PHOENIX – To improve education and literacy in Arizona, it's important to first understand challenges different communities face.
So policymakers in the state have been turning to a growing online database and map tool for guidance.
MapLIT has been around since 2015 and is set to expand to offer even more features later this month.
The online mapping resource brings together the latest census numbers, public health data and school performance records to highlight areas of the state where children struggle with health concerns, or are chronically absent from school, or are most likely to live in poverty.
Terri Clark, Arizona's literacy director, says the goal was to create a tool that lawmakers, schools and nonprofit groups could use to create the most effective programs and services to help the state's children.
"What we've discovered is people are a little afraid of data,” she states. “And what we tried to do with MapLIT and what we're trying to do with our Arizona Schools Data Center we'll be launching in a few weeks, is make it fun and interesting, and to help inform our partners better about data."
Clark says MapLIT's new Arizona Schools Data Center will include even more specific, school-by-school information. She says mapping data by ZIP code or school district can highlight issues that don't always jump off the page of a spreadsheet.
Kate Dobler, Navajo/Apache regional director with First Things First, agrees. She says her team discovered with MapLIT that parent resources in Navajo and Apache counties were concentrated in a small area, but children in need were spread throughout the region.
"MapLIT allowed the council to see where those high pockets of high poverty were and made it easier in the strategic planning process to say that the council wanted to reach communities on the edge of the region," she explains.
Dobler says MapLIT makes clear there's no one-size-fits-all solution to challenges the state's children face, and has helped her team instead consider policies appropriate for individual communities.
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Idaho has suspended enrollment in a child-care benefits program, and families are expected to feel the squeeze.
The Department of Health and Welfare has temporarily paused enrollment in the Idaho Child Care Program, which provides assistance to low-income families. The income requirement for families to qualify is expected to drop from 175% of the federal poverty level to 130% when the pause is lifted.
Lori Fascilla, executive director of Giraffe Laugh Early Learning Centers, which serve people of all income levels with help from the Idaho Child Care Program, said it could be in jeopardy now.
"We're talking at least 30 kids that now we're looking at our situation going, 'How are we going to support these families until the pause is over, and will they even qualify once it is?'" Fascilla explained.
Families in a few situations will still be able to enroll in the Idaho Child Care Program, including those experiencing homelessness, caring for a foster child or caring for a child with a disability. The Department of Health and Welfare said it paused enrollment because the program is projected to go over its budget.
Fascilla noted child care is a struggle across the state, with hundreds of centers closing since the start of the pandemic.
"Part of that is there are zero state investments in children five and under in Idaho," Fascilla contended. "We're one of only three states that is still holding out on investing in early childhood or preschool programs, or anything like that."
Fascilla argued child care is crucial for ensuring parents can work and children are ready for school when they start kindergarten.
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Nearly 60% of Nebraska three- and four-year-olds are not enrolled in preschool programs, which are associated with increased success in school and beyond.
But for at least a decade, most preschoolers on Nebraska's Winnebago Reservation have been part of the national Educare Learning Network.
Amy LaPointe-Houghton, education director for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said the Educare program was once described to her as "Head Start on steroids." She noted in their years with the Educare system, Winnebago children have gone from testing near the bottom to being "right in line" with children in the 24 other Educare centers across the country.
"We've made that huge leap and it's all around the data," LaPointe-Houghton explained. "We have our data compiled in a book every year, and things that are identified in that book, that's something we make improvements on."
She noted evaluators from the University of Nebraska Medical Center assess the children at the beginning and end of each school year. Educare Winnebago is the only Educare program in the country on an Indian reservation.
LaPointe-Houghton attributed their success to Educare's four pillars: data utilization, professional development, high-quality teaching and intensive family engagement. She pointed out one focus of their program is a social-emotional curriculum, teaching skills like identifying and expressing emotions in acceptable ways.
"To be able to better handle situations when they're encountering some kind of traumatic event, or a stressful event," LaPointe-Houghton added. "They have some tools to be able to help themselves."
LaPointe-Houghton emphasized research about the negative effects of stress and trauma on physical health makes them hopeful if their children learn how to manage stress, they will have better overall health, as well as more success in school.
"We have high numbers of diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease," LaPointe-Houghton observed. "It makes me think it could be contributed because of all the traumatic things that happen in people's lives and you don't even realize that it's doing damage to your body."
To enroll in Educare Winnebago, children must live in Winnebago but do not have to be tribal members. The program has eligibility requirements to ensure they're serving the children with the highest needs.
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Oregon is poised to distribute funds for early childhood learning and literacy. In 2023, lawmakers passed the Early Literacy Success Initiative, in part because only about half of the state's students were proficient in reading through third grade. School districts have since applied for grants with the Oregon Department of Education and funds are expected soon.
Marina Merrill, director of research and strategy with the Children's Institute, said the investments are exciting because brains develop faster in a person's first eight years of life than at any other point.
"Those years are just so critical, especially that 90% of a child's brain is developed by the age of five. Yet most of ur investments in young children start at age five," she said.
Grant applications from more than 200 districts and charter schools have focused on building capacity for early literacy through professional development and coaching. The Children's Institute is holding a webinar tomorrow about the state's investments and evidence-based early learning practices.
Herb Turner, founder of ANALYTICA, will participate in the Children's Institute webinar. He said evidence-based practices are ones that have been studied and shown to improve students' outcomes, meaning they can be used with confidence in the classroom.
"Oregon deserves a lot of credit for taking this on and for creating this emphasis on evidence-based practices and strategies, and getting behind evidence-based reading initiatives," he explained.
Cesiah Vega-Lopez, a pre-k teacher at the bilingual school Echo Shaw Elementary in Cornelius, outside Hillsboro, said she's used different practices to teach literacy, such as highlighting each letter of the alphabet with an animal that starts with that letter, and added that this is a critical time for kids.
"For them to be able to have this knowledge early on really helps support their learning as they move on through their trajectory of school, especially as they move on to kindergarten. So I think the focus on them learning or being aware of language is very important in their overall development," Vega-Lopez explained.
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