The Early Care and Education 4 All Coalition will establish a replicable system for offering high quality, affordable early care and education to under-resourced children that can be scaled nationally.
In fact, the median family income for Black and Latinx families in Dane County in 2019 was $38,795 and $53,202 respectively, compared to $106,255 among White families. The median tuition rates charged for infant care in Dane County at an accredited group child care center in 2019 was $17,950. For 3-year-olds it was $13,375. These median rates increased to $19,450 for infants and $15,000 for 3-year-olds, which make the cost of care prohibitively expensive for under-resourced families.
With a workforce that is 40% people of color, this non-system hits Black and Latinx educators particularly hard economically. Despite educational attainment, Black early educators working in center-based care on average earn $.78 less per hour than their White peers and 75% of Black home based educators earn less than the national median income.
... with meager pay and no benefits for most teachers, and high staff turnover and small profit margins for child care sites. Unlike reforms like charters or vouchers in K-12 education, there is no system to reform; it does not exist. Furthermore, there are not enough seats to make access a possibility, even if families had funding to pay.
These barriers are devastating for under-resourced families, who struggle to find care, even with subsidies provided by the government.
A 30-million-word deficit is hard to make up. If Black and Latinx children are not ready to succeed in kindergarten, they are half as likely to finish middle school with strong academic and social skills.
These complex problems intersect to block educational opportunities for young children in a time when their care and learning will have the greatest impact on their development. The racialization of this problem can be seen in Wisconsin where the Black-White achievement gap is the largest in the nation.
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In spring 2019, only 12% of Black and 16.7% of Latinx students attending elementary schools in Dane County's Madison Metropolitan School District (the state’s second largest public school system), and 12.8% and 25.0% respectively attending public schools statewide, were reading at or above grade level, compared to 60.7% of White students in Madison and 48.2% of White students statewide. (which are still much too low). (Source: Wisconsin Forward Assessment)
We believe this reflects an opportunity gap that could be addressed, in part, by reducing barriers to accessing high-quality EarlyCare and Education Centers (ECECs) among under-resourced families of color in Dane County, and eventually, across Wisconsin and nationally for all families of young children, birth to age 5.
The ECE4ALL Coalition, guided by One City Schools, will develop a stable, effective and first class ECE system that is built around the needs of our most economically vulnerable children and families, but can be replicated and expanded statewide and nationwide to benefit all children.
In 2014, One City Schools began educating and organizing individuals and communities in our state to support an expansion of high quality early childhood education opportunities for children, birth to age 5. In 2016, we asked Black men residing in Dane County, to join us at our state capitol, to show their support for early childhood education and educating our children.
We will provide grants, technical assistance and services to eligible, participating group and family child care centers to help them achieve and sustain a high-quality rating with our state’s child care rating system, better engage and support families, recruit/train teachers, and work towards achieving early childhood accreditation.
In 2019, the median rate of pay for an early childhood educator in Dane County was $13 per hour. Local research has determined that a wage of $18 per hour, minimum, is needed to attract and retain early childhood educators.We will provide salary enhancement grants for 100 educators, annually, at participating ECE centers to support recruitment and retention.
We will provide tuition payments annually to 500 children from income-eligible families at a maximum of $5,000 per child. We derived this amount from the size of gap-filling tuition scholarships One City provides to under-resourced families at its preschool.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison will evaluate and report on the structure, implementation and impact of the initiative on children, families, educators, staff and other stakeholders.
To execute our mission, in 2015, we opened our preschool, which now serves 66 children, ages 2 to 5. In 2018, 89% of the children that graduated from our 4K program tested ready for kindergarten, as did 92% in 2019 and 95% in 2020. More than 80% are children of color, and more than 50% qualify for state subsidies for under-resourced families.
ECE4All Coalition will produce short, intermediate and long-term results by providing:
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These results, combined with our intense emphasis on parent engagement and family support, hiring talented educators and providing living wages and benefits, and the work, expertise, commitment and influence of our partners, have informed the design of our proposed initiative.
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A team organized by the internationally respected Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and with expertise in both rigorous evaluation methodology and early childhood education, will apply a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the impact of the proposed project.
The evaluation will have a dedicated focus on sustainability and incorporating the perspectives of the families served through initial project design and continuous improvement.
A mix of qualitative and quantitative data aligned to project’s goals and subgoals will be collected at regular intervals in order to inform both fidelity of implementation.
Data sources that will inform the evaluation will include a mix of quantitative and qualitative program data.
Depending on the mix of supply (e.g., child care seats available in existing and new ECE sites) and demand, we will make use, if possible, of a control group of families that express interest in the tuition vouchers but are not able to receive them.
We also anticipate having a mix of enrollment dosages (e.g, some children enrolled part-time, some full-time; some starting at younger ages and others later on) and ECEC types (e.g., 4K, group centers, family care) that we will utilize to draw conclusions about which types of offerings are both most effective and most conducive to sustainability and scaling up.
Including $20,794,780 in project operating expenses and $16,571,341 to provide 400 additional tuition payments to eligible children.
We will secure remaining funding for the project through the following means:
One City Schools, Inc. was approved by the University of Wisconsin System, our public charter school authorizer, to expand our public school to serve children from 4K through 6th grade. We will continue adding grade levels to our Elementary School each year until we reach 6th grade, including adding third and fourth grade for the 2021-22 school year.
The Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (CRECE) works within WCER to promote equal opportunity for young children. CRECE engages in cross-disciplinary research, policy analyses, high-impact teacher education, researcher training and development, and direct engagement with the early childhood community.
The Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of the first and most productive education research centers in the world. It has assisted scholars and practitioners develop, submit, conduct and share grant-funded education research for more than 50 years.
The UW Collaborative Center for Health Equity connects partners from rural, urban, and tribal communities with university faculty, staff, and students to advance long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships in teaching, research, and service initiatives to improve health equity in underserved communities of Wisconsin.
Quality early care and education is fundamental to creating a better world. WECA works to advance positive change for children by focusing on the professionals who provide child care for well over 70% of Wisconsin’s children.
Community Coordinated Child Care, Inc. (4-C) is part of a network of accredited, non-profit Wisconsin Child Care Resource & Referral agencies providing advocacy and support services for child care in various counties. The agency strives to ensure that every child has access to high quality early care and education through integrated support and expertise.
United Way of Dane County has been tackling Dane County’s toughest challenges for 98 years. With a mission to unite the community to achieve measurable results and change lives, we are committed to build a Dane County where everyone can succeed in school, work and life.
Families & Schools Together is a non-profit organization that exists to make a critical difference in the midst of these challenges by empowering parents, strengthening families, developing social networks, and supporting schools and communities so that children can thrive.
The ECE4ALL Coalition is led by One City Schools, an organization whose staff leadership and Board of Directors reflects the diverse community it serves, and includes nationally respected, influential and experienced educators/leaders.
Kaleem Caire is founder and CEO of One City Schools, a preschool and public charter school serving children ages 2-second grade in Madison. Prior to that, Kaleem was President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison and chair of the National Urban League’s Education Committee. Kaleem also held executive leadership positions with Fight For Children of Washington, DC, Black Alliance forEducational Options (BAEO), American Education Reform Council, Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.Kaleem holds a bachelor’s in education from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Beth Graue is Sorenson Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Director of the Center for Research on Early Childhood Education at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Graue received her Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation Methodologies from the University of Colorado Boulder. A fellow of the American Educational Research Association, Graue has studied class size reduction implementation, teacher use of practices introduced in professional development, PreK policy enactment, and parent decision-making about PreK enrollment. Her current research is focused on developing strategies for teachers to implement educationally productive play.
Jody Bartnick is the Executive Director of Community Coordinated Child Care, Inc. (4-C), a local child care resource and referral agency serving southern Wisconsin. Jody brings over 25 years of experience in the early care and education field and holds an MBA in finance. Jody’s work at 4-C aligns with the agency’s mission to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early care and education.
Kaleem Caire is founder and CEO of One City Schools, a preschool and public charter school serving children ages 2-second grade in Madison. Prior to that, Kaleem was President & CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison and chair of the National Urban League’s Education Committee. Kaleem also held executive leadership positions with Fight For Children of Washington, DC, Black Alliance forEducational Options (BAEO), American Education Reform Council, Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.Kaleem holds a bachelor’s in education from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
