eNotes
August 5, 2016In this Issue:
- New Guidance Addresses the Behavioral Needs of Students with Disabilities Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services - August 4, 2016
- Expanding Access to High Quality Early Learning Source: U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services - August 1, 2016
- Maintaining the Benefits of Preschool - Review of the Literature Source: U.S. Departments of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development - August 1, 2016
- Joint Letter Supporting Family Engagement in Early Learning Source: U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services - August 1, 2016
- Child Care in America: 2016 State Fact Sheets Source: Child Care Aware of America - August 5, 2016
- New Parent Resources Available on HealthyChildren.org Source: American Academy of Pediatrics - July 21, 2016
- Implementing 15 Essential Elements for High Quality: A State and Local Policy Scan Source: National Institute for Early Education (NIEER) - July 2016
- Interactive Maps of Public Preschool Access and Quality Source: Hechinger Report and National Institute for Early Education - July 12, 2016
1. New Guidance Addresses the Behavioral Needs of Students with Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Education has published a Dear Colleague Letter (August 1, 2016), which provides guidance on the requirement that schools must provide positive behavioral supports to children with disabilities who need them. It also clarifies that the repeated use of disciplinary actions may suggest that many children with disabilities may not be receiving appropriate behavioral interventions and supports. An accompanying Summary for Stakeholders highlights the main points of the new guidance. For more information, visit the Rethink Discipline website.
2. Expanding Access to High Quality Early Learning
The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services have released the following new resources highlighting work that is being done to improve access to high-quality early learning.
- Fact Sheet: Expanding Access to High-Quality Early Learning (August 2016)
- Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Year 2015 Progress Update (August 2016) - Provides highlights from the 2015 Annual Performance Reports of the 20 states that have received Early Learning Challenge (ELC) grants since 2011. Findings show that ELC states are including more early learning and development programs in their Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (TQRIS); enrolling more children with high needs in high-quality programs; and providing more children with developmental and behavioral health screenings to help detect medical or developmental issues earlier.
These and other related resources can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlylearning/index.html.
3. Maintaining the Benefits of Preschool - Review of the Literature
The U.S. Department of Education recently released the results of a literature review on two strategies that can help children maintain the positive effects of preschool as they progress from kindergarten through grade 3: (1) preschool and K-3 alignment, and (2) differentiated instruction in kindergarten and first grade.
These and other related resources can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlylearning/index.html.
4. Joint Letter Supporting Family Engagement in Early Learning
Education Secretary John B. King and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell have released a Joint Letter (August 2016) supporting the Departments' recent Policy Statement on Family Engagement (May 2016). The Departments aim to support and encourage states, districts, schools, and public and private early childhood programs, including child care and Head Start, to take action to develop and implement effective family engagement policies and practices.
This letter and related resources can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlylearning/index.html.
5. Child Care in America: 2016 State Fact Sheets
A new annual report, Child Care in America: 2016 State Fact Sheets (July 2016), uses federal and national data and information from a number of different state agencies to report on issues related to the state of quality child care and early learning programs across the country, the child care workforce, the costs of child care, and the circumstances working families face when trying to find affordable, quality child care. Read the full report here.
6. New Parent Resources Available on HealthyChildren.org
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has added two new articles to their online parent resource website, HealthyChildren.org. Both of the new articles feature milestone checklists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) "Learn the Signs. Act Early." program.
- Milestones Matter: 10 to Watch for by Age 5 (July 2016)
- It Takes a Village: Monitoring Your Child's Development (July 2016)
7. Implementing 15 Essential Elements for High Quality: A State and Local Policy Scan
A new report, Implementing 15 Essential Elements for High Quality: A State and Local Policy Scan. (July 2016), explores the extent to which 41 states, the District of Columbia, and three large cities support high-quality state-funded preschool education. The 15 essential elements used to determine quality can be categorized into three clusters: enabling environment, rigorous policies, and strong practices.
8. Interactive Maps of Public Preschool Access and Quality
The Hechinger Report worked together with the National Institute for Early Education (NIEER) to create Interactive Maps of Public Preschool Access and Quality, which provide a visual look at how access and quality is distributed across the country. The access data comes from NIEER's State of Preschool 2015 report. The quality data comes from the NIEER's Implementing 15 Essential Elements for High Quality: A State and Local Policy Scan.