Important Issues Facing Children?

What do you see as the most important concern facing children in America? Poverty? Unemployment? Health? Full Day Kindergarten? Literacy?  Election day is tomorrow. Do you know how your candidate stands on these and other crucial issues? The Worcester Telegraph has an insightful and pithy article.Read on.

Eight questions about young children to ask candidates

by Irene Sege

Election Day is fast approaching, and we want to make sure that candidates put young children and families on their agendas. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, so let's ask candidates to be part of the village and commit to supporting high-quality early education and literacy.

1. A high-return investment
Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman calls high-quality early education an essential high-return investment. Heckman says, “The United States invests relatively little at the starting point – in early childhood development – and as a consequence pays dearly for this neglect at every point thereafter. Our country will be unable to compete in the global economy if it does not address the increasing numbers of children who are not prepared for success in school, career and life.” Yet despite overwhelming evidence that high-quality early education works, far too many families lack access to high-quality, affordable early education and care for their children.

Question: How will you answer Heckman's call to invest in young children? What will it take to act on this evidence?

2. Third grade reading
Third grade reading is a critical educational benchmark that strongly predicts a child's chances of success in school and beyond. Yet 39% of Massachusetts third graders scored below proficient in reading on the 2012 MCAS. Research tells us that the path to reading success begins at birth and continues through the primary grades and beyond.

Question: What is your plan to ensure that children become proficient readers by the end of third grade?

3. Full-day kindergarten
Research shows that children who attend full-day kindergarten programs make greater gains in early reading and math than children in half-day programs. They also exhibit more independent learning, classroom involvement, productivity in work with peers and reflectiveness than half-day kindergarteners.

Question: What will you do to support high-quality full-day kindergarten and to ensure that all children have access to full-day kindergarten?

4. Affordability for families
A new report from Child Care Aware finds that in 35 states and the District of Columbia the annual cost for center-based care exceeds a year's in-state tuition and fees at a four-year public college. Once again, Massachusetts has the highest annual costs in the nation for both 4-year-olds and infants in full-time center-based care.

Question: What will you do to make early education and care more affordable for families?

5. Trained, professional early educators
Just as young children need effective teachers in their first years in our public schools, they also need effective teachers in their early learning settings. Research finds that young children learn best in classrooms led by early educators with bachelor's degrees and specialized training.

Question: What will you do support the professional development of early educators returning to school and the training of people entering the field?

6. Compensation
The early education field suffers from low pay and high turnover. And as early educators, particularly those in community-based settings, increase their education and training, their pay is not keeping up.

Question: What will you do to link increased compensation for early educators with increased training?

7. Educational continuity
Education is a continuum that runs from birth to college and career. For young children that means aligning early childhood settings with the primary grades.

Question: What will you do to support high-quality education for young children, from early childhood to third grade?

8. A research-backed positive impact
High-quality early education is one of the few educational strategies with a demonstrated positive impact on children's learning and life outcomes. Its many benefits, particularly for children from low-income families, include improved early literacy and numeracy skills and social-emotional development, as well as reduced special education and grade retention, increased high school graduation and college attendance. Its longer-term benefits include higher earnings, reduced need for public assistance and better health. Yet too many children do not have access to high-quality early education.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20121002/NEWS/121009835/0