April 2006
April 2006 Monthly Update
"The best way to improve schools is to improve the students sent to them."
-- James J. Heckman, Nobel laureate in economics in 2000. Professor, University of Chicago
- Legislative Breakfast Celebrates Week of the Young Child
- Celebrate the Week of the Young Child! April 2 – 8, 2006
- Massachusetts House Unanimously Passes An Act Relative to Early Education and Care (H. 4755)
- QUEST Early Educator Workforce Program Hires Additional Career Counselor
- Planning for Voluntary Universal PreSchool for Springfield’s 3, 4 and 5-year olds
Legislative Breakfast Celebrates Week of the Young Child
To honor the Week of the Young Child, CHECH and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s preK Committee are co-sponsoring a Legislative Breakfast on Friday morning, April 7 at the Early Childhood Centers of Greater Springfield, Inc., 15 Catharine Street, Springfield.
Western Massachusetts legislators have been invited to learn more about the Early Education for All Campaign, the current work of the Department of Early Education and Care, and early childhood issues including healthcare and oral health.
Speaking to the legislators on behalf of the early childhood community will be Jon Baker, President of the Kids Place, Inc., Joan Kagan, President and CEO of Springfield Day Nursery, Frank Robinson, Executive Director, Partners for a Healthier Community, and James Ward, Executive Director of Early Childhood Centers of Greater Springfield, Inc.
Celebrate the Week of the Young Child! April 2 – 8, 2006
The week of the Young child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC). Across the country, young children and their families depend on quality education and care, which help children get a great start, and bring lasting benefits for our society as a whole. Week of the Young Child is a time to recognize the people, programs and policies that are helping to build better futures for all children.
“Early learning experiences are crucial to young children’s growth and development,” said Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D., NAEYC Executive Director. “Week of the Young Child is an opportunity for all of us to recognize the importance of the early years, and work together to ensure all children have safe care and quality learning experiences that will help them succeed in school and beyond.”
For more information about the Week of the Young Child, go to http://www.naeyc.org.
Massachusetts House Unanimously Passes An Act Relative to Early Education and Care (H. 4755)
On March 15, 2006, the House unanimously passed (150-0) H. 4755, comprehensive legislation that details the powers and duties of the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), a thoughtful, thorough and visionary plan for EEC. The bill now moves to the Massachusetts Senate.
“Now is the time to thank your local legislator in the House of Representatives for supporting this important piece of legislation,” reports Sally Fuller, Project Director for Cherish Every Child (CHECH). “There’s still lots of work to be done, but we’re all working on the same page and with the same goal on behalf of Massachusetts’ youngest citizens.”
The goal of the Early Education for All Campaign, an initiative of Strategies for Children, Inc. and supported by the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, is to make high-quality early childhood education available to all Massachusetts children, ages three through five, through a mixed system of private and public providers. To achieve this goal, the Campaign built a broad-based constituency across the state to help develop and advocate for a state legislative proposal in 2003, significant portions of which were passed into law as part of the FY 2005 budget. This law created the Board and consolidated Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to administer the state’s early education and care system and laid the foundation for universally accessible, high-quality early education. The new Department of Early Education and Care became operational on July 1, 2005.
To continue the work on behalf of universal preschool, the Early Education for All Campaign worked with the leadership team of Rep. Patricia Haddad, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Education and Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry to build on the foundation already in place and filed the legislation that would ultimately become H. 4755. This legislation creates the statutory infrastructure in the Department for the development and implementation of a new voluntary, high-quality universal preschool program.
For more information, please visit www.earlyeducationforall.org.
Planning for Voluntary Universal PreSchool for Springfield’s 3, 4 and 5-year olds
Key stakeholders in Springfield’s early childhood community have been meeting for several months to plan for voluntary universal preschool for all Springfield’s 3, 4 and 5-year olds. Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Joe Burke, Davis Foundation’s Executive Director Mary Walachy and CHECH Project Director Sally Fuller and at least a dozen members of the early childhood education and provider community are participating in the research, data collection and planning to make this vision a reality. The group recently met with Ann Reale , Commissioner for the Department of Early Education and Care, to talk about the scope of the work.
Also participating in the meetings are: Judy Battista of HeadStart; Cynthia Caporaso of Springfield Early Care and Education Partnership; Susan Catron, Mary Ann Morris and Dan Warwick of the Springfield Public Schools; Erin Craft of the Department of Early Education and Care; Michael Denney of the New North Citizens Council; Joan Kagan and Judi Freccero of Springfield Day Nursery; Frank Robinson of Partners for a Healthier Community; Kathy Treglia of the Greater Springfield YMCA; Pat Wise and Amy Carey of PreSchool Enrichment Team; James Ward of the Early Childhood Centers of Greater Springfield.
QUEST Early Educator Workforce Program Hires Additional Career Counselor
Joining Amy Carey, Program Manager for the QUEST program, is Carmaris Denson, former early childhood educator. A graduate of Springfield College, Carmaris has had seven years experience as a teacher, working at the YMCA of Greater Springfield in the Magic Years program. She began as a teacher’s Assistant and became a lead teacher. She has also worked at the YWCA of Western Massachusetts in the domestic violence field, and as a social worker for the Department of Social Service in Springfield.
The QUEST program, administered by the PreSchool Enrichment Team, works to develop a coordinated and systematic path for early educators to pursue their professional growth and ultimately obtain an Associate or Baccalaureate degree in Early Childhood Education, or a related field.
