The Build Core Team met on June 26 to consider the input of the Build Retreat and Assessment meetings, as well as parent focus groups and surveys and kindergarten teacher focus groups, and to create the 2003-2005 Build agenda. During the meeting, we emphasized that health (including mental health and nutrition) and early intervention should be taken into account in the development of each agenda item since no specific recommendations were made for these fields. The following agenda was the result.

Build Agenda

2003-2005

1. Access, affordability and supply
Goal: All children, birth through age 5, will have access to quality early learning programs that meet the needs of families, including full day ECE options.

Expand access to quality preschool programs for 3 and 4 year olds.

Contact Nancy Sconyers at ACNJ, 973-643-3876 or nsconyers@acnj.org

Explore options to make quality early learning programs affordable and accessible to all families, including private funding streams (this is meant to apply to funding for child care subsidies).

Increase access to quality programs for children ages 0-3. Support placing Infant/Toddler specialists in all UCCA’s to work in concert with nurse consultants.

Contact Pat Fields at The Better Baby Care Campaign,

2. Quality

Goal: All early learning programs will provide safe, healthy, quality environments.

Create a meaningful system of differential recognition and rewards for programs of varying quality, including developing quality standards for all facilities and ensuring that providers that serve low income families are not stigmatized in this process.

The Quality Committee has hired a consultant to explore state models for using incentives to improve quality. A final report is due mid April.
Contact Melinda Green, Children’s Futures, 609-695-1977

3. Parent education and support

Goal: Parents of young children will succeed in their role as their child’s first teacher.

Support parents by offering information about programs for their children, including quality child care, health insurance and health care utilization, and programs for children with special needs, such as EI or ESL, as well as the role that the CCR&R’s play.

Support parents by offering information about child development, including good nutrition, and physical and mental health.

The Parent Committee is pursuing its goal of translating high quality parent education materials and customizing them to NJ so that information will be available to parents of children from birth to five who are English Language Learners.
Contact Eve Robinson, Executive Director, Montclair Community PreK, 973-509-4500.

4. Early childhood workforce and the professional development system

Goal: All early childhood professionals will be appropriately trained, supported and compensated.

Ensure that the early childhood workforce is adequately compensated.

Create and support a better articulated higher education system that meets the needs of the prospective early childhood workforce, including non traditional populations. Health issues should be represented in the recommendation for this item.

Create and support a professional development system for ECE providers who work with children 0-5 that encompasses entry through advanced level.

The Professional Development Committee has hired a consultant to research and write a case study of a situation in which articulation between a community college and a four year institution works well.
Contact Florence Nelson, Director, NJ Professional Development Center for Early Care & Education, Kean University, 908-737-5906

Increase access to quality programs for 0-3 by developing an infant toddler credential and having it adopted by the state.

Contact Pat Fields, The Better Baby Care Campaign,

5. Coordinated system

Goal: NJ will have an infrastructure that promotes, sufficiently funds, and hold accountable its early learning efforts.

Create a Cabinet level cross-agency body for coordination and planning purposes. (Agencies on the Cabinet should reflect the broad range of early learning fields that Build has identified.) Characteristics of the cross agency body identified by the workgroup at the Assessment meeting:

report directly to the Governor;

be staffed by powerful appointee whose term transcends governor’s;

ensure transitions between programs are well planned from the child’s perspective, e.g., between preschool and kindergarten, Early Intervention and special education, Early Head Start and Head Start, family care homes and center care;

improve coordination and communication between departments that offer health related services and provide outreach to un/under served populations;

overcome the barriers that turf issues/home rule create for efficient access/utilization of services (extend collaboration to local level);

build in incentives and supports for cross-systems coordination and collaboration;

develop policies that require collaboration, e.g., planning, data sharing, and evaluation;

create cross-departmental uniform performance standards for programs serving children 0-5;

model public education and interagency collaboration for all children, e.g., contract language and regulations that support children with special needs;

improve assessments of the needs of young children and their families across programs; and,

blend existing funding streams and bring new resources to early learning programs.

Contact Ceil Zalkind, ACNJ, 973-643-3976, or czalkind@acnj.org

6. All sectors of the state will work together toward an improved early learning system.

Goal: All New Jersey citizens will understand the value of early learning as the means to ensuring that all our future citizens are responsible, healthy, and productive.

Create a statewide communications campaign to educate and inform the public about early learning.