from the Education Policies & Issues Center

 

Several reports from Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker's Task Force on Early Childhood and Education are now available.  In Early Care and Education: The Keystone of Pennsylvania's Future, the task force recommends supporting school readiness as a top priority. A second report, the Pennsylvania Quality of Early Childhood Settings Study,  discusses issues of quality in early childhood settings.  Other reports include benchmarks, research to practice issues, and survey results.

 

Available online at  http://www.epi-center.org/GovTaskForce.htm, the recommendations include:

 

• Ensuring that more early education programs achieve accreditation

• Expanding Head Start

• Making full-day kindergarten available to all children, especially low-income children

• Adopting a statewide definition of school readiness and making sure that children are ready for school and schools are ready for children.

• Implementing more planned curriculum in early education programs

• Providing parents with information, skills and support regarding parenting and subsidy information, while including parents in the planning for new services and programs for children.

 

Particular recommendations regarding improving workforce quality in early childcare and education include:

 

• Requiring more credentials for early educators, such as degrees in early childhood, specific training in Director capabilities, licensing, and professional certification.

• Increasing scholarships and loan forgiveness programs for students who are completing degrees and/or working in early education programs.

• Fully implementing the Keystone Stars rating system

• Supporting Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH)

• Increasing subsidy rates for providers of quality childcare programs.
   

For more information, contact Harriet Dichter at hdichter@uwsepa.org or 215-665-2531.