Preparing Teachers for Pre-K Classrooms
March 15, 2010: Pre-K now has released a new report focused on teacher quality in Pre-Kindergarten classrooms. The report concludes that educators with at least a bachelor's degree, coupled with specialized training in early childhood are best able to foster development are best able to foster development of the cognitive, social and emotional skills children need to be ready for kindergarten. The report also highlights state models for increasing teacher quality. Read A Matter of Degrees: Preparing Teachers for the Classroom.

Improving Early Learning for Latino Children
March 9, 2010: A new report, Responding to the Needs of Young Latino Children: State Efforts to Build Comprehensive Early Learning Systems, focuses on how states are building early learning standards that address the needs of Latino and English language learner children and families. Findings show states still have much to do in order to develop early learning programs that are sensitive to the early learning needs of Latino children. The report comes from the National Council of La Raza.

The Costs of Disinvestment
January 27, 2010: A new issue brief from the Partnership for America's Economic Success provides evidence for why states can not afford to cut early childhood programs whose demonstrated economic and societal benefits reduce tax payer costs now and generate more revenue in the future. By protecting funding for effective pre-kindergarten and home visiting programs, states can save money and stimulate their economies. Access The Costs of Disinvestment to learn more.

Television Show Highlights Growing Readers Initiative
January 25, 2010 - View the lastest episode of the Rhode Island Kids Count Cable Television Show highlighting the partnership between Central Falls Public Schools and The Learning Community to improve students' reading proficiency districtwide, with a special focus on early readers.

More than 150 Community Leaders Gather for Starry, Starry Night
December 10, 2009: On December 9, more than 150 community leaders gathered for Starry Starry Night, an event celebrating the first group of child care centers, preschool programs and family child care programs that have joined BrightStars, Rhode Island's newly implemented Quality Rating and Improvement System. BrightStars recognizes program quality and gives parents information to make choices about their children's care and early education. The event was co-sponsored by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children (RIAEYC). Click here to view the event press release, and Providence Journal article. To learn more about BrightStars, visit www.brightstars.org.

Fifty State Survey of Progress on Early Learning Councils Released
November 24, 2009: The New America Foundation has released a report and 50-state survey on how states are making progress in establishing early learning councils, whihc are mandated by federal law to be established in each state. Titled The Next Step in Systems-Building: Early Childhood Advisory Councils and Federal Efforts to Promote Policy Alignment in Early Childhood, it is the first nationwide assessment of states' progress in developing a system for early childhood programs.

New Issue Brief: Access to Early Learning in Rhode Island
October 5, 2009 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released its latest Issue Brief, Access to Early Learning Programs in Rhode Island, at a policy roundtable attended by educators, state agencies, advocates, policymakers and community leaders. The Issue Brief highlights key strategies to achieve a high-quality early learning system for Rhode Island’s young children, from birth through kindergarten. The Issue Brief also details the four major types of early learning programs that comprise an effective, high-quality early learning system: child care (including center-based and family-based child care); Head Start and Early Head Start; state Pre-Kindergarten programs; and early childhood special education, including Early Intervention for children ages birth to three and preschool special education for children ages 3 to kindergarten entry.

Nationwide, Affordable, Quality Child Care Access Becoming Less Available to Families
October 2, 2009: A study released by the National Women’s Law Center of child care policies across the nation reveals that between February of 2008 and February of 2009 more states made cuts than made improvements in desperately needed child care assistance, worsening an already bleak landscape for parents trying to afford reliable child care.

Preschoolers' Language Development Influenced by Classmates' Skills
June 2, 2009: University of Virginia researchers have found that children's abilities to speak and understand words developed faster when they were with classmates with better language skills. The authors say that while the positive effects from classmates were small, they have implications in areas such as the desired composition of children in Pre-K classrooms and how much emphasis language curricula place on teacher-managed instruction. The article appears in Child Development.

Historically Youngest Children Under Represented in Federal Budget
May 29, 2009 - Kids' Share 2008, a second annual report, looks comprehensively at trends in federal spending and tax expenditures on children. Key findings suggest that historically children have not been a budget priority. In 2007, this trend continued, as children's spending did not keep pace with GDP growth. Absent a policy change, children's spending will continue to be squeezed in the next decade.

Early Care and Education Quality and Outcomes
May 26, 2009: While research to date is quite consistent in showing that measures of quality in early care and education setting and measures of children's development are linked when examined in individual research studies, there has not been a systematic examination of the strength of these relationships across multiple studies. This research brief from Child Trends summarizes 97 findings from 27 research projects.

State Preschool Yearbook Released
April 27, 2009: NIEER (The National Institute for Early Education Research) has released the 2008 State Preschool Yearbook. The 2008 Yearbook is sixth in a series of annual reports profiling state funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2007-2008 school year. Tracking these trends is essential, since the changes in states' policies on preschool education will now influence how successfully America's next generation will compete in the knowledge economy. View the full report here.

Decoding the Economic Stimulus for Early Care and Education in Rhode Island
March 20, 2009: The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 contains provisions for funding that have the potential to improve early care and education in Rhode Island, including more available funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the Early Head Start program, IDEA and Title 1 funding. View a powerpoint presentation prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT explaining the current early care and education system in Rhode Island and opportunities within ARRA to increase investment in Rhode Island's youngest children.

Understanding the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
March 9, 2009- A new report from CLASP explains the provisions of the CCDBG Law and it's provisions for states. CCDBG allows states broad discretion to develop their child care assistance programs within federal guidelines. Most policies that impact families, including income eligibility limits; parent copayment fees; and redetermination periods, are determined by states. States will receive $2 billion in new CCDBG funds through the economic recovery act. Policymakers and advocates can use this document to understand the flexibility states have to spend these funds within the CCDBG law.

Early Childhood Policy Updates
January 27, 2009: View a special edition Rhode Island KIDS COUNT e-news on  Early Childhood Policy Updates, including information on the Federal Economic Recovery Bill and implications for RI, the Child Care and Development Block Grant re-authorization and President Obama's Early Childhood Agenda.

Early Childhood Programs Help Children Thrive
December 29, 2008 - First Focus recently released five briefs on the effectiveness of early childhood programs in improving outcomes for children including: reducing crime, increasing high school graduation rates and improving educational outcomes. The series, entitled Impacts of Early Childhood Programs, includes briefs on state pre-kindergarten , Head Start, Early Head Start, model early childhood programs and nurse home visiting. The series summarizes existing evidence on early childhood interventions and their impact on children and families.

Child Care and Early Education State-by-State Data
December 29, 2008 - The Center for Law and Social Policy website includes state-by-state data pages with information on child care assistance, community-based pre-kindergarten, Head Start program data, infant/toddler initiatives, and state Early Head Start initiatives. Users can search for data by topic or by state. According to the data, on average 7,700 children in Rhode Island were served monthly by the Child Care Development Block Grant.

Dual Language Learners in Early Care and Education
November 25, 2008: An increasing number of children are exposed to more than one language from birth. In Rhode Island in 2005, 23% of Head Start and Early Head Start participants lived in homes where Spanish was the primary language spoken. It is important for early care and education programs to honor student's differences. This practical factsheet from Zero To Three for program administrators and educators informs on some of the challenges and solutions in working with dual language learners in early care and education settings.

Nurse-Family Partnership Coming to RI
October 31, 2008: Rhode Island will receive $500,000 in federal funding to launch the Rhode Island Nurse-Family Partnership Initiative. This federal funding from the Administration for Children and Families Children’s Bureau is directed toward building a statewide infrastructure to support the widespread adoption, implementation and sustaining of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) model. The overall goal of the initiative is to provide first-time parents with the support they need in order to improve child health and development and to prevent child abuse and neglect. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT will lead the planning process and Children’s Friend is the implementation partner for the first phase of this 5-year initiative.

NFP is an evidence-based nurse home visiting program that provides first-time mothers and fathers with a nurse to help them transition into parenthood. A nurse visits first-time, multiple-risk expectant mothers in their homes to provide training on infant development and other supports beginning during pregnancy and through their child’s second birthday. Through the Rhode Island Nurse-Family Partnership Initiative, Rhode Island will become the first state in New England to replicate the Nurse-Family Partnership model and will work to sustain and expand the model over time.

Other partners include the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families; the Rhode Island Department of Health; the Rhode Island Department of Human Services; the Executive Office of Health and Human Services; the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center and the Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office.

43% of Children Birth to Three Live in Poverty
October 16, 2008: A newly updated report, Basic Facts About Low Income Children: Birth to Three indicates that after a decade of decline, the proportion of children under age three living in low income families is rising again, a trend that began in 2000. Aditionnaly, the report found that 49% of these children in low income families have at least one parent that works full-time year-round.

Two New Reports Expand on CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care Task Force Recommendations
October 9, 2008: The first report, Build Supply of Child Care: Research-Based Rationale focuses on the best practices for building high quality child care networks with particular focus on underserved communitites. A second report, Stable, Quality Subsidy Policy: Research-Based Rationale  presents research on state child care subsidy systems and how high quality, stable care promotes babies' and toddlers' healthy development.

Research Brief Presents Emerging Themes in Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care
September 5, 2008-Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care, also known as "informal care", is the most common form of non-parental care in the United States; nearly half of all children under age six spending time in FFN care. The research brief, released from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), defines, analyzes, and describes characteristics and patterns of FFN care in the US. The research brief is a concise overview of the young and growing FFN care research area. View the research brief here.

Applying Economic Insight to Early Childhood Policy
August 25, 2008- The report, a RAND research brief, uses an economic framework to examine early childhood policy through a scientific lens. The report describes how insights such as human capital  theory and monetary payoffs can provide new and in-depth understanding of early childhood policy- as well as providing a mechanism for engaging business and economic leaders by adopting a common language. View the report, What Does Economics Tell Us About Early Childhood Policy.

 RI Shows Improvement In Four out of Eight Measures of Infant Health and Birth Conditions
August 6, 2008- The newly updated report Right Start for America's Newborns: City and State Trends reflects 16 years of data (1990-2005), reporting on conditions surrounding births in each state and the nation's 50 largest cities, as well as Providence. Rhode Island ranks in the top half of the nation in seven out of eight measures of infant health and birth conditions. View Rhode Island KIDS COUNT's analysis of how RI fares around issues relating to newborns and birth circumstances here.

Policy Paper Shows Opportunities for States to Expand High Quality Child Care for Low Income Families.
August 1, 2008- A report released by CLASP examines the needs of low-income infants in child care. The policy paper examines the option of contracting directly with service providers in order to expand infant/toddler care, which can be an important tool for states seeking to improve opportunities for low income infants and toddlers. Click here to acces the report.

CLASP Releases State-By- State Head Start Data
August 1, 2008- The Center for Law and Social Policy has analyzed 2006 program data for each Head Start program in the US. The Rhode Island report includes data on Head Start programs within the state, families served by the programs and program staff. View the Rhode Island report here.

2008 Report on Key National Indicators of Child Well-Being Available Online
July 14, 2008 - The newly released America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008 profiles the status of the nation's children and youth, presenting up-to-date federal statistics on a variety of issues in one convenient reference. According to the report, math and reading scores of fourth and eighth graders have increased, but also shows that the teen birth rate and the proportion of infants born at low birthweight have also risen.

Federal Education Panel Approves $2.5 Billion for State Pre-K Grant Programs
July 10, 2008- The House Education and Labor Committee approoved the grant program for states to use for Pre-K Education on June 26. The bill authorizes annually $500 million for the FY09-FY13 budget years for states to recieve voluntary  grants which can be used toward increasing the number of early childhood educators with bachelor's degrees, reducing student-teacher ratios, implementing research based curricula and providing health screeenings and nutritional assistance.

Early Care and Education Success in RI
July 8, 2008- Despite a very difficult budget climate, RI lawmakers have enacted legislation with some important victories for ECE. The Rhode Island Pre-Kindergarten Act enables the planning of a pilot Pre-K program to serve children ages 3 and 4 in communities with low performing schools. It serves as a major step toward securing future resources for statewide Pre-K in RI. Other good news this session includes the restoration of $1 million to save 130 state-funded Head Start slots, a rate increase for child care providors caring for state-subsidized children, and continuation of the entitlement to child care subsidy for income-elligible families and restoration of the requirement in law to adjust child care rates based on a market rate survey.

Fact Sheet Shows Over 1 Million Children Served By Head Start in 2006
July 7, 2008- The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has released a fact sheet reporting on 2006 data for all Head Start programs. The data show that Head Start continued to provide vital programming and services to a diverse group of recipients, totaling over 1 million young children through 2,696 grants throughout the country. Of those children, most recieved important health screenings including medical, dental and disability screenings, and most recieved follow-up services when necessary.

Majority of Voters Support Federal Investment in Pre-K
June 23, 2008- Findings of a national poll of registered voters highlight 7 out of 10 voters want state and local governments to provide voluntary Pre-K for all children, even across a divisive political spectrum. More results from the poll, conducted for Pre-K Now, can be viewed here.

Powerful Op-Ed Advocates for Head Start
June 13, 2008- "Head Start really works!" is the title of an op-ed submitted by Cynthia Garcia Coll, Ph.D. and  Pamela C. High, M.D. The article originally ran in the Providence Journal on June 12, view the full text here.

RIAEYC Spring Event: Public Policy 2008
On June 10, RIAEYC is hosting their annual Spring Event from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Waterplace Restaurant in Providence. The event will feature a presentation on PreK in Rhode Island by Judge Flanders, chairman of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education and Elizabeth Burke Bryant from Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.  To register call 467-1219 ASAP. Download and view the flyer.

New! Child Care and Early Learning Factsheet 
Rhode Island KIDS COUNT released its annual publication on the well-being of children and families in RI, the 2009 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook. The Factbook reports on 62 indicators of child well-being across five subjects: Family and Community, Economic Well-Being, Health, Safety, and Education. Read the Fact Sheet on the child care and early learning indicators.

New Study Showing State-by-State Differences in Child Wellbeing
Rhode Island is the 4th best state in the country for children according to Geography Matters: Child Well-Being in the States, a recently released report by the Every Child Matters Education Fund. The report highlights the gap that exists between states on a wide variety of child well-being indicators. The report includes rankings by indicator that show where each state stands on important measures of child well-being, as well as rankings by state that show each of the states rank in terms of overall vulnerability and specific measures. For more information, view the press release.

New Report Showcases Strategies and Practices That Drove New Investments for Early Care & Education
March 4, 2008 - Voices for America’s Children has released ''Increasing State Investments in Early Care and Education: Lessons Learned from Advocates and Best Practices.'' The report features the advocacy efforts of organizations in 10 states, including Rhode Island, that recently passed an early care and education legislative initiative.

Budget Cuts: Implications for Children and Families in RI
The proposed budgets cuts related to early care and education and child care in Rhode Island in the FY '08 and FY '09 budgets will likely result in the decline of quality care for children in Rhode Island. Download Rhode Island KIDS COUNT's latest summary of the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 and Fiscal Year 2009 budget cuts related to Child Care/Early Childhood Education and talking points. View more budget snapshots.

Quality Child Care and Early Learning in Rhode Island
December 2007 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT recently released an Issue Brief entitled "Quality Child Care and Early Learning in Rhode Island" about the importance of high-quality early learning opportunities to improve the odds that children will succeed in school and life. The Issue Brief highlights teacher qualifications, Program Cost, key program quality ellements, and strategies to expand access to high-quality child care and early learning programs.

Rhode Island Early Learning Standards
The Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has launched a new website for the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards Project. Information about current professional development and technical assistance opportunities for program administrators and practitioners can be accessed at the website at www.ride.ri.gov/els.

2007 Lipsitt-Duchin Lecture
October 18, 2007 - "The Secret Life of Infants" is the title of the 2007 Lipsitt-Duchin Lecture in Child Behavior and Development co-sponsored by Rhode Island Kids Count and the Center for Study of Human Development. The lecturer this year on October 18, 2007 will be Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier of Rutgers University, a renowned psychologist and expert in child development whose innovative studies of human infant memory have been widely recognized. Dr. Rovee-Collier will talk about her pioneering methods for exploring baby memory and some breakthrough findings that have been made using these procedures. This event is free and open to the public.

Finding a Standards-Based Preschool
October 17, 2007 - Download the recently released brochure for parents entitled, Early Learning Standards Project: What Parents Should Know About Standards-Based Education for Preschoolers in English and in Spanish. Rhode Island's Early Learning Standards were developed to provide guidance to parents, teachers and administrators on what children should know before they enter Kindergarten.

BrightStars: Recognizing Quality Care & Learning
October 10, 2007 - Rhode Island has developed BrightStars, a quality rating system for early learning and child care programs, in order to improve family access to high quality programs across the state. BrightStars is coordinated by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT and the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children with primary funding from United Way of Rhode Island. During the 2007 session, the Rhode Island General Assembly established the voluntary quality rating system in statute as a public-private partnership. Legislation lead sponsors were Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed and Representative Tom Slater. 

Featured in this photo from (L) are Channavy Chhay - United Way Project Manager for Children, Youth and Families, Leanne Barrett - Policy Analyst for Kids Count, Majority Leader Paiva Weed, and United Way Public Policy Coordinator Paola Fonseca

New Publication: A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy
August 2007 - A ground-breaking framework released by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University combines knowledge from neuroscience, behavioral and developmental science, economics, and 40 years of early childhood program evaluation. The authors provide a framework to guide policymakers toward science-based policies that improve the lives of young children and benefit society as a whole.

New Brookings Report: Balance Federal Budget Through Investments in Children
August 6, 2007 - Spending $94 billion to deliver high-quality early childhood education for the nation's 3- and 4-year-olds and spending $39 billion on three other childhood initiatives over a 5-year period is one component of a strategy  for balancing the federal budget in Cost-Effective Investments in Children prescribed by The Brookings Institution, as part of the Brookings Budget Options Series.

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2007
July 13, 2007 - The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' annual report presents background data and highlights 38 key indicators of children's well-being using the latest available data, including children's family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.

Children in Immigrant Families Surprisingly Rooted in America
Three Out of Four Speak English Fluently
April 2007 -  A new research brief by Child Trends and the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis of the University at Albany, State University of New York, reveals that nearly one-half of children in immigrant families speak English fluently and another language at home. At the same time, many young children in immigrant families would benefit from quality early education programs to further their integration into American society.

Release of Ready or Not: Preparing Rhode Island’s children to Succeed in School and Benchmarks for Progress
February 2007 - This report is an update of the final report of the Rhode Island School Readiness Team released in May 2004. The report focuses on key indicators used to determine the health development and well-being of young children

Report on Pre-K and Latinos: Outreach, Access, Language Commitment Needed
July 2006 - Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future provides an overview of some of the obstacles Latino families face in accessing early learning opportunities for their children and offers strategies for increasing Latino participation in pre-k. Newly released by Pre-K Now, the report also looks at pre-K in light of demographic and socio-economic trends, patterns of access and attendance, language issues and obstacles to effective outreach to Latino families. Download the  of the Executive Summary in Spanish.

The Child Care Patterns of White, Black and Hispanic Children under 5
This report from the Urban Institute examines the child care patterns of white, black, and Hispanic children. The study finds that a large majority of white, black, and Hispanic children under 5 in families where each parent present in the family works is in some form of nonparental child care.

Updated Online Report Tracks U.S. Birth Information Across States and 50 Largest Cities
March 29, 2006 - The online report, The Right Start for America’s Newborns: City and State Trends, has been updated to include 2003 data, adding to the birth information the report has tracked yearly since 1990. Read Providence's profile.

School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps, Policymakers and Practitioners Conference
March 8, 2006 - Rhode Island KIDS COUNT co-sponsored a one day conference at the Brown University Faculty Club entitled School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps to share findings of the Princeton University / Brookings Institution Future of Children Journal volume on School Readiness. Dr. Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, co-author and editor of the volumne, shared the findings of the journal with over 100 participants. Download the agenda, press release or Dr. Brooks-Gunn's presentation.

Release of Successful Start: Rhode Island's Early Childhood Systems Plan
November 21,2005 - The RI Department of Health released the Plan at a breakfast event attended by more than 120 Rhode Island leaders in the early childhood field. A panel of state department directors commented on their plans for implementing key recommendations in the plan. The Successful Start strategic plan was developed by the RI Department of Health and Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.

Rhode Island Early Learning Standards
 The Early Learning Standards were released in December 2003 by the Rhode Island Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education and Human Services, along with Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.  A "tool kit" of fun activites for pre-schoolers will be available soon. Read the Early Learning Standards in English and in Spanish.