“Killing Two Birds with One Stone”
Posted: January 21, 2014 Filed under: MS Department of Education, MS Department of Health | Tags: Learning Centers, Name Recognition, Self-control Leave a comment“Among twelve options, the lack of school readiness was identified as the top challenge facing kindergarten teachers, with one quarter (25.2%) of teachers choosing this option, followed by a “high number of students in the classroom” (chosen by 22.8%) and “high number of kindergarten students who misbehave/are difficult to manage” (chosen by 13.9%).”
So, strut your stuff and show ’em how child care teaches children their names while also teaching self-control.
Children have a developmental need to “do it myself” that becomes an urgent need around age two. Child care supports that need by using their names to “prompt and assist” their development. You’ll see their names on the floor or a carpet square for group time; on the table for lunch time; on the card they use to mark the learning center they’ve chosen, and everywhere else you see the children.
Take a look at the pictures below. The first two – from my daughter’s classroom in Georgia – show a table on the left with places marked by the children’s names. On the right, you see four-year-old children sitting at the table working math problems.
Below those two pictures are two more from Mary’s Facebook page showing how Mary’s Little Learners uses masking tape to make labels. It’s easy to replace and it needs to be (It doesn’t go well with spaghetti). In the second picture, you see how masking tape also serves as boundaries that make it easy for children to behave.
Child care teaches children everything has a place – including them!
Teachers like the way they can “kill two birds with one stone” – name recognition and self-control!
Strut Your Stuff, Child Care!
Posted: January 16, 2014 Filed under: MS Department of Education, MS Department of Health | Tags: Learning Centers, Mississippi Early Care and Education Leave a commentThe use of learning centers represents a philosophy of education – a commitment to individualized, self-directed and individually constructed knowledge.
Admittedly, I’m struggling to understand why a kindergarten teacher would feel children cannot learn to read, write and do math problems in learning centers.
“While I like for my students to learn through play and discovery, there are a lot of demands on me to make sure they can read, write and do math problems before leaving kindergarten.”
The girls in the picture to the right are in the four-year-old class at Mary’s Little Learners in Grenada. They are “playing and learning” in a learning center.
What comes to mind when you look at this picture?
I’m guessing at least some of you – probably most of you – are thinking Mary has been able to hire teachers with degrees.
Mary tells a different story:
“I look for people with a genuine love for children. A lot of women decide to work to help their children or grandchildren with the cost of college; but, as far as going to back to school or getting a CDA, I don’t find many who are interested. My staff is well-trained and they really love the children. I think they do a great job getting children ready for school and the schools think so, too.”
You won’t see Mary’s participating in one of the Early Childhood Collaboration grants. The State requires staff of those programs to have a degree. But, you also won’t see Mary’s staff giving up learning centers so they can teach children to “read, write and do math problems”. Mary’s children just love to learn.
Strut your stuff, child care!
Show ’em how!
Child Care Has the “It” that Everyone Wants
Posted: January 14, 2014 Filed under: Mississippi Health Department, MS Department of Education | Tags: Learning Centers, Mississippi Early Care and Education Leave a comment “Only fifty-seven percent (57%)… [of Kindergarten teachers]… indicated they currently use early childhood education learning centers in their classrooms.”¹ Ready or Not: Mississippi Kindergarten Teachers Reveal the “State” of School Readiness
Hard to believe? You bet it is. Almost half of our kindergarten teachers are eliminating the the very thing they need. A learning center is a defined space where materials are organized in such a way that children learn without the teacher’s constant direction.
Learning centers have been a requirement for Kindergarten classrooms since the 1982 passage of the Education Reform Act.
Child care licensing Regulations also require learning centers in classrooms of children as young as age two.
However, only licensed child care centers are inspected for compliance. Our public schools self-inspect. Do we assume someone missed the 43% not using learning centers?
What happens in classrooms without learning centers?
“Instead of the early elementary grades becoming more child centered and family friendly (more like preschool), preschools are likely to become more like elementary school, with formal, scripted instruction and less emphasis on student-centered approaches and family involvement,” warned the Dean of the Sanford School of Education who also said:
“Educators, researchers, and policymakers…need to make sure that efforts to improve academic skills in young children do not result in the neglect of other important dimensions of children’s development—or in educational practices that are well known to undermine children’s confidence and enthusiasm for learning.”
Child Care providers have learning centers and because they do, they have the “it” everyone wants – developmentally appropriate school readiness.
$33,585,000 – What a Building Block!
Posted: January 9, 2014 Filed under: Dependent Care Tax Credit, Early Childhood Education Mississippi | Tags: Dependent Care Tax Credit, Early Care and Education Mississippi, Economic Beneifits of Early Care and Education Leave a commentGood news about child care keeps pouring in!
In this case, it came from federal data. Did you know 60,629 Mississippi taxpayers received $33,585,000 million dollars in federal dependent care tax credits?
They did and the money paid for child care was refunded by the tax credit!
Do you know those tax credits are not available when a state makes a program mandatory? Even with 96% of our five-year old children attending public school kindergarten, the kindergarten program remained voluntary until last year.
Some don’t include the tax credit when listing the economic benefits of early care and education. However, programs such as Mississippi’s Building Blocks not only ensures the tax credit will always be available, it also ensures the State will retain benefit of an estimated $178, 387,040 in wages paid the child care workforce.
Building Blocks differs from other early childhood education quality improvement initiatives. By investing in community-based early childhood programs, Building Blocks is making certain children have the benefits of quality early childhood education and the State continues to benefit from over $200 million dollars in the economy.
Support for the workforce – now and in the future – is just the Building Block our State needs!
Making Magic in Mississippi!
Posted: January 7, 2014 Filed under: Early Childhood Education Mississippi | Tags: Quality Early Care and Education Leave a comment
“We know when we see it…We recognize in the welcome we find when we visit a program, in the magic feeling of community among the children and staff, in the way in which people are engaged in what they are doing, in the relationships, in the sound, the smell and the feel of the place. It’s the magic we want for all children.” Gwen Morgan
You’ve made the magic!
Providers like Mary Staten of Mary’s Little Learners aren’t magicians. Instead, they simply believe “social development is just as important as academic development” and so do the parents who enroll their children in the center.
According to Mary, “Children learn best when all of their needs are met. Kids learn best through learning centers that engage their minds to develop critical thinking skills needed to have a lifetime of successful learning.”
There’s magic in the Delta, too.
We found this magic in Indianola. Children there will tell you Spenser’s Kiddie Land is a magic place.
It must seem like magic for learning to be so easy and so much fun. Does he understand the concept of numbers? You bet he does. He knows two eggs are in the skillet. He also knows how many more he has to cook!
Days spent in a print rich environment are magic for children learning to read. One day he’ll simply know the word “refrigerator”.
If you want magic for your child and all other children, stop by one of Mississippi’s licensed child care facilities and sit a “spell”. You will likely become spellbound, for they are Making Magic in Mississippi!
Did you hear? “We won”!
Posted: August 16, 2013 Filed under: "Race to the Top", CCPP-approved Provider, Child Care Development Fund, Child Care Mississippi, DECCD-MDHS, e-Childcare™, Suel v MDHS, Xerox | Tags: CCPP-approved Provider, e-Childcare™, Hechinger Report, Mississippi early childhood education 1 CommentDid you hear? “We Won”!
While Debbie formats two days of video to show you “how” we won, I’ve stopped by to remind you to contribute to the legal fund.
We’ve got a great story to tell.
Child care providers stood with our State’s children for over a decade while the State diverted money from their care.
As we continue our fight for their future, we need your support. Drop off your tax deductible contribution at any Regions Bank or simply drop it in the mail.
Keep Mississippi Working (MFCF) . P.O. Box 2815 . Madison, MS 39110
What’s She Up to Now? Public Hearing Monday!
Posted: June 16, 2013 Filed under: Child Care Development Fund | Tags: CCDF "Targeted" Quality Spending, CCDF 4% Quality Spending, CCDF State Plan Leave a commentChild Care Development Fund State Plan
(2014 -2015)
Public Hearing
Monday
June 17, 2013
1:00 to 5:00 PM
Mississippi Public Broadcasting Auditorium
3825Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS
Click Here: Draft of the proposed 2013-2015 Child Care and Development Fund State Plan
If you are not able to attend the hearing in person, you may email comments to DECCD@mdhs.ms.gov.
What’s She Up to Now?
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The public hearing was announced before the draft was posted to the MDHS website;
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The Draft Plan has not been filed with the office of the Mississippi Secretary of State; and Read the rest of this entry »
We’re for Kids and We’re for Quality – and We’re Not Kidding
Posted: March 20, 2013 Filed under: Child Care Mississippi, Mississippi Legislature | Tags: Child Care Classroom Quality, Smith=Richardson, State-funded Pre-K Quality Leave a commentData talks – and the data from the research on quality in early care and educationshown on
the charts to the right tell fact – contrary to what’s been heard around the Capitol this legislative session:
“…the classroom quality of child care actually exceeds that of publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs.”
- Some of the state-funded pre-Kindergarten classrooms were even rated below “inadequate/poor” quality. None of the child care classrooms rated as low.
- None of the state-funded pre-Kindergarten classrooms were “excellent”. Around 5% of the child care classroom were “excellent”.
- There were three “good quality” child care classrooms for every one “good quality” pre-Kindergarten classroom.
A critique of the child care research, funded by the Smith-Richardson Foundation, found evidence the quality of child care classrooms was higher than reported.
Why weren’t the analyses of the Critique considered when decisions were made about the need to measure the quality of child care in Mississippi or, more recently, when drafting legislation for Mississippi’s first investment in a state-funded pre-Kindergarten program?
An obvious guess would be the introduction to the Smith-Richardson publication of the Critique raised an issue no one wanted on the table:
“Most activities aimed at increasing child care quality have the concomitant effect of raising the cost of that care. When parents pay for care, the result may be to place some kinds of child care beyond their reach.”
“It’s expensive to run infant and toddler classrooms—you need a 3- and 4-year-old classroom to pay the bills—so it would be difficult for a private child care center to remain in business just serving infants and toddlers. That’s a concern…But”
What followed that “But” suggested a better guess – the QRS! The analyses of the Smith-Richardson funded Critique took issue with the use of the ratings scales- the ECERS and ITERS – as an evaluation instrument; and, that was but one analysis and there were others that would also raise questions about the the State’s Quality Rating Sytem.
Members of the Legislature should not have to guess Who’s for Kids and Who’s Just Kidding – and child care providers should not have been put in a position of spending out-of-pocket to counter a well-financed campaign for State funding that did not put the interest of Mississippi’s children of all ages first.
Judge Owens Issues Order and Opinion in Suel v DHS – DHS Motion to Dismiss DENIED!
Posted: March 5, 2013 Filed under: DECCD-MDHS, MS Department of Human Services, Suel v MDHS | Tags: Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law, Suel v MDHS, Xerox e-Childcare Finger Scan System Leave a comment
Donations payable to the “Keep Mississippi Working” Child Care Providers Legal Fund are tax-deductible.
Keep Mississippi Working P.O. Box 2815 Madison, MS 39130
Child care is all about rules. Some define what a child care program expects of children, parents and staff. Most, however, define what various State agencies expect from a child care program.
When a State agency establishes rules, the Legislature expects the agency to follow the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law [APL] Unfortunately, not all agency’s do – particularly, it seems, when the rule applies to child care and is defined in the APL as a “significant amendment”:
“a ‘significant amendment’ means any amendment to a rule for which the total aggregate cost to all persons required to comply with that rule exceeds One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00)”
“Ms. Suel has presented a set of facts that may entitle her to the relief she requests.”
“Ms. Suel asserts MDHS has n0t substantially complied with the Administrative Procedures Act because MDHS failed to respond to the child care providers concerns regarding the Economic Impact Statement. Moreover, this failure M.s. Suel claims has substantially impaired the rule-making process pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. 25-43~3.1 05(3) which states:
“The grounds for invalidation of an agency action, based upon the economic impact statement, are limited to the agency’s failure to adhere to the procedure for preparation of the economic impact statement as provided in this section, or the agency’s failure to consider information submitted to the agency regarding specific concerns about the statement, if that failure substantially impairs the fairness of the rule-making proceeding.
“Thus, a determination should be made deciding whether the Economic Impact Statement is insubstantial compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act…
“Ms. Suel not only disputes that the Defendants failed to file the Economic Impact Statement in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, she also requests tbis Court consider the validity of the Plan and the economical effects on her child care centers.Therefore, the Petition alleges causes of action that may support recovery if facts are proven.”
Every child care provider will benefit from Deloris Suel’s determined effort to protect her child care businesses by challenging DHS’s compliance with the requirements of the Economic Impact Statement established in the State’s Administrative Procedures Law. In fact, most already have. The Department of Health’s proposed changes in the Regulations governing the operation of licensed child care facilities were modified to reduce the cost to providers.
However, such benefit comes with a cost. Please consider making a contribution to the “Keep Mississippi Working Child Care Providers Legal Fund” as the cost will increase as the case moves forward.
Click here for a full copy of Judge Owen’s Opinion and Order.
In Our Own Words– Child Care Talks Quality and QRS
Posted: March 4, 2013 Filed under: Kellogg Foundation, QRS Mississippi, SB2395 | Tags: QRS Mississippi, SB2395 Leave a comment
Listen as two Jackson child care business owners, Deloris Suel and Petra Kay, speak about Mississippi’s Quality Rating system. Clearly, opposition to the QRS and SB2395 is not opposition to Quality in child care.
Greenwood-based child care provider Debbie Ellis created this segment from the video of the last month’s meeting with Senator Brice Wiggins, sponsor of legislation proposing collaborative pre-K as Mississippi’s first investment of State funds in a pre-Kindergarten program, Senate Bill 2395.
Additional speakers are Senator Albert Butler who arranged the meeting and served as moderator; and, Holly Spivey, representing the State’s Office of Head Start Collaboration.
The 20-minute segment begins with Carol Burnett, MLICCI, discussing the QRS. MCLICCI has examined the impact of the QRS in a three-year research project funded by the Kellogg Foundation.
Delta Licensed Providers 
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