FPG − DCDEE Policy Collaboration Explores NC’s Early Care and Learning Landscape
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) partnered with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop a research-policy collaboration to provide DCDEE with expertise in research and analysis related to short- and long-term policy questions focused on young children’s education and development. FPG has produced groundbreaking work that has shaped how the nation cares for and educates children, including seminal projects that established evidence for the value of high-quality early care and education. The FPG-DCDEE policy and practice research collaboration seeks to advance the following goals:
- Improve evidence-based decision-making at the state level while centering the needs of children and families in decisions.
- Increase public understanding of the early childhood system in NC, and best practices in support of early childhood education and development in the classroom and at home.
- Forecast and influence areas of policy focus for advocates and public policy leaders, including elected officials.
- Build a consistent framework and structure for research/higher education collaboration.
This collaboration has produced research critical to understanding the contributing factors at play in North Carolina’s early childhood care and education landscape:
- A Brief History of Early Care and Education in North Carolina and a Close-Up Look at the Workforce
By Noreen Yazejian, Sandra Soliday Hong, Ron Seifer
North Carolina has long been viewed as a pioneering leader in developing, coordinating, and improving high-quality early care and education programming to support positive outcomes for children. This brief provides an overview of the innovative actions undertaken by NC leaders over the past three decades to improve the preparation and support of the workforce, along with current actions, existing gaps, and future opportunities.
- North Carolina’s Definition of Whole Child School-Readiness
By Lindsay Gomes, Gisele Crawford, Noreen Yazejian, and Sandra Soliday Hong
State education agencies in North Carolina have embraced a whole child approach to school readiness for more than two decades, crafting policies, guidance documents, learning standards, professional development, and assessment approaches that address a broad array of developmental domains in early childhood, recognize the role of thriving families and communities in children’s school success, and emphasize the responsibility of schools to be ready to help each child reach their full potential.
- Funding Sources for Early Care and Education in North Carolina
By Noreen Yazejian, Ronald Seifer, Sandra Soliday Hong
This brief report provides a picture of the early childhood education (ECE) funding landscape at the national level, which shapes how systems are implemented in North Carolina. Funding streams that support the NC ECE system vary by source and in the way they are administered, creating a complex patchwork of funding, programs, goals, and requirements.
- Early Literacy Development: Birth to Age Five
By Kylie Garber, Lindsay Gomes, and Sandra Soliday Hong
This brief provides context about North Carolina’s literacy approach; summarizes the developmental trajectory of pre-reading skills from birth through age 5 and highlights age-aligned evidence-based practices to support the development of these skills that build upon guidance provided in the NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development (FELDS)5 updated last in 2013; provides practice recommendations, including a focus on dual language learners and children with disabilities; and presents policy recommendations so that all children can be adequately prepared to learn to read once they enter elementary school.