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Watch “From the Baby’s Point Of View” on YouTube.

As Founder and Executive Director of Baby’s Space, a non-profit dedicated to limiting poverty’s devastating effects on child development, Dr. Terrie Rose will be honored for her commitment to the well-being, growth and development of children and their families.

The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) announced Terrie Rose, Ph.D., LP, founder and Executive Director of Baby’s Space in Minneapolis, is among ten national honorees of the 2011 Lewis Hine Awards for Service to Children and Youth.

Named for the acclaimed NCLC photographer who documented early-20th century exploitation of children, the Hine Awards recognize professionals and volunteers who devote extraordinary time and energy to improving the lives of young people.

Dr. Rose will be honored for her innovative and results-based approach at Baby’s Space in Minneapolis. This holistic solution “from the baby’s point of view” offers a one-stop shop for child and family services from pregnancy to third grade including: year-round childcare, public K-3 education, parent education, on-site mental health services and family support. Dr. Rose created Baby’s Space first in the American Indian community in Minneapolis. Baby’s Space now serves as a national model.

“Terrie’s pioneering work is remarkably successful at offering children in poverty a stronger start in life,” said Jeff Werbelowski, Co-CEO of Houlihan Lokey and Baby’s Space business partner. According to Rose, in 2009-2010, 100 percent of kindergartners participating in the Baby’s Space program met or exceeded post-kindergarten proficiencies.

Baby’s Space neighborhood-based programs, founded in 1998, have received national recognition for success in negating poverty’s devastating effects by helping children develop relationships, manage emotions and learn. Baby’s Space has an estimated return on investment of $4 to every $1 invested. Using Minneapolis centers as a model, the national Baby’s Space organization is working to change the experience of young children and their families by providing direct service, creating a model for other organizations to replicate and designing training materials and products that support the academic and social emotional development of children.

Rose is a child psychologist, long-time leader in the field of early childhood development, national trainer and speaker, an Ashoka Fellow- a network of system-changing social entrepreneurs, and a leadership fellow with the national organization ZERO TO THREE.

The award ceremony will be held on Monday, January 31, 2011 in New York City.

Along with Dr. Rose, Andre Agassi and Elaine Wynn will be honored for their distinguished service.

Go to the Source

Tom Niemisto, Minnesota 2020
Powered by winter boots, warm mittens and enthusiasm, pre-schoolers, teachers and parents marched on Nicollet Mall demanding more early childhood education funding. Research demonstrates that quality early education yields significant social and economic benefits. Proper funding needs to be a priority in moving Minnesota forward.

Watch the video on YouTube (not from school).

http://mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/education/video-children-march-for-education-funding

From Ready 4 K

This week at the Capitol saw the first hearing on early care and education, when the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation presented their work and recommendations  to the House Education Finance Committee. After giving an overview of their research results, they walked the committee through their policy recommendations, which focused on expanding Parent Aware, offering incentives to use and improve quality through a series of tax credits and scholarships, and creating a private Parent Aware promotions board. No funding source for their proposals was identified and no legislation has been introduced yet. A good, mostly positive discussion ensued. Listen to the hearing here.

Facility Grants alive again?
We learned this week that the Governor’s bonding proposal will be released Monday. You may recall that for the past three years, Ready 4 K has been successful in getting funding for early childhood facilities included in the legislatively-passed bonding bill, only to have it line-item vetoed by then-Governor Tim Pawlenty. On the campaign trail, Governor Mark Dayton made repeated references to this particular veto and expressed a willingness to include this funding in any bonding bill he proposed. We’re hopeful that this is a campaign promise he intends to keep.

Phase One
In broader news, this week the Legislature quickly passed a “phase one” budget bill that would cut higher education, funding to cities and counties, and other services–no early childhood though–by up to $1 billion. It passed the full House Thursday on a 68-63 vote. Read a good summary of the bill and the process from the Minnesota Budget Project.

Coming Up @ the Capitol
With the exception of Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius appearing before the Senate Education Committee on Monday, the committee process is largely silent on early childhood. Look at the Legislative Calendar for the most up-to-date hearing information.

There are many ways to stay informed and in touch with our work during the legislative session.  We hold quarterly partner meetings, with the next one being in March. Look for an email soon with more details. Also, our close partner Child Care WORKS holds their Policy Hour the first Tuesday of every month, so if you’re in the area this Tuesday, stop by Children’s Home Society and Family Services at noon.

And of course, be sure to check us out on (@Ready4K) and  (Facebook.com/ready4k).

From Ready 4 K

This week at the Capitol was another crazy week, and another week with what felt like very little relating directly to early care and education. Last’s week update is still mostly relevant: “Most committees continue to hear overviews on budget and policy issues, Ready 4 K and our allies have been meeting with many of the new legislators, and we’re figuring out ways to work with the new administration.” Much of the work of the Education Committee has been focused largely on K-12 issues–alternative teacher licensure, teacher pay freeze, improving teacher quality. We are exploring ways for the Early Childhood Caucus to be a place where we can move our issues forward.

Office of Early Learning
Progress is being made on one of our top legislative priorities: Appoint a person to lead a statewide system of child development and early learning services. This week, the Office of Early Learning Taskforce, under the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC), released their report recommending that the Governor create an Office of Early Learning headed by a cabinet-level Director, with authority and responsibility for policy, fiscal, and rule making for early care and education programs. Read the one-page summary here, or the full report here.

It’s critical that the Governor take action on this now! Please take a moment to call Governor Dayton and urge him to adopt the recommendations of the Office of Early Learning Task Force and appoint a single person solely in charge of Minnesota’s early care and education programs. This reform will help to maximize state investments so that all children are ready for kindergarten. His number is 651-201-3400 or toll free at 1-800-657-371.

Coming Up @ the Capitol
The overviews continue! The House Health and Human Services Finance Committee will be meeting TUESDAY, January 25, 2011 at 12:30 PM for an overview of the Children and Family Services Budget in the Dept. of Human Services, which includes child care.

Recommends a single point of authority and responsibility to maximize state investments in early childhood education and make sure all children are ready for kindergarten; sent to the Governor and Legislators on Wednesday. Be sure to communicate with your elected officials, especially the Governor’s office, if you have any insight or opinions to share regarding this report.

For More Information Contact: Karen Cadigan, Ph.D. University of Minnesota Policy Director, Children, Youth and Family Consortium Research Fellow, Center for Early Education and Development cadigan@umn.edu ; 952-451-2081 cell

Nancy Kaczrowski Minnesota Department of Education nancy.kaczrowski@state.mn.us 651-582-8497 TTY: 800-627-3529 or 651-582-8201

Cabinet level leadership needed to ensure school readiness for Minnesota’s children

Read the full report

If Minnesota is to reach the legislative mandate of ensuring all children are ready for school by 2020, critical changes need to be made to the way the state approaches early childhood care and education. Minnesotans from across the state and legislators from both parties agree that a single person should manage all decisions related to programs and funding for early childhood learning.

Rationale
Too many children in Minnesota are not adequately prepared for kindergarten. Research shows the first years of a child’s life are especially critical to development. Spending on quality early childhood care and education to maximize that early development period has been shown to be among the best investments a government can make. Early childhood investment continues to gain attention among school policy experts nationwide as a method to save on public costs associated with special education, graduation rates, crime, health care and welfare.  Additionally, early childhood programs support our current economy by allowing parents to work and our future economy by investing in our most precious resource.

As it stands, the Minnesota system for early childhood development has no single point of authority responsible for funding, and oversight and accountability for individual programs are split between the Department of Education, the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services. Due in part to this lack of singular leadership, the state has not seen any significant increase in the number of school-ready children since the Minnesota School Readiness Study began in 2002.

Recommendation Process
In 2010, the office of early learning bill was passed by the Minnesota legislature, establishing the Office of Early Learning Task Force. The Task Force mandate called for recommendations on how to streamline early childhood programs in one office of early learning to help achieve the statewide goal of having all children school-ready by 2020.

The Task Force built on the Early Childhood Advisory Committee’s work conducting a thorough assessment of the current structure, studied the departmental structure of other states, and solicited statewide public comments to determine an optimal organizational structure for a proposed Office of Early Learning.

The task force focused on assessing pros, cons and public support for three options:

1. Office within a single agency: Responsibility to coordinate early care and education funding and policy is centralized within one existing state agency.
2. Office within multiple agencies: A high-level position is appointed by the Governor to be responsible for early childhood programs and policy housed within various agencies.
3. Freestanding Office or Department: A cabinet-level department which co-locates and coordinates early childhood policy and programs while creating visible lines of accountability and authority.

After careful consideration, the Task Force and the Early Childhood Advisory Council voted to adopt the recommendation for the establishment of a freestanding Office of Early Learning.

2011 Legislative Session Priorities
In order to ensure immediate progress towards the Office of Early Learning, the task force report provides recommendations for stages of implementation. The Governor should begin with a reorganization order that calls for the management, authority and responsibility of early childhood care and education programs in an Office of Early Learning. Concurrently, the Task Force recommends the Governor appoint a Director of Early Learning with cabinet-level stature within the Department of Education, with the authority and responsibility for policy, fiscal and rule making decisions related to all early childhood care and education programs.

The initial Office of Early Learning during this time will not be a physical space, but rather an innovative management structure with responsibility for programs and improved outcomes for young children. The Director will work with department heads to determine a phase-in plan that includes assessing infrastructure needs, considering expansion of scope and extent of co-location of programs.

These steps could be accomplished with no additional funds and entirely through the hiring of staff – a director and administrative assistant – from within existing administrative budgets.

By creating one government entity responsible for early childhood programs, Minnesota will be better suited to ensure all children are ready to learn.

From Ready 4 K

This week at the Capitol certainly felt like the legislative session has finally begun. Most committees continue to hear overviews on budget and policy issues, Ready 4 K and our allies have been meeting with many of the new legislators, and we’re figuring out ways to work with the new administration. The week went by very fast! That being said, once again there’s not a lot to update as it relates to early childhood. It’s certainly noticeable that there is no longer an Early Childhood Committee. There are, however, efforts underway to have a hearing or multiple hearings on early childhood issues, and we’ll keep you updated about it as we learn more.

Commissioners
Ready 4 K had a chance to meet the new Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius and we were quite impressed, to say the least. As a graduate of Head Start, she gets it. We urged her to make sure there was a point person in the administration and she made it clear she sees early childhood as a priority.

Governor Dayton this week appointed Lucinda Jesson to lead the Department of Human Services.  Ms. Jesson previously served as Deputy Attorney General, as Chief Deputy Hennepin County Attorney and has practiced law in the areas of healthcare, human services and employment. She is currently a professor at Hamline University School of Law, where she also serves as Director of Hamline’s nationally recognized Health Law Institute. She will be introduced to both Senate and House Health and Human Services committees next week.

Ready 4 K

From Ready 4 K

Welcome to the 2011 Legislative Session and our first Ready 4 K @ The Capitol of the new year. These updates will be sent out Fridays, and will recap significant legislative activity as it relates to early care and education.

The week was filled with much pomp and circumstance, as Governor Mark Dayton was sworn in and Republicans took the helm of the legislature for the first time in decades. There are lots of new faces around the Capitol–59 of them in fact–so whether you are a veteran of Capitol politics or here for the first time, we all have a lot of learning to do.  These first few weeks will be devoted to just that: initial legislative hearings are typically filled with budget and policy overviews to familiarize the members with the subject matter — certainly not riveting information, but definitely important. Solving a more-than $6 billion deficit will require a high level of attention to detail.

Both House Education Finance and Education Reform committees met this week, as did House Health and Human Services Finance and House HHS Reform. The Education hearings were perfunctory and consisted of member introductions and committee procedures, while HHS jumped into the details and began reviewing spreadsheets and hearing from the Departments. There was not much action related to early childhood in the Senate.

Ready 4 K has a focused and succinct legislative agenda this year, flowing from the work of Minnesota’s Future.  As in past years, meetings with and messages for legislators will be coordinated with our allied organizations.

Coming Up @ the Capitol
Committees continue their overviews. There are no hearings specific to early childhood next week.
Check the legislative schedule page for the most up-to-date hearings.

Help get the session off to a great start for our littlest learners…

Minnesota’s Legislative Session Opened Tuesday, January 4, 2011, and Ready 4 K will be there every step of the way to be a voice for Minnesota’s youngest citizens.

Stay up to date on the latest news from the Capitol by signing up for our Weekly Capitol Updates, follow Ready 4 K on twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.

Minnesota’s Future

Since early 2009, Ready 4 K has convened an alliance of early childhood advocacy organizations to develop and promote shared policy proposals for the Governor and the 2011 Minnesota Legislature.

Ready 4 K’s 2011 Legislative Priorities flow from this Minnesota’s Future agenda.

2011 Legislative Priorities

1.    Maintain current funding for early childhood care and education programs and support reforms to better align resources and link with quality.

Support programs that are evidence-based, targeted to families facing risks, reward quality, and focus on promoting school readiness.

2.    Begin the statewide expansion of Minnesota’s voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS)

Provide parents with information about the quality of child care and early learning programs to help them make informed decisions and allocate resources and technical assistance to early learning settings for quality improvements.

3.    Appoint a person to lead a statewide system of child development and early learning services.

Incorporate the recommendations of the Office of Early Learning Taskforce; ensure that there is a single point of entry and accountability for parents, providers and administrators and link any new entity with the work of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC); expand membership on the ECAC to include more representatives from communities of color, rural communities, early childhood practitioners, and the business and philanthropic sectors.

Include benchmarks and progress goals related to kindergarten readiness in the legislatively-mandated School Readiness Report Card; make the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment universal for all entering kindergartners.

Take Action!

You can help get the session off to a great start for our littlest learners by sending a message to your newly elected legislators with our . Let them know that you expect early care and education to be a top priority in the 2011 session and you can be a resource to them on this issue. Sample message:

• “As the 2011 Legislative session begins I want to welcome you and thank you for representing our district. As you work through the next several months I hope you’ll make our youngest Minnesotans a top priority. As I’m sure you know, nearly half of our students start kindergarten less than fully prepared for learning success. To me, it is unacceptable that our state leaves half of our children behind. Please ensure that the 2011 Legislature takes steps to ensure quality early learning is available so families can work and prepare the next generation.
• Please demonstrate this commitment by joining the Legislative Early Childhood Caucus this session.
• I am willing to be a resource to you on these issues and I look forward to connecting with you more through out the session.”

You can personalize and send this message directly to your elected official (find out who represents you) or through our online system.

Thank you for raising your voice on behalf of our youngest Minnesotans. We’re looking forward to an active and interesting Legislative session!

Kat Kempe
Ready 4 K
kat@ready4k.org
651-644-8138 x108

Todd Otis, LearnMoreMN
What Minnesotans can do (an agenda for state policymakers)

As I mentioned in my last post, a coalition of early childhood organizations that Ready 4 K helped organize, has developed a plan called Minnesota’s Future. We think that is exactly what is at stake in how well we provide early learning opportunities for our youngest citizens.

The Minnesota’s Future group had as it guiding goal to develop a common agenda that could be given to the next Minnesota governor. These five basic strategies are what were agreed to by representatives of groups that work in the field and really understand what is needed. These strategies are backed up by solid research that demonstrates their value and effectiveness. More than 60 organizations throughout Minnesota have endorsed the Minnesota’s Future agenda.

What Minnesotans can do (an agenda for state policymakers):

1. Offer home visits and parent education to every first-time parent to help get their children off to a great start.
2. Double the number of at-risk children who participate in high quality early learning opportunities.
3. Implement a statewide quality rating and improvement system for early learning programs.
4. Create community partnerships to coordinate and leverage investments in children’s and families’ success.
5. Appoint a cabinet-level position to lead a statewide system of child development and early learning services.

In the short term, and in light of the budget deficit, Ready 4 K and its allies are pushing for expansion of a Quality Rating System, the creation of cabinet-level position, and making sure the current (inadequate) level of funding for early childhood education is not cut. But the need for significant increases in funding is clear, and Ready 4 K will not stop fighting for that to occur. Since only one half of entering kindergartners in Minnesota are fully prepared for school success it is obvious that we need to find additional resources that can be invested in quality early learning for our youngest citizens. Otherwise, if we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we are getting. And that is not acceptable.

A natural question is “Where are you going to get the money?” in the face of a $6.2 billion deficit. My answer is: change how we budget to a system like one adopted in Washington state and Iowa: Budgeting for Outcomes. BFO provides the opportunity to look at spending with fresh eyes and establish priorities on clear outcomes. When that occurred in Iowa, then Governor Tom Vilsak saw the wisdom in significantly increasing funding in early childhood education. That change could happen here: the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has embraced such an approach. (BFO is silent as to whether taxes should go up or not; it is not a stalking horse for excessive budget cuts, as some fear.)

Several other influential groups have embraced all or some of the proven strategies proposed by the Minnesota’s Future allies, including the foundations in the School Readiness Funders Coalition; the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation; and the United Way. The momentum for change has grown. Most encouraging of all, Governor-elect Dayton strongly supports a significant increase in funding of early care and education.

Ultimately, however, there is no more powerful ally in pushing an effective early childhood agenda than the citizens of our state. K-12 and higher education have a strong stake in improving early learning in Minnesota. After all, early childhood education is the foundation of our state’s entire system of education.

http://learnmoremnblog.typepad.com/blog/2010/12/early-education-strategies.html