In the last six years Wisconsin has been building a new system to increase the quality of child care, with a particular focus on children from low-income working families. The new system is called YoungStar and serves as a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). Our report, YoungStar: What Does Research Tell Us, will explore what...
This is a 2008 WCCF publication outlining why 17 year olds should not be charged as adults, including a review of some of the collateral consequences of youth getting an adult arrest and/or court record. Although the numbers have changed, the basic content of this report informs our on-going efforts to raise the age of adult court...
With the elections over, and many early learning supporters wondering what will happen next, I thought I’d remind you that a recent extensive poll showed remarkable bipartisan public support for early childhood education. The national poll, released in July 2016, showed that 90 percent of voters agree that the nation should support...
Child care, especially higher quality child care, predicts better results in high school, according to a recent study from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The study was led by Deborah Vandell, formerly with the University of Wisconsin, completing a longitudinal study of 1,214 children, from early childhood to...
WCCF has released a new report, YoungStar: What Does Recent Research Tell Us. The report looks through the lens of the key objectives for YoungStar when it was launched. The report reviews earlier research on Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) by RAND, examines what we learned from the Wisconsin YoungStar validation study,...
With just twelve days left until Election Day, we have a lot of choices to make about the future of our state, and the future of our country. We’ve listened to candidates for local and national office talk about what makes them the best person for the job, and what they will do for us, the voters. But when candidates talk about moving...
“Last year, more than 1,200 researchers signed a consensus statement describing in some detail what quality early care and education looks like and why it’s a sound public investment" wrote W. Steven Barnett in a recent National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) newsletter. The ECE Consensus Letter for Researchers is based...
This week is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. To kick off the week, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has put together a policy brief highlighting the progress made in Wisconsin on lead poisoning prevention, the need for more work, and potential solutions. Lead poisoning is particularly prevalent in Wisconsin, in...
The harmful effects of lead poisoning are well-document, particularly with the news coverage surrounding Flint, Michigan. Lead poisoning harms the development of the brain and nervous system and is therefore most detrimental to children. These developmental impacts result in, among other things, reduced attention span and reading and learning disabilities.
State Schedules Information Sessions about Open Enrollment and New Procedures Federal officials have put in place a new option for the continuation of Marketplace insurance coverage under certain conditions. It’s a backup option for people whose current insurers are dropping out of the Marketplace, if those individuals fail to choose a...
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