From Neurons to Neighborhoods An Update: Workshop Summary (2012) / Chapter Skim
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3 Policy Issues in Early Childhood Development
3 Policy Issues in Early Childhood Development
Pages 25-42
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State and federal maternal health legislation has expanded to include home visiting programs throughout the states. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
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Jack Shonkoff, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, presented a new framework in examining how the science of early childhood development can contribute to social change. THE FEDERAL POLICY ENVIRONMENT1 Joan Lombardi U.S.
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"These are the things that I hear about when I travel across the country as having a profound effect on families," said Lombardi. During the decade before the release of From Neurons to Neighborhoods, a robust set of early childhood policies emerged, including policies influencing child care, family and medical leave, Early Head Start, welfare reform, child support, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and family preservation.
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However, the rate of children ages 0 to 5 living in poverty also has increased over the past decade, and the fraction of young children living in poverty is greater than the fraction of poor children ages 6 to 17. "Unfortunately the line is going in the wrong direction," Lombardi said.
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New research initiatives include a study of the workforce for early childhood care conducted through the National Academies. Child Care, Head Start, and Early Head Start programs have all been expanded.
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From Neurons to Neighborhoods said that the time has come to move beyond such either/ors. Lombardi concluded her remarks by quoting from the report: "In the final analysis, healthy child development is dependent on a combination of individual responsibility, informal social supports, and formalized structures that evolve within a society."
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A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE2 Mary Eming Young The World Bank Just as From Neurons to Neighborhoods led to major early childhood initiatives in the United States, the global community has been converging on the importance of early childhood development and the need for urgent action. These calls for action have several sources, said Mary Eming Young, Lead Child Development Specialist for the World Bank's Human Development Network.
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Say that early childhood development programs consist of thousands of micro projects that serve 15 to 20 children each, Young observed. Clusters of 15 to 20 micro projects would form neighborhood clusters.
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The third task is to expand access to early childhood development programs and ensure the quality of these programs. Enhanced professional development and better understanding of the minimal requirements for quality will strengthen programs.
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For example, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and other Latin American countries have made great progress establishing a continuum of programs beginning with prenatal care and extending through primary school. They are harnessing new understandings from science to build parenting and early childhood programs.
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Early childhood programs can send children along trajectories toward more equity, she said. A questioner asked whether place-based programs can reach transient populations like the homeless or highly mobile children, and Young agreed that it is possible for such children to be left behind.
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"We need better strategies to take things to scale." The third strategy, on which Shonkoff focused, is to build, test, and promote enhanced theories of change. This strategy was implicit in the original work on From Neurons to Neighborhoods, and it can be more explicit today, given that the science base is an even greater potential source of innovative ideas.
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A Partnership for Innovation One way to translate a science base into more effective programs is to bring together people with diverse expertise. For example, the Center on the Developing Child, which Shonkoff directs, has been developing a joint initiative with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
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These are aspects of social and emotional development and executive functioning that interfere with children's ability to achieve full benefit from enriched learning opportunities. "We cannot simply provide enrichment; we also have to reduce barriers to healthy development," said Shonkoff.
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If policy makers understood the impact of behavior, emotion, and executive functioning on learning, there would no longer be a policy debate about whether early childhood programs should focus on cognitive skills or social and emotional development. Similarly, policy makers need to understand that the early childhood policy agenda is as much about health as it is about education.
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"That would be a tremendous new contribution to the field." Discussion Shonkoff was asked what the United States can learn from other countries in establishing programs and policies that affect early childhood development, and he pointed out that many countries have established promising early childhood initiatives that are worthy of examination. However, the United States has a more individualistic political culture than do many other countries and therefore does not necessarily look abroad for policy
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From page 41... ...
In addition, by working at the state level, new ideas can be instituted in places that are more hospitable to them. For example, the Early Childhood Innovation Partnership is currently working with a state to connect its child welfare system to a larger health agenda, in part using funds and guidelines provided through the new federal health care law.
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