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CAYL Institute’s 10th Anniversary and Related Resources

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Congratulations to Dr. Valora Washington and the CAYL Institute on its 10th anniversary. Its community of practice now includes over 600 fellows. I attended the anniversary celebration a couple of weeks ago, where the strength of its fellows network was very much in evidence. See the summaries of the keynote speakers comments in the excerpted newsletter below. In addition to links in the newsletter to MassBudget’s Children’s Budget site and the Subprime Learning reports, see these resources from MassBudget and the New America Foundation:

CAYL Institute Special Newsletter

1 0 th A N N I V E R S A R Y
S A N K O F A   C E L E B R A T I O N …looking back while moving forward
The CAYL Institute’s 10th Anniversary Sankofa Celebration was held on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at Wheelock College. Co-chaired by Wheelock College president Jackie Jenkins-Scott and CAYLPresident Dr. Valora Washington, this special event sought to analyze past, present, and future realities for the field while recognizing the people who work tirelessly to ensure a better tomorrow for all young children in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The event was composed of two parts —  a symposium proceeded by a reception.

T H E    S A N K O F A
S Y M P O S I U M

G U E S T    S P E A K E R S  

Carol Nolan, Director of Policy for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care

Chrissy Pruitt, Principal of Jefferson Elementary School in Rockland andCAYL Fellow

From left to right: Marie Enochty, Dr. Valora Washington,
Laura Bornfreund, and Chrissy Pruitt

From left to right: Chrissy Pruitt, Jackie Jenkins-Scott, Carol Nolan, Dr. Valora Washington,
Laura Bornfreund, and Jeff Bernstein
K E Y N O T E    S P E A K E R S

Jeff Bernstein, Senior Policy Analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center

Jeff discussed the Massachusetts state budget for early education in the past decade, the present realities for Massachusetts, and MassBudget’s recommendations for the future in his presentation “State Budget and Funding for Early Education.”

Future approaches and strategies analyzed included:

  • Implementing a public/private hybrid model for ECE
  • Expanding universal ECE programs in the public schools
  • Utilizing and expanding access of private providers for low income children

For more information, visit children.massbudget.org and follow MassBudget on twitter @massbudget.

Laura Bornfreund, the Deputy Director for New America’s Early Childhood Initiative

Laura discussed the findings and implications of her research pertinent to the national landscape of ECE by discussing her works Subprime Learning: Early Education in America since the Great Recession(January 2014) and Beyond Subprime Learning: Accelerating Progress in Early Education (July 2014).

Recommendations for the future included:

  • A stronger focus on teaching and learning, and especially on improving the quality of interactions between adults and children;
  • Bridge the continuum birth – 3rd grade;
  • Professionalize and improve the workforce;
  • Emphasize families;
  • Embrace children’s multiple languages as assets;
  • Rethink standards and assessment to between coordinate teaching and learning;
  • Improve accountability systems to promote learning and development;
  • Collect and use data responsibly and soundly; and
  • Use implementation science and openness.
(from Laura’s presentation: “Subprime Learning and Beyond”)

Follow Laura on twitter @lbornfreund or visit her blog at edcentral.org

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