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The Gain From Early Intervention
Source: The Economist, October 24, 2011
Excerpt: "One of this week's new NBER working papers is a fascinating look at the impact of early childhood education... this paper explains that while test scores later in life don't necessarily show improvement as a result of interventions, other variables do show sustained benefits. In particular, early interventions have a meaningful, positive effect on college attendance, degree completion, and matriculation in technical fields. Indeed, there is a tight correlation between the improvement in test scores shown at the time of the intervention and the increase in the likelihood of attending college."
Quebec to Add 15,000 New Daycare Spaces
Source: Montreal Gazette, October 24, 2011
Excerpt: "The Quebec government launched its bid for tenders Monday to create 15,000 new subsidized daycare spaces over the next four years, bringing the total number of subsidized spots to 231,000. ...Although it will help, experts said the increase would not be enough to meet the needs of a province in the midst of a baby boom, or come soon enough for parents who need spaces now. The new spots will be created in larger daycares referred to as Centres de la petite enfance (CPEs) and private subsidized daycares as opposed to home daycares, Family Minister Yolande James said. The government will not fund any of the province's 21,000 private daycares to convert to subsidized ones."
Early Childhood Conditions Help Shape DNA: Research
Source: The Province (BC), October 21, 2011
Excerpt: "Early childhood living conditions provoke biological changes in genes leading to DNA "memory" that can last a lifetime, an international study has found. Experts have already noted that income, education and neighbourhood resources can have a dramatic effect on children's health, and that a poor socio-economic environment in infancy can translate into a higher risk of adult disease and early mortality. But a study published online Thursday in the International Journal of Epidemiology suggests that early experience works changes that are far more than skin deep."
Ban Bilingual Daycares, Watchdog Urges
Source: CBC, October 21, 2011
Excerpt: "New Brunswick's official languages commissioner is calling on the provincial government to ban bilingual daycares by extending the policy of duality that currently covers the education system. Michel Carrier said in his annual report that was released on Thursday the same rules that divide kindergarten to Grade 12 into French and English systems in New Brunswick should also apply to daycares. Carrier said experts have told him that in a bilingual daycare, French preschoolers tend to lose their French and learn English instead."
Emergency Funding Needed to Keep Hundreds of Child Care Centres From Closing
Source: Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, CNW, October 20, 2011 (press release)
Excerpt: "The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care sent a letter of welcome to the Hon. Laurel Broten, who was named Minister of Education today. The letter also alerts Minister Broten to the immediate crisis of an upcoming wave of child care closures. Emergency funding will keep centres from closing before the province can find a more permanent solution in the spring budget. "This is not a looming crisis, it is one that has arrived. Child care centres are already beginning to announce their closures. We're not talking about a couple of centres, we're talking about hundreds of daycares potentially closing province-wide," says Tracy Saarikoski, President of the OCBCC and a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE)."
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Occupy the Classroom
Source: New York Times, October 19, 2011
Excerpt: "Occupy Wall Street is shining a useful spotlight on one of America’s central challenges, the inequality that leaves the richest 1 percent of Americans with a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent. Most of the proposed remedies involve changes in taxes and regulations, and they would help. But the single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It’s an expansion of early childhood education."
Sask. NDP promises to add 10,000 child care spaces by 2015
Source: Star Phoenix, October 19 2011
Excerpt: "The Saskatchewan NDP has announced a plan to create 10,000 spaces of "affordable, accessible child care" over the next four years. Party Leader Dwain Lingenfelter made the announcement Tuesday morning at a daycare centre in Yorkton, saying, "We must ensure our kids are getting the best possible learning experience in the best possible child care." He said the plan would include a cap on fees at $12 a day for school-age children and $22 for infants and toddlers, with the balance of the cost picked up by the provincial treasury.""
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Young Parents Squeezed for Time and Money, Report Finds
Source: Toronto Star, October 18, 2011
Excerpt: "Canadian parents are raising children with far less money and time than their baby boomer predecessors, despite the doubling of the Canadian economy since 1976, says a report from the University of British Columbia. At the same time, Canadians approaching retirement are wealthier than ever before, setting up an intergenerational tension that threatens young families, according to the study, released Tuesday. "What we're seeing is something I call 'Generation Squeeze,' " said lead researcher Paul Kershaw."
Parents Grill School Adviser
Source: Ottawa Citizen, October 18, 2011
Excerpt: "Parents rushed to the microphones Monday night to ask Charles Pascal questions about the extended day program, but many didn't seem completely satisfied with his answers. Pascal, the architect of Ontario's full-day kindergarten initiative, was invited by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to conduct the first of three public consultations about the program. The board is grappling with how best to offer extended day programming: the before-and after-school pieces of Pascal's $1.5-billion fullday kindergarten plan, which is in the second year of implementation. A key issue on the minds of many in the packed auditorium was the definition of "seamless day.""
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Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest
Source: New York Times, October 18, 2011
Excerpt: "Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, self-described educational games and even grown-up shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said."
Full-day Kindergarten Worth Growing Pains, Adviser Says
Source: Ottawa Citizen, October 17, 2011
Excerpt: "Despite a sometimes messy implementation, the architect of Ontario’s full-day kindergarten initiative says school boards must stay the course and continue rolling out the popular new program. “Implementation of something as important but also as complex as this will feel, at some times, as messy as a child’s first attempt at finger painting," said Charles Pascal, the special adviser on early learning to Premier Dalton McGuinty, who presented his plan in a 2009 report. "Implementation has its challenges, but if people keep a focus on what's best for kids and families, these other things will actually work out quite well, including issues of space and those kinds of things," he said."
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No Plans to Evict Child-Care Providers, School Board Officials Say
Source: Ottawa Citizen, October 17, 2011
Excerpt: "As the city's largest school board prepares to hold a series of public consultations on how best to offer the extended day program — the provincially-mandated before- and after-school component of full-day kindergarten — a senior manager says evicting established child-care providers from local elementary schools is not part of the plan. "Partnerships that have been in place for years are not something we're going to destroy," said Eleanor Heap, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board's manager of early learning."
Promised Quebec Daycare Spots Not Always Created
Source: CBC News, October 17, 2011
Excerpt: "Thousands of daycare spots announced three years ago by the Quebec government were never created, CBC News and Radio-Canada have found. Earlier this year, the governing Liberals promised to expand daycare availability even more, although they’re still about 3,400 places short delivering on their first promise..."
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Think like a Beaver: A Deal For Families
Source: Vancouver Sun, October 12, 2011
Excerpt: "Newfoundland and Yukon Territory went to the polls this week. The Northwest Territories, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. held provincial elections last week. I can't help but ask… Where's The Family in all of these elections? Where were the policy promises to remedy how young families now have less time together, less household income after housing, and insufficient services to balance work and young kids, compared to the previous generation? If not in elections, when do we talk seriously about the higher housing prices and stalled household incomes with which Canadians aged 25-44 struggle despite being more committed to the labour market than any other generation in recent memory?"
An Education in Brain Power
Source: Lethbridge Herald, October 12, 2011
Excerpt:"The brain at birth has millions upon millions of brain cells. Connections between cells are formed through experiences, which act on the brain much like chisels on a block of marble. Other connections are lost as the brain develops. Gene expression also plays a vital role in brain development. Identical twins at birth will have close to the same gene expression. Fifty years later they'll be as different as siblings even though they still look like each other….. Gene expression can also be passed from mother to offspring….. Kolb said he's also been telling the story of brain development to Alberta Education staff…. Kolb said the province could set up programs like Cuba's mother and child care program to ensure healthy pregnancies and child development. Play-care programs that provide some education, play, interaction with caregivers and music training would be ideal."
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Toronto, ON: An Update on Child Care
Source: City Councillor Janet Davis, October 12, 2011
Excerpt from Councillor Davis’s letter: … In recognition of the need for more affordable child care spaces, City Council unanimously passed a motion calling on the provincial and federal government to work with City staff to develop a strategy to expand the number of child care spaces in Toronto (1b).
But, by a vote of 25 to 20, City Council voted to continue to study the following KPMG recommendations on child care: Consider whether quality assessments are required; Review child care funding and subsidies to reduce the funding and subsidies; Consider transferring the city-operated child care centres to community or private operators; Consider making changes to program structure consistent with the
full-day kindergarten initiative; and Consider reducing the maximum subsidized per diem rates the City will support to levels near the average rates of non-profit providers.
This is a summary of the vote.
The following Councillors voted in favour of my motion to NOT pursue these options further: Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailão, Shelley Carroll, Raymond Cho, Josh Colle, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mary Fragedakis, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow, Pam McConnell, Mary-Margaret McMahon, Joe Mihevc, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Adam Vaughan, Kristyn Wong-Tam
The following Councillors voted against my motion to NOT pursue these options further: Paul Ainslie, Michelle Berardinetti, Gary Crawford, Vincent Crisanti, Mike Del Grande, Frank Di Giorgio, Doug Ford, Rob Ford, Mark Grimes, Doug Holyday, Norman Kelly, Chin Lee, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Milczyn, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Ron Moeser, Frances Nunziata (Chair), Cesar Palacio, John Parker, James Pasternak, Jaye Robinson, David Shiner, Karen Stintz, Michael Thompson
I do not have any information at this point about the review. I will update you as soon as I learn more about when and how it will be conducted.
Please continue all your efforts to contact elected representatives - particularly those who voted to pursue these damaging options further. Explain to them how important child care is to you and how these changes will hurt child care - and children - in Toronto. The 2012 budget is expected on November 28, and we won't know until then what is really on the table for Children's Services. So, keep the pressure up!
AB: Day Care Extends into the Evenings
Source: Calgary Herald, October 6, 2011
Excerpt: "The province expects to see more and more child care providers offering extended-hours after a High River child care centre launched its evening program this week, becoming the second facility in Alberta to open its doors late into the night. "Generally, we're seeing a small trend toward offering extended hours care," said Leann Wagner, senior manager of the child care branch at Alberta Children and Youth Services. "Increasingly, as people move around the province... and away from familial situations, they might need care in the evening and they can't count on family to do that. They need a third party to provide that care and that's where child care programs come in." ... "There are a lot of people who work shifts," said Julia Gwyn-Morris, who owns and operates the facility with her partner Eddy Marshall."
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NFLD: Full-Time K? All the Way
Source: The Telegram, October 4, 2011-10-07
Excerpt: "So now that it’s too late for my sanity, why do I care if there's full-day kindergarten or not? Besides the academic and social benefits to the child, every parent finds a two-and-a-half-hour school session a pain in the butt. You blink and it’s time to turn around and go pick up your child.... Let’s look at pure economics: how do we expect women to enter and remain in the workforce, thus contributing to the tax base, when the onus usually falls on them to pick up and shuttle kindergarten children from school to a sitter’s? It makes it difficult for them to hold down a job. The provincial Liberals have promised a task force on full-day K. What the heck do they need a task force for? Just look at other provinces.... I searched the word kindergarten in the Conservative blue book and came up with zilch, so I called Confederation Building and inquired about their policy on full-day K. "I'm not really sure," came the response. Hmmm."
Hudak Defends Controversial Tory Flyer
Source: Toronto Star, October 3, 2011
Excerpt: "Tory Leader Tim Hudak on Monday defended a controversial "homophobic" flyer distributed in Brampton by the Progressive Conservative campaign…. The flyer claims the curriculum requires 6-year-olds to cross-dress and suggests teachers should "celebrate sexual diversity (with a) kissing booth." Rather than denouncing the flyer, Hudak told reporters they rightly reflected bad Liberal policy and that the now abandoned Liberal policy that would have taught detailed sex education to Grade 1 students."
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