With Gratitude to our Champions for Children

by Kali Thorne Ladd | Oct 27, 2023 | News, Educators and Workforce, Parents and Families

It is with profound joy and gratitude that I reflect on our recent Champions for Children – 20 Years of Impact event, celebrating the past two decades of Children’s Institute’s work to make Oregon the best place to be a kid.

Among the 550 plus champions who filled the room, including our friends who joined virtually from Central and Eastern Oregon (and a few from out-of-state!), I was in awe of the power of our collective community and it truly took my breath away.

But building a society that honors and supports children from the moment they are born takes more than one event or any singular act. It requires a daily commitment and a choice to be better, to do better.

It takes a concentrated effort to ensure all children have access to early literacy programs, a seamless educational experience, maternal-infant health support, and safe, nurturing child care facilities.

Race, geography, language, and income level should never be a barrier to that. This is what justice for children means.

The event was a testament to the movement itself, and an unwavering dedication of many people across sectors that include educators, early childhood providers, community leaders, business leaders, policymakers, and philanthropic champions–all committed to ensuring a brighter future for our children. It builds on a legacy of two decades of work and leans into the possibility of what tomorrow holds.

Click through for event photos!

We had the honor of presenting the legendary Ron Herndon with the 2023 Alexander Award for his exemplary leadership and advocacy for our youngest learners both locally and nationally, and his civil rights leadership for Black and brown communities in Portland for more than 50 years.

If Ronnie isn’t an inspiration, I don’t know who is. I hope we can all aspire to do what he has done, and lean into the work purposely and unwaveringly, to show up as THE BEST, true champions, for children.

I invite you to join us in this exciting journey ahead. The impact of our collective efforts is immeasurable, and I am confident that the future holds even greater promise.

Join us in making Oregon the best place to be a kid.

If you missed the event and want to give, you can still make a donation or volunteer to help ensure that Children’s Institute continues to impact Oregon’s young children for the next 20 years and beyond.

Boston Study Findings Support Continued Investment in Public Preschool

by Ashley Walker | May 13, 2021 | What We're Reading, Benefits of Preschool, Federal Policy, National Research, News, Policy Trends, Preschool, Equity

It has long been known that a child’s earliest experiences, both positive and negative, have effects that last a lifetime and show up as disparities in physical and mental health, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment. High-quality preschool can provide the types of early experiences that help children to thrive. Proponents advocate for public preschool programs as a way to ensure that all children have access to the opportunities that will set them up for success in elementary school and beyond, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay.

Public preschool programs, largely funded by state and local governments, have grown steadily in recent years. According to the 2019 NIEER State of Preschool Annual Report, the number of US 4-year-olds in preschool increased by 20 percent from 2002 to 2019, with 44 states and 24 of the 40 largest US cities operating large-scale public preschool programs that year.

And the expansion of publicly funded early learning programs is not likely to slow; state and local investments are being joined by proposals at the federal level. President Biden’s American Families Plan would invest $200 billion in expanding access to universal prekindergarten and ensuring a minimum wage of $15 per hour. The administration says this plan would benefit five million children and save the average American family $13,000.

Just this week, the School Effectiveness & Inequality Initiative (SEII) released a new discussion paper called The Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool in Boston. The study highlights the benefits of high quality early learning experiences and how these show up for children over time. It also examines evaluation results of the federal Head Start program that have indicated that initial test score gains among Head Start participants tend to level out by the end of elementary school, a phenomenon known as preschool fadeout.

According to SEII, “Some analysts interpret these findings as reflecting ineffective programs, while others argue that medium-term test scores are a poor measure of program effectiveness.” SEII suggests that “these disagreements may stem from the fact that no study to date has used a randomized research design to study the long-term effects of a large-scale preschool program.”

Research Design

The Boston study fills this gap with a lottery-based research design that compares 4,000 4-year-old applicants who were randomly selected in or out of public preschool over the course of seven admissions cohorts from 1997-2003. It estimates causal effects of public preschool on:

College enrollment and persistence
Grade progression and high school graduation
SAT and state achievement test scores
Behavioral outcomes related to truancy, suspension, and juvenile incarceration

Findings

Attending a Boston public preschool led to positive long-term impacts on educational attainment as attendees were more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college.
The short-term effect of preschool on test scores was minimal, but there was a substantial impact on student behavior.
Effects were larger for boys than for girls, but did not differ by race or income.

Impact of Boston Public Schools’ Preschool Program

Policy Applications

The findings of this study support continued large-scale investment in universal public preschool, including local programs like Multnomah County’s Preschool for All, and the federal support for preschool expansion proposed in President Biden’s American Families Plan.

From the study: “As policymakers consider increased public investment in universal preschool, the research findings suggest that preschool can lead to long-term educational attainment gains through improvements in behavior. Furthermore, the observed effects across demographic groups suggest that all students are likely to benefit from universal preschool.”

2020 NIEER Report: Federal/State Partnership Needed to Expand High-Quality, Full-Day Preschool

by Ashley Walker | Apr 29, 2021 | What We're Reading, Federal Policy, National Research, News, Oregon Policy, Oregon Research, Policy Trends, Preschool, Preschool Landscape, COVID-19, Equity

As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic set back state preschool enrollment and funding across the country, according to the 2020 edition of The State of Preschool Yearbook by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, released earlier this month.

Oregon had achieved an increase in enrollment and inflation-adjusted spending prior to the pandemic, and is poised to continue to make headway on preschool access by funding the Governor’s recommended expansion of Preschool Promise, Oregon Pre-Kindergarten, and the Equity Fund during the 2021 legislative session.

But nationally, the report found that:

Growth in state-funded preschool was slowing before the pandemic.
The pandemic imposed serious setbacks and reversed recent progress.
Uneven progress among states is worsening inequality in children’s access to high-quality preschool.
Most states spend too little per child to support high-quality, full-day pre-K and few reach all their 3- and 4-year-olds.

NIEER says now is the time for a renewed commitment to high-quality preschool for all, beginning with those in the lowest-income families.

“Oregon is one of a small number of states approaching levels of per-child spending adequate to truly support high-quality preschool,” said Steven Barnett, Ph.D., NIEER’s founder and senior co-director.

Dana Hepper, CI’s director of policy and advocacy, adds, “Oregon’s per-child spending reflects the progress we’ve made toward achieving funding parity with K-12 schools — which would mean preschool teachers were paid on the same scale as elementary teachers, and full school-day programs were available to 3- and 4-year-olds.”

Federal/State Partnership Needed Beyond COVID Rescue & Recovery Dollars

Nationwide, enrollment in state-funded preschool increased slightly in 2019-2020, but took a hit in 2020-2021 as many programs closed or only offered virtual learning and parents were hesitant to send children to in-person school during the pandemic.

“For nearly 20 years, annual progress on preschool has been slow and uneven, and at this pace universal pre-K will remain an unfulfilled promise into the next century,” said Barnett. “Beyond federal rescue and recovery dollars for the short-term, we need a new federal/state partnership to accelerate progress toward high-quality pre-K beginning with the most disadvantaged children, many of whom still receive no pre-K at all. This would require that federal and state governments steadily increase spending on pre-K during the next 30 years, expanding programs to reach all 3- and 4-year-olds, beginning with the many children in low-income families who still do not attend pre-K.”

As with last year, the survey reveals bipartisan support for preschool across the country, with both “red” and “blue” states among the nation’s leaders in high-quality preschool. That offers hope that the nation can move ahead to expand access more rapidly in the future.

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by CI Guest | Oct 30, 2020 | testpostonly

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2020 Census: Accurate Count is Key for Kids

by Helen Shum | Feb 27, 2020 | News, Federal Policy, Policy Trends

Beginning in March, the U.S Census Bureau will begin its count of the nation’s residents. Mandated by the Constitution every 10 years, the census informs a broad range of planning, policy making, and funding decisions made by the federal government.

In Oregon, the impact of the census on young children and families is significant, which is why Children’s Institute and others are supporting broad efforts to ensure that everyone in the state participates in the count. Programs like Head Start, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), special education and SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) are all tied to population statistics developed through the census.

A task force created after the 2010 census identified a number of hard-to-count communities. Among those groups are children under 5, immigrants, rural residents, and those with disabilities. This year, the hope is that additional outreach efforts will help to ensure that those communities are represented in the final tally. The Census Bureau is also adding language to the census questionnaire that offers more specific instructions to include foster children, grandchildren, and children who are not blood relatives.

An image from the We Count Oregon campaign

We Count Oregon is organizing the state’s hard-to-count campaign working with a broad coalition of advocacy and policy organizations. Their website includes a number of resources to support participation, including a social media kit, training and event opportunities, and even a downloadable coloring book.

“We project that about 6 percent of Oregon residents are children under 5 and that means we need to reach all of their parents and guardians to compel them to accurately report these little ones to ensure they get the funding for services they deserve,” says Mandy Yeahpau, We Count Oregon’s communications director.

The Census Bureau is also running a Census in Schools campaign with specific resources for educators.

And Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit arm of the organization behind the iconic children’s show, has also joined in the effort, with a set of print and digital materials that can be downloaded and shared.

Households should begin receiving census information March 12, with the option to complete their form online, by phone, or through the mail.

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