BUILDing Strong Foundations

Equity

At the time they enter kindergarten, many young children face gaps that exist - by income, race/ethnicity, language, and culture - in child outcomes and opportunities, as well as in system capacity and response. Closing these gaps is fundamental to the success of each child and of the United States as a nation. BUILD supports state leaders through tailored technical assistance, capacity building, and peer learning opportunities to support them in doing so. These resources can help build and expand your state's focus on equity in systems.

• Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn From America’s Metropolitan Regions  Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor’s new book Equity, Growth, and Community, What the Nation Can Learn from America’s Metro Areas examines how inequality stunts economic growth and how bringing together equity and growth requires concerted local action.
• The Conversation: Storms hit poorer people harder, from Superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Maria  So when Sandy’s largest storm surges washed in – 17 ½ feet high in Long Beach and 14 feet in parts of the Rockaways – African-Americans bore an inordinate share of the decimation.
• NJTV News: NJ schools more segregated than most places in the South  The Civil Rights Project at UCLA has published an update of its report on racial segregation in New Jersey schools and it concludes the state has made little, if any, progress in reducing segregation. Co-Director of The Civil Rights Project Gary Orfield explained the data to correspondent Briana Vannozzi.
• Brookings: The importance of a diverse teaching force  Minority students often perform better on standardized tests, have improved attendance, and are suspended less frequently (which may suggest either different degrees of behavior or different treatment, or both) when they have at least one same-race teacher.
• Center for the Study of Social Policy: U.S. Children are More Diverse than Ever: Our Policies Should Reflect This  Policy options like reducing the current refundability threshold of the Child Tax Credit or extending TANF benefit eligibility to immigrant parents are some of the many ways that policymakers could begin to better address families’ needs. This is critical not just for the experiences of communities of color – but for U.S. growth and prosperity as a whole.
• PolicyLink: Equity is our Opportunity  A Recap of All-In Cities: Leading the Nation toward Inclusive Prosperity

Suspension and Expulsion

Many factors contribute to the high rate of expulsion and suspension in early learning settings and to the disproportionate representation of children of color, particularly African American boys, in the group of children who are expelled or suspended. These factors include: high teacher/child ratios, inadequate professional development related to addressing challenging behaviors, inadequate knowledge of child development about what is or is not developmentally appropriate, implicit racial biases, and the impact of stress and adverse experiences on young children. Reducing and eliminating young child expulsion and suspension from early learning settings requires multiple, coordinated approaches that address its root causes – approaches that BUILD is working with states to implement.

• EdSource: California moves to curtail expelling children from preschool — yes, preschool  Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last month that bars state-subsidized preschool programs from expelling kids unless an exhaustive process aimed at supporting the child and family is followed first.

Early Learning

Children must reach critical health and well-being benchmarks in order to thrive, be ready for kindergarten, and read at grade level by third grade. BUILD knows that families and communities are the primary source of this foundational support for children. We help state leaders create safe, healthy, nurturing early learning experiences for all children – to better support families and communities. This “whole-systems” approach includes an emphasis on: primary and preventive health care, early intervention, and quality early care and education. That is why  BUILD Initiative assists states in focusing on standards and assessment, including kindergarten entry assessment; early care and education, with a focus on infant/toddler and pre-K services, programs and policies; and family, friend and neighbor care. 

• ZERO TO THREE: Critical Competencies for Infant-Toddler Educators™ suite of professional development products and services helps educators build the essential knowledge and skills they need, in flexible and user-friendly formats.
• UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute: Children’s Outcomes through First Grade: Findings from Year 3 of Georgia’s Pre-K Longitudinal Study  The purpose of this evaluation study was to examine longitudinal outcomes for children related to key academic skills as well as the quality of their classrooms from pre-K through first-grade.
• New America: Signs of a Bright Future for Georgia’s Pre-K Students  Abbie Lieberman discusses promising findings from a longitudinal study of Georgia’s public pre-K program.
• U.S. Government Accountability Office: Child Well-Being: Key Considerations for Policymakers, Including the Need for a Federal Cross-Agency Priority Goal  This report examines what is known about the state of child well-being and discusses selected experts’ views on what policymakers could consider when addressing it.  
• SLATE: Child Care Providers Want Degrees. We Have to Figure Out How to Pay for Them.  “Early childhood educators are hungry for opportunities to support the children they serve, and advance their careers,” says Sue Russell, executive director of the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood National Center, which provides comprehensive higher education scholarships and support to educators around the country.
• UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute: Intentional Teaching Makes the Biggest Impact on Early Childhood Outcomes  A comprehensive review of research on several measures of the quality of early childhood education suggests that the instructional practices of preschool teachers have the largest impact on young children’s academic and social skills. The review helps untangle a complicated knot of factors that affect young children.
• Education Writers Association: Tight Budgets Force Hard Choices Among Child Care Providers  Despite a robust body of evidence that children’s experiences in their first few years of life have long-lasting effects on their cognitive and social development, insufficient funding has left many early care and education programs just scraping by, a panel of providers and early learning researchers told reporters.
• District Administration: School districts find creative ways to fund pre-K  Usually, city preschool measures get funded through a dedicated city tax. For example, Denver and San Antonio have expanded access to pre-K through revenues from sales tax. Seattle does so through a property tax, while Philadelphia uses a tax on sodas.
• American Educational Research Association: Impacts of Early Childhood Education on Medium- and Long-Term Educational Outcomes  This report synthesizes evidence of the lasting, long-term benefits of high-quality preschool programs, which have often been dismissed as transient.

Federal Tax Plans: Implications on Children

• National Women’s Law Center: NWLC has several fact sheets and other materials analyzing the negative consequences of the tax plans for women, children, and families:

1. What’s In the House Tax Plan: Child Care
2. What’s In the House Tax Plan: Education
3. What’s In the House Tax Plan: Medical Expenses
4. House and Senate Tax Bills Are A Bad Deal for Women
5. The House GOP Tax Plan Is A Raw Deal for Women and Families

• WEAU 13 News: Sen. King pushes for Child Care Tax Credit  Your young children don't file taxes. But, your tax reform could have a big impact on how they spend their days - and how much you spend for it.