In The News
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| Press Releases | | 10/19/2011 - | ECE Events Across the State | | | Fall 2011 is a busy time for professionals and families across Texas! TECEC is pleased to share information about several upcoming early childhood events. Please share with your networks!
** 2011 Reach Out and Read Texas Summit on October 28, 2011 in Austin, TX. Email rortx@uth.tmc.edu for more information about this free event focusing on program quality and school readiness.
** The Texas Licensed Child Care Association is hosting its Fall Conference November 11-13, 2011 in San Antonio, TX. Visit http://www.tlcca.org/ for more information.
** The Baby Signs Program is hosting a Professional Development Training on November 19, 2011 in Cleburne, TX. This training is ideal for a range of early education educators and service providers, and the $100 fee includes a Professional Training Kit, Certificate of Completion, and 3 CEUs. Visit http://www.babysignsprogram.com/withsybil/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=125&year=2011&month=11&day=19&Itemid=46 for more information and to register. | | 07/26/2011 - | Exciting Professional Development Opportunity: Online Training Modules | | | Our colleagues at Collaborative for Children have partnered with Texas A&M Agrilife Extension to provide 10 new online training modules for early education professionals. These trainings are low-cost and feature a variety of topics to enhance professional practice and support positive outcomes for young children. Click here to get started: http://www.collabforchildren.org/training_opportunities/quality_online_training | | 06/3/2011 - | CPB & PBS Release Report on Success of the Ready to Learn Initiative | | | TECEC is proud to partner with Texas PBS in support of early literacy initiatives facilitated by public television broadcasting and other media. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS have issued a report announcing the success of the federally-funded Ready to Learn grant that enabled media outlets across the country to provide innovative early learning tools for young children developing early reading skills. The Report shows that the multimedia programs provided through this grant particularly support low-income children with regard to school readiness factors. For more information about the Ready to Learn initiative, please visit http://www.cpb.org/rtl/. | | 06/1/2011 - | 2011 Texas Early Childhood Leadership Summit | | | TECEC is proud to collaborate with our partners at the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the Texas Education Agency to bring you the 2011 Texas Early Childhood Leadership Summit. The Summit is divided into specialty tracks for early childhood stakeholders, including early childhood administrators, trainers and coaches, early childhood teachers and parents. Registration and attendance to the 2011 Summit is free and very few spaces remain. For more information about the Summit, please visit the Children's Learning Institute website at http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/news-and-events/our-trainings/2011-TECL-Summit/default.aspx | | 05/25/2011 - | Please Review Proposed CCDF State Plan | | | Your expertise is needed to provide feedback on the Texas Workforce Commission's (TWC) Proposed Child Care and Development Fund State Plan (CCDF State Plan) for federal fiscal years 2012-2013. TWC is accepting written feedback on the plan through June 17, 2011. The CCDF State Plan will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by July 1, 2011. This Plan describes the state's subsidized child care services for the next two years beginning October 1, 2011. Follow this link to download the Plan and access directions for submitting comments: http://www.texasworkforce.org/svcs/childcare/proposed-child-care-and-development-fund-state-plan.html
| | 03/7/2011 - | Application for Early Childhood Intervention Services Seeking Public Comment | | | The Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), Division for Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) is currently accepting comments on its annual application for federal funding for early child intervention services. DARS is requesting funding under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, Part C. The application is available on the DARS website and will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs on May 10, 2011. The public is invited to comment on the application from March 4, 2011 until May 3, 2011. For copies of the application or to make comments concerning ECI services in Texas, please contact Cynthia Henderson, Senior Policy Analyst in the Division for Early Childhood Intervention at ECI.policy@dars.state.tx.us. | | 11/12/2010 - | New Partnership: Coalition for Pre-k Quality and Accountability | | | TECEC has recently developed a partnership with several other statewide groups to promote high quality pre-kindergarten education. Partners in this effort include the Texas Association of Business, Raise Your Hand Texas, Texas Association of School Administrators, Texas Association of School Boards, Texas Institute for Education Reform and the National Child Care Coalition. This Coalition suports public policy priorities that focus on high quality pre-k as a necessary step to ensuring a strong Texas workforce and economy. For the full press release from the Texas Assoication of Business, click here. | | 11/11/2010 - | DFPS Survey on Weights of Child Care Minimum Standards | | | The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is soliciting input on the weights of newly adopted child care minimum standards. The weights assigned to each standard have a significant impact on how Licensing staff, providers and the public assess risk in child care settings. Take this brief survey before Friday, November 19, 2010 to provide input on the weights of the following two minimum standards: standard rules for licensed child care centers, and standard rules for registered and licensed child care homes. | | 11/3/2010 - | TECEC President & CEO Testifies before State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care | | | On Wednesday, November 3, 2010 TECEC President and CEO Kara Johnson provided public testimony before the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. Kara shared two key pieces of information: how the goals of the Council align with The Texas Plan, and TECEC's 2011 legislative agenda.
For the full text of Kara's testimony, including a side-by-side view of the Council's goals and the pollicy recommendations in The Texas Plan, click here. | | 09/23/2010 - | 2010 Review of the Child Care Minimum Standards- Update from DFPS | | | On Wednesday, September 22, 2010 the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) withdrew its proposal to increase the ratio of adults to children in child care centers across Texas. DFPS reports receiving hundreds of public comments from parents and child care owners related to the cost of this proposal. Another key recommendation related to the number of hours directors are required to be present at a child care center was also withdrawn.
The proposal related to increasing pre-service and annual training hours for child care workers and directors has not been withdrawn to date. DFPS is waiting on a ruling from the Attorney General's Office and we will inform you as soon as new information becomes available.
The next DFPS hearing is scheduled for Friday, October 15, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will be held at the John H. Winters building at 701 W. 51st Street, Austin, Texas 78751. Click here for more information about the hearing.
| | | | Announcements - Coming Events | | 01/21/2004 - | NEW! The Texas Plan | | | The Texas Plan: Enhancing Early Childhood Education and Development The Texas Plan includes preliminary recommendations for a statewide early care and education system that is widely available, sets standards for quality, and advocates for the participation of parents and community. | | 06/11/2003 - | IBM Helps Spark TECEC’s Commitment to Early Care and Education | | | IBM donates computer hardware to TECEC | | | | In The News | | 01/13/2011 - | State Advisory Council Public Meeting: January 27, 2011 | | | The State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care is holding its first public meeting of 2011 on Thursday, January 27th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. The meeting will take place in Austin, TX at the William B. Travis Building (TEA), 1701 N. Congress Ave., Room 1-111. Topics for this Council meeting include Mixed Model Delivery Systems and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), School Readiness, and Curriculum and Pilot Project for School Readiness in Licensed Child Care Homes. For more information, visit the State Advisory Council website. | | 10/27/2010 - | State Advisory Council: November 3, 2010 Meeting | | | Public comment is welcomed at the first meeting of the fiscal year of the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care . The meeting will be held at the Norris Conference Center in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. This meeting provides a unique opportunity for advocates and early childhood development and education leaders to share ideas, concerns or questions with the Council. The Council will also be sharing plans for their work in the coming year. TECEC President and CEO Kara Johnson will provide public testimony about the Coalition’s perspective on the Council’s priorities, and how they align with the Texas Plan. Kara will also present TECEC’s 2011 Legislative Agenda. | | 09/22/2010 - | U.S. Department of Education Announces Promise Neighborhood Grantees | | | On September 21, 2010 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the 21 winners of the Promise Neighborhood planning grants. The grantees are awarded funds for one year to set up a comprehensive system of support services for children, ranging from early childhood care to job placement services. In Texas, two organizations were chosen to participate: Neighborhood Centers, Inc. of Houston and United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, Inc. - Partners for Community Change. Congratulations to all grantees!
Learn more about the Promise Neighborhood Grants program and about the Houston and San Antonio sites. | | 08/24/2010 - | Race to the Top Winners Announced | | | On Tuesday, August 24, 2010 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 9 states and the District of Columbia have won grants during the second phase of the federal Race to the Top competition. This brings the total number of recipients to 12: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Delaware, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. Texas did not apply for Race to the Top funds.
Congress allocated $4 billion to the Race to the Top program, and during the second phase, judges received 36 proposals. According the U.S. Department of Education, the grants will directly impact 13.6 million students, and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools.
The Race to the Top reform effort intends to improve teacher effectiveness, increase knowledge of student progress through data-tracking systems, expand and improve charter schools, and improve the lowest-performing schools.
To find out more, click here.
| | 06/3/2010 - | Public hearings on ECI in June and July | | | The Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program will be holding public hearings in June and July to give the public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in both our state rules, as well as on our proposed standards manual for our local contractors.
To see the hearing schedule as well as the items posted for comment, click HERE
Items that may be of particular interest to stakeholders include changes in the system of collecting fees from those families found eligible to pay for some services, and new requirements for criminal background checks for employees of local ECI programs. These changes are explained in more detail in the rules than in the standards for contractors. The proposed rules are expected to be in the June 11, 2010 Texas Register. The information from DARS/ECI also includes a link to the Texas Register.
Interested persons who are unable to attend a hearing are also invited to submit written comments.
| | 02/24/2010 - | 2010-2011 National Head Start Fellowship Applications Now Being Accepted | | | The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is pleased to announce that applications for the 2010-2011 National Head Start Fellowships are now being accepted. Information about the fellowships program and the online application materials can be found at the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)
The National Head Start Fellowship Program brings together experienced and dedicated professionals who support the ACF in developing and implementing long-term quality improvement initiatives. Through these fellowships, outstanding leaders in the early childhood community have the opportunity to gain first-hand experiences that offer a national perspective into the operations of ACF and other federal agencies serving children and families. In addition to work assignments, the Fellows will participate in professional education and leadership development programs.
The 12-month fellowships commence October 1, 2010 and end on September 30, 2011. Applications are due by April 1, 2010. | | 12/18/2009 - | RSVP now for the 1st meeting of the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care | | | The first meeting for the State Advisory Council will be Wednesday, January 13, 2010. The public meeting will be held from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. at room 1505-C of the University Center Tower building of the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, located at 7000 Fannin St, Houston, TX 77030.
You can RSVP HERE
In October 2009, Governor Rick Perry appointed 18 members to the State Advisory Council.
This council is designed to bring together top decision makers for collective discussion about how to better coordinate services so that young children have the supports in place that they need. The Council provides an excellent opportunity to leverage federal investment, it can be an outstanding forum in which to build support for early learning, and should be viewed as a means to an end.
The members of the council are as follows:
Michael Berry, Office of the Governor
Denise Brady, Texas Health & Human Services Commission
LaShonda Brown, Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office
Mary Capello, TMC Teaching and Mentoring Communities
Deborah Cody, Mount Pleasant Independent School District
Gina Day, Texas Education Agency
Ana De Hoyos O'Connor, San Antonio College
Blanca Enriquez, Education Service Center - Region 19 Head Start
John Gasko, Children's Learning Institute
Dottie Goodman, Texas Education Agency
Elsa Cárdenas Hagan, Valley Speech Language & Learning Center
Angela Hobbs-Lopez, Texas Department of State Health Services
Robert Ott Jr., Killeen Independent School District
Sasha Rasco, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Elaine Shiver, Mental Health America of Texas/Parents as Teachers
Kimberly Wedel, Texas Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services
Quincy White, City of Lubbock
John Whitcamp, Child Care Associates
| | 12/14/2009 - | The Texas Tribune Asks: Does Texas Pre-k Work? | | | Does Texas Pre-K work?
The battles over Pre-Kindergarten are no place for children. Scarce resources and passionate people make for the political equivalent of street fights.
At the middle of the maelstrom is the State Center for Early Childhood Education, housed within the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, which has come to dominate Pre-K in Texas. One-third of pre-kindergarten students learn under its model, and its director, Susan Landry, has helped to set statewide standards, create teacher training and bring together private and private facilities.
Read more HERE. | | 11/3/2009 - | DARS Seeks Recommendations at Public Hearings on ECI Family Cost Share | | | The Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) Early Childhood Intervention Program (ECI) is reviewing its family cost-share policies due to implementation challenges such as increasing need, limited funding, and changes in community resources for families.
Family cost share is a fee paid by families for certain DARS/ECI services when private or public insurance does not pay. The fee is based on a sliding scale and determined by the family’s income and other factors.
DARS/ECI is soliciting early public input regarding revising policy for how families help pay for these services. Any changes in family cost share for DARS/ECI services should be equitable, consistent, and cost effective. All areas of family cost share are open for input; however, specific topics for comment include:
* Collecting co-pays, deductibles, and/or co-insurance as required by insurance plans when billing insurance for services.
* Eliminating the option for a six-month waiver that allows DARS/ECI programs to waive family cost-share fees if the family consents to allow their private insurance to be billed. Input is requested on other methods to encourage the use of private insurance and other alternative health payment methods.
* Revising the sliding scale family cost-share system to:
-Require verification of income if family wants to qualify for the sliding-scale fee;
-Simplify the sliding-scale fee by reducing the number of categories;
* Change the sliding-scale fee from a monthly fee to a per-service fee.
To facilitate widespread public participation, DARS/ECI will hold hearings around the state, and members of the public also may submit comments in writing.
All hearings will be held from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Persons requiring special accommodations should call the DARS Inquiries Line at 1-800-628-5115, TDD/TTY 1-866-581-9328, or email their request to DARS.Inquiries@dars.state.tx.us at least 72 hours before the public hearing. Hearing dates and locations are:
November 9, 2009
Garland, Texas
Garland ISD Special Events Center
4999 Naaman Forest Blvd.
Garland, Texas
November 10, 2009
Katy, Texas
Morton Ranch High School
2100 Franz Road
Katy, Texas
November 12, 2009
Lubbock Texas
Lubbock ISD Administration Offices East Building
Jay Gordon Room
1628 19th St.
Lubbock, Texas
November 13, 2009
Nacogdoches, Texas
Stephen F. Austin University
Multi-Media Room #2.106
1936 North St.
Nacogdoches, Texas
November 16, 2009
Corpus Christi, Texas
Education Service Center Region 2
Room 323
209 North Water St.
Corpus Christi, Texas
Written comments may be emailed by November 30, 2009, to ECI.Policy@dars.state.tx.us or mailed to:
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
Division for Early Childhood Intervention Services
4900 N. Lamar, MC 3029
Austin, Texas 78751-2399
The links listed below provide additional information regarding Family Cost Share.
http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/fcsfactsheet.shtml
http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/FCSFeeScale.pdf
http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/publications/FamilyCostShare.pdf
| | 09/22/2009 - | Early Learning Challenge Fund Moves Forward! | | | From The New York Times:
September 20, 2009
Initiative Focuses on Early Learning Programs
By SAM DILLON
Tucked away in an $87 billion higher education bill that passed the House last week was a broad new federal initiative aimed not at benefiting college students, but at raising quality in the early learning and care programs that serve children from birth through age 5.
The initiative, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, would channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve standards, training and oversight of programs serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
The Senate is expected to pass similar legislation this fall, giving President Obama, who proposed the Challenge Fund during the presidential campaign, a bill to sign in December.
Experts describe the current array of programs serving young children and their families nationwide as a hodgepodge of efforts with little coordination or coherence. Financing comes from a shifting mix of private, local, state and federal money. Programs are run out of storefronts and churches, homes and Head Start centers, public schools and other facilities. Quality is uneven, with some offering stimulating activities, play and instruction but others providing little more than a room and a television.
Oversight varies by state, but most lack any early childhood structure analogous to the state and local boards of education that govern public schools. A result is that poor children, even many who have access to government-financed early care or learning programs, tend to enter kindergarten less prepared for school than those with wealthier parents.
To qualify for grants, states would have to demonstrate that they have established or improved what the bill calls a “governance structure” for their networks of child care centers and prekindergarten programs.
The structure would include quality standards; a curriculum of sorts, appropriate for young children; a mechanism for reviewing programs and assigning quality ratings; minimum training requirements for providers; a plan for reaching out to parents; and a system for collecting data on children and families. The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services would jointly administer the Challenge Fund.
Sharon Lynn Kagan, a professor at Teachers College who has traced the history of American child care programs back to the early 19th century, wrote a paper last year advocating federal aid to states in building a more coherent and robust early-childhood infrastructure.
“No one bill can solve everything,” Professor Kagan said, “but this will move us more than any other piece of legislation toward higher quality in early education, not just more spaces for children.”
Since the campaign, Mr. Obama has raised expectations among early learning advocates with his endorsements of public investments in the careful nurturing of young children, especially the disadvantaged. In the economic stimulus bill, Congress last spring appropriated more than $4 billion in new financing for child care and education efforts, including Head Start, the federal program that serves about 900,000 preschoolers.
Still, not all early learning advocates are satisfied that the administration is doing all it could to integrate early learning efforts into the nation’s broader public education system.
The Department of Education is already administering a separate $4.3 billion competition among states to reward and encourage improvements to elementary and secondary schools. In August, scores of early learning groups and advocates wrote letters to the department criticizing proposed rules for that competition, known as Race to the Top, as largely ignoring early childhood education.
“We don’t see how our country can race to the top when all kids are not at the same starting line” when they reach kindergarten, said Marcy Young, project director for the Pre-K Now program at the Pew Center on the States, one group that criticized the rules.
One reason the administration focused on elementary and secondary schools in the Race to the Top competition and early childhood in the Challenge Fund is that the two are at contrasting levels of development, administration officials said, with the public schools needing initiatives to improve teacher effectiveness, for instance, and early childhood needing basic structures of governance.
Sara Mead, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, said, “I haven’t talked with anybody who isn’t excited about the prospects for this Early Learning Challenge Fund.”
“But there is disappointment in some parts of the early childhood community that it’s not more focused on adding slots,” Ms. Mead said.
One reason advocates are especially concerned about slots for children is that after a decade in which states had taken the lead in expanding access nationwide, several with deep budget troubles have recently eliminated or reduced services for tens of thousands of children.
Illinois, for instance, cut the budget for its Pre-K for All program to $305 million this fiscal year from $338 million last year, eliminating slots for about 9,500 children, according to statistics provided by Albert Wat, a project manager at Pre-K Now.
In Ohio, lawmakers did away with a program known as the Early Learning Initiative, the budget for which last year was $125 million, Mr. Wat said. The action eliminated access for 12,000 children, he said.
“In some states, we’re seeing a disaster,” said Steve Barnett, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.
But despite the tightest budgets in decades, nearly 30 states have chosen to protect or increase financing for early learning programs.
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Only 2.2 percent of media coverage of education focuses on education of preschool-aged children
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