Date: 01/20/2012
Final
Report of the Early Childhood Leadership Commission - Pursuant to SB10-195
COMMITTEE ON JOINT HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
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07:49 AM -- Report from the Early Childhood Leadership Commission - Pursuant to SB10-195
Representative Massey, Chair of the House Education Committee, welcomed the members of the Early Childhood Leadership Commission (ECLC), the members of the House Health and Environment Committee, the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and the members of the House and Senate Education Committee. Representative Massey thanked Lt. Governor Garcia and Governor Hickenlooper, and made opening comments. Representative Massey welcomed the ECLC co-chairs to the table and allowed them to introduce themselves.
Jennifer Stedron, Executive Director, ECLC, introduced herself. Joining her at the table was Pat Hamill, ECLC co-chair, Reggie Bicha, Executive Director of the Department of Human Services and ECLC co-chair, and Anna-Jo Haynes, ECLC co-chair.
07:51 AM
Representative Massey welcomed Lt. Governor Garcia to make opening remarks. Lt. Governor Garcia welcomed and thanked the committee members and audience for being at the meeting. He thanked Governor Hickenlooper for his commitment to the success of children and families statewide. He also thanked the ECLC co-chairs for their leadership. He highlighted the work that the ECLC has done since the last report, a year ago. He stated that the ECLC has been working to figure out the best way to govern the many childhood support services that are available across the state in a way that best serves children and their families. He stated that Colorado has made a strong commitment to children which allows the state to develop a system that ensures children are ready for kindergarten and are reading at grade-level. He stated that early literacy is a key to long-term academic success. He stated that education begins at birth; and that it is about the overall well-being of children including nutrition, healthcare, and family support systems. He stated that this is the focus of the ECLC, and there have been many stakeholders working together to reach these goals.
Representative Massey acknowledged the work of the legislative Early Childhood and School Readiness Commission. He stated that he hopes the work of these two commissions will result in legislation to keep moving forward with this work.
07:55 AM
Ms. Stedron provided background on the ECLC and asked the commissioners who were in the audience to stand and be recognized. She thanked several stakeholders for their work and expressed her appreciation for working with them. She stated that per statute, the ECLC is required to report to the committees annually regarding the work of the ECLC. She stated that the biggest charge for the commission this year was centered around early childhood state governance. She briefly highlighted a number of other accomplishments of the ECLC this year and referenced the "Early Childhood Leadership Commission, 2011 Annual Report," (Attachment A) which summarizes the ECLC's accomplishments. She stated that the ECLC's work over the year has included: information gathering through a statewide tour which highlighted what is working and not working at a local level; and completing a needs assessment, whose results will be distributed next week, which provides information at the county level regarding how children are faring in the areas of health and early development, and also provides a look at early childhood services that are offered at the county level. She stated that several communities are already using this data to help their planning processes and to help track their success in providing services. On the finance side, she stated that they are nearly finished with developing an early childhood cost model, which should be done in February or March. The model, which is an interactive web-based tool, allows users to calculate the costs of early childhood services and to see how those costs effect other parts of the system. She stated that the new model will also help forecast the return on investment for some programs. She stated that the ECLC and stakeholders have also been working hard to identify ways to improve the quality of services being offered across the early childhood spectrum. She highlighted five points that the ECLC and stakeholders have been working on to help increase the quality of service being offered, including: developing early learning and developmental guidelines for children birth to 8 years old which will be connected to the common core on the K-12 end of the spectrum and also to the new Headstart framework for younger children; helping to evolve the state's quality rating and improvement system for early learning programs; developing early childhood professional competencies which will be linked to the educator effectiveness work happening in the state; supporting the Department of Education's pilot of a school readiness assessment; and working to plan a more coordinated and accessible data information system.
08:04 AM
Ms. Stedron introduced the ECLC co-chairs and provided a brief biography, describing each co-chair's work. She turned the meeting over to Mr. Hamill, co-chair, ECLC, who thanked the members for the opportunity to speak. Mr. Hamill stated that Colorado's framework is a model for the country and the proposals being made are historic in nature. Mr. Hamill discussed the value of investment in early childhood services. He stated that we need to ensure that all Coloradans are equipped with the emotional and cognitive skills required to perform well. He stated that the number one key is to ensure that children are ready to begin kindergarten. He stated that few investments have such a high return as investing in early childhood services. He stated that if children are ready at the kindergarten level, it will reduce remediation costs and put students on a track to success. He highlighted the economic benefits of investing in early childhood services. He stated that this is an investment in human capital that will yield high returns for Colorado.
08:14 AM
Ms. Haynes, co-chair, ECLC, thanked the Lt. Governor, Governor, and the members of the committees for the opportunity to speak. Ms. Haynes discussed the history of early childhood services. She stated that early pilots have now evolved into 31 early childhood councils that provide services to children and families starting at birth. She discussed governance of early childhood programs and services across the state. She stated that some progress towards state governance of early childhood services has been made, but not nearly the level that has occurred under the Hickenlooper-Garcia administration. She stated that throughout the year, the ECLC has worked to create recommendations concerning the creation of a state-level oversight and coordinated structure for the delivery of early childhood services and programs. She stated that the plan they have developed is about to be introduced to the legislature through the Early Childhood and School Readiness interim commission.
08:20 AM
Mr. Bicha, Executive Director of the Department of Human Services and ECLC co-chair, discussed the proposed legislation which would create an office in the Department of Human Services to consolidate early childhood support services and programs and he outlined the steps that are being taken to ensure the transition is successful. He stated that the proposed restructuring will improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of services being delivered. He stated that the proposed office will focus on helping parents help their children to develop to their full potential. He stated that the proposed new office will contain about 20 different programs. He stated that legislative support for this proposal has been great. He stated that since October, the ECLC has been involved with about 20 stakeholder meetings to discuss the plan. He highlighted the steps that are being taken to ensure a smooth transition, should the legislation be adopted this session. He stated that the new office will provide better and easier access to family services and that the proposal uses existing dollars and does not have a fiscal impact attached to it. He stated that the office will help programs and services be more efficient, effective, and elegant.
08:26 AM
Representative Massey thanked the members of the legislative Early Childhood and School Readiness Commission, which has collaborated with ECLC on this work. Representative Massey introduced Governor Hickenlooper and invited him to speak.
08:27 AM
Governor Hickenlooper thanked the members of the ECLC for their work and expressed appreciation for how quickly the work has been undertaken. He described his experience running for mayor and the insight he gained into early childhood education during his campaign.
08:31 AM
Representative Summers thanked the members of the ECLC for their work. He asked what efforts are in place to help inform parents of children. He also asked whose responsibility it is to be sure that children are kindergarten ready.
08:33 AM
Mr. Bicha responded to Representative Summer's questions. He stated that the government does not raise children, families do. He stated that there are many programs across Colorado to support and help families, but there has been a lack of common direction and of resource-sharing. He stated that the goal is to use data more effectively to identify school-readiness since no standard currently exists across the state.
08:36 AM
Senator Lundberg commented that what he sees here is a system of professional replacement of the family. He stated that we are headed down the wrong road if parents are not the main focus of this; if parents are replaced by government.
08:38 AM
Ms. Stedron responded to Senator Lundberg's comment. She stated that the early developmental guidelines being developed have as a primary purpose to be disseminated to families so that there is a shared understanding of what a child should be able to do and know from birth to age 8 years old. She stated that families are children's first teachers. She stated that the pilot being undertaken by CDE has a large parental involvement component.
08:40 AM
Senator Newell commented that one of the reasons she became involved with the ECLC was to ensure that we are looking at the whole child, and that family support and education is part of the package.
08:41 AM
Senator Williams commented that, while she has been involved with the ECLC over the last several years, the parent aspect of child-rearing has always been a part of the discussion. She discussed early childhood councils, which exist in nearly every county in Colorado, and the services that are offered through the councils to parents, families, and children.
08:44 AM
Representative Kafalas asked how professional development of early childhood professionals is being addressed.
08:46 AM
Ms. Stedron responded that ECLC is working with the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the university system to identify the skills that professional early childhood educators should be learning.
08:48 AM
Representative Massey stated that he wants to be sure that youth services do not get pushed aside in lieu of the work that is being done on early childhood education.
08:49 AM
Mr. Bicha responded in agreement to Representative Massey's statement and stated that there is an organizational focus on intervention and prevention, especially for those children who are at risk. He stated that the goal is to keep kids out of harm's way, before it occurs.
08:51 AM
Representative Joshi commented on the brain chemistry of children under two years old, saying that children that age are able to absorb large amounts of knowledge and the family's role is very important. He also stated that talking to infants has been shown to have a positive impact on the child's vocabulary.
08:52 AM
Representative Murray commented that she is fearful that as standards are raised, it will reduce the number of open childcare spots across the state. She stated that she agrees there needs to be a balance between regulation and the ability to provide services.
08:54 AM
Mr. Bicha responded that quality childcare results in kids who are less likely to use drugs and alcohol, and are less likely to end up in the juvenile justice system. He stated that there needs to be access to high quality childcare, but that can only happen if we have a trained workforce and informed parents. He stated that we do not need to trade high standards for keeping low-standard businesses in operation. He stated that standards need to be raised in the interest of the children.
08:57 AM
Representative Massey made closing remarks. The committee adjourned.