Oregon Awarded a Federal Grant for Birth to 5 Needs Assessments

by Melissa Duclos | Jan 12, 2019 | What We're Reading

At the end of December, Oregon was awarded a $4,257,418 Preschool Development Birth Through Five (PDG B–5) federal grant. The funding will allow the state to conduct a comprehensive birth through 5 needs assessment followed by in-depth strategic planning to develop a statewide early childhood system.

“We need better data and a clearer picture of where children and families are, who they are, and how we can help them,” explains Children’s Institute Senior Early Education Advisor Soobin Oh. The needs assessment and subsequent strategic planning will allow Oregon to continue to move toward a coordinated system of early care and education for children from birth to age 5, including in-home and center-based child care, Head Start and Early Head Start programs, Oregon Pre-kindergarten and Preschool Promise, and home visiting services.

The grant comes at a critical time for Oregon: our state is in the midst of a child care crisis and our publicly funded preschool programs reach only a small portion of eligible children. The PDG B–5 grant will enable Oregon to develop a plan for a more comprehensive early care and education system, but implementing that plan will require additional investments from the state. Governor Brown has called for a meaningful investment in our state’s education system in 2019, and we are urging state lawmakers to build on the momentum of this federal grant with state funding for programs and services for children across Oregon.

Learn more about our 2019 policy recommendations.

Lyn Hennion Interviewed by KOBI-TV

by Melissa Duclos | Jan 4, 2019 | CI in the News

Children’s Institute board member Lyn Hennion spoke with KOBI-TV on the importance of early childhood. Ninety percent of a child’s brain is developed before they enter kindergarten, yet Oregon lacks an early childhood system to ensure that every child gets what they need to thrive early in life. In this interview, Lyn discusses the importance of ensuring all children are prepared for kindergarten and the impact of adverse childhood experiences on brain development.

The Time Is Now for Oregon to Invest in Early Childhood

by Melissa Duclos | Dec 18, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Child Care, School Readiness

The Early Years Are Critical

Children experience their most profound cognitive, social, and emotional growth in the first eight years of life. Babies are born learners and their brains produce a million neural connections each second. By the time children reach their third birthday, their brains are 80 percent developed. The quality of children’s early experiences during this crucial period of growth sets the foundation for all future learning.

Despite what we understand about the importance of these early years for lifelong healthy development, there is no comprehensive early childhood system in Oregon to ensure all children get what they need to have the best start in life. Many children who experience institutional barriers to opportunity—children from low-income families, children of color, children with disabilities, dual language learners, and children who live in rural areas—lack access to essential high-quality early care and education opportunities.

The Early Years in Oregon

Forty-seven percent of children ages 0–5 in Oregon live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s 129,000 kids. Oregon can improve its support of these children and their families by first addressing our state’s child care crisis. According to a study by the Center for American Progress, Oregon is a child care desert, with 6.8 infants and toddlers for every licensed, available child care slot.

Even if families can find reliable child care in their area, they may not be able to afford it. According to the Economic Policy Institute, one year of infant and toddler child care in Oregon is more expensive than public college tuition; infant care for one child in Oregon accounts for 20 percent of a typical family’s income.

Our state must also invest more in proven programs like Early Head Start and Home Visiting that serve vulnerable families with young children. These evidence-based programs have been shown to increase optimal child development and school readiness, improve mental health for mothers and positive parenting, and decrease child abuse, neglect, and emergency room visits. Currently critical home visiting services reach less than 20 percent of eligible families. Early Head Start serves only 10 percent of eligible children, with more than 23,000 children under 3 left unserved.

Preschool-age children are similarly underserved. Only 8 percent of 3-year-olds and 12 percent of 4-year-olds participate in publicly-funded preschool, putting Oregon 31st out of 43 states reporting on public preschool access. Our public preschool programs need to reach an additional 30,000 eligible children if we want to ensure that all our kids have access to high-quality early childhood education.

The Early Years in Oregon

At a Glance

129,000 kids ages 0–5 live at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold.
Oregon is a child care desert.
Oregon is the third most expensive state for child care.
Home visiting services reach less than 20% of eligible families.
Early Head Start serves 10% of eligible children.
Only 8% of 3-year-olds and 12% of 4-year-olds attend publicly funded preschool.
30,000 eligible children lack access to publicly funded preschool.
Only 29% of children in need of early intervention receive the recommended levels of service.
8,360 children who need EI/ECSE services do not receive the recommended levels of service.

Finally, while Oregon has prioritized developmental screenings for young children, the state does not invest enough in the Early Intervention (EI) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) children need once they are diagnosed with disabilities and delays. As a result, more than 8,300 children who need EI/ECSE do not receive the recommended levels of service.

What Does This Mean for Children in Oregon?

We know that babies are born learners, and that future success in school and life depends on stable, healthy families and high-quality early care and education.

Gaps in language proficiency between children from low-income families and their more affluent peers are apparent as early as nine months. On the first day of kindergarten, children from lower-income families—the same children who are less likely to have access to high-quality early education—score lower in reading, math, and general knowledge than children from higher-income families.

This “school readiness” gap persists over time. Results from the 2017–2018 Oregon Assessments show a correlation between kindergarten and third grade achievement: children who are less prepared at the start of kindergarten are less likely to be reading at grade level by third grade. Those who aren’t proficient in reading by third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school.

Here in Oregon, our failure as a state to invest in these early years has clear consequences: in 2016–2017, 67 percent of economically disadvantaged students, 81 percent of students with disabilities, and 85 percent of dual language learners were not reading proficiently by third grade. In 2016, Oregon’s high school graduation rate was 74.8 percent—the third worst in the nation.

We Know What Works

We know what children need from birth to age 5 in order to be prepared for and successful in school. And the good news is, we already have proven programs in Oregon that work well for kids and families. Now is the time for Oregon to invest more in these proven programs so that they serve all eligible children across the state. Learn more about the programs that help ensure every child in Oregon has the best start in life.

Early Head Start

Home Visiting

Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education

High-Quality Preschool

What We Know About Early Childhood Trauma

by Melissa Duclos | Nov 15, 2018 | What We're Reading, Health and Development

Led by the work of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris—pediatrician, founder of the Center for Youth Wellness, and author of The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity—researchers have begun to examine the connections between childhood trauma and long-term health outcomes. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, were first measured in a 1998 study that found that greater exposure to adverse experiences such as abuse, neglect, poverty, and food insecurity led to increased risks for a range of health problems including heart disease, asthma, autoimmune diseases, substance abuse, and depression.

The research is clear: what happens during early childhood can have lifelong impacts. Programs that support early childhood health and family stability are a key solution to this public health crisis.

What We Know About the Impacts of Trauma

“Should Childhood Trauma Be Treated As a Public Health Crisis?”

Last week, NPR reported on a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that examined the long-term effects of childhood trauma. “Participants who experienced childhood trauma were 1.3 times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders than adults than those who did not experience trauma, and 1.2 times more likely to develop depression or substance abuse disorder.” According to the study, these findings suggest that childhood trauma could be more effectively treated as a public health crisis.

“Historical Trauma Among African Americans, ACEs, and Hope”

This podcast, produced by the FRIENDS National Center for Community Based Child Abuse Prevention, brings together experts from the Centers for Disease Control, the National Child Traumatic Stress Center, NC State University, and a local Health Start Program to discuss the intersections between ACEs and the historical trauma and bias impacting African American communities. To better serve this community, practitioners can improve trust and the inclusiveness of their programs.

Addressing the Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Relief Nurseries in Oregon Work to Prevent Childhood Trauma

Cara Copeland, Executive Director of the Oregon Association of Relief Nurseries, explains why trauma-informed care is critical to preventing child abuse and supporting families.

“Secondary Traumatic Stress for Educators: Understanding and Mitigating the Effects”

When roughly half of the kids in American schools have experienced some form of trauma, educators end up providing support for their students’ emotional healing. Last month, MindShift reported on the impact of secondary traumatic stress on teachers.The article details recommendations on how schools can begin to address this secondary trauma, including building a culture of awareness, creating peer groups, and taking a school-wide approach by creating a “trauma-informed school.”

We recently visited John Wetten Elementary School in Oregon to learn more about the Gladstone School District’s approach to trauma-informed care. Stay tuned for our upcoming podcast about our visit to learn more!

Learn More About Early Childhood Special Education

by Melissa Duclos | Oct 23, 2018 | What We're Reading, EI/ECSE

The following articles provide information on the long-term impacts of Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) and the experiences of families in Oregon with these services.

The Hechinger Report: Almost All Students With Disabilities are Capable of Graduating On Time. Here’s Why They’re Not

The New York Times: At 12, He Reads at a First-Grade Level: How New York Failed T.J.

The Hechinger Report: Special Education’s Hidden Racial Gap

New America: Early Childhood Special Education and ESSA: A Great Opportunity for All

To learn more about the need for greater investments in EI/ECSE in Oregon, check out our recent interview with FACT Oregon’s Executive Director Roberta Dunn. FACT Oregon is the only statewide, cross-disability, family-led organization providing information, training, and support to families experiencing disability, birth through adulthood.

While Oregon has prioritized developmental screenings for young children, the state does not invest enough in the Early Intervention (EI) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) children need once they are diagnosed with disabilities and delays. As a result, more children are referred for EI/ECSE, but most receive less than the recommended levels of service.

We know that these services help children prepare for and succeed in school. Download and share any of the graphics on this page to help spread the word about the importance of these programs to our state.