eNotes
July 28, 2017In this Issue:
- Intervention IDEAs for Children Impacted by Opioids Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
- GAO Report - Early Learning and Childcare Agencies Address Fragmentation Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- Linking Data Between Part C and Part B 619 Source: Center for Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy Center)
- Advancing State Policies for Infants and Toddlers Source: ZERO TO THREE
- QRIS National and State Resource Libraries Source: Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) National Learning Network
- Closing the Leadership Gap Source: The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership
- Rare Disorders Fact Sheet Source: Center for Parent Information & Resources (CPIR)
- 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
1. Intervention IDEAs for Children Impacted by Opioids
"Every 25 minutes, an infant is born suffering from opioid withdrawal." This topical brief (December 2016) from OSEP discusses the environmental risk factors that contribute to the rising epidemic of opioid exposure to children. The brief also describes symptoms of exposure and provides an exhaustive list of interventions and resources for parents, teachers and children.
Visit OSEP's IDEAs that Work website for additional topical briefs.
2. GAO Report - Early Learning and Childcare Agencies Address Fragmentation
The GAO released a new report (July 2017) after reexamining 2012 findings on the following conditions:
2) fragmentation, overlap, and duplication among early learning and child care programs and agencies' efforts to address these conditions; and
3) the extent to which agencies assess performance for programs with an explicit early learning or child care purpose
The GAO concurs that improved coordination between the Department of Education and Health & Human Services has addressed and reduced the effects of fragmentation and overlap between agencies.
3. Linking Data Between Part C and Part B 619
The DaSy Center funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) released a special collection of resources related to linking data across early childhood programs. The collection was designed specifically for those interested in linking data between IDEA Part C early intervention and IDEA Part B 619 preschool programs. Other early childhood programs may also find the resources useful. The collection includes resources from the following agencies:
- DaSy Center
- Center for the Integration of IDEA Data (CIID)
- Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)
- Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC)
- U.S. Department of Education, and more.
4. Advancing State Policies for Infants and Toddlers
Through a grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation, ZERO TO THREE supported three states (Indiana, Oregon, and Vermont) in developing cross-sector infant-toddler policy priorities, such as engaging stakeholders, building consensus, and elevating infant-toddler issues with policymakers. This new brief (July 2017) describes their experiences, the actions taken to advance these priorities, and provides recommendations to states pursuing similar endeavors.
5. QRIS National and State Resource Libraries
Did you know that QRIS National Learning Network has an online national state resource library with a variety of QRIS topic areas, and a state resource library including resources developed by states to support their QRIS implementation? Email Debi Mathias, if you have materials you would like to add to this repository. Please include the resource (PDF or link) with a description of the work and its relevance to the early learning field in your email.
6. Closing the Leadership Gap
The McCormick Center has published the L.E.A.D. Early Childhood Clearinghouse to provide improved data on the early childhood leadership workforce. See their executive summary published June 26, 2017 for a national status report and policy recommendations for effective program leadership in early childcare and education.
7. Rare Disorders Fact Sheet
"Roughly 7,000 rare diseases/disorders have been identified as affecting the human race." CPIR has released its updated Disability Fact Sheet (June 2017) to assist families dealing with rare genetic and other disorders to address the challenges in finding effective treatments and medicine.
8. 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return
Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child has released a new practitioner tool (June 2017) to use with parents and caregivers that focuses on the importance of "serve and return" interactions that aid healthy child development. The 5 easy steps developed by the Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) program are available online or as a PDF that can be printed and shared with parents and caregivers.