We’re excited to host our Crane Lecture Series in a few weeks – Dr. Valora Washington will speak and join our reception at the Columbus Museum of Art on March 29. If you’re interested, sign up soon!  

Quotable & Notable

Fact of the Week

A new public opinion poll from Groundwork Ohio found that a majority of parents with children under five (52%) believe that it has gotten harder to afford and access quality child care during the last year. Read more about the survey findings here. 

Policy Radar

Literacy

Governor DeWine’s budget proposal includes $174 million directed at literacy supports, including an emphasis on “science of reading” instruction in Ohio’s K-12 schools. This editorial piece applauds the investment in literacy education but advises against making prescriptions for how schools teach reading. The authors urge the Ohio House and Senate to carefully analyze the reading plan and to hear testimony from those whom the plan will most affect - Ohio teachers and parents of K-12 students. DeWine’s literacy proposal would also fund teacher professional development; funds for schools to incorporate new materials and curriculum if needed; and literacy coaches for the districts most in need of literacy improvement.

Nutrition

A proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would adjust nutritional standards for schools when it comes to the dietary content of meals – particularly around sodium and sugar content and whole grains.

A new white paper from Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio explores data on child hunger as well as how universal school meals play an important role in addressing food insecurity. 

Beyond the Buckeye State

Lawmakers in Utah are trying to fund full-day kindergarten for all children in the state; last year, a similar bill failed to pass.

Colorado is among states that have made sizable investments in children and families – whether through a state-funded universal pre-K program, child care expansion efforts, universal school meals, or paid family and medical leave. Now advocates are hoping to change the state tax code in order to further fund child care and education, among other areas.

What do Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, and New Zealand have that we don’t have? A slot on the best-places-for-working-parents short list. (Also universal or near-universal health coverage. And experience having female presidents or prime ministers.) 

What We're Reading

Despite the incredible resilience of babies and toddlers, we should not forget that bouncing back from early life challenges like poverty, trauma, or neglect requires intervention and support. This important read from EdSurge describes what mental health challenges can look like during the earliest years and reminds us that parent and caregiver mental health challenges are closely linked with the wellbeing of our youngest children.

Hechinger Report describes a root cause of many educational and health disparities that persist for Black and Latino children – systemic failures to link them with critical early interventions. It explores possible reasons for racial disparities in access to intervention services; highlights several personal stories; and describes various community efforts to mitigate the problem.

Remember last week when we shared Ohio’s ranking as 37th for states whose legislatures had equal female representation? This article describes one possible contributing factor - the long hours spent on the campaign trail and laws prohibiting campaign funds to be used on child care. 

Research Round-Up

 A study published in The Journal of Pediatrics examined the impact of a parent-support intervention called Smart Beginnings, which was provided to families with low incomes in New York City and Pittsburgh through their existing pediatric primary care relationships. The intervention uniquely combines a video coaching component captured during a primary care visit, which enables a specialist to observe parent-child interactions and then offer coaching on effective parenting practices, with a home-based intervention for families having additional risk factors. Using a randomized clinical trial (translation: a strong enough research design to suggest that the intervention itself caused the reported outcomes), researchers measured the program’s impact on parents’ delivery of cognitively stimulating activities for their children (e.g., reading to them, using rich language in speaking with them) and found that the program did significantly promote cognitive stimulation during infancy and toddlerhood. The researchers plan to follow the children and further examine outcomes related to school readiness, executive function, and behavior. Hechinger Report describes the study and its implications for pediatric settings as a possible place for effective parenting interventions.   

This edition written by: Jamie O'Leary and Janelle Williamson