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Tag: early childhood

  • Supporting neurodiverse learners requires more than accommodation: It demands systemic change

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    Key points:

    Approximately 1 in 5 children in the United States are estimated to be neurodivergent, representing a spectrum of learning and thinking differences such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. These children experience the world in unique and valuable ways, but too often, our education systems fail to recognize or nurture their potential. In an already challenging educational landscape, where studies show a growing lack of school readiness nationwide, it is more important than ever to ensure that neurodivergent young learners receive the resources and support they need to succeed.

    Early support and intervention

    As President and CEO of Collaborative for Children, I have personally seen the impact that high-quality early childhood education can have on a child’s trajectory. Birth to age five is the most critical window for brain development, laying the foundation for lifelong learning, behavior, and health. However, many children are entering their academic years without the basic skills needed to flourish. For neurodivergent children, who often need tailored approaches to learning, the gap is even wider.

    Research indicates that early intervention, initiated within the first three years of life, can significantly enhance outcomes for neurodivergent children. Children who receive individualized support are more likely to develop stronger language, problem-solving, and social skills. These gains not only help in the classroom but can also lead to higher self-confidence, better relationships and improved well-being into adulthood.

    The Collaborative for Children difference

    Collaborative for Children in Houston focuses on early childhood education and is committed to creating inclusive environments where all children can thrive. In Houston, we have established 125 Centers of Excellence within our early childhood learning network. The Centers of Excellence program helps child care providers deliver high-quality early education that prepares children for kindergarten and beyond. Unlike drop-in daycare, our certified early childhood education model focuses on long-term development, combining research-backed curriculum, business support and family engagement.

    This year, we are expanding our efforts by providing enhanced training to center staff and classroom teachers, equipping them with effective strategies to support neurodivergent learners. These efforts will focus on implementing practical, evidence-based approaches that make a real difference.

    Actionable strategies

    As educators and leaders, we need to reimagine how learning environments are designed and delivered. Among the most effective actionable strategies are:

    • Creating sensory-friendly classrooms that reduce environmental stressors like noise, lighting, and clutter to help children stay calm and focused.
    • Offering flexible learning formats to meet a range of communication, motor, and cognitive styles, including visual aids, movement-based activities, and assistive technology.
    • Training teachers to recognize and respond to diverse behaviors with empathy and without stigma, so that what is often misinterpreted as “disruption” is instead seen as a signal of unmet needs.
    • Partnering with families to create support plans tailored to each child’s strengths and challenges to ensure continuity between home and classroom.
    • Incorporating play-based learning that promotes executive functioning, creativity, and social-emotional development, especially for children who struggle in more traditional formats.

    Benefits of inclusive early education

    Investing in inclusive, high-quality early education has meaningful benefits not only for neurodivergent children, but for other students, educators, families and the broader community. Research indicates that neurotypical students who learn alongside neurodivergent peers develop critical social-emotional skills such as patience, compassion and acceptance. Training in inclusive practices can help educators gain the confidence and tools needed to effectively support a wide range of learning styles and behaviors as well as foster a more responsive learning environment.

    Prioritizing inclusive early education can also create strong bonds between families and schools. These partnerships empower caregivers to play an active role in their child’s development, helping them navigate challenges and access critical resources early on. Having this type of support can be transformative for families by reducing feelings of isolation and reinforcing that their child is seen, valued, and supported.

    The benefits of inclusive early education extend far beyond the classroom. When neurodivergent children receive the support they need early in life, it lays the groundwork for increased workforce readiness. Long-term economic gains can include higher employment rates and greater earning potential for individuals. 

    Early childhood education must evolve to meet the needs of neurodivergent learners. We cannot afford to overlook the importance of early intervention and tailored learning environments. If we are serious about improving outcomes for all children, we must act now and commit to inclusivity as a core pillar of our approach. When we support all children early, everyone benefits.

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    Dr. Melanie Johnson, Collaborative for Children

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  • Addressing Early Ed Issues

    Addressing Early Ed Issues

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    Any educator will tell you that when it comes to student behavior, the pandemic isn’t over yet, especially regarding early education. The upheaval of recent years has significantly affected kindergarten and pre-K students, leading to observable declines in self-regulation, social skills, and language development. 

    Becca Carter Ed., Pre-K Instructional Specialist at Virginia Beach City Public Schools sees it every day. eSchool News spoke to her and Srikar Dronam, Vice President of Product Innovation, at Hatch Early Learning, Inc. Both experts emphasize the importance of addressing these issues through enhanced early childhood education. Have a listen:

    Topics include:

    1. Screen Time: An increase in screen time during remote learning has had mixed effects. While technology is crucial, there is a need to balance its use to prevent it from becoming a crutch. Strategies include limiting screen time and focusing on hands-on learning experiences.
    2. Teacher and Faculty Adaptations: Educators have had to adjust their methods to accommodate increased screen use and the varying levels of readiness among students. Professional development is focusing on appropriate technology use and re-engaging with developmentally suitable practices.
    3. Family Involvement: The role of families has become more significant as parents are now more involved in their children’s learning due to remote education. Effective parent-teacher engagement and support are vital for continuity in learning and behavioral development.
    4. Future Outlook: Both Shrinker and her colleague are optimistic about the recovery and advancement in early childhood education. They advocate for expanded pre-K opportunities and the use of technology in developmentally appropriate ways to support children’s long-term success.
    Kevin Hogan
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    Kevin Hogan

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  • PROOF POINTS: A little parent math talk with kids might really add up, a new body of education research suggests

    PROOF POINTS: A little parent math talk with kids might really add up, a new body of education research suggests

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    Parents know they should talk and read to their young children. Dozens of nonprofit organizations have promoted the research evidence that it will help their children do better in school.

    But the focus has been on improving literacy. Are there similar things that parents can do with their children to lay the foundation for success in math? 

    That’s important because Americans struggle with math, ranking toward the bottom on international assessments. Weak math skills impede a child’s progress later in life, preventing them from getting through college, a vocational program or even high school. Math skills, or the lack of them, can open or close the doors to lucrative science and technology fields.

    A new wave of research over the past decade has looked at how much parents talk about numbers and shapes with their children, and whether these spontaneous and natural conversations help children learn the subject. Encouraging parents to talk about numbers could be a cheap and easy way to improve the nation’s dismal math performance. 

    A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, Irvine, teamed up to summarize the evidence from 22 studies conducted between 2010 and 2022. Their meta-analysis was published in the July 2024 issue of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 

    Here are four takeaways:

    There’s a link between parent math talk and higher math skills

    After looking at 22 studies, researchers found that the more parents talked about math with their children, the stronger their children’s math skills. In these studies, researchers typically observed parents and children interacting in a university lab, a school, a museum or at home and kept track of how often parents mentioned numbers or shapes. Ordinary sentences that included numbers counted. An example could be: “Hand me three potato chips.” Researchers also gave children a math test and found that children who scored higher tended to have parents who talked about math more during the observation period. 

    The link between parents’ math talk and a child’s math skills was strongest between ages three and five. During these preschool years, parents who talked more about numbers and shapes tended to have children with higher math achievement. Parents who didn’t talk as much about numbers and shapes tended to have children with lower math achievement. 

    With older children, the amount of time that parents spent talking about math was not as closely related to their math achievement. Researchers speculated that this was because once children start school, their math abilities are influenced more by the instruction they receive from their teachers. 

    None of these studies proves that talking to your preschooler about math causes their math skills to improve. Parents who talk more about math may also have higher incomes and more education. Stronger math skills could be the result of all the other things that wealthier and more educated parents are giving their kids –  nutritious meals, a good night’s sleep, visits to museums and vacations –  and not the math talk per se. So far, studies haven’t been able to disentangle math talk from everything else that parents do for their children.

    “What the research is showing at this point is that talking more about math tends to be associated with better outcomes for children,” said Alex Silver, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh who led the meta-analysis. “It’s an easy way to bring math concepts into your day to day life that doesn’t require buying special equipment, or setting aside time to tutor your child and try to teach them arithmetic.” 

    Keep it natural

    The strongest link between parent talk about math and a child’s math performance was detected when researchers didn’t tell parents to do a math activity. Parents who naturally brought up numbers or shapes in a normal conversation had children who scored higher on math assessments. When researchers had parents do a math exercise with children, the amount of math-related words that a parent used wasn’t as strongly associated with better math performance for their children. 

    Silver, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research & Development Center, recommends bringing math into something that the child is paying attention to, rather than doing flashcards or workbooks. It could be as simple as asking  “How many?” Here’s an example Silver gave me:  “Oh, look, you have a whole lot of cars. How many cars do you have? Let’s count them. You have one, two, three. There’s three cars there.”

    When you’re doing a puzzle together, turn the shape in a different direction and talk about what it looks like. Setting the dinner table, grocery shopping and keeping track of money are opportunities to talk about numbers or shapes.

    “The idea is to make it fun and playful,” said Silver. “As you’re cooking, say, ‘We need to add two eggs. Oh wait, we’re doubling the recipe, so we need two more eggs. How many is that all together?’ ”

    I asked Silver about the many early childhood math apps and exercises on the market, and whether parents should be spending time doing them with their children. Silver said they can be helpful for parents who don’t know where to start, but she said parents shouldn’t feel guilty if they’re not doing math drills with their kids. “It’s enough to just talk about it naturally, to find ways to bring up numbers and shapes in the context of what you’re already doing.”

    Quality may matter more than quantity

    In the 22 studies, more math talk was associated with higher math achievement. But researchers are unable to advise parents on exactly how much or how often to talk about math during the day. Silver said 10 utterances a day about math is probably more beneficial than just one mention a day. “Right now the evidence is that more is better, but at some point it’s so much math, you need to talk about something else now,” she said. The point of diminishing returns is unknown.

    Ultimately, the quantity of math talk may not be as important as how parents talk about math, Silver said. Reading a math textbook to your child probably wouldn’t be helpful, Silver said. It’s not just about saying a bunch of math words. Still, researchers don’t know if asking questions or just talking about numbers is what makes a difference. It’s also not clear how important it is to tailor the number talk to where a child is in his math development. These are important areas of future research.

    Technology may help. The latest studies are using wearable audio recorders, enabling researchers to “listen” to hours of conversations inside homes, and analyzing these conversations with natural language processing algorithms to get a more accurate understanding of parents’ math talk. The 22 studies in this meta-analysis captured as little as three minutes and as much as almost 14 hours of parent-child interactions, and these snippets of life, often recorded in a lab setting, may not reflect how parents and children talk about math in a typical week.

    Low-income kids appear to benefit as much from math talk as high-income kids

    Perhaps the most inspiring conclusion from this meta-analysis is that the association between a parent’s math talk and a child’s math performance was as strong for a low-income child as it was for a high-income child. 

    “That’s a happy thing to see that this transcends other circumstances,” said Silver. “Targeting the amount of math input that a child receives is hopefully going to be easier, and more malleable than changing broader, systemic challenges.”

    While there are many questions left to answer, Silver is already putting her research into practice with her own three-year old son. She’s asked counting questions so many times that her little one has begun to tease her. Every time he sees a group of things, he pretends to be Mommy and asks, “How many? Let’s count them!” 

     “It’s very funny,” Silver said. “I’m like, ‘Wow, Mommy really drilled that one into you, huh?’ Buddy knows what you’re up to.”

    This story about math with preschoolers was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

    Join us today.

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    Jill Barshay

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  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation Awards $1.5M in Grants; Welcomes Kristine Rhodes to Board of Directors

    Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation Awards $1.5M in Grants; Welcomes Kristine Rhodes to Board of Directors

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    EAGAN, Minn., November 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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    The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million in grants to 20 Minnesota nonprofit organizations. Eighteen of the 20 grants are part of the Foundation’s Equitable Care and Coverage program, which seeks to increase healthcare coverage across Minnesota, support community solutions to accessing equitable care and increase awareness about communities most impacted by a lack of healthcare access. 

    The majority of Equitable Care and Coverage grants will be used to fund local outreach navigators, who connect with fellow community members who are uninsured and eligible for programs like MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance and support them throughout the enrollment process. These efforts remain critical, particularly during the current redetermination process that requires enrollees to renew their enrollment to maintain their health coverage.   

    “Healthcare coverage is vital, and for approximately one in four Minnesotans, that coverage is acquired through the state’s healthcare programs,” said Bukata Hayes, chair of the Blue Cross Foundation board, and vice president of racial and health equity and chief equity officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “Communities of color, Indigenous communities, the LGBTQ community and those in a lower income bracket face significant barriers to accessing the coverage and care they need. These grants are the latest way the Foundation is working to advance racial and health equity — by partnering with our grantees to pave the way for everyone to live their healthiest life.” 

    The following organizations were selected to receive Equitable Care and Coverage grants. Learn more here. 

    • African Community Services, Minneapolis 
    • African Community Senior Services, Minneapolis 
    • CARE Clinic, Red Wing 
    • Children’s Dental Services, Minneapolis 
    • Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, St. Paul 
    • Generations Healthcare Initiative, Duluth 
    • Hmong American Partnership, St. Paul 
    • Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Minneapolis 
    • Minnesota Navigator Coalition, Minneapolis 
    • Minnesota Seeds of Justice, Worthington 
    • Native American Community Clinic, Minneapolis 
    • Northpoint Health and Wellness, Minneapolis 
    • Northwest Indian Community Development Center, Bemidji 
    • Open Door Health Center, Mankato 
    • Portico Healthnet, St. Paul 
    • Rainbow Health, St. Paul 
    • United Community Action Partnership, Willmar 
    • University of Minnesota’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), Minneapolis 

    Two organizations were also awarded grants as part of the Foundation’s Healthy Start program, focused on improving access to and quality of early childhood care and education, particularly for vulnerable young children and their caregivers. These grants will support family home visiting and early childhood screening efforts, which connect families with critical health and early education resources to support their children’s healthy development.  

    • Minnesota Coalition for Family Home Visiting, Minnetonka 
    • Way to Grow, Minneapolis 

    The Foundation is also excited to announce the addition of Kristine Rhodes to its board of directors. Rhodes is the founder and CEO of Asemaake, LLC, which focuses on improving programs and systems centered on the health of Indigenous communities. With decades of experience working to elevate the health of Indigenous people, Rhodes focuses on building authentic partnerships across tribal, academic, government, and philanthropic sectors for innovative, sustainable and culturally grounded initiatives.  

    Rhodes is an enrolled citizen of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She earned a Master of Public Health in Public Health Administration & Policy and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Community Health Education, both from the University of Minnesota.

    “We are thrilled to have Kris join our board,” said Bukata Hayes. “It remains critical that the Foundation’s board of directors be representative of the communities we serve throughout Minnesota. Kris’ expertise and insights will be essential as we continue building healthy generations by advancing racial and health equity in partnership with our grantees.” 

    About the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation  

    The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation builds strong community partnerships to advance racial and health equity, awarding more than $75 million to over 600 nonprofits since it was established in 1986. For more information on Blue Cross’ grantmaking programs, visit bluecrossmnfoundation.org.  

    Source: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation

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  • I Was Allergic to Cats. Until Suddenly, I Wasn’t.

    I Was Allergic to Cats. Until Suddenly, I Wasn’t.

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    Of all the nicknames I have for my cat Calvin—Fluffernutter, Chonk-a-Donk, Fuzzy Lumpkin, Jerky McJerkface—Bumpus Maximus may be the most apt. Every night, when I crawl into bed, Calvin hops onto my pillow, purrs, and bonks his head affectionately against mine. It’s adorable, and a little bit gross. Tiny tufts of fur jet into my nose; flecks of spittle smear onto my cheeks.

    Just shy of a decade ago, cuddling a cat this aggressively would have left me in dire straits. From early childhood through my early 20s, I nursed a serious allergy that made it impossible for me to safely interact with most felines, much less adopt them. Just a few minutes of exposure was enough to make my eyes water and clog my nasal passages with snot. Within an hour, my throat would swell and my chest would erupt in crimson hives.

    Then, sometime in the early 2010s, my misery came to an abrupt and baffling end. With no apparent interventions, my cat allergy disappeared. Stray whiffs of dander, sufficient to send my body into conniptions mere months before, couldn’t even compel my nose to twitch. My body just up and decided that the former bane of its existence was suddenly totally chill.

    What I went through is, technically speaking, “completely weird,” says Kimberly Blumenthal, an allergist and immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Some allergies do naturally fade with time, but short of allergy shots, which don’t always work, “we think of cat allergy as a permanent diagnosis,” Blumenthal told me. One solution that’s often proposed? “Get rid of your cat.”

    My case is an anomaly, but its oddness is not. Although experts have a broad sense of how allergies play out in the body, far less is known about what causes them to come and go—an enigma that’s becoming more worrying as rates of allergy continue to climb. Nailing down how, when, and why these chronic conditions vanish could help researchers engineer those circumstances more often for allergy sufferers—in ways that are actually under our control, and not just by chance.

    All allergies, at their core, are molecular screwups: an immune system mistakenly flagging a harmless substance as dangerous and attacking it. In the classic version, an allergen, be it a fleck of almond or grass or dog, evokes the ire of certain immune cells, prompting them to churn out an antibody called IgE. IgE drags the allergen like a hostage over to other defensive cells and molecules to rile them up too. A blaze of inflammation-promoting signals, including histamine, end up getting released, sparking bouts of itching, redness, and swelling. Blood vessels dilate; mucus floods out in gobs. At their most extreme, these reactions get so gnarly that they can kill.

    Just about every step of this chain reaction is essential to produce a bona fide allergy—which means that intervening at any of several points can shut the cascade down. People whose bodies make less IgE over time can become less sensitive to allergens. The same seems to be true for those who start producing more of another antibody, called IgG4, that can counteract IgE. Some people also dispatch a molecule known as IL-10 that can tell immune cells to cool their heels even in the midst of IgE’s perpetual scream.

    All this and more can eventually persuade a body to lose its phobia of an allergen, a phenomenon known as tolerance. But because there is not a single way in which allergy manifests, it stands to reason that there won’t be a single way in which it disappears. “We don’t fully understand how these things go away,” says Zachary Rubin, a pediatrician at Oak Brook Allergists, in Illinois.

    Read: What they aren’t telling you about hypoallergenic dogs

    Tolerance does display a few trends. Sometimes, it unfurls naturally as people get older, especially as they approach their 60s (though allergies can appear in old age as well). Other diagnoses can go poof amid the changes that unfold as children zip through the physiological and hormonal changes brought on by toddlerhood, adolescence, and the teen years. As many as 60 to 80 percent of milk, wheat, and egg allergies can peace out by puberty—a pattern that might also be related to the instability of the allergens involved. Certain snippets of milk and egg proteins, for instance, can unravel in the presence of heat or stomach acid, making the molecules “less allergenic,” and giving the body ample opportunity to reappraise them as benign, says Anna Nowak-Węgrzyn, a pediatric allergist and immunologist at NYU Langone Health. About 80 to 90 percent of penicillin allergies, too, disappear within 10 years of when they’re first detected, more if you count the ones that are improperly diagnosed, as Blumenthal has found.

    Other allergies are more likely to be lifers without dedicated intervention—among them, issues with peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, pollen, and pets. Part of the reason may be that some of these allergens are super tough to neutralize or purge. The main cat allergen, a protein called “Fel d 1” that’s found in feline saliva, urine, and gland secretions, can linger for six months after a cat vacates the premises. It can get airborne, and glom on to surfaces; it’s been found in schools and churches and buses and hospitals, “even in space,” Blumenthal told me.

    Read: The next weird way we’re changing cats

    For hangers-on like these, allergists can try to nudge the body toward tolerance through shots or mouth drops that introduce bits of an allergen over months or years, basically the immunological version of exposure therapy. In some cases, it works: Dosing people with Fel d 1 can at least improve a cat allergy, but it’s hardly a sure hit. Researchers haven’t even fully sussed out how allergy shots induce tolerance—just that “they work well for a lot of patients,” Rubin told me. The world of allergy research as a whole is something of a Wild West: Some people are truly, genuinely, hypersensitive to water touching their skin; others have gotten allergies because of organ transplants, apparently inheriting their donor’s sensitivity as amped-up immune cells hitched a ride.

    Part of the trouble is that allergy can involve just about every nook and cranny of the immune system; to study its wax and wane, scientists have to repeatedly look at people’s blood, gut, or airway to figure out what sorts of cells and molecules are lurking about, all while tracking their symptoms and exposures, which doesn’t come easy or cheap. And fully disentangling the nuances of bygone allergies isn’t just about better understanding people who are the rule. It’s about delving into the exceptions to it too.

    How frustratingly little we know about allergies is compounded by the fact that the world is becoming a more allergic place. A lot of the why remains murky, but researchers think that part of the problem can be traced to the perils of modern living: the wider use of antibiotics; the shifts in eating patterns; the squeaky-cleanness of so many contemporary childhoods, focused heavily on time indoors. About 50 million people in the U.S. alone experience allergies each year—some of them little more than a nuisance, others potentially deadly when triggered without immediate treatment. Allergies can diminish quality of life. They can limit the areas where people can safely rent an apartment, or the places where they can safely dine. They can hamper access to lifesaving treatments, leaving doctors scrambling to find alternative therapies that don’t harm more than they help.

    But if allergies can rise this steeply with the times, maybe they can resolve rapidly too. New antibody-based treatments could help silence the body’s alarm sensors and quell IgE’s rampage. Some researchers are even looking into how fecal transplants that port the gut microbiome of tolerant people into allergy sufferers might help certain food sensitivities subside. Anne Liu, an allergist and immunologist at Stanford, is also hopeful that “the incidence of new food allergies will decline over the next 10 years,” as more advances come through. After years of advising parents against introducing their kids to sometimes-allergenic substances such as milk and peanuts too young, experts are now encouraging early exposures, in the hopes of teaching tolerance. And the more researchers learn about how allergies naturally abate, the better they might be able to safely replicate fade-outs.

    One instructive example could come from cases quite opposite to mine: longtime pet owners who develop allergies to their animals after spending some time away from them. That’s what happened to Stefanie Mezigian, of Michigan. After spending her entire childhood with her cat, Thumper, Mezigian was dismayed to find herself sneezing and sniffling when she visited home the summer after her freshman year of college. Years later, Mezigian seems to have built a partial tolerance up again; she now has another cat, Jack, and plans to keep felines in her life for good—both for companionship and to wrangle her immune system’s woes. “If I go without cats, that seems to be when I develop problems,” she told me.

    It’s a reasonable thought to have, Liu told me. People in Mezigian’s situation probably have the reactive IgE bopping around their body their entire life. But maybe during a fur-free stretch, the immune system, trying to be “parsimonious,” stops making molecules that rein in the allergy, she said. The immune system is nothing if not malleable, and a bit diva-esque: Set one thing off kilter, and an entire network of molecules and cells can revamp its approach to the world.

    I may never know why my cat allergy ghosted me. Maybe I got infected by a virus that gently rewired my immune system; maybe my hormone levels went into flux. Maybe it was the stress, or joy, of graduating college and starting grad school; maybe my diet or microbiome changed in just the right way, at just the right time. Perhaps it’s pointless to guess. Allergy, like the rest of the immune system, is a hot, complicated mess—a common fixture of modern living that many of us take for granted, but that remains, in so many cases, a mystery. All I can do is hope my cat allergy stays gone, though there’s no telling if it will. “I have no idea,” Nowak-Węgrzyn told me. “I’m just happy for you. Go enjoy your cats.”

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    Katherine J. Wu

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  • New Study Confirms Parent Confidence on the Rebound as Parents Look to the Future of Child Care and Work

    New Study Confirms Parent Confidence on the Rebound as Parents Look to the Future of Child Care and Work

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    KinderCare’s latest Parent Confidence Report shows that both parent confidence and stress levels are at an all-time high. Parents of all political beliefs agree that child care is at a crisis point in this country as they reimagine the future of work.

    Press Release
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    Apr 7, 2022


    PORTLAND, Ore., April 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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    Despite all the setbacks that parents have faced during these past two years, parenting confidence is on the upswing, as revealed in the 2022 Parent Confidence Report, a national study from KinderCare Learning Companies®, conducted by The Harris Poll. After two years of lagging confidence levels, 86 percent of parents now report they feel confident on a typical day. At the same time, stress levels have reached an all-time high at 59 percent, making the state of parenting more complex than ever. 

    Many parents made career changes, navigated school closures, and juggled the social, emotional, physical and academic needs of their children these past two years. The study shows that parents now expect even more support from employers and the government when it comes to child care. In fact, working parents prefer child care assistance more than established “off hours” from their employers and, more than ever, parents agree that government should help offset the cost of child care.

    “While this year’s Parent Confidence Report shows the true cost the pandemic has had on parents across the nation, it also shows that parents – like children – are resilient,” said Dr. Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer of KinderCare. “Our report underscores what we hear every day from families in our centers and from our employer partners: child care is the most pressing need for parents today. In fact, parents across the political spectrum agree that child care is at a crisis point and that employers and the government need to provide more support.”

    Key findings from this year’s report include:

    • Child care needs are driving the future of work. Parents are at the forefront of reimagining work and are making career modifications to be more available for their children. Forty percent of parents are open to or actively seeking new jobs right now, and roughly 60 percent have or have considered taking a career break due to child care needs. Working parents prefer employer-provided child care assistance, either through subsidized tuition or in a center, over employers setting “off hours” where parents are unplugged and unreachable. 
    • Hybrid work could shape the future of child care. Sixty-nine percent of parents believe that “hybrid work has or will change my child care needs.” Working parents are looking for flexible, employer-sponsored care to support them. Outside of family and friends who can help, the biggest needs for hybrid workers are co-working and play centers (39 percent), multiple locations for child care (37 percent) and on-demand care options (36 percent).
    • Parent confidence is at an all-time high, yet so are stress levels. Eighty-six percent of parents report that they “feel confident in their parenting on a typical day,” rising from its 2020 and 2019 low of 77 percent. Despite growing confidence, parents’ stress levels are also at an all-time high – 59 percent of parents feel that “parenting during Covid-19 has been the most stressful time of my life,” up from 55% in November 2020. 
    • Uncertainty around child care is a key factor in parents’ stress. Many parents have spent more time with their children these past two years than ever before, likely contributing to parenting confidence. In fact, more working parents are leveraging work flexibility to be present in their children’s lives (69 percent), an increase of 10 percentage points from February 2020. At the same time, many of the reasons for this increased time together are also some of the main causes of stress: Nearly half of parents said the uncertainty around the safety of sending their children to school and child care has complicated their ability to confidently navigate parenting (44 percent), followed by uncertainty around school/child care closures (36 percent).
    • Parents expect more from child care providers, with mental health & inclusion taking a front seat. With increasing reporting on mental health challenges among children, roughly 80 percent of parents think that mental health needs to be part of the school curriculum moving forward. Eighty-three percent of parents also feel that all types of families should be celebrated in classrooms, and 81 percent note the importance of their child(ren) seeing themselves reflected in these spaces, such as in books, activities, or cultural celebrations.
    • Where do we go from here? Insights show a turning point for America. Americans of all political beliefs agree that child care in this country is at a crisis point in terms of accessibility and affordability (77 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Republicans). More than ever, they’re looking to the government for assistance. Seventy-two percent of all parents believe that the government should help offset the cost of childcare, a 10 percent increase from November 2020.

    More information about this year’s Parent Confidence Report is available here. The full report is available here.

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    About the Parent Confidence Report 2022

    The Parent Confidence Report examines confidence levels of parents and the factors that impact them. The first study was conducted in 2019, and this year’s survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of KinderCare from Jan. 14, 2022, to Jan. 22, 2022, among 2,023 parents with children aged 12 and younger representing a national sample. Within the sample, 992 parents with children ages 5 and under and 1,031 parents with children aged 6-12 were also surveyed.

    About KinderCare Learning Companies®

    KinderCare Learning Companies is one of America’s largest providers of early childhood and school-age education and child care. KinderCare supports hardworking families with differentiated flexible child care solutions to meet today’s dynamic work environment in 40 states and the District of Columbia:

    • In neighborhoods, with KinderCare® Learning Centers that offer early childhood education and child care for children six weeks to 12 years old;
    • At work, through KinderCare Education at Work™, providing customized family benefits for employers across the country, including on-site and near-site early learning centers and backup care for last-minute child care, and
    • In local schools, with Champions® before and after-school programs.

    Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,000 early learning centers and sites. In 2021, KinderCare earned its fifth Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award – one of only four companies worldwide to win this award for five consecutive years. To learn more, visit KC-Learning.com.  

    PR Contact:
    media@kc-education.com
    503-872-1300, option 3

    Source: KinderCare

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  • The Waldorf® School Million-Fold Global Postcard Exchange – a Worldwide Collaboration

    The Waldorf® School Million-Fold Global Postcard Exchange – a Worldwide Collaboration

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    Connecting students around the world with postcards.

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Apr 26, 2019


    LONGMONT, Colo., April 26, 2019 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Waldorf schools around the world are participating in a global postcard exchange initiative to both broaden their perspective on diverse cultures and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Waldorf® education. 

    Students in schools across the globe have created and sent a postcard to every other Waldorf school. Each postcard was individually and artistically designed by a young person, telling or showing something of his or her country, school or self. 

    This global project has connected students from 1,100 schools in 80 countries, spanning from the United States, China, India, Israel and more. The postcards have been arranged by each school into a Global Map for public display. 

    Learn more at www.Waldorf Education.org/waldorf100.

    Or contact Beverly Amico at bamico@awsna.org.

    Source: Association of Waldorf Schools of North America

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