Weekly Digest: June 4, 2009

Community Data Sets Available on the Discovery Website

The Early Childhood Cabinet, working in conjunction with the State Department of Education, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Public Health, and Connecticut Voices for Children, has obtained updated data on the wellbeing of Connecticut’s young children at the state and community level.

These data have been uploaded to the Discovery website under the Community Planning section and is organized into the following categories:

* HUSKY and Birth Data

* Pre-K Enrollment and Experience

* Discipline and Absenteeism   

* CMT Scores

* Discipline and Absenteeism

* Free and Reduced Priced Meals and English Language Learners 

* Birth to Three Program 

* Early Childhood Workforce Registry

* Reports on the Well Being of Connecticut's Children

To visit the Community Data Sets page under the Community Planning section, visit http://www.discovery.wcgmf.org/category_303.html

If you have any questions or difficult accessing this page, please contact Donna Studdiford at studdiford@onpointconsulting.org

Resource for Parents: Get Ready for Kindergarten

The CT Early Childhood Investment Initiative has developed this one-page checklist that provides a list of milestones parents can work toward with their child. Get Ready for Kindergarten is provided in English and Spanish.

To download this resource and see many other great Kindergarten Transition resources, visit the Transition to Kindergarten section of the Discovery website, or download Get Ready for Kindergarten directly at http://stage.discovery.wcgmf.org/resources/sps_resource_1220.pdf

Does your community have some great ideas on sharing resources with parents or tools that have been valuable in your work with parents?  Please consider using this listserv to share these ideas with your Discovery colleagues.  To post a message to the Discovery listserv, just send your e-mail message to:

discovery-wcgmf.org@lists.wcgmf.org

Anyone who is involved with Discovery in your community is encouraged to participate in the Listserv. So, please spread the word to your Discovery collaborative about this Listserv and ask them to subscribe by sending an e-mail to Donna Studdiford at studdiford@onpointconsulting.org

CT Voices Report: Connecticut Early Care & Education Progress Report, 2009

Connecticut Voices for Children just released its Connecticut Early Care & Education Progress Report, 2009.  This is the first annual comprehensive report on the state of early care and education in Connecticut.

Among the key findings:

•• Child care remains an unaffordable expense for many working families. However, Connecticut’s overall investment in early care and education programs has declined over this decade. The state spent 12% less in inflation-adjusted dollars on early care and education programs in 2008 than it did in 2002. The state has made some progress in expanding funding for early care programs since 2004, but potential state budget cuts could quickly undo this progress.

•• Connecticut’s progress has been uneven between age groups. Three- and four-year-olds have benefited from an expansion of the pre-kindergarten School Readiness program; however, infants and toddlers have not seen a similar improvement in the availability, cost, or quality of early care, despite a wealth of scientific data about the importance of the first thousand days of life.

•• Connecticut’s planning and coordination of its early childhood education system is inadequate. The state of Connecticut lacks a public structure with the authority or responsibility to coordinate efforts to ensure that children and parents have access to high-quality and affordable child care and early education.

•• Children from affluent communities continue to outperform children from poor communities.

To download the full report and an executive summary of the report, visit the CT Voices website at http://www.ctkidslink.org/pub_detail_463.html