News from PennAEYC

October 2010
Our vision is that every child in Pennsylvania has the equal opportunity to be a successful, responsible, and productive member of society as a result of early childhood experiences.

Greetings!

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last few months you should be aware that Pennsylvania has an election coming right around the corner. Literally, we have less than one week until November 2, 2010 - Election Day. Maybe you are a "super voter" or maybe you have never voted before. Regardless of your voting past, make this election one that you can say you were proud to participate in as a voice for children.

Voting is a right that many have fought for throughout history and that millions of people throughout the world still do not enjoy. As Americans, we have the great privilege to live in a free society and voting is the right that makes us free.

Why does your vote matter? In Pennsylvania, those of us working day and night to give children the best possible start in school and life know that it matters a lot. We have moved from a state that did not have early learning as a priority - to a state that others look to as a model.

But that can change in an instant....in an election.......because those elected will vote on matters that directly affect the work we do every day and the children and families you serve.

We have many races that will be decided next Tuesday. Pennsylvanians will elect a new United States Senator and a new Governor. We will also vote on Congressional Representatives and members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate. Each of these elected positions will have a say in what happens within our early care and education system.

Be an informed voter. Take the time to review the candidates' positions and then make your vote a voice for children.

I will be heading to the polls November 2, 2010, next Tuesday morning, with my own two children, as we do every election. As I make my selections, I will proudly say to them that each vote I make is supporting their future and the future of thousands of other children across our state.

Jodi Askins, Executive Director

PennAEYC News

PennAEYC Board President Speaks to What's at Stake for the Upcoming Election

As Pennsylvania prepares for a new governor, two key issues confront our state: making sure our children are ready to compete in a global economy and seeing that every tax dollar invested in an austere budget produces significant returns.

This is why I, along with more than 1,200 other individuals and organizations, have joined a new, diverse statewide coalition called First Steps Pennsylvania, to encourage our next governor to make investing in early childhood education a priority.

More and more research shows the importance of high-quality, early learning experiences as not only getting a child started off well in school but also increasing the odds for that child's success throughout his or her entire academic career - and work life as well.

High quality learning experiences rest with the early childhood educators. These educators learn about best practices in early literacy, play, science, early intervention, and administration. What does that mean to you? Studies have shown that at the national and state levels, investments in high-quality early care and education often results in a return on investment of $16 nationally and $7 locally for every $1 spent. For your community that means a reduction in high school drop-out rates as well as a reduction in crime. It also means that the community will see:

· an increase in early intervention

· an increase in an enhanced quality of teacher in the classroom

· an increase in overall student achievement

· an increase in a higher qualified workforce

All of this is good news for our children and our state, which has made great strides in providing high-quality child care and pre-K over the past eight years.

The success of these programs in aiding the academic achievements of children and providing a substantial return on investment for taxpayers is well documented. Unfortunately, so is the lack of access to these programs for so many of our youngest citizens.

There are many important questions we must ask the people who want to be our state's next governor. Ultimately, voters must determine which candidate is more committed to prudent investment of our limited tax dollars in proven programs that benefit our children in school today and our communities and future workforce tomorrow.

Early education is a sound investment that reaps rewards for a lifetime.

--Terry Thomas, Board President
PennAEYC

PennAEYC On-Line

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Upcoming Activities

To submit an event, email kjohnson@pennaeyc.org.

November 1: Capital Area AEYC's 23rd Annual Night of Networking, Harrisburg (see Chapter News section below for details)

November 2: Election Day

November 13 - 14: PennAEYC annual board retreat at the Penn Stater

Spring 2011 Child Care Health Advocate online course from Northampton Community College:
Since 2007, NCC has taught this 15 session, 3 credit hour online course for directors and lead teachers with ongoing collaboration from the PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. This course continues to receive accolades from all the enrolled students because it not only offers a unique opportunity for directors and lead teachers to acquire academic credit applicable toward undergraduate and graduate degrees, but also to immediately improve the performance of their programs. The mentored course assignments involve implementation of nationally recommended best practice in the student's work setting and access to national resources. Pediatrician, Susan Aronson, MD drew from and supplemented the California Childcare Health Program curriculum (available online without college credit) to write the college course curriculum. She remains involved with the nurse instructor, Judith Rex of the NCC faculty in delivering the curriculum. Click here to see the course flyer on the Northampton Community College website.

Advocacy

This is it! Less than one week left to get out the vote. Thank you to everyone who has been working so hard to remind families, friends, colleagues and staff to register and why it is so important that they vote.

During this last few days before the election, here are some things you can do ...

Distribute the Parent Voter Activity Flyer to parents. It is available on the First Steps PA website at http://bit.ly/cIdHfN. The flyer includes information for parents on voting, as well as an art activity for children. The campaign has distributed over 12,000 copies of this flyer so far. The plan is for parents to return the flyer and their child's drawing to their teacher to be posted on Election Day. The template includes instructions for how programs can implement the project.
Why not have children participate in a Classroom Vote for their favorite snack, favorite book, or favorite color? Hold the election, include ballots, and voting booths. Use this opportunity to teach children why voting is important.
Make plans to have a Red, White and Blue Day, Tuesday, November 2. Send a note home to families that in honor of Election Day everyone will be dressed in Red, White and Blue. Ask Staff to dress in Red, White & Blue. Decorate the center in Red, White and Blue.

Thank you for your continued efforts in this election season. Visit us at www.firststepspa.org for more ideas and activities.

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The First Steps Coalition includes more than 1,375 members representing approximately 29,000 professional staff who provide service each day to more than 231,000 children across the state. More than 346,000 parents are relying on them each day to assure their children are well cared for and have the opportunity to learn, grow and develop.

Federal News

Appropriations process Update:
United States House and Senate leaders need to hear from their constituents or from other members about the importance of dedicated resources for early learning, specifically for Head Start, Child Care and Development Block Grant and the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

Current Proposals:

From the President:

Child Care Development Block Grant: $989 Million increase
Head Start: $800 Million increase + $800 Million mandatory funding
Early Learning Challenge Fund: $0

From the U.S. House of Representatives:

Child Care Development Block Grant: $700 Million increase

Head Start: $866 Million increase
Early Learning Challenge Fund: $0

From the U.S. Senate:

Child Care Development Block Grant: $1 Billion increase
Head Start: $990 Million increase
Early Learning Challenge Fund: $300 Million

While these numbers look good, Congress is also actively considering a total budget that falls well below a total spending level required for these increases to be included, or for the Challenge Fund to be initiated. The Senate version is the best choice for early education.

Congressional staff are preparing language now for moving to a final budget for FY11. U.S. House and Senate members need to tell their leadership that they support the Senate version and encourage their leadership to do the same. For contact

information for your U.S. Representative, visit

www.house.gov, and for Senators Casey and Specter, visit www.senate.gov.

NAEYC News

Candidates for 2011 NAEYC Governing Board election

President (one member to be elected to a four-year term)
· Gera Jacobs, Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of South Dakota, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Vermillion, South Dakota
· Naomi Karp, Director, Early Childhood Professional Development, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Governing Board at Large (three members to be elected to four-year terms)
·         Lorraine Cooke, Executive Director, Egenolf Early Childhood Center, Elizabeth, New Jersey
·         Lori Harris, Director, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Child Care Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
·         Jim Lesko, Director, Early Development and Learning Resources, Delaware Department of Education, Dover, Delaware
·         Amy O'Leary, Campaign Director, Early Education for All, Strategies for Children, Boston, Massachusetts
·         Ginger Marie Swigart, Project Specialist, Sacramento County Office of Education, Sacramento, California

You can learn more about the candidates on the NAEYC website. To be eligible to receive a ballot and vote you must be a current member of NAEYC on December 1, 2010. Votes must be cast by March 1, 2011.

quilt block Chapter News

To submit your chapter news, please send information to kjohnson@pennaeyc.org.

Capital Area AEYC: The CAAEYC's 23rd Annual Night of Networking is designed to give teachers an opportunity to view quality early childhood programs and gain insight for both their staff and learning environments. It will take place on November 1, from 6:30-8:00 pm at Bright Beginnings CDC, Inc., 98 S. Clover Lane, Harrisburg, PA 17112.

Registration is required and there is a $5 fee to attend (CAAEYC members are free). For additional information, call Amy Bennett at 717-671-8810.

Professional Development

PennAEYC: Partners, Presents and Promotes at the ECE Summit in State College

Most educators are familiar with the three "R's" but recently PennAEYC participated in the three "P's" concept - Partnering, Presenting, and Promoteing at the ECE Summit
earlier this month.

"We were pleased to be a part of the Early Childhood Summit this year," said PennAEYC Executive Director, Jodi Askins. "We were able to provide resource information at our exhibitor table, reached out to our affiliates to offer break out sessions, and for the first time, even offered a session on work specific to PennAEYC that supported the conference theme."

The conference theme of Extending the Vision was the inaugural appearance for the The BEST Initiative (Building Early Childhood Support Through School Boards) in a professional development format during the Oct. 13, 14 and 15 Summit. The BEST Initiative is designed to build leadership support for early childhood education within targeted Pennsylvania school districts in order to increase school board support for and funding of quality early learning programming. Two objectives are planned and will be focused on simultaneously throughout the three-year initiative: 1.) Support mechanisms for existing school board members to share information with their colleagues about the benefits of quality early childhood education, 2.) Outreach to support and educate individuals in the community who are interested in or who currently are undertaking a leadership position with or for their local school school districts about supporting Pre-Kindergarten programming.

"This truly was a great testing ground to showcase the initiative," said PennAEYC Outreach Coordinator Larry Roberts adding that he felt the audience was a true "litmus test" for interest in the work. Tracy Weaver, PennAEYC Outreach Coordinator also suggested that the first-time presentation helped attendees think about how well they are educated about their school board and the work that the boards are doing.

Other sessions included: Overview of the NAEYC System; NAEYC Code of Ethics; NAEYC classroom and Program portfolios; Transitions to Kindergarten: Helping Staff Understand DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practices) and Rediscover DAP (developmentally Appropriate practices)

Jan Sapotichne, assistant director of the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children, headed the session on Rediscover DAP.

"There is so much to ground to cover when talking about Developmentally Appropriate Practice." Sapotichne said. "The only thing I wish I had was more time because participants were really engaged. I was very pleased with the questions and discussion. It is great to be a part of a session where you know that participants were able to take information they could put into action when back at their facility."

The Summit provided more than 170 workshops, a variety of keynote speakers and opportunities for personal and professional growth. It truly was the opportune time to reconnect, recommit to a shared vision of providing quality early learning opportunities to Pennsylvania's children and families and build the collective skills to reach that vision.

Disclaimer: PennAEYC provides a forum for discussion of major issues and ideas in our field. We hope to provoke thought and promote professional growth.
The views expressed or implied are not necessarily those of the Association. Acceptance of advertising, announcements, and postings does not represent PennAEYC's endorsement of any product or service, nor is PennAEYC responsible for representations made by advertisers.

Your Membership Status

If you are a PennAEYC member, your membership information is as follows:

To become a member or renew your membership, go to www.naeyc.org/membership or call NAEYC at 1-800-424-2460.