The Department of Education has published an unprecedented look at chronic absenteeism, a huge educational crisis in the United States. While early learning is not called out specifically in the study, we know that chronic absence in kindergarten is a problem that sets the tone for the rest of a child’s education.
Read the full story in the Bend Bulletin.
“Even at 200 percent, we’re still not going to be reaching enough of the low-income families that should have access to preschool,” Rafael Otto, senior communications and policy associate with the Children’s Institute said.
In its first year, Preschool Promise enrolled 1,300 kids.
“That’s a clear impact and a very positive impact, but it’s also a small sliver of the kids who would be eligible,” Otto said.
He, too, acknowledged the concern that families that qualify for Preschool Promise but not Head Start may be getting bumped when families with lower income choose Preschool Promise providers over Head Start programs.
“We’ve seen that, and we know that’s being raised by Head Start now,” Otto said. “Some families are choosing by location. We want to ensure families have as much choice as they can … That’s sort of a recognized tension in the system.”
Yoncalla Early Works takes a comprehensive approach to preparing kids for success in school and life. For the last two years, the project has combined early learning, health, and family engagement strategies to set young children on a path to third grade readiness. Third grade readiness is important because reading proficiently by the end of third grade is one of the greatest predictors of high school graduation. In fact, kids who don’t read at grade level by the end of third grade are 25 percent less likely to graduate.
In the summer of 2016, the rural southeastern Oregon communities of Yoncalla, Drain, and Elkton joined together to gather critical information about how to improve the health of young children in their communities. With assistance from Children’s Institute and Portland State University, community members conducted a “Community Health Needs Assessment.” The term Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) may sound confusing, but the assessment is a way to determine a community’s needs and address them effectively.
First, What is a Community Health Needs Assessment?
The assessment involves working deeply with community members to collect and analyze detailed data about a community’s greatest health needs.. Through the CHNA in north Douglas County, parents of children up to age 8 were asked a series of detailed questions. The questions ranged from demographics to how far the family must travel to access healthcare and whether they’re suffering food insecurity or a lack of housing. Parents were also asked to rank the health and family support services that they would most like to see brought into their community.
What were the results?
The survey of about 130 families showed that many don’t have their most basic needs met. Only one in eight parents agreed that there was a sufficient supply of affordable housing and one in five experienced housing instability in the previous year. Only one in five parents said they could get affordable, healthy food near where they live. And two in five parents say they couldn’t afford to eat balanced, healthy meals in the past year. And because health care services aren’t available in the community, children often don’t get the care they need to be healthy. Parents also noted a lack of family support services like job training programs and breastfeeding support.
What’s next?
The assessment includes focused next steps for these rural communities to address each of the prioritized needs. Recommendations include partnering with health care providers in Roseburg to bring health services into the community. In addition, the assessment encourages increasing access to healthy foods via community gardens, increased SNAP and WIC benefit enrollment, and more classes and resources on cooking healthy, balanced meals.
Why is it important?
Armed with detailed information about the health of each community, residents, city governments, and state leaders are now able to make more effective and informed decisions to improve the health of everyone in the community. The CHNA also helps Children’s Institute and partners prioritize interventions that will address the social determinants of health most affect young children’s ability to be successful in school.
Anne Griffith shares the visionary story of building an innovative, supportive and free preschool from the ground up that serves low-income students in Albany, Oregon.
The program has been a success, incorporating families and the community in helping the most vulnerable children.
Professor Sean Reardon, a Stanford researcher, was the keynote speaker for our annual Make It Your Business Luncheon. Reardon received his doctorate from Harvard and has spent his career researching how to ensure every child is able to obtain the best education.
In his keynote address, he says statistics indicate some Oregon school districts are outperforming other school districts in similar socioeconomic areas but: “That opportunity is not equally shared by race or by socioeconomic backgrounds. That says we have a lot of work to do as a society about how we create broader opportunity.”
He says gaps in educational opportunity start very early, and groups like Children’s Institute, that take a holistic look at the social safety net, have the best chance of changing the trajectory of young people.
Professor Sean Reardon, a Stanford researcher, was the keynote speaker for our annual Make It Your Business Luncheon. Reardon received his doctorate from Harvard and has spent his career researching how to ensure every child is able to obtain the best education.
In his keynote address, he says statistics indicate some Oregon school districts are outperforming other school districts in similar socioeconomic areas but: “That opportunity is not equally shared by race or by socioeconomic backgrounds. That says we have a lot of work to do as a society about how we create broader opportunity.”
He says gaps in educational opportunity start very early, and groups like Children’s Institute, that take a holistic look at the social safety net, have the best chance of changing the trajectory of young people.
Selected quotes:
“In the first 4 years of my career, I spent time in two Americas. It got me thinking a lot about inequality.”
“Prenatal healthcare, quality childcare and early childhood education are all factors that help students” be ready to achieve.
“Opportunity is not equally shared,” meaning white students statistically have more opportunities and a higher socioeconomic background.
“The gap in test scores between low-income and high-income students doesn’t grow much at all between Kindergarten and 8th grade,” meaning educational disparities that begin before Kindergarten persist. “To affect educational inequality, we need to think of strategies that reduce it at the start.”
“Starting in 1980 or so, income inequality has skyrocketed in the U.S.,” which creates further educational disparities. “We’ve become increasingly segregated by income … our schools are also more segregated by income.”
He says low-income families are more engaged now than ever with their children, but “There’s no amount of reading ‘Goodnight, Moon’ that’s going to erase structural and institutional problems.”
