement for both 4th and 8th graders

7 states showed significant improvements in the percentage of 8th graders performing at or above proficient in science


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Quality Counts continues to track developments over time on state accountability

policies ...


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Improving Teacher Quality 11 states have policies to

encourage pay-for-performance

11 states have incentives to encourage teachers to teach in low-performing schools

44 states provide professional development funds – three-fourths provide such funds to all districts

Up from 10 states in 1999, 15 states now have induction programs for new teachers

Three states have added subject-knowledge tests to their basic-skills tests required of teachers – bringing the total to 32

All but 2 states – Nebraska and Texas – have incentives for teachers to obtain National Board certification


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School Climate Ungraded for 2002 while we improve our

indicators

Current topics include: student engagement, parent involvement, school safety, choice and autonomy, class size, and school facilities

19 states require school safety information to be included on school report cards

31 states have implemented a class-size reduction program or limit class size by law

22 states track the condition of all school facilities in the state


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Resources Education Week refined the adequacy measures

this year

All 50 states and D.C. increased their average per-pupil spending from 2000 to 2001, but only 31 states increased spending enough to outpace inflation

4 states received a perfect score on the adequacy index: Delaware, New York, Wyoming, and New Jersey

Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2


Education


Building Blocks

For Success

Building Blocks

For Success

Documents

Q U A L I T Y C O U N T S 2 0 0 2 State Efforts In Early-Childhood Education With Support From the Pew Charitable Trusts Building Blocks For Success