Below are resources for early childhood professionals and those serving the early childhood community.
How To Get More English Learners Prepared To Enter Kindergarten? Illinois Wrestles With Answer With data showing particularly low rates of kindergarten readiness among Illinois’ English language learners, some advocates are zeroing in on a particular problem: They say that too many schools lack the linguistic capacity to measure their incoming students and thus may miss signs of children’s capabilities. Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, manager of education policy and research at the Latino Policy Forum, highlighted a potential explanation: a lack of bilingual teachers. “You might have kids that are expressing something in their home language or in both the home language and English, and it might be difficult for a lot of teachers who don’t speak that language to capture that information,” she said. “I really think [the data] speaks more to our bilingual teacher shortage.” The state found that only 26% of students statewide met requirements to be considered “on track” to enter kindergarten. For English learners, that proportion dropped to 17%.
Breaking The Silence On Early Child Care And Education Costs: A Values-Based Budget For Children, Parents, And Teachers In California This report found that California’s child early care and education (ECE) system is underfunded, and California policymakers have not been willing to acknowledge the true cost of creating a comprehensive ECE system. Proposals for ECE reform have focused primarily on improving access and affordability for families but have ignored the elephant in the room: Early care and education is substantially “funded” through low teacher pay and inadequate supports for ECE teachers. In addition to being a serious injustice, lack of adequate financial and professional supports for ECE teachers compromises the consistency and quality of care children receive.
