As the fall colors begin to glow, I thought I would focus on some of the recent progress in Wisconsin’s early learning and development landscape. In the midst of increasingly partisan battles at state and national levels, and after disappointing results in the state’s biennial budget, here are six encouraging trends.
- YoungStar: 65% of subsidized children are now in child care programs rated as 3, 4 or 5 stars, a significant upward trend in a short period of time.
- Early Learning Grants: Wisconsin is one of 14 successful applicants for competitive federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants, receiving $34 million to improve early learning and development.
- Home Visiting: Wisconsin has also drawn down $13.4 million in federal grants (mostly competitive) to expand and improve home visiting across the state.
- 4K: Wisconsin now has 90% of school districts offering free, universal 4-year-old kindergarten, ranking near the top among states.
- Child Care Freeze Ends: After 7 years of frozen payment rates in Wisconsin Shares, the freeze has ended, and modest increases are in the works for the next 2 years.
- Increased Education: Scholarships, training, and on-site technical consulting are helping improve skills of early childhood practitioners.
Excellent work is also well underway in building an early childhood longitudinal data system, launching a public-private partnership system for improved early learning and development, and improving early screening and assessment for young children in the state.
