PHOENIX – Este mes se despliega la herramienta “MapLIT” del portal “Read On Arizona”, Leer en Arizona. La herramienta en línea mapea las cifras de los censos, los registros escolares y otros datos que permiten delinear políticas para mejorar el alfabetismo y la educación en el estado.

Para esto, es importante entender primero los retos que enfrentan las diversas comunidades en Arizona. Es por eso que quienes son responsables de hacer las políticas estatales se han estado apoyando en una creciente base de datos en línea y en una herramienta de mapas para orientar su labor.

MapLIT existe desde 2015 y está ajustada para expandirse incluso hasta ofrecer más funciones dentro de este mismo mes. El recurso de mapas en línea incluye datos de los censos más recientes, de salud pública y registros del desempeño escolar, para destacar las áreas del estado donde los pequeños tienen más dificultades con temas de salud, o están crónicamente ausentes de la escuela, o es más posible que vivan en la pobreza.

Terri Clark, directora estatal de alfabetismo y educación en Arizona, dice que la meta era crear una herramienta que pudieran usar los legisladores, escuelas y organizaciones sin fines de lucro para crear los más efectivos programas y servicios, para ayudar a los pequeños del estado.

“Lo que hemos descubierto es que la gente le teme un poco a los datos. Y lo que tratamos de hacer con MapLIT, y de hacer con nuestro Centro de Datos de las Escuelas de Arizona que lanzaremos en unas semanas, es hacerlo divertido, interesante y ayudar a informar mejor a nuestros asociados sobre los datos”.

Clark dice que el nuevo Centro de Datos de las Escuelas de Arizona (“Arizona Schools Data Center”) incluirá información incluso más específica, escuela por escuela. Agrega que el mapeo de los datos por código ZIP o por distrito escolar puede destacar problemas que no siempre saltan de la página de una hoja de cálculo.

En eso está de acuerdo Kate Dobler, directora regional Navajo-Apache del programa de financiamiento estatal público para la primera infancia “First Things First”, “Primero lo Primero”.

Dice que su equipo descubrió con MapLIT que los recursos para los padres en los condados Navajo y Apache estaban concentrados en una pequeña área, pero los pequeños necesitados estaban dispersos por toda la región.

“MapLIT permitió que el consejo viera dónde estaban esos sectores de alta pobreza y en el proceso de planificación estratégica facilitó decir que el consejo quería llegar a las comunidades al borde de la región.”

Dobler dice que MapLIT aclara que no hay soluciones que a todos les funcionen ante los retos que enfrentan los niños del estado, y en vez de eso su equipo ha sido ayudado para que considere políticas apropiadas para comunidades individuales.

La aplicación MapLIT puede ser accesada en ReadOnArizona.org.


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Child care is expensive and in high demand but groups in Montana are taking creative approaches to help.

Child care services in Montana currently meet about half the state's need, and full-time child care can cost more than college tuition, according to Montana Advocates for Children. Experts said solutions are unique to communities.

Jennifer Pfau, executive director of the Central Montana Childcare Alliance, helped launch the group in 2022, which offers startup grants and support for businesses, schools, churches and others to start child care centers. She said the pandemic made visible the "workforce behind the workforce."

"It's shifting the focus to helping people realize that child care is essential community infrastructure," Pfau explained. "And then working together to help address the needs in your community."

The group has helped open 15 new child care centers and expand capacity by nearly 200 slots with American Rescue Plan Act funding, which Pfau noted has since run out. She called finding more "challenging."

As school enrollment decreases, some empty classrooms are being remodeled for child care. That worked for Pfau and for the group Missoula Child Care Advantage, which also created a business membership, offering in-network child care for employees of local businesses and schools.

Sally Henkel, Missoula Child Care Advantage coordinator for the United Way of Missoula County, said fees go toward a "shared services model" to stabilize the child care sector by reducing administrative costs.

"Once that can be alleviated, the hope is that providers can really reinvest that time and energy into mentoring staff, maybe paying them a little bit better," Henkel outlined. "And also offer higher quality child care and have a little bit less burnout as well."

At the Montana Capitol, House Bill 360, scheduled for a hearing in the Human Services Committee this week, would establish a child care workforce recruitment and retention support payment program.


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Alabama is part of a national program aimed at diversifying early childhood education.

The Enriching Public Pre-K Through Inclusion of Family Child Care initiative gives the state ways to explore how family child care homes can be part of its public pre-K system.

Erin Harmeyer, assistant research professor in the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University, said family child care providers play a crucial role in filling gaps in access, especially in rural areas where they can be a better cultural and linguistic match for families compared to traditional child care centers.

"Home-based child care providers are often doing things like offering care during nontraditional hours, nights or evenings or weekends," Harmeyer explained. "They offer this really kind of familiar and flexible and personal option for families that makes them very preferred for many."

The initiative comes as demand for pre-K programs is rising. Nationwide, state-funded preschool enrollment hit record levels last year, with 35% of 4-year-olds and 7% of 3-year-olds participating in one recent school year.

Harmeyer noted Alabama was chosen for the program because it already meets her institute's 10 quality benchmark standards, including having well-qualified lead teachers, small class sizes and robust professional development requirements. She added integrating family child care homes into the system builds on this strong foundation and can offer more opportunities to support children's development.

"We know that a large body of research does show the positive impacts of preschool, in both the short and the long term for children," Harmeyer emphasized.

Alabama is one of four participants in the initiative, alongside Nevada, Michigan, and the city of Durham, North Carolina.


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New York families are still dealing with child care barriers despite improvements.

A new report found more than half the state is a child care desert with parents having to leave the workforce because they cannot access it.

While the Child Care Assistance Program has improved, it does not make up for other shortcomings.

Lara Kyriakou, associate director of early childhood policy and advocacy for Ed Trust-New York and the report's co-author, said one of the biggest barriers is lacking knowledge about available child care programs.

"Many families reported difficulties just learning about available programs including navigating application processes," Kyriakou observed. "A lot of families spoke about learning of programs from other parents or other key trusted relationships that they had in the community."

Other issues include restrictions due to a person's immigration status, or benefits cliffs where a family earns a little too much to qualify for programs. Some recommendations to fix the situation include further expanding New York's child tax credit and working families tax credit and investing in the child care workforce to hire new and retain existing workers.

Reports showed the state's child care industry workforce fell 32% from 2019 to 2023.

Enacting such changes could help New York State reach its goal of cutting child poverty in half by 2032. The report calls for a $1.2 billion sustaining investment in the child care industry.

Jenn O'Connor, director of partnerships and early childhood policy for Ed Trust-New York, said making it a sustaining investment would give child care workers a salary matching the cost of living.

"Child care providers who are predominantly women and predominantly women of color make less than your pizza delivery guy half the time," O'Connor emphasized. "They're providing an essential service and they're educating our youngest children."

The newly announced Invest in Our New York Act could pay for this. The package of bills would have corporations and New York's ultra-wealthy residents pay their fair share of taxes and the money would then be spent on child care, education and affordable housing.