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EARLY EDUCATION AND CARE OVERVIEW
WHAT IS EARLY EDUCATION AND CARE?
Early education and care encompass all of the factors and dynamics that impact
a child's early development. Considered separately, 'early education' includes
the features and components of a child's environment and relationships, both
in and out of the home, that, ideally, contribute optimally to the child's
preparation for beginning a formal education. 'Early care' involves assuring
that a child has a nurturing, enriching and safe environment, inclusive of
both parental and out of home care, during the early, formative and vulnerable
years of life. Together, early education and care provide the framework for
meeting many of the fundamental needs of children.
Table 1
The Seven Fundamental Needs of Children
| NEED
|
DEFINITION
|
| Safe, Secure Environment
with Stable, Caring Adult |
A safe, secure environment
that includes at least one stable, predictable, comforting, and protective
relationship with a capable adult who has a personal commitment to the
child's daily welfare and who has adequate means, time and personal
qualities to provide for the child's needs. |
| Consistent Relationship
with Nurturing Caregivers |
Consistent, nurturing relationships
with the same caregivers, including the primary one, early in life and
throughout childhood. These serve as the cornerstones of both emotional
and intellectual competence. |
| Complex, Ongoing Interactions
|
Rich, ongoing interactions
that increase in complexity and in subtlety as development progresses.
|
| Environment that Adapts
to Child's Developmental Style |
An environment that allows
the child to progress through developmental stages in his/her own style
and timeline. |
| Opportunities to Experiment
|
Opportunities to experiment,
to find solutions, to take risks, and even to fail at attempted tasks.
Out of these opportunities, children develop the perseverance and self-confidence
needed to succeed. |
| Structure and Clear Boundaries
|
Structure and clear boundaries
through which children gain security, self-discipline and responsibility.
|
| Stable Neighborhoods and
Support for Families |
Stable neighborhoods and
communities; families need all the resources and support of friends,
kin networks, religious fellowships, and cultural traditions available
to them. |
Source. Greenspan,
S.I. (1997).
The fundamental needs of children have changed very little over time. How
these fundamental needs are met, however, has changed greatly. With more single-parent
households and families in which both parents work, early education and care
is less family-centered and home-based and more often found in settings outside
the home. In addition, breakthroughs in the understanding of early brain development
have heightened the importance of these early learning experiences. These
changes have resulted in the placement of greater emphasis on the quality
of care and experiences that children receive early in life, both in home
and out of home settings
This report provides an update of the status of child care and early
education in the Austin/Travis County area and adds an overview of issues
and local resources involved in providing family support, especially
parenting education resources. Forthcoming assessments will address
other issues impacting the development and well-being of children, including
health, mental health and child abuse and neglect. In addition, the
Community Action Network Child Care Task Force, Ambassadors for Children,
has developed a series of recommendations for action to address key
issues for improving the quality and increasing the availability of
child care. This report will be highlighted in the Child Care section
and can be found at www.caction.org.
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Austin/Travis County will
be a community where all children and families have access to a comprehensive
system of high-quality early education, child care, and family support
in order to assure that all children have opportunities for successful
and productive lives.
Community
Action Network 1997 Assessment
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The next steps in assessing Austin/Travis County's ability to support quality
early education, child care, and family support include examining the child
population as well as current services and their costs.
Experts on child development widely agree that the early years are critical
for building the foundation for future development. Attachment theory and
brain development research have served as the dominant frameworks for understanding
critical components of early development. Research in early brain development
shows that age zero to three is the most crucial time. "By the age of
three, the brains of children are two and a half times more active than the
brains of adults - and they stay that way throughout the first decade of life"
(Shore, 1997, pg. 21). The major premise of attachment theory is that through
interactions with primary caregivers - especially the mother and father -
children build internal working models of themselves and of their relationships
with others. "Both quality of care and security of attachment affect
children's later capacity for empathy, emotional regulation, and behavioral
control" (Shore, 1997, pg. 41). Numerous researchers have demonstrated
a significant relationship between early childhood events and later delinquency
and behavior disorders.
Research findings offer evidence that high-quality preschool programs provide
both short and long term benefits to children living in poverty and at high
risk of failing in school. In relation to a comparison group not receiving
quality preschool care, adults who had participated in the High/Scope Perry
Preschool Project (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993, as described
in Shore, 1997) had:
- Significantly higher monthly earnings
- Significantly higher home ownership
- Significantly higher levels of schooling
- Significantly fewer social services received in the last 10 years
- Significantly fewer arrests
While few would argue about the importance of investing in children for the
future of the community, would they readily answer "yes" to the
following question? Are you willing to make financial commitments today for
long term benefits - benefits that may not be apparent for twenty or more
years?
In a study recently completed by The University of Texas Center for the Study
of Human Resources (June 1999), the net costs and benefits of early childhood
investments were examined for Texas children who were living at or near poverty.
The estimated total cost of serving 151,830 Texas infants and children with
targeted early interventions is $5.65 billion (in 1998 dollars), but a conservative
estimate of the net benefit is more than $6 billion. For individuals
participating in interventions, the benefits from investments largely result
from increased lifetime earnings due to increased high school and college
graduation rates. Benefits to Texas taxpayers include:
- Reduced criminal activity ($5.32 billion)
- Increased employee output yields (nearly $2 billion)
- Higher tax payments (nearly $1.5 billion)
- Savings for special education expenditures ($746 million)
The need for safe, quality, affordable child care arrangements has become
a major issue for families and communities across the nation. In addition,
economic pressures, the competing demands of parenting and workplace responsibilities,
and single parenting add additional stress to the normal pressures and demands
faced by parents and families. What has become evident is the reality that
there are many low-income working families. Many parents who are working hard
and trying to make ends meet without public assistance make up the ranks of
the 'working poor.'
While the needs of children have remained basically the same, during the
last third of the 20th century, marked demographic and economic
changes have occurred in families throughout the United States and (Hofferth,
1999). Major changes include:
- An increase in the incidence of single-parent families: Increases
in marriages ending in divorce and births to single mothers have resulted
in more children having only one parent for at least a part of their childhood;
- Increased maternal participation in the workforce: By 1994, 70%
of married mothers with dependent children were in the workforce (U.S. Bureau
of the Census, 1996);
- Increased incidence of working poor families: In Texas, despite
the growing economy that has increased the number of jobs, the hourly wage
for a low-wage worker has declined from $6.92 in 1979 (in 1997 dollars)
to $6.12 in 1997. More families lack health insurance and must face higher
costs for housing and child care. With these and other pressures, working
poor families in Texas are falling further and further behind (Center for
Public Policy Priorities, 1999).
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