IMPACT OF POVERTY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: Facts & Resources - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

IMPACT OF POVERTY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: Facts & Resources RESEARCH UPDATE Prepared by: Susan M Moore, Clinical Professor Emerita, UCB

Inequities ¡ Inequities at the Starting Gate Garcia & Weis ( 2015)… Not new information but documented! Early Education gaps by social class and race start U.S. children out on unequal footing. ¡ Social class is the single factor with the most influence on how ready a child is for Kinder…ethnicity and race compound the disadvantage…largely related to issues of social class

SES Consider: ¡ Parent education ¡ Occupational prestige ¡ Household income (This study parallels Hart & Risley, 1995 in finding correlations of outcomes to SES)

Reality ¡ “In real life we cannot disentangle black and Hispanic children’s race and ethnicity from the contexts in which they live, which put them at a major disadvantage relative to their average white and Asian peers. It is not race itself, then, but the poverty and other things that too often go along with being a minority child in America, that compound disadvantage. In addition to the high odds of living in poverty ( as do 46 percent of black and 63 percent of non-English speaking Hispanic children ), these disadvantages include living with one parent (as do 65 percent of black children), and lacking access to preschool (as do 53 percent of Hispanic children, compared with only 40 percent of white children and less than 40 percent of Asian children).”

FINDINGS FROM STUDY ¡ Low social class poses major barriers to young children’s readiness in reading and math ¡ Low social class also affects children’s social, behavioral and other noncognitive skills based upon teachers and parents perceptions of self control, approaches to learning, (e.g. persistence ), and social skills.

What does this have to so with language difference? Double bind theory… ¡ Updated research from UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) reveals high-quality early education is especially advantageous for children when they start younger and continue longer. Not only does more high-quality early education significantly boost the language skills of children from low-income families, children whose first language is not English benefit even more. ¡ “These findings show that more high-quality early education and care can narrow the achievement gap before children reach kindergarten,” said Noreen M. Yazejian, principal investigator of FPG’s Educare Learning Network Implementation Study. “Children from low-income families can improve their standing relative to their middle class peers.” § http://fpg.unc.edu/node/7668 March, 2015

W HERE ARE WE NOW?

YOUNG CHILDREN IN DEEP POVERTY ¡ Ekono, M., Yang, J., & Smith, S. (2015). Young Children in Deep Poverty. New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. ¡ Uploaded to CDE Website Reunions. ¡ A U.S. family of three living in deep poverty survives on an annual income below $9,276, or less than $9.00 a day per family member. The struggle to raise children on such a meager income is not a rare circumstance among U.S. families, especially those with young children. ¡ Currently, 11 percent of young children (0-9 years) live in households with incomes below 50 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL), up from 9 percent in 2008. ¡ The percentage of young children in deep poverty varies across the states, from 5 percent in North Dakota to 18 percent in Mississippi , 16 percent in South Carolina, and 14 percent in Kentucky and West Virginia.

IDENTIFIED DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY The prevalence of a diagnosed developmental delay in children, as reported by parents, is similar among deeply poor, poor, and non- poor 2-9 year olds; The prevalence is 7 percent among deeply poor and poor children and 6 percent for non-poor children. However, about twice as many deeply poor and poor parents reported that their children are at-risk for developmental delays as parents of non-poor children (20 percent for deeply poor, 18 percent for poor, and 9 percent for non-poor children). Parents’ report of risk for developmental delay is based on a set of questions asking about the parent’s concern regarding different aspects of the child’s learning and behavior (see Appendix B).

“FLOURISHING” ¡ The prevalence of children age 6 months to 5 years, viewed by parents as “flourishing,” is under 50 percent for deeply poor children; ¡ This percentage rises to 62 percent for poor children, and rises further to72 percent for non-poor children. ¡ (The child’s score for “flourishing” reflects the parent’s perception of the child as affectionate, curious, laughing, and able to bounce back after a disappointment.) ¡ The prevalence of children age 6 to 9 years, viewed by parents as “flourishing,” was similarly low for deeply poor (37 percent) and poor children (36 percent) compared to non-poor children (51 percent).

CONCLUSIONS FROM THIS REPORT ¡ Results of the descriptive analyses show that on almost every indicator, higher percentages of young children in both poverty and deep poverty have poor outcomes, compared to non-poor children. The biggest differences in the health and development of young children are evident in comparisons of non-poor children with those who are poor and deeply poor.

FACTS: ¡ From Zero to Three: ZERO TO THREE: ZERO TO THREE: Poverty’s Effect on Infants and Toddlers.html ¡ What effect does poverty have on the developing brains of babies and toddlers? ZERO TO THREE's new infographic shows how young children in poverty, beginning at birth, begin to develop gaps in their growth and development when compared with their peers. Nearly half of America's babies live in or near poverty - this is a clear warning sign for America's global competitiveness. Investing in support for parents in nurturing children and positive early learning opportunities can help. www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/infant-toddler-policy-issues/poverty-infographic.html - 30k

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CHILDREN IN POVERTY ¡ Quick Facts ¡ 22% of children in the U.S. live in families that are considered officially poor. ¡ Child poverty rates are highest among black, Latino, and American Indian children. ¡ Across the states, official child poverty rates range from 11% in New Hampshire to 32% in Mississippi. ¡ Colorado State Profile Uploaded to DLL-CDE Website or access through NCCP ¡ http://www.nccp.org/about.html

SUPPORTING PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE FAMILIES TO PROMOTE YOUNG CHILDREN’S LEARNING: IMPLICATIONS FOR EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION POLICY AUTHORS: SANDRA BARRUECO, SHEILA SMITH, AND SAM STEPHENS HTTP://WWW.NCCP.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/PUB_1101.HTML “There is wide agreement that early care and education programs should support parent engagement linked to early learning for all families, including families from diverse language and cultural backgrounds. This brief highlights research that can inform policies to expand the capacity of early care and education programs to promote parent engagement in linguistically diverse families with young children. Policy initiatives that could strengthen the capacity of early care and education programs to support parent engagement in these families include: establishing program requirements and quality standards that specifically address the needs and interests of families whose home language is not English; providing educational opportunities to individuals who can increase the linguistic diversity and cultural competency of the early care and education workforce; providing resources to support programs' use of parent engagement practices and activities that are most promising for linguistically diverse families; and using data to understand the participation of linguistically diverse families in parent engagement activities and inform efforts to strengthen programs' capacity to engage diverse families.”.

WHAT DO WE DO?

“THE GOOD NEWS!” ¡ Rand Report …Evidence of Impacts and Economic Returns from National, State, and Local Preschool Programs ¡ Lynn A. Karoly and Anamarie Auger ¡ 2016 ¡ High-Quality, Full-Scale Preschool Programs Boost School Readiness and Produce Sustained Benefits ¡ There are numerous examples of full-scale preschool pro- grams with rigorous evaluations that show improvements in school readiness for participating children. ¡ Favorable impacts have been demonstrated for part- and full-day preschool programs, as well as one- and two-year programs, but the research is not definitive about the com- parative effectiveness of these options. ¡ High quality is a common element among the preschool programs with the largest effects on school readiness and with sustained effects at older ages.

MORE BENEFITS ¡ High quality is a common element among the preschool programs with the largest effects on school readiness and with sustained effects at older ages. A consistent finding from evaluations of universal programs is that children across the income spectrum may benefit from high-quality preschool, but the impact tends to be larger for more-disadvantaged children. Go to For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/rr1461.