Infrastructure Investment Begins with Children

Infrastructure Investment Begins with Children
Spring 2012 Issue
by Mav Pardee, Children’s Investment Fund
Spring 2012

When the topic is economic development, most people think about construction of roads and bridges and the effective functioning of capital markets. That’s why many were surprised when economist Arthur Rolnick of the Minneapolis Fed declared that early childhood development was really economic development—economic development with a very high public return.[1]

Rolnick and economists Rob Grunewald and James Heckman reviewed three carefully controlled studies of highquality early-learning programs for children from birth to five. From those studies, the economists calculated high returns for children at risk, and even higher returns to the public in reduced spending on special education, social welfare, and health care.[2] ( See “High-Quality Early Childhood Education Spending.”)

Nevertheless, there is an enormous disparity between the value of these programs and the funding needed to ensure high quality, which generally includes teacher qualifications, class size, good teacher-child ratios, a supportive emotional climate, curricula, cultural competency, and a safe and healthful physical environment.

Community-based nonprofits or small businesses operate most early-education and out-of-school-time programs. They exist at the margin of financial viability, especially programs that serve children on public subsidy, which are the focus of many efforts to close the achievement gap and reduce health disparities in America.
True Quality

In 1995, the “Cost, Quality and Outcomes” study garnered nationwide attention for its finding that only 14 percent of child-care centers provided a sufficiently high level of quality to support children’s development. Twelve percent were rated as poor quality, and 74 percent were judged mediocre.[3] The report deserves much of the credit for subsequent “quality improvement” categories in federal and state subsidized-care allocations.

Over the past decade, policies for childcare subsidies have continued to evolve, influenced partly by brain-development research showing the critical importance of the first five years of life. Even the terminology changed—from “child care,” a support to help low-income single parents enter the workforce, to “early childhood education,” which emphasizes child development and learning.

Simultaneously, a parallel movement to raise teacher qualifications has emerged, with a growing emphasis on program accreditation and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems nationwide. The standards generally have four or five quality levels—for example, curricula, staff qualifications, learning environment, family involvement, and program management. Independent evaluators do the measuring, and participating providers receive technical support and incentives to improve.

Massachusetts Facilities Inventory
Early Childhood & Out-of-School-Time Facilities Percentage facing problems
One or more classrooms without windows 20
Elevated CO2 levels in indoor air 22
Lack workspace for teachers 22
Inadequate heating & cooling of the space 34
Lack indoor active play space 54
Lack technology for teachers 65
Lack classroom sinks 70

Source: Building an Infrastructure for Quality, by Mav Pardee, Children’s Investment Fund, 2011

Unfortunately, scant attention is paid to the design, layout, and functionality of the facilities that house the programs. Factors such as size, density, privacy, defined activity areas, a modified open-plan design, technical design features, and the quality of outdoor play spaces are known to correlate with children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development.[4] Noted Italian educator Loris Malaguzzi emphasizes that a well-designed environment is the “third teacher”—an understanding that American policymakers have been slow to adopt, especially for programs serving low-income children.

Use of in-kind space—including below-market rentals—is one of the most common strategies for managing operating costs.[5] Low-cost space and difficulty paying for facility improvements highlight a fundamental problem. Public subsidy rates are established by state and federal regulation. Even with the income-based parent co-pay, rates do not cover the cost. The federal government recommends setting subsidy rates at the 75th percentile of market rate, but those market rates are already artificially depressed through payment of low salaries, minimal benefits, low occupancy costs, and careful spending on other expenses.[6] Consequently, programs must raise additional resources if they hope to achieve the level of quality Rolnick and colleagues cite.

High-Quality Early Childhood Education Spending

Source: Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation, by Robert G. Lynch, Economic Policy Institute, 2007.

A 2010 report by the Urban Institute made a link between financial stress and quality, noting that “classrooms with the lowest observed quality were typically in centers characterized as struggling financially.”[7] The discrepancy between public subsidy rates and the cost of quality are common nationwide. In Boston, reimbursements for early childhood services have fallen from 52 percent of market rate to 43 percent since the last report in 2009, and a similar rate structure is found statewide.[8]
First-Ever Report

This year, Children’s Investment Fund released “Building an Infrastructure for Quality” on the first comprehensive inventory of early-childhood-education and out-of-schooltime facilities in Massachusetts.[9] It examined whether existing learning environments support educators’ and policymakers’ educational goals for children at risk—or whether some spaces might interfere with running a high-quality program. The Fund commissioned the inventory to review the effect of physical space on children’s health and safety, behavior, physical development and cognition, and how adult workspace either enhances or impedes staff effectiveness.

First, evidence-based program-facility standards were compiled to measure space across three categories: regulatory, professional, and best practice.[10] The inspection protocol measured 268 items that cover regulatory compliance, site elements, the building envelope, mechanical systems, and environmental health, plus a detailed review of children’s activity spaces, adult work space, and outdoor play space. The Wellesley Centers for Women and a team from Boston-based On-Site Insight selected a random sample of 182 sites and made field visits to each to collect data.

The inventory found that many sites faced the combined challenges of poor layout, outmoded features, and deteriorating conditions. Between 15 percent and 26 percent failed to meet current Massachusetts building-code requirements. And only one program—a center built the preceding year—met all accessibility guidelines.

A number of building deficiencies undermined the quality of teaching and children’s learning, or presented health or safety concerns. (See “Massachusetts Facilities Inventory.”) Moreover, given widespread childhood obesity, it was discouraging that few sites had appropriate space for indoor active play in inclement weather. Many outdoor spaces lacked sufficient space for physically strenuous play. They also lacked trees or plants.

Another concern was the lack of adult workspace and the absence of appropriate technology, impeding the goal of developing a highly qualified workforce and possibly undermining other quality-improvement efforts.[11]

It is true that Massachusetts, like other states, has invested significant private and public resources in quality improvement for early care and education and out-of-school-time services, particularly for low-income children. But quality—and the physical infrastructure to support it is critical to fulfilling the state’s aspirations for these children, and clearly, the resources to fix problems cannot be found in program operating budgets. Children’s Investment Fund has therefore begun to pursue options for improving facility quality, some near term, some longer term. It is working with the business community, public officials, community development organizations, and funders to ensure that early care and education and out-of-school-time programs can make improvements. The following are among the strategies being pursued:

Ensure that repairs and hazardous conditions are addressed by making small grants available to nonprofit providers.

Encourage green environments by working with utility companies to address energy efficiency that can generate operating savings and create healthier indoor spaces.
Work with community development resources to identify capital for ensuring that community infrastructure includes early care and education and out-ofschool-time facilities.
Work with public officials, researchers, and advocates to expand the definition of quality to include the physical plant as the foundation of other quality initiatives related to children’s health, development, and education.

The issue is so urgent and the potential benefits so high that we need to find the public will to create affordable and sustainable financing to improve the buildings where the most vulnerable Massachusetts children spend their childhoods. There is no better public investment.

Mav Pardee is the program manager at the Children’s Investment Fund. She is based in Boston.
Endnotes

[1] Arthur J. Rolnick and Rob Grunewald, “Early Education’s Big Dividends,” Communities & Banking 19, no. 2 (spring 2008): http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2008/spring/Rolnick_early_education_pays.pdf.

[2] “The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do” (white paper, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007).

[3] “Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers” (technical report, University of Colorado, 1995).

[4] Gary T. Moore, “Ready to Learn: Towards Design Standards for Child Care Facilities,” Education Facility Planner 32, no. 1 (1994).

[5] Monica Rohacek, Gina C. Adams, Ellen E. Kisker, Anna Danziger, Theresa Derrick-Mills, Heidi Johnson, “Understanding Quality in Context: Child Care, Communities, Markets, and Public Policy” (white paper, Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 2010).

[6] In Massachusetts, full-time preschool teachers earn on average $33,400, according to U.S. Department of Labor May 2010 data.

[7] In low-income neighborhoods, space is chosen for size, cost, and location on commuting routes. Few providers can afford more than $10 per square foot. More experienced providers seek $6 to $8 rates: churches, community buildings, Boys & Girls Clubs, residential buildings, former schools. In our sample, only 13 percent of centers were designed for child care.

[8] October 2011 data from the National Women’s Law Center on state child-care assistance rates.

[9] Mav Pardee, Martha McCahill Cowden, Theresa Jordan, Carl Sussman, “Building an Infrastructure for Quality: An Inventory of Early Childhood Education and Out-of-School-Time Facilities in Massachusetts” (report, Children’s Investment Fund, Boston, 2011), http://www.cccif.org.

[10] “Program Facility Standards for Early Care and Education and Out-of-School Time Programs” (white paper, Children’s Investment Fund, Boston, 2011), http://www.cccif.org.

[11] The sample was drawn from communities with many low-income families. No programs were from Nantucket or Norfolk counties, for example, where fewer than 3 percent of families are below the poverty line

SourceFederal Reserve Bank of Boston's Communities & Banking magazine, Spring 2012 Edition

Urban Update

SourceWHDH-TV, Channel 7 News

Transforming Early Learning Spaces

January 10, 2012
Transforming Early Learning Spaces
By Irene Sege

Last fall, the Children’s Investment Fund issued a report — “Building an Infrastructure for Quality” – that, among other things, found shortcomings in safety, air quality and indoor space for physical activity in early education and out-of-school-time facilities around the state. Since then representatives of the fund have traveled throughout the commonwealth to build support to address the problems identified in the report. “We need to expand the definition of quality to include the physical environment,” Mav Pardee, director of the Children’s Investment Fund, tells the Telegram & Gazette.
The video shown above tells the story of how one early education program, the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center in Dorchester, upgraded its indoor and outdoor space and, in the process, improved the learning environment for the children it serves. Another video focuses on the physical transformation of Children’s First Enterprises in rural Granby.

URL: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2012/01/10/transforming-early-learning-spaces/

SourceEye on Early Education Blog

Child-care forum set for Children’s Museum

November 28, 2011

SOUTH BOSTON
Child-care forum set for Children’s Museum
By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent
Boston-area nonprofit child care providers will be among the other 50 organizations participating in a forum Tuesday aimed at improving child care facilities in the city.
The “Building an Infrastructure for Quality” forum will be held Tuesday Nov. 29th at the Boston Children’s Museum in South Boston. It is sponsored by the Children’s Investment Fund,
The forum will host some of the Commonwealth’s leaders in child care and will feature a panel of experts, including Mav Pardee, program director for the Children’s Investment Fund, and Flossy Calderon, outreach and policy director for ABCD Head Start.
The event is open to all and runs from 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com . Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.

SourceBoston Globe, South Boston

New study levels criticism at area’s early childhood education providers

November 17, 2011
New study levels criticism at area’s early childhood education providers

By Will Richmond, Herald News Staff Writer

FALL RIVER — With early childhood education setting the foundation for a lifetime of learning, a new study has found that the locations of these facilities may be setting children back.

Members of the Children’s Investment Fund and child care providers revealed the results of statewide study during a panel discussion Tuesday at the Thomas Chew Boys and Girls Club.

The study of 130 early childhood education and out-of-school-time facilities, 14 percent of which exist in the SouthCoast, found “the design and physical conditions of these spaces often pose barriers to achieving the commonwealth’s ambitious educational policy goals.”

Those barriers start with facilities trying to convert space not originally intended for child care, such as church basements or former retail space, into learning spaces. Attempts to retrofit the facilities lead to learning spaces that lack windows or poor air quality, with the report noting that 22 percent of centers statewide have carbon dioxide levels that exceed 700 parts per million.

Classrooms also become filled with background noise due to temporary walls or the absence of acoustical tiles.

Other problems include the location of sinks and toilets too far from classroom space, which impacts infection control, children’s hygiene and independence, and takes away from a teacher’s ability to be present and actively participating in classroom activities.

Problems aren’t limited to classroom spaces, with the study finding that adult work spaces were lacking.

Children’s Investment Fund Program Director Mav Pardee said that in most cases, providers are simply unable to keep up with the cost of bringing their facilities up to optimal conditions.

“Most providers make the modest improvements needed to get a license, but rarely have the significant resources to upgrade their spaces,” Pardee said.

To provide providers with funding, Pardee recommended a public funding mechanism be developed that would permit low interest, long term loans for major repairs, renovations and/or new construction for facilities that serve low income children.

Pardee also pointed to building partnerships with utility companies to create energy savings, including green energy possibilities.

Making financing available would also help to level the playing field for facilities that serve low income families, according to Bob French, the director of policy and program development for Northstar Learning Centers.

“Having some sort or public financing is critical to enabling minority non-profits to continue to play a vital role in supporting young children and have them be their best,” French said.

Having improved space has proved a boon for some facilities.

Krissy Cannizzo, an assistant director at the Westfield Child Center in Brockton, talked about the school’s recent completion of a new outdoor play space that converted space from a playground setting to an “outdoor learning center.” The new space presented children with chances to plant vegetable and butterfly gardens, allowing the school to add science lessons that weren’t previously possible.

Cannizzo said the renovation was made possible through outside funding support, because fundraising is not an option at the school, where students are there on vouchers. Such a situation often leaves providers having to juggle expenses, Cannizzo said.

“A lot of times when budgets are tight the physical environment is not a priority. You kind of have to pick your battles,” Cannizzo said.

Email Will Richmond at wrichmond@heraldnews.com.

URL: http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1944401568/New-study-levels-criticism-at-areas-early-childhood-education-providers

SourceThe Herald News

Children’s Investment Fund Assessment

Classes & Lectures
Children’s Investment Fund Assessment
Tomorrow, November 15, 10:00 am
803 Bedford St, Fall River, MA, FREE
Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, Child Care Providers Join Children Investment Fund’s Effort to Improve Child Care Facilities
SouthCoast Forum to Discuss the Children’s Investment Fund Assessment of Early Childhood Education and Out-of-School Time Facilities in Massachusetts
What: The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts will join the United Way of Greater Fall River and child care providers from New Bedford, Brockton, and Fall River to become a part of a Children’s Investment Fund initiative to improve child care facilities in Massachusetts.
The Children’s Investment Fund is hosting a Southeastern Massachusetts regional forum to discuss its study of the inadequacies of child care space, “Building an Infrastructure for Quality,” at the Boys and Girls Club of Fall River on Tuesday, November 15. The study is the first-ever inventory of early childhood education (ECE) and out-of-school time (OST) facilities in Massachusetts or anywhere in the country. The report focuses on facilities serving children from low- and moderate-income families and will address the conditions of facilities related to building code compliance, health and safety, the learning environment, and adult work space. Of the 130 ECE and OST facilities surveyed for the study statewide, nearly 14 percent were located in the SouthCoast region.
The Fund has held a series of regional forums to inform residents of the importance of high quality early childhood education and out of school time facilities for educational achievement of children living low income communities and to build support for improving facility quality. The Fund is launching an effort to promote the establishment of long-term, loan interest loans that will allow providers access to capital that will improve the quality of facilities of their programs, and will have a positive impact on the achievement gap, school readiness, healthy brain development, and physical health, including childhood obesity.
Who: Panel Participants:
Mav Pardee, program director, Children’s Investment Fund
Sponsors:
Krissy Cannizzo, Westfield Child Center
Craig Dutra, Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts
Beth Gaffney, CACCI/Child Care Network
Bob Horne, United Way of Greater Fall River
Peter McCarthy, Boys and Girls Club of Fall River
Patty McGrath, Get on B.A.S.E./Building After School Excellence
Jay Miller, Boys and Girls Club of Brockton
Mary Reed, Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative For Children

When: Tuesday, November 15
10:00am – 12:00pm
Where: Community Room
Boys and Girls Club of Fall River
803 Bedford St., Fall River
For Directions visit: http://fallriverbgc.org/directions.htm

About Children’s Investment Fund (CIF)
Founded in 1991, CIF is a non-profit organization that strives to improve the supply and quality of early education, school age and youth services in Massachusetts. Its mission is to ensure that all children spend their days in physical environments that support healthy development and learning. CIF provides loan and grant financing, technical assistance, training and support to non-profit early care and education (ECE) and out-of-school time (OST) agencies planning facilities projects. CIF has assisted organizations such as Children First, For Kids Only, Youth in Motion, and the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center by helping develop better facilities as well as additional spaces for programs and the local community. The Fund is affiliated with the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC).

Event Details

Posted by: Jessica Bessell
Where 803 Bedford St, Fall River, MA 02723
Next on November 15, 2011

Time 10:00am–12:00pm
Who to bring Everyone
Price $0

SourceAttleboro Patch

Public funds urged to improve day care centers

Saturday, November 5, 2011
Public funds urged to improve day care centers

By Jacqueline Reis, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jreis@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Eileen M. Lavallee often tells parents who visit Webster Square Day Care Center, “We’re not pretty, but we have a lot of substance.”

Such is the case for many Massachusetts day care centers that, like Webster Square, serve low-income families, according to a recent report from the Children’s Investment Fund, a Boston-based organization that provides loan and grant financing, technical assistance and training to nonprofit early childhood education and out-of-school time centers.

They surveyed 73 randomly selected early childhood education centers and 57 out-of-school (such as after-school) centers statewide and found that: Only one site was fully handicapped accessible; only 15 percent of the programs were in space originally designed for that use; almost 70 percent of early childhood sites lacked classroom sinks; 65 percent of all sites lacked appropriate technology for teachers; 54 percent of early childhood centers lacked space and equipment for children to play physically indoors (known as gross motor space); and 22 percent of centers had elevated carbon dioxide levels, showing insufficient ventilation.

On Tuesday, the fund kicked off a statewide tour at the EcoTarium that advocates hope will drum up support for public financing of day care facilities.

“We need to expand the definition of quality to include the physical environment,” said Mav Pardee, director of the Children’s Investment Fund.

In Webster Square, the day care rooms in the basement of Aldersgate United Methodist Church were probably state of the art when they were built for that purpose in 1969, but they certainly aren’t now. Wood paneling is coming off the walls; the bathrooms, while renovated four years ago, are not adjacent to all of the classrooms and show their heavy use; the main door is usually unlocked, and a fire exit door in a classroom beside Main Street isn’t alarmed.

The bathroom renovations happened with help from Edward Street Child Services in Worcester and several partners, “but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Ms. Lavallee said at Tuesday’s event.

She was one of three local day care providers who spoke at Tuesday’s event. John Gardiner of Worcester Comprehensive Child Care Services spoke of his frustrations finding new space for day care facilities at Great Brook Valley, and Janet McKeag of the Elm Park Center for Early Childhood Education told of her difficulty and successes getting grants for renovations.

“Child care in itself is not a jazzy ask,” she said of her efforts to get grants.

The pre-K landscape is changing in Massachusetts, and advocates hope those changes will bring better facilities to early childhood centers. The state Department of Early Education and Care is implementing a quality rating and improvement system to assess day care, preschool and after-school settings, and facilities are one of five areas included. The state has also applied for federal money through the Race to the Top Early Learning challenge, and the Children’s Investment Fund hopes to use that attention to emphasize the importance of well-designed facility to student and teacher achievement.

At Webster Square, the only way to take care of all their facility needs would be to relocate to a new building, and that would be expensive, said Dianne Bruce, executive director of Edward Street Child Services. Even if they could raise the money to buy a new building, what the center really needs is an endowment to ensure that it will be able to maintain the facility, and it is difficult to get grants to build an endowment, Ms. Bruce said.

URL: http://www.telegram.com/article/20111105/NEWS/111059935/-1/NEWS04
Copyright 2011 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp

SourceWorcester Telegram & Gazette

A Big Leap for Quality in Early Education

Monday, October 24, 2011
A Big Leap for Quality in Early Education
Posted by Stefan Lanfer, Knowledge Officer
Earlier this year, Dr. Sherri Killins, Commissioner of the Massachusetts’ Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) launched the State’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). In the midst of a challenging economy and widespread budget cuts, Governor Patrick stood squarely behind the new effort. To better understand why this was such a priority and what QRIS may actually mean for young children and their families, Stefan Lanfer, Barr’s Knowledge Officer, spoke with two Barr grantees, who have trained their efforts on closing achievement and opportunity gaps for the State’s youngest citizens – Amy O’Leary, Director of the Early Education for All Campaign and Mav Pardee, Program Manager of the Children’s Investment Fund.
STEFAN: In plain English, what exactly is QRIS?
AMY: All the research shows that quality makes a big difference in terms of outcomes for kids. QRIS is a way to define what quality actually means. It creates a way for programs to assess their current quality and to have a clear pathway to improve. It lets EEC know how best to target resources. Ultimately, it makes it easy for parents to know what quality looks like, and how different programs stack up. It’s like a five star rating for a restaurant or hotel.
MAV: That’s exactly right. I’d just add that QRIS is a big leap forward, but by no means the first time quality has been a priority. EEC and those of us in the field have been working on it for a long time. That’s why Massachusetts already has more nationally accredited sites than anywhere in the country.
STEFAN: I’m glad you brought up accreditation. To improve access to high quality early education in Boston, Barr spent a lot of years helping programs achieve and maintain accreditation. After all the time and money, is QRIS now introducing a whole new set of requirements, and a brand new starting line?
MAV: That’s a good question. It’s one that came up a lot during the two years that our QRIS was being developed. Keep in mind the organizations providing early education and care programs in Massachusetts are largely pretty lean. They don’t have big middle management layers. Usually it’s one person. It takes over a year for a program to earn accreditation. Then every couple years, they need to get reaccredited. That’s why from the start it was so critical to align QRIS with accreditation – to make sure it all works together. People didn’t want to see that set aside or not incorporated.
AMY: Mav is right. But there is an important difference in Massachusetts, which is that getting accredited isn’t a free pass on QRIS. In some states it is. There are about 23 states that have already implemented their own versions of QRIS. In a few of them, accreditation bumps programs right to the highest level. In Massachusetts, being accredited is one way for programs to demonstrate they’ve met critical quality benchmarks. But to get to the highest level (Level 4), we’ve got higher standards in some areas than to meet accreditation requirements – like educational attainment and experience for administrators and teachers, or having a working sink in every classroom.
STEFAN: What difference will QRIS actually make for families and kids? I am a parent. I walk into a center. What do I notice?
MAV: Right now, not a lot. We’re still early in the process. But over time you will see more highly qualified teachers, better curriculum, better physical environments. You will also see programs incorporating QRIS into their marketing – because being a QRIS Level 3 or 4 will send parents a strong signal. The savvier families will pick this up early. But we’ll do outreach to others too.
STEFAN: What does it say about QRIS that Governor Patrick got behind it, even while making difficult cuts in so many other areas?
AMY: Obviously, we’re thrilled it’s a priority for him. And it makes sense to be one now, because this is about strengthening a system. It’s not about funding one more initiative and hoping for best. It’s a measurable way to talk about progress and where we want to be with respect to young children. It also positions Massachusetts to be competitive for federal money – especially the new Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge.
MAV: It also is perfectly consistent with the Governor’s focus on closing the achievement gap – and for all of us with our eyes on that goal. These days, at all levels of the education system, people are recognizing that what happens to kids in the first five years has enormous impacts. So investments there make a lot of sense – but only if we invest in quality.
STEFAN: What were some of the biggest challenges getting to this point?
AMY: Convincing practitioners this wasn’t just one more hoop but part of a system, and then coming to consensus about what defines quality. From the beginning, Commissioner Killins was committed to making sure QRIS was owned by those in the field – not just imposed from on high. There was a community group of 50-60 people working together on the standards. Getting to consensus was challenging, but so worth it. Everyone had input.
STEFAN: What do you see as the next big challenge for the field and as QRIS goes to scale?
MAV: We are going to have to figure out how to come up with funding to help programs meet these new standards, which is a tall order in an under-resourced field. Part of this will be taking a hard look at rate structure – especially in programs serving kids on federal subsidy. Subsidy rates are set every two years, based on a national market rate survey of cost of care. Subsidies are set at 75%, with parents expected to come up with 25%. But in Massachusetts, where costs are higher than anywhere else in the country, the subsidy ends up being closer to 50% of costs. That means programs are losing money on every child on a subsidy. And most programs I work with – including many in Boston – have over 80% of kids on subsidy. This is a big challenge.
Another big one is financing for facilities. We just did a facilities inventory across the State. We found that most programs don’t even have a line item in their budgets for repairs or replacements. So if furnace breaks, they’re in financial crisis. We have to get much more creative about financing for facilities and equipment.
STEFAN: Anything to add, Amy?
AMY: Data and alignment. We’ve got to be sure we’re measuring the right things, so that what we do pre-Kindergarten contributes to the critical outcomes – like third grade literacy.
STEFAN: Well said. Thank you both for your time. Really. And for all you are doing for kids.
AMY: My pleasure.
MAV: Mine too.

SourceBarr Foundation

“The Environment Reflects Our Attitude Toward Them”

Thursday, October 13, 2011
“The Environment Reflects Our Attitude Toward Them”
by Irene Sege
More than 90% of children attending Square One’s network of early education and care programs in Springfield and Holyoke live below the poverty line. More than 10% are homeless, 20% have asthma, and 30% are obese or at risk of obesity. The recent renovations of one of Square One’s centers was about more than cosmetics, President and CEO Joan Kagan told the audience at a Boston event yesterday. It was about delivering high-quality service to a high-needs population of young children.
“They’re coming from a chaotic environment,” Kagan said. “To have an environment that’s calming, relaxing and consistent shows they’re respected, and their parents are respected. They’re deserving of respect. The environment reflects our attitude toward them.”
The event was the release of the Children’s Investment Fund’s new report, “Building an Infrastructure for Quality: An Inventory of Early Childhood Education and Out-of-School Time Facilities in Massachusetts,” which found shortcomings in safety, air quality, indoor space for physical activity and other measures. Kagan’s comments on a panel underscored the report’s message that the quality of the physical space of early learning programs has a direct impact on the quality of the experience for children.
Too often, the report notes, the physical environment of early education settings creates barriers to delivering the high-quality programs that research consistently shows produce positive results, particularly for children from low-income families.
“The noted Italian educator Loris Malaguzzi,” the report states, “emphasized that a well-designed environment acts as ‘the third teacher’ because it promotes exploratory learning and physical activity, facilitates positive interactions, and keeps children safer and healthier.”
CIF commissioned the study from the Wellesley Centers for Women and On-Site Insight, which has expertise in capital needs assessments. Researchers visited 130 randomly selected licensed sites in low-income communities across the commonwealth. Of these, 73 were early childhood education centers, and 57 were out-of-school time sites. Researchers also examined 97 licensed sites in Boston — 45 from the statewide sample plus an additional 52 sites. The samples did not include programs in public schools, which have access to financing through the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and employer-sponsored worksite programs, because they also have access to the capital needed to create appropriate physical infrastructure. Statewide, approximately 85% of early childhood programs that the researchers visited operate in space designed for other uses.
The report gives relatively good marks to early childhood programs in creating learning environments with adequate space per child and with appropriate room arrangements, displays and furnishing – with more than 90% of early education sites meeting these critieria.
However, on many other measures of the physical environment, a significant proportion of early education and out-of-school-time centers fell short. CIF’s statewide findings include:
• Indoor air quality. More than one-fifth (22%) of centers had carbon dioxide levels above 700 parts per million, an indication of inadequate outdoor area circulating in the space. More than a third (36%) had no mechanical ventilation over diapering areas and toilets.
• Safety. One-third of early education sites had playgrounds with equipment that presented entrapment hazards. One quarter of all sites had at least one classroom with windows that lacked screens in good repair.
• Physical activity. More than half (54%) of early education programs did not have indoor space and equipment for gross motor activities.
• Sinks and toilets. Almost 70% of programs did not have classroom sinks, which makes hand washing, a key element of good hygiene, more difficult. And 38% of early childhood settings did not have bathroom areas directly accessible from the classroom, which means teachers must escort children to hallway bathrooms, interrupting classroom routines and interactions.
• Temperature. In 34% of sites, temperatures fell outside thermal comfort standards established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Ari-Conditioning Engineers. Research shows that children’s attention suffers when heat and humidity rise above comfort levels.
• Acoustics. More than a quarter (26%) of centers had no acoustical tile or ceiling treatment, a problem because “chronic exposure to ambient noise is associated reading difficulties, poor long-term memory, and poor attention.”
The report makes several recommendations:
• Address hazardous conditions.
• Build partnerships with utility companies… to subsidize the cost of energy saving improvements.
• Leverage community-development resources to build or improve sites.
• Leverage the focus on high quality early childhood education through the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge competition and draw attention to the state of infrastructure.
• Develop a public funding mechanism for major repairs, renovation or new construction.
In addition to Kagan, the panel included David McGrath, deputy commissioner for field operations at the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, and Steven Kenney, president of N.B. Kenney Co., Inc., and a CIF board member. Kenney noted that investing in the physical infrastructure of early education and out-of-school time programs produces benefits that extend beyond those children reap from improved environments. It would create jobs. A $100 million road project, he said, produces 100-200 jobs for construction workers. A $100 million vertical construction project creates 500-600 construction jobs. “Imagine the possibilities,” he said.

URL: http://eyeonearlyeducation.org/2011/10/13/%E2%80%9Cthe-environment-reflects-our-attitude-toward-them%E2%80%9D/

SourceEye on Early Education Blog

Study faults some day-care centers

Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Study faults some day-care centers
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff
One-third of child-care centers in low-income communities contain unsafe play equipment, half lack space for active indoor play, and a fifth suffer from poor ventilation that can make children drowsy, according to an unusual survey of the physical conditions at places where many children spend most of their waking hours.
The survey of 182 child-care centers located in communities with a high proportion of children from low-income families found chronically deficient child care, including poor acoustics that make conversation between teachers and children difficult and indoor temperatures that are too hot in summer and too cold in winter.
The study’s bottom line, said Mav Pardee, program director for the Children’s Investment Fund, is that many facilities in cities and other low-income areas must improve significantly to give children the kind of early development and learning that pays huge societal dividends as the children mature.
“High-quality child care is absolutely essential for children’s successful development and later academic success,’’ said Pardee, who planned to release the results at a press conference today. “Kids who experience high-quality child care do better in life. We all benefit.’’
The new report comes at a time of increasing attention to care for children from low-income families following the Sept. 12 death of 17-month-old Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre when he was left for six hours inside a sweltering van because the driver apparently overlooked him at the end of his morning child-care run in Dorchester.
Some children of two working parents or a working single parent spend a majority of their waking hours in child care – up to 10 hours a day, 52 weeks a year, and receive two-thirds of their meals there. But, until now, there have been few statewide assessments of the physical quality of the centers that serve low-income families.
Pardee’s organization, which offers financing and technical assistance to child-care centers, asked the Wellesley Center for Women and a private engineering firm to carry out the survey after members of the Children’s Investment Fund increasingly found structural problems during their visits to centers that accommodated 10 to 100 children. The survey doesn’t include thousands of smaller family child-care operations.
Researchers spent roughly half a day at each center, which were randomly selected from state-licensed day-care and early childhood education centers in relatively low-income communities. To be included, a center had to serve at least some children who receive state-subsidized care.
The researchers found that almost all centers complied with at least 80 percent of state regulatory standards and most of the violations, such as uncovered electrical outlets, could be easily remedied, Pardee said.
But, beyond minimum requirements, the researchers focused on “professional standards,’’ an amalgamation of national accreditation standards, including the state’s own recently adopted quality rating and improvement system.
Using those criteria, only half the centers measured up, the study found. Among potential health and safety hazards, the study found that 33 percent of centers statewide and 50 percent of those in Boston had play equipment and structures where children could get stuck or trapped, and that 26 percent of centers did not have screens in windows used for ventilation.
Further, the study found that 22 percent of centers have unhealthy levels of carbon dioxide, reflecting poor air circulation, and that 36 percent of centers lack mechanical ventilation over diapering and toilet areas.
The study also found a lack of classroom sinks in nearly 70 percent of centers, a likely contributing factor to the spread of infection, Pardee said. Children’s bathrooms were located too far from classrooms in 38 percent of centers statewide and 62 percent in Boston, the study found.
The study also found inadequate indoor space where young children can run around. The researchers said sedentary day care could contribute to long-term health problems such as obesity, high blood pressure, and asthma.
For example, 54 percent of preschool programs statewide and 31 percent in Boston lack indoor space for slides, riding toys and other equipment that helps children develop gross motor skills. On the other hand, the study found that centers rarely exceed the 35 square feet of indoor space per child space minimum required for a state license.
“In many centers, there isn’t enough room for one child to get a book from the shelf without walking through an area where another child is playing with blocks,’’ Pardee said.
The study also found that 26 percent of centers lack acoustical tile or ceiling treatment that would make conversation easier amid the cacophony of playing children. The study found that 20 percent of preschool centers have at least one classroom without exterior windows, contributing to a lack of fresh air. At facilities for older children, about one-third have classrooms without exterior windows.
The study also found that 34 percent of centers statewide do not comply with national thermal comfort standards of 68 to 78 degrees in the winter and 74 to 82 degrees in the summer.
Sean Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com.
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

URL: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/10/12/study_faults_some_day_care_centers_in_low_income_massachusetts_communities/?page=

SourceBoston Globe

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