Strengthening Children, Youth and Families

Resources & Publications: Systems and Financing

Summary | Headlines Only

Feb 19, 2013 | Christine Johnson-Staub and Stephanie Schmit Putting it Together: Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education This presentation, given at the 2013 AMCHP conference, drew upon CLASP's recently published Putting it Together guide to financing comprehensive services, to discuss ways that states have used a variety of federal funding streams, including the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems funds and Medicaid funds, to finance services including child care health consultants, developmental screening, and preventive health outreach in child care settings. Download File
Feb 08, 2013 | Child Care and Early Education Early Childhood Education Update - February 2013 CLASP's Early Childhood Education Update is a monthly roundup of news, legislative developments, research, and other developments of interest to the early care and education community. Read Online
Jan 23, 2013 After the Fiscal Cliff, What's Next for Early Childhood? CLASP's Hannah Matthews, NWLC's Helen Blank, and NAEYC's Adele Robinson discuss the many uncertainties that early childhood programs face as we move toward the next round of fiscal negotiations. Read Online | Download PDF
Nov 16, 2012 | Hannah Matthews, Christine Johnson-Staub, and Leanne Barrett Reaching Children Through Comprehensive Services: Exploring Local Partnerships and Federal Funding This presentation, given at the 2012 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, looks at opportunities and strategies for using federal funding streams to support the availability of comprehensive services for young children in child care and early education settings. Download PDF
Nov 13, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub Planning Funding Partnerships: A Worksheet to Help States Get Started in Putting it Together The following worksheet comes from CLASP's "Putting It Together: A Guide to Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education." States and communities embarking on financing partnerships to expand access to comprehensive services can use this worksheet to begin mapping the need, available resources, and potential partnering strategies that will help them move forward. This document may be downloaded, edited, and saved. Download PDF
Sep 25, 2012 Audio Conference: Federal Budget Roadmap - Where We're Going and What We Need to Do CLASP's Hannah Matthews alongside representatives from National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) discuss the latest on federal developments that will impact child care and early education programs and funding. Read Online | Download PDF | Additional PDF
Sep 13, 2012 | Stephanie Schmit and Jamie Colvard Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk All babies need good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences to foster their healthy intellectual, social, and emotional development. Unfortunately, far too few young children receive the supports they need to build a strong foundation for future growth. The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created in 1994 to address the comprehensive needs of children under age 3 in low-income families and vulnerable low-income pregnant women. Research shows that EHS positively impacts children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development; family self-sufficiency; and parental support of child development. This report highlights how states are using innovative funding, policies, and partnerships, to expand the critically important EHS program and better meet the needs of more low-income children and pregnant women living in their state. Read Online | Download PDF
Sep 07, 2012 | Hannah Matthews At Risk: Early Care and Education Funding and Sequestration Sequestration was created in August 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which ended that year's showdown over raising the federal debt ceiling. Because Congress failed to come up with a deficit reduction plan, the Budget Control Act calls for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade, divided equally between defense and "non-defense discretionary" programs. This fact sheet explains how these cuts will impact federal early care and education funding and what can be done to prevent them. Read Online | Download PDF
Sep 06, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub and Hannah Matthews Webinar: Putting it Together: Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education This webinar focuses on CLASP's new publication, which details how states can look beyond the major sources of child care and early education funding and consider alternative federal financing sources to bring comprehensive services into early childhood settings. Learn about the different federal funding streams, hear examples of what other states and communities have done to finance comprehensive services, and begin exploring how to use the funding streams in your own state. Read Online | Download PDF
Aug 14, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub Putting it Together: A Guide to Financing Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education This guide provides state policymakers and advocates with strategies to maximize resources and make policy changes that drive funds, resources, and community partners to child care and early education programs to benefit young children and families. Separate from blending and braiding funding streams at the local or program level, the strategies described in this guide focus on state policy decisions that can facilitate the innovative use of funds, encourage partnerships at the state and local level, and replicate promising models from other states. Read Online | Download PDF
Jul 25, 2012 How State and Local Advocates Stopped Cutbacks and Achieved Successes CLASP's Hannah Matthews and NWLC's Helen Blank talk with state advocates from California, Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, and New York about how they stopped child care cuts in their states and achieved successes in this challenging fiscal climate. Read Online | Download Audio
Jun 04, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub and Stephanie Schmit Home Away From Home: A Toolkit for Planning Home Visitng Partnerships with Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers Home visiting and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) partnerships hold great opportunity to reach more children with family support services during the critical early years. This toolkit provides states with an overview of FFN and home visiting partnerships, a tool to help states explore and establish this type of partnership, and case studies of existing home visiting and FFN partnerships. Download PDF
May 02, 2012 | Hannah Matthews and Stephanie Schmit Finding and Using Data to Advocate Effectively for Children and Families This presentation, given at the 2012 National Smart Start Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, provides a range of data to use to make the case for investing in young children and their families. Download PDF
May 02, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub and Hannah Matthews Reaching Children Where They Are: Using Federal Funding to Support Comprehensive Services in Child Care This presentation, given at the 2012 National Smart Start Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, looks at opportunities and strategies for using federal funding streams to support the availability of comprehensive services for young children in child care and early education settings. Download PDF
Apr 26, 2012 Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Conversation with Center Directors CLASP's Hannah Matthews and NWLC's Karen Schulman discuss how Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) work and how they could work as effectively as possible from the perspective of three child care center directors participating in QRIS. Read Online | Download Audio | Additional PDF
Feb 23, 2012 | Karen Schulman, Hannah Matthews, Helen Blank and Danielle Ewen A Count for Quality: Child Care Center Directors on Rating and Improvement Systems Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are designed to give providers incentives and supports to improve quality and parents information about child care quality. With the growth in QRIS, CLASP, together with the National Women's Law Center, interviewed child care providers participating in QRIS in several states. This report provides findings on the key components of QRIS, cross-cutting lessons on QRIS strategies, and recommendations for policymakers from the perspective of child care center directors. Download PDF
Feb 23, 2012 Post-Budget Update: What to Expect for Early Childhood in 2012 Audio Conference CLASP's Hannah Matthews along with experts from National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) discuss the President's FY 2013 budget proposal and the appropriations process for early childhood programs in 2012. Read Online | Download Audio | Download Additional
Feb 14, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub and Stephanie Schmit MCH and Early Childhood Settings: Reaching Children Where They Are to Provide Comprehensive Services This presentation, given at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Program's 2012 Annual Conference in Washington, DC looks at opportunities and strategies for using federal funding streams, including Maternal and Child Health funding, to support the availability of comprehensive services for young children in child care and early education settings. Download PDF
Feb 09, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub Promote Access to Early, Regular and Comprehensive Screening Very young children develop in the context of their physical and mental health and the capacity of their families and other caregivers to address the full range of early childhood development. All babies and toddlers in child care need parents, providers, and caregivers supported by and linked to community resources. To support this goal, CLASP recommends that early, regular and comprehensive health, mental health, and developmental screenings and related services are made available at recommended ages for vulnerable infants and toddlers through connections with all infant and toddler providers and caregivers. This document presents research supporting the recommendation to promote access to early, regular, and comprehensive screening. Read Online | Download PDF
Feb 06, 2012 | Hannah Matthews Challenges and Opportunities: Child Care and Early Education in Difficult Times Child poverty is growing. Families continue to struggle in a difficult economy. Despite broad recognition of the importance of the earliest years, debates at the federal level focus on reducing spending rather than addressing the needs of children and families. These daunting challenges make the need for comprehensive birth to five services even more critical and must be a call to action for those who work on behalf of the most vulnerable children. This presentation was given at the Region IV Head Start Annual Conference. Download PDF
Jan 18, 2012 | Child Care and Early Education A Tool Using Data to Inform a State Early Childhood Agenda This tool is intended for state advocates and policymakers to use as they work to develop a state early childhood agenda. It includes a series of key questions to understand the context and conditions of young children, birth to six, in the state. Where possible, we also include infant/toddler specific questions. Questions include data on demographics and program participation (such as health and nutrition programs), as well as the details of child care and early education settings in the state. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, fill in their state’s data, and compare to national data points (which are provided where appropriate). Read Online | Download File
Jan 03, 2012 | Christine Johnson-Staub CLASP Encourages Reversal of Medicare Ruling on Developmental Screening These comments were submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services in response to a final rule that removes developmental screenings from the Medicare fee schedule. CLASP urges the ruling be reversed and that developmental screenings not be removed from the Medicare fee schedule. Many states align Medicare, Medicaid and private pay fee policies, and removal of developmental screening from the fee schedule may result in the same critical service not being covered under state Medicaid policies. Download PDF
Dec 20, 2011 Early Childhood Updates: Funding and Reauthorization Prospects Audio Conference CLASP's Hannah Matthews alongside representatives from National Women's Law Center (NWLC), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the First Five Years Fund discuss funding for early childhood programs in 2012-2013 as well as reauthorization of CCDBG and ESEA. Read Online | Download Audio | Additional PDF
Nov 17, 2011 | Hannah Matthews Integrating Systems: Improving Access to Better Serve Families Families seeking assistance often face multiple, complex needs and that require the services of more than one program. Integrated service systems help to provide a more family-centered, seamless service delivery system, a system that offers a broad continuum of services and tailors these services to the strengths and needs of individual families. This presentation given at the 2011 State and Territory Administrators and the Child Care Policy Research Consortium Joint Meeting in Bethesda, MD looks at how to create an integrated system and the challenges and opportunities of doing so. Download PDF
Oct 05, 2011 | Christine Johnson-Staub Arkansas: Developmental Screening Partnership Children develop along a continuum, with milestones reached at ages that vary within an accepted timeframe. Development that does not happen within the expected timeframe can raise concerns about developmental disorders, health conditions, or other factors contributing negatively to the child’s development. Child care providers are often early witnesses to the signs of developmental problems with the children in their care, but they may not have the capacity or training to identify a problem, discuss concerns with families, and guide families in seeking related services. Read Online
Oct 05, 2011 | Hannah Matthews Meeting the Early Learning Challenge: Supporting English Language Learners CLASP's "Meeting the Early Learning Challenge" series provides information and policy options for states as they develop their applications for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge. Download PDF
Jul 12, 2011 | CLASP AND OTHER NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Comments on Selection Criteria CLASP wrote and submitted comments with other national organizations to the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on the draft Early Learning Challenge proposal. Download PDF
Jul 05, 2011 CLASP Comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on SNAP Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions These comments, submitted to the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), were in response to a request for public comment on SNAP Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions. CLASP's recommendations are intended to help FNS implement provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (FCEA) of 2008, Pub. L. 110-246. The recommendations focused on four main areas: the dependent care deduction, access to benefits, transitional benefits, and employment and training services. Download PDF
Jun 03, 2011 | CLASP and other national organizations Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Comments to Administration These comments were sent to the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services as recommendations for designing the Early Learning Challenge. Download PDF
Jun 01, 2011 | Christine Johnson-Staub Leveraging Existing Fundings Sources to Support EHS-like Services This presentation, given at the April 2011 Zero To Three state action team meeting in Portland, Oregon, describes opportunities and considerations for states that are exploring using a variety of federal funding streams to finance comprehensive services for infants and toddlers. Download PDF
Mar 30, 2011 | Stephanie Schmit Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program: February 2011 SIR Analysis The latest Evidence-Based Home Visiting Supplemental Information Request (SIR) has recently been released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with collaboration from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). This information request provides states guidance in preparing their updated plans for their home visiting programs. The new information request strengthens the earlier guidance in important ways. Download PDF
Mar 15, 2011 | Hannah Matthews Financing a Birth to Five Program: The Appleton Area School District Model Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB) funds long have been used to provide preschool services for at-risk children. This paper focuses on the Appleton Area School District (AASD) in Appleton, Wisconsin and their efforts to use Title I funds to finance a comprehensive birth-five program. Read Online | Download PDF
Jan 25, 2011 | Hannah Matthews Federal and State Budgets: Implications for Funding Early Childhood Programs This presentation was presented at the National Head Start Association (NHSA) Leadership Institute. It provides an overview of the federal budget process for FY 2011 and 2012 and the political and economic context that may impact funding for early childhood programs. Download PDF
Jan 20, 2011 | Child Care and Early Education Building Comprehensive State Systems for Vulnerable Babies CLASP has developed this resource to help state leaders strategize how to create or improve early childhood systems to meet the needs of vulnerable babies and toddlers, their families, and pregnant women. Every state has the pieces of a comprehensive early childhood system in place. This tool will help state leaders locate and build them into a system that meets the needs of children and families. Download PDF
Aug 13, 2010 | Danielle Ewen Using Title I to Expand Opportunities for High-Quality Early Childhood Programs This presentation discusses how Title I of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) funds can be used to expand opportunities for high-quality early childhood programs. The presentation was featured at the conference, Early Childhood 2010: Innovation for the Next Generation, on August 4, 2010. Download PDF
May 26, 2010 | Rachel Schumacher Leveraging Existing Funding Sources to Support Early Head Start and EHS-like Services This presentation was delivered at a meeting held by ZERO TO THREE and CLASP entitled, "Including and Expanding Early Head Start in State Early Childhood Systems." This meeting worked with state-level policymakers looking to create more comprehensive services for infants, toddlers, and their families. Download PDF
Apr 19, 2010 | Elizabeth Hoffmann Extending Home Visiting to FFN and FCC - Webinar Slides CLASP hosted a webinar to share findings regarding how major national models of home visiting are including family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers and family child care providers (FCC). Elizabeth Hoffmann presented findings from CLASP's interview project with national models and other stakeholders, such as detailed considerations for implementing home visiting with FFN and FCC, including matters of curricula, staffing, and service referral. The webinar also reviewed opportunities that result from serving FFN and FCC, concluding with recommendations for states. This webinar was made possible by generous support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Download PDF
Apr 19, 2010 | Elizabeth Hoffmann Extending Home Visiting to FFN and FCC - Webinar Transcript and Audio CLASP hosted a webinar to share findings regarding how major national models of home visiting are including family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers and family child care providers (FCC). Elizabeth Hoffmann presented findings from CLASP's interview project with national models and other stakeholders, such as detailed considerations for implementing home visiting with FFN and FCC, including matters of curricula, staffing, and service referral. The webinar also reviewed opportunities that result from serving FFN and FCC, concluding with recommendations for states. This webinar was made possible by generous support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Download PDF | Download Audio
Mar 31, 2010 | Tiffany Conway Perrin Detailed Summary of Home Visitation Program in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included, among other critical provisions, $1.5 billion in mandatory funding over 5 years for high quality, evidence-based, voluntary early childhood home visitation services. This investment will significantly expand home visitation services, helping to ensure that more children have the opportunity to grow up healthy, safe, ready to learn and able to become productive members of society. This summary details the provisions of the new program. Download PDF
Mar 15, 2010 | Elizabeth Hoffmann A Tool Using Data to Inform a State Infant/Toddler Care Agenda This tool is intended for state advocates and policymakers to use as they work to develop a state infant/toddler care agenda. It includes a series of key questions to understand the context and conditions of infants and toddlers in the state. Questions include data on demographics and program participation (such as health and nutrition programs), as well as the details of child care and early education settings in the state. Users can download and save a copy of this tool, fill in their state’s data, and compare to national data points (which are provided where appropriate). Read Online | Download File
Feb 03, 2010 | Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank The President's Budget Proposal: Opportunities and Challenges for Early Childhood Programs In this audioconference, Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank discuss the president's FY 2011 budget proposal and implications for funding of state and local early childhood programs. Download Audio | Additional PDF
Feb 01, 2010 | Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen Administration Reverses a Decade of Indifference The President's FY 2011 budget proposal provides resources for expanding quality child care and early education opportunities for children and families. Read Online
Jan 11, 2010 | Child Care and Early Education Educare: Creating Comprehensive Early Care and Education Centers Educare is an initiative that draws on public and private resources to create and sustain comprehensive early care and education centers for low-income families with children from birth to age 5. These centers can serve as a model location, program, and a platform for policy change in the communities and states in which they are developed. Centers are currently open in Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Miami (FL), Milwaukee (WI), Oklahoma City (OK), Omaha (NE), and Tulsa (OK). Additional centers in Kansas City (MO), Omaha (NE), Phoenix (AZ), Seattle (WA), Tulsa (OK), Waterville (ME), West DuPage (IL), and Yakima (WA) are in development. This state example is part of CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care project. Read Online
Jan 11, 2010 | Danielle Ewen The Early Learning Challenge Fund: Metrics and Data This presentation provides an overview of the data-based metrics included in the House Early Learning Challenge Fund legislation (Title IV of HR 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009). Download PDF
Dec 09, 2009 | Elizabeth Hoffmann and Tiffany Conway Perrin Extending Home Visiting to Kinship Caregivers and Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers This paper explores how home visiting programs are serving children in kinship care and in family, friend, and neighbor care, based on CLASP's interviews with major national models of home visiting and other stakeholders. It also presents detailed considerations for implementing home visiting with these caregivers, including matters of curricula, staffing, and service referral, and discusses opportunities that result from serving these caregivers. It concludes with recommendations for states and the federal government. Download PDF
Dec 01, 2009 | Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank Update on State Advisory Councils on Early Childhood Education and Care This audioconference provides an update on states' progress in creating Early Childhood Advisory Councils, funded through the ARRA, as well as information about the workings of existing Councils. The call was hosted jointly by CLASP and the National Women's Law Center. Download Audio | Additional PDF
Nov 19, 2009 | Rachel Schumacher Developing State Quality Rating and Improvement Systems with Babies in Mind This presentation provides guidance to state leaders who want to ensure a state Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) addresses the unique needs of babies and toddlers in child care. It includes a framework of issues to consider, examples of state QRIS provisions, and related resources. Download PDF
Oct 20, 2009 | Helen Blank And Danielle Ewen Update on State Child Care Assistance Policies and Use of Economic Recovery Funds This audio included child care administrators, who focus on how their states have successfully used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to assist low-income families. Download Audio | Additional PDF
Jul 20, 2009 | Child Care and Early Education Early Learning Challenge Fund Legislation Audio Conference In this audio conference, Dr. Ruth Friedman, Senior Education Policy Advisor, House Committee on Education and Labor, provides an overview of the Early Learning Challenge Fund and answers questions about the legislation. Download Audio | Additional PDF
Jul 20, 2009 | Danielle Ewen Letter To House Committee On Education And Labor On Early Learning Challenge Fund CLASP wrote a letter of support for the proposed Early Learning Challenge Fund to Chairman Miller. The proposal creates the opportunity for states to make significant investments in the quality of early childhood programs serving disadvantaged children and their families. Download PDF
Dec 15, 2006 | Early Childhood Systems Working Group State Early Childhood Development System and Core Elements The Early Childhood Systems Working Group consists of 14 organizations, including CLASP, that mapped four elements of a State Early Childhood Development System as well as the Core Elements of these systems that are needed to support families and help children thrive. Download PDF
Aug 03, 2006 | Rachel Schumacher, Katie Hamm, Anne Goldstein, and Joan Lombardi Starting Off Right: Promoting Child Development From Birth In State Early Care And Education Initiatives State early care and education policies that start at birth and address the full range of children's development can potentially identify health and developmental issues, link families to necessary supports, and assure that those who care for infants and toddlers have the tools to stimulate early learning and development and ease transitions into the preschool and elementary years. This paper describes a menu of state strategies to improve early care and education for infants and toddlers, and supports to their families, including: examples of specific policies to promote child development birth to 3, as well as ideas for state funding and governance structures that provide attention and resources for all children birth to age 5. Read Online | Download PDF
May 16, 2005 | Rachel Schumacher, Danielle Ewen, Katherine Hart, and Joan Lombardi Policy Brief: All Together Now: State Experiences In Using Community-Based Child Care To Provide Pre-Kindergarten This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name, which was commissioned by the Brookings Institution. It studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. This policy brief, the fifth in the Child Care and Early Education Series, describes principal approaches to state implementation of the mixed delivery model but does not provide examples of state policies. See the full report for details about state policy choices. Download PDF
Feb 24, 2005 | Rachel Schumacher, Danielle Ewen, Katherine Hart, and Joan Lombardi All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-Based Child Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of CLASP survey of states that was undertaken to understand the policy choices, opportunities, and challenges of including community-based child care providers in their pre-kindergarten programs. Also, now available are individual detailed descriptions of each of the 29 states' responses to the CLASP survey on the state policies used to integrate pre-kindergarten into community-based child care settings. Download PDF
Aug 18, 2003 | Rachel Schumacher, Kate Irish, and Joan Lombardi Meeting Great Expectations: Integrating Early Education Program Standards in Child Care In order to achieve improved child outcomes, policymakers must invest in improved program standards in child care. This report, part of the Foundation for Child Development's Working Paper Series, examines three strategies in seven states that have integrated program standards into child care by directly tying standards to funding: the delivery of state pre-kindergarten (Georgia, New Jersey, and New York) and Head Start (Ohio, Oklahoma, and Oregon) in child care settings and the use of contracts including required standards with child care providers (California). These states are requiring participating child care providers to meet early education program standards that routinely exceed those required by state child care licensing rules. They are also providing additional monitoring, technical assistance, and fiscal resources to help participating programs meet these standards. Download PDF
Aug 18, 2003 | Rachel Schumacher, Kate Irish, Joan Lombardi Policy Brief: Meeting Great Expectations: Integrating Early Education Program Standards in Child Care This is the 8-page policy brief based on the report of the same name. Download PDF