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Almost 20,000 Toronto Tots Waiting for Child-Care Subsidies
Source: Toronto Star, June 28, 2011
Excerpt: "A record 19,817 Toronto children are waiting for daycare subsidies while the city scrambles to keep its chronically underfunded system afloat with unused money from all-day kindergarten. It is a situation akin to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," said Jane Mercer of the Toronto Coalition for Better Child Care. The city's recovering economy, high cost of living and a new generation of young educated women entering the workforce are putting new pressure on the city's daycare waiting list, she said."
B.C.: Full Assessment of Kindergarten Students Promised for Fall 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun, June 27, 2011
Excerpt: "Kindergarten children in B.C. public schools will be routinely assessed for physical, social, emotional and intellectual development starting in fall 2012…. In preparation, the ministry will begin gathering information this fall from boards that already offer some assessment of kindergarten students to determine which practices are working well…. The move corresponds with the expansion of full-day, play-based kindergarten into every public school this fall. This year, full-day kindergarten was offered in half of B.C. schools."
Daycare Closing Doors on 100 Kids After Declaring Bankruptcy
Source: Toronto Star, June 23, 2011
Excerpt: "A daycare centre with locations in Toronto and Oakville is suddenly closing its doors, leaving almost 100 children looking for care. Parents arrived at Precious People Place on Tuesday morning and discovered it had declared bankruptcy and would close its two locations…at the end of the week. The centre's 18 staff members will also be out of work after Friday. Parents are scrambling to find care for their children by next week. The centre, which has been operating since 1997, had its licence suspended by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services after declaring bankruptcy. Ministry officials posted letters on the door on Tuesday saying the centre was $285,000 in debt."
Ontario Urged to Spend More on Child Care
Source: Toronto Star, June 22, 2011
Excerpt: "Ontario educators and child-care advocates are heralding new research that shows Quebec's low-cost daycare program more than pays for itself through mothers' increased income and consumption taxes. "This just shows what a smart economic choice it is to invest in early childhood education," said Andrea Calver of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. "The old adage that we can’t afford to invest early in the lives of children has just been proven completely wrong," said Catherine Fife, head of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association."
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Quebec’s Child-Care Scheme Pays for Itself, Economist
Source: Toronto Star, June 22, 2011
Excerpt: "Governments that say they can't afford to invest in affordable child care are wrong, says a Montreal economist who is releasing a new analysis of Quebec's popular $7-a-day program Wednesday. After 12 years, the Quebec scheme more than pays for itself through mothers' annual income and consumption taxes, says Pierre Fortin, an economics professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal. For every dollar Quebec invests, it recoups $1.05 while Ottawa receives a 44-cent windfall, he says."
Manitoba Launches Online Childcare Registry
Source: Times Colonist (BC), June 20, 2011
Excerpt: "Provincial officials say parents looking for childcare can now do so with the touch of a button. Manitoba’s online childcare registry has been expanded to include all areas of Manitoba, after it was first launched in Brandon last year. The new tool allows parents to put their child on a waiting list for a licensed daycare spot without having to call the childcare centre. Once parents find a spot, the website will automatically contact you via email to ask if you want your account terminated."
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The Difference a Day Makes
Source: Times Colonist (BC), June 20, 2011
Excerpt: "Like many of her administrative colleagues around the region, she said the first year of full-day kindergarten has fallen into place well, and has been embraced by most teachers, parents and students she has encountered. Her outlook ties in with comments from leaders of local parent groups, who said they have heard few complaints throughout the past school year."
Full-Day School Curriculum Aids Kindergartners
Source: Times Colonist (BC), June 19, 2011
Excerpt: "Preece said a common theme she hears from full-day kindergarten teachers is that the move from half-day classes has added to the education experience for students. "…. What full-day K enables is really spending more time with individual children and getting to know the families better." …. Preece said that if she had a wish list for full-day K, she would borrow from Ontario's experience and have early-childhood educators in the classroom with kindergarten teachers. "That would be a model that I would embrace."
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Kindergarten Care Okayed
Source: Brampton Guardian, June 19, 2011
Excerpt: "The public school board has approved agreements to allow PLASP and the YMCA to provide before and after-school care for children in full-day kindergarten. Peel District School Board trustees approved the deal during a public meeting Tuesday evening. For parents who choose to use the service next year, it will cost $23 a day for each child."
Governments are Failing Families on Child Care
Source: Toronto Star, June 18, 2011
Excerpt: "… Queen's Park has refused to take responsibility for funding a much-needed expansion of child care, settling instead on doing the barest minimum to keep existing subsidized spaces open. Worse still, Premier Dalton McGuinty's government has been deaf to warnings that Ontario’s impressive new full-day kindergarten program will deepen the financial woes of some existing daycare centres."
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Toronto Mothers Cry Out for Child Care
Source: Toronto Star, June 17, 2011
Excerpt: "Toronto mothers feel panic and a sense of hopelessness when faced with finding affordable, high-quality child care, says a new report being released at city hall Friday…. "I have only wanted my kids to be happy and engaged,” wrote one survey respondent.
"Instead I’m blamed for having them, told that I should have expected the endless wait lists and unbelievable expenses, and that my mom should take care of them for me for free.""
Kindergarten Class Sizes Increased
Source: Brampton Guardian, June 16, 2011
Excerpt: "Catholic schools will be increasing the average number of students in full-day kindergarten classes to help reduce enrolment waiting lists and keep parents from switching to the public school system to access the program."
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Cash-Strapped Daycare Safe, For Now
Source: Toronto Star, June 16, 2011
Excerpt: "The city has hammered out a temporary solution to keep cash-strapped Progress Child Care Centre open for now. City managers are offering the non-profit Scarborough daycare 100 per cent of its funding for July, about $120,000…"
Alberta Struggles with All-Day Kindergarten
Source: Globe and Mail, June 14, 2011
Excerpt: "While most of the country is making kindergarten a full-time affair, a handful of school districts in Canada's last big hold-out province, Alberta, have dug into their own pockets to fund all-day programs. Some districts have introduced full-day kindergarten as a way for high-needs students to get ahead, while others are charging a fee for the optional program, which is popular with working parents. This hodgepodge of early learning makes Alberta unique now that Ontario and British Columbia have begun funding full-day programs."
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Why The Globe Went Back to Kindergarten
Date: Globe and Mail, June 13, 2011
Excerpt: "The Globe and Mail spent the past year following four very different children inside their Toronto-area classrooms. A reporter, researcher and videographer were given access to 100 kindergarten students, their teachers and school leaders and we assessed the progress of four children through measures developed by researchers at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education."
EQ Over IQ: How Play-Based Learning Can Lead to More Successful Kids
Source: Globe and Mail, June 13, 2011
Excerpt: "Self-regulation is a hot topic in education, something that’s hard to quantify but it can be better than even IQ at predicting academic success. It's also a side effect of play-based learning, the entrepiece of new full-day kindergarten programs in Ontario and British Columbia. The appeal for many families is practical; the full-day model provides affordable and convenient childcare. But beyond childcare are volumes of research that have brought play back into the classroom. They suggest that through these full-day programs Canada is building a generation of self-motivated learners who will be more successful, healthier and happier than any before them."
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Building Better Kids: It's the Preschools, Stupid
Source: Mother Jones (US), June 13, 2011
Excerpt: "A team of researchers has reported in Science on a long-term study of intensive preschool intervention in Chicago, and the results are pretty impressive. The study group is a cohort of mostly African-American children born in 1979-80, and the followup study was done when they were 28 years old…. Overall, the preschool groups had higher high school graduation rates, higher on-time graduation rates, higher college attendance, higher economic status, and higher incomes compared to the group who didn't attend preschool. Interestingly, the positive effects were limited to boys. Girls, however, responded more positively to school-age interventions."
Kate Hammer: The Goal was to Get Inside the Classroom
Date: Globe and Mail, Jun 10, 2011
Excerpt: "I started covering education for the Globe and Mail in late 2009, just as three provinces were gearing up to re-invent their kindergarten programs. As a reporter I wondered what was wrong with the half-day model, the one where kindergarten served as a warm-up for Grade 1."
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Kadria Simons: Full-day Kindergarten From a Child’s Eye
Date: Globe and Mail, Jun 10, 2011
Excerpt: "After working in Israel and South America for four years in the field of education and development, I began my studies as an M.A. Candidate at the Jackman Institute of Child Study at OISE/UT in September 2010.... Throughout the year, I used photography and drawings to gauge each child’s experience of kindergarten. By conducting finger puppet interviews, I learned what aspects of kindergarten they enjoyed the most. In these interviews, they also demonstrated their development of language skills. Sentences became longer, vocabulary increased, and the responses became more elaborate..."
Out of Cash, Scarborough Child-Care Centre Forced to Close Doors
Source: Globe and Mail, June 10, 2011
Excerpt: "Financial pressures forced Scarborough's Progress Child Care to close its doors on Friday afternoon, leaving the centre's workers and board to ask the city to provide them with emergency funding to stay operational. But the city says there’s simply no emergency cash available, lest they take away from the child-care subsidies used by more than 24,000 Torontonians."
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The Friday Podcast: The Case For Preschool
Source: NPR (US), June 10, 2011
Description: "On today's today's Planet Money, we talk with James Heckman, a University of Chicago economist. Based on the data from these studies, he argues that using public funds to pay for poor kids to go to preschool actually saves the government money in the long run."
Nordic Childcare Model Best for Economic and Social Wellbeing
Source: Irish Times, June 9, 2011
Excerpt: "There is no single utopian model of childcare and no society that, as Breda O'Brien suggests (Opinion and Analysis, May 28th), could be considered as a social utopia. Yet there are substantive differences across societies in their social and economic policies, with clear differences in outcomes. The Nordic model may not be perfect, but as recent OECD/Unicef analyses indicate, Scandinavian countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) consistently fare among the best internationally on all the indicators of children's wellbeing."
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For the Very Young Learning is Child's Play
Source: Vancouver Sun, June 9, 2011
Excerpt: "This article cites an Ontario study critical of full day kindergarten. British Columbia's full day kindergarten program is based on a feasibility study by our Early Childhood Learning Agency, which examined the benefits to children and parents of both full day kindergarten and optional pre-kindergarten…. B.C.'s full day kindergarten program differs substantially from the Ontario example used in what can best be described as a very limited piece of research."
All Levels of Canadian Government Can Play a Role in Child Care
Source: Times & Transcript, June 9, 2011
Excerpt: "It makes economic sense for all levels of government to get involved in child care. Canadian Economist, Robert Fairholm, with the Centre for Spatial Economics, conducted a study on workforce shortages in child care…. In my opinion the study's most noteworthy finding is that even in the short-term, more than 90 per cent of the cost of hiring child care workers goes back to governments as increased revenue…. Given that most of the returns to government are accrued by the federal government, it would make sense for the federal government to take a leadership role in child care. Unfortunately, given the federal Conservative government's dismal track record on this issue, I am not optimistic for the next four years."
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Regulatory Amendments Respecting Full-Day JK and K and Extended Day and 3rd Party Programs
Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, June 8, 2011
Excerpt: "As you know, the government has made changes with respect to the framework for the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program (FDK) that involve amendments to the related legislation, regulations and guidelines. This memorandum describes the key elements of the revised framework in the following sections: 1. Overview of Amendments; 2. Operational Framework for Extended Day and Third Party Programs; 3. Safe Schools and FDK; and 4. Broader Implementation of FDK."
See also:
- "Amendments to Full Day Kindergarten Regulation Pre-publication English"
- "Extended Day and Third Party Programs Regulation Pre-publication English"
Manitoba Introduces Mandatory "Play-Based" Curriculum
Source: Global Winnipeg, June 8, 2011
Excerpt: "There will be some big changes at daycares and nurseries throughout Manitoba, as the provincial government has decided to introduce mandatory play-based curriculum and expand physical activity options in child care centres. The Province has partnered with Sport Manitoba to develop a new program, Early Returns. The program is based on the latest research on early childhood learning…"
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Native Children Ask U.N. to Probe Education Problems
Source: Toronto Star, June 8, 2011
Excerpt: "Schools filled with mice that eat children’s lunches. No playgrounds or doors that close properly. A lack of school supplies, books or gyms. A host of these problems, found in reserve schools across Canada, are poignantly laid out in heart-wrenching letters from First Nations children — part of a report to the United Nations urging the body to investigate historic inequities in native education…. The report, “Our Dreams Matter Too: First Nations children’s rights, lives and education,” will be released on Thursday in Gatineau and submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child."
Solving Problems Children Don't Have
Source: Ottawa Citizen, June 7, 2011
Excerpt: "In his Innis Lecture the previous evening, the University of Toronto labour economist Michael Baker turned his 3-C analytical skills… on the growing phenomenon of universal government interventions in early-childhood education…. To be a little less careful than Prof. Baker, almost all these interventions are predicated on the assumption that there will big benefits both for children by improving their chances for successful development and for society by reducing crime, delinquency, dependency and any number of other costly social pathologies later in these children's lives. The point of Prof. Baker's talk was that the evidentiary basis for this assumption is slim."
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At Risk Children Miss Out On Kinder
Source: The Age (AU), June 6, 2011
Excerpt: "A free kindergarten program for Aboriginal and abused children is failing to reach its target, with more than three-quarters of allocated places unfilled…. Families involved with child protection services are often living in very difficult circumstances…. "We know these vulnerable children benefit most from early childhood education but parents know that kinder is optional, unlike school. If parents are in crisis mode, kindergarten isn't on top of their priority list." The program appears to be more effective in integrated long day-care facilities, where maternal and child health nurses and social workers can link families into kindergarten and help keep them there."
Having Fun and Playing Makes Kids Smarter
Source: Toronto Star, June 5, 2011
Excerpt: "It’s called Having Fun — a long-maligned concept that is enjoying a renaissance in many parts of the globe, perhaps especially in Ontario…. There were plenty of learning opportunities for everyone Sunday at Canada’s first ever Ultimate Block Party, a free event for families sponsored by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.... "Children shouldn’t stop playing so they can sit still and do their work,” said Janet Millar Grant, an early learning expert at the teachers’ federation. “Play is the work of children.""
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Ontario Schools on the Right Track with Play-Based Learning—ETFO
Source: Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, June 5, 2011 (news release)
Excerpt: "Ontario public elementary schools are on the right track by having play-based learning as the focus for the province's new full-day kindergarten, according to the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO). "The research evidence is clear that play-based learning fosters creativity, initiative, collaboration and problem-solving," said ETFO President Sam Hammond at The Ultimate Block Party, a free celebration of play which attracted thousands of families and children in Toronto today. "We're celebrating the first year's completion of this important educational initiative with the biggest play date ever.""
Nanaimo Educators Back Full-Day Kindergarten
Source: canada.com, June 4, 2011
Excerpt: "Nanaimo's educators are skeptical of a report released this week that says full-day kindergarten may have a negative effect on the learning and personal development of some children…. Elizabeth Pennell is the early learning co-ordinator for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district which, along with the rest of B.C. school districts, will have full-day kindergarten in place in all its elementary schools in September. She said the results from the 18 elementary schools in Nanaimo-Ladysmith that offered full-day kindergarten for the first time this year are "very positive" and that a play-based curriculum is proving effective."
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All Schools To Get All-Day Kindergarten by 2014
Source: Hamilton Spectator, June 2, 2011
Excerpt: "The Early Learning Program (ELP) uses play-based learning. Unlike the old JK/SK split, ELPs are structured as a two-year-long kindergarten, combining both age groups. "Kids aren’t expected to do specific things in each year, instead they have two years to get through the learning and get ready for Grade 1," said Jennifer Perco, an all-day kindergarten teacher at St. Lawrence Catholic Elementary School….Perco says it’s been very successful so far. "It is a good program. The play-based learning is just such a nicer way for them to be getting the opportunities they need to. They’re learning to read and write, without even realizing it’s work.""
OISE, Partners to Receive $1 Million Over 5 years for Early Learning
Source: OISE, June 3, 2011
Excerpt: "For more than a decade, the Atkinson Charitable Foundation has provided financial support to partnerships like these that support low income communities, particularly children and their families. At the event this week, executive director Olivia Nuamah… announced that the Atkinson Charitable Foundation would extend its support and contribute more than 1 million dollars over 5 years to further the work of the Atkinson Centre, OISE, the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study and George Brown College."
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Child Care Crisis Holding Back Dreams of Many Immigrant Women
Source: Inside Toronto, June 3, 2011
Excerpt: “For many immigrant women, affordable quality child care isn't a luxury, it's the ticket to a better life. …. The project, which launched on Mother's Day is investigating the accessibility, quality and affordability of child care services in Toronto. It came to gather feedback from women in the community, which will be included in a report it plans to release on Father's Day…."We launched it because women still have primary responsibility for child care and yet we're still not hearing women's voices about their experiences getting child care," she said…."It's especially important to immigrants like me. It's important to our survival in Canadian society because I have no close relatives to help me with my children...Without child care I can not work and my family is totally dependent on one income."
Early Childhood Service Centres Really Taking Off
Source: Daily Gleaner (NB), June 2, 2011
Excerpt: "A number of new trial centres in New Brunswick aim to better prepare youngsters for their first steps into school, an education official told delegates at an academic conference Wednesday.Researcher Ruth Morrison from the Health and Education Research Group spoke at the University of New Brunswick for the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences about the progress of the pilot research project. The sites are geared towards early childhood development and focus on joining a variety of services into one convenient place. So far, the centres have received positive feedback from both parents and kindergarten teachers, according to a midterm report..."
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Study Raises Questions About Full-Day Kindergarten
Source: Vancouver Sun, June 2, 2011
Excerpt: "Full-day kindergarten may be having a negative effect on the learning and personal development of some children, according to new research. Early results from a pilot study focusing on two classrooms in southwestern Ontario revealed that teachers in a regular school setting were often caught in the tension that exists between meeting curriculum expectations and teaching to student interests. The researchers argue that academic goals, centered on results and preparation for standardized tests in later years, are taking away from play-based learning that builds upon what the child already knows."
Abolishing the Long-Form Census Muzzles Women's Organizations
Source: Times & Transcript (NB), June 2, 2011
Excerpt: "Another major loss for women resulted from the changes made to the Canadian Census.Questions that tabulate unpaid activities are no longer included. This is more than a loss; it is an insult to the traditionally female work done at home that goes largely unrecognized. Questions on unpaid activities have been included in the census since 1996, and are crucial to getting recognition for housework and unpaid care provided to children and seniors. This data allows government to plan what services and policies are needed. The Standing Committee heard about why those questions were inserted into the census. And that is that this information assisted communities to plan the services needed that pertain to child care and elder care."
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Final Roll Out For Full-Day Kindergarten
Source: Government of Ontario, June 1, 2011 (news release)
Excerpt: "The government is announcing details for implementing the final two years of full-day kindergarten across Ontario. Every four- and five-year-old child will be able to go to full-day kindergarten by September 2014."
Can’t Trust Hudak with All-Day Kindergarten, McGuinty Says
Source: Toronto Star, June 1, 2011
Excerpt: "Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak cannot be trusted to implement all-day kindergarten if he wins the Oct. 6 election, warns Premier Dalton McGuinty. In a campaign-style event Wednesday at Lambton Park Community School in west-end Toronto, McGuinty told reporters that Hudak’s weekend pledge to continue the phase-in of full-day junior and senior kindergarten by 2014 is not credible."
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New Logo for Legal Daycares
Source: cbc.ca, May 30, 2011
Excerpt: "The Quebec government has unveiled a new logo for licensed daycare operators hoping the sign will help parents distinguish legally-recognized daycares from illegal ones. The sticker logo, which was presented by Family Minister Yolande James on Sunday, will be installed on daycare windows and doors in the next few days."
Our Take on the 'Early Learning Challenge': Hope and Disappointment
Source: Early Education Initiative (New America Foundation), May 26, 2011
Excerpt: "Yesterday's announcement of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge -- a $500 million grant competition for states -- presents a historic opportunity to improve early education, but it's a bittersweet moment too. Here at the Early Education Initiative, we're hopeful and cautiously optimistic, but we cannot help be disappointed by structural deficiencies in the grant program that represent a missed chance for developing some much-needed connections between pre-kindergarten and early elementary school programs."
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