Economists, researchers and advocates talk a lot about the economic return of good quality early learning, but few are as compelling and clear as University of Chicago professor James Heckman.

The Nobel-Prize winning economist explains the importance of putting returns of early learning efforts, such as teaching self-discipline and other soft skills, in the correct context, in a question-and-answer on the Washington Post’s “Economics and Domestic Policy, and lots of it” blog.

So what you’re learning is self-discipline, to stay on task, you’re learning social relationships, because you’re doing this assessment collectively, and you’re building a set of life skills that turn out to be important. So we looked at what the consequences were of these changes early in life for the child. And we see that those patterns are there.
It leads to less aggression, more socialization, what sometimes psychologists call externalizing behavior, and it promotes a lot of productivity down the line. So you’re changing the character of these children. – “It’s just a question of using the same dollars wisely.” 8/25/10.

During the talk, the economist also calls on President Barack Obama – Heckman advised the Obama campaign on early learning issues, according to the blog – to take a stronger lead role in improving early learning.

It is a great and in-depth read for a Q&A and worth checking out.

You can follow Heckman at the Heckman Equation on Twitter (@heckmanequation) and on Facebook.

The buzz today is about the Obama administration’s Workplace Flexibility Forum this afternoon, and one of the key things to watch is what comes out of this meeting to expand the availability of quality child care. 

Why? Work-family flex often begins with finding high quality child care. If working parents cannot find good child care, they often struggle to strike a balance in their lives.

Today, there are hopeful signs it may get easier for working moms and dads. In the last few years the increase of women in the workforce, the shifting gender roles in parenting and the rise of Generation Y and its comfort working from home, office and anywhere else there is a wifi connection fueled the work-flex debate.

Once you add President Barack Obama’s commitment to the issue – he has tapped work-flex experts as top advisors and has his own challenges raising two daughters - you begin to see ingredients that could make the daily juggle of work and family easier.

“It doesn’t have to be hard," First Lady Michelle Obama said in opening remarks. “Flexibility policies actually make employees more not less productive.”

As the forum began, Michelle Obama highlighted the federal government’s own commitment to expand telework, access to emergency child care and more affordable day care.

It can be done. Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. broke ground on a new child care center in this recession. While not every company and industry can build its own child care, a range of businesses supported and added flex benefits in recent years.

But, there are plenty of high obstacles to any change, such as a weak economy and little spending flexibility in Congress.

What do parents of babies, toddlers and pre-kindergarteners want to see come out of this forum? Do you think we will see anything?

Whatever you think the Obama administration will keep working on the issue with future forums around the country in the coming months.

Check out an archive of the forum here or the live feed, which runs until 1:15 p.m. PST today, here.

Further reading:

• White House Announces Forum on Workplace Flexibility.
• “Making History: The White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility,” Huffington Post, 3/30/10.
• “First Lady to Speak at White House Workplace Flexibility Forum,” The Juggle, Wall Street Journal, 3/31/10.
• “White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility,” Motherlode, The New York Times, 3/31/10. 
• “Workplace Flexibility Jumps to the Top of the Agenda (Kinda),” RebelDad, 3/30/10.

First Lady Michelle Obama gave the fight against childhood obesity a major boost when she took a leading role last month, and one of the places she may want to focus on is preschool, the National Institute for Early Education Research suggests this week.

While parents may think preschool is a place where their kids race around, run and play, a study found students engaged in “moderate to vigorous exercise” only 3.4 percent of their day at preschool. Granted, there are other things to do beyond run around outside, but the level found in the Children’s Activity and Movement in Preschools Study seems way too low.

Researchers also highlighted one of my favorite topics: well-designed open spaces in early learning. They found open space, fixed equipment, ball and object use “are associated with high levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity.” – Preschool’s Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity. 3/9/10.

“In view of the high levels of sedentary activity observed, the researchers call for careful attention in designing outdoor spaces for preschoolers. Designs should include sufficient open spaces and specific outdoor play materials associated with increased levels of physical activity.”— Preschool’s Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity.

What are parents noticing at their preschools? Are your kids getting enough exercise? The story is short and worth checking out.

Child Care Economics in the News: Another writer tackled one of my other favorite topics in The economics of child care: Why do long waiting lists persist?The story offers reasons why child care doesn’t fit the supply-and-demand model from Ohio State University professor David Blau, who edited a book entitled The Economics of Child Care. The reasons include the idea that many child care services are not run as typical businesses and that many parents “aren't willing to pay a premium for high-quality child care…,” according to the Vancouver Sun article. It is another easy read worth checking out.

The Early Learning Challenge Fund – potentially worth $8 billion over ten years – might make it to President Barack Obama’s desk this year as part of a massive health care reform bill, K-12 Politics reports.

Congressional leaders are considering packaging health care reform as a reconciliation package that also could include the early learning fund legislation, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate this year, according to the Education Week’s insightful blog. Check out K-12 Politics for all of the details.

Today First Lady Michelle Obama took the lead in the effort to reduce childhood obesity by launching a national campaign that strives to strike a balance among exercise, nutrition and better access to healthy food.

What is interesting about this latest campaign is the apparent absence of a heavy reliance on metrics and instead a focus on helping families make healthier choices about what they eat, according to media coverage.  

One of the “Let’s Move” campaign’s most dramatic ideas is tax breaks for grocery stores that operate in underserved areas, the Associated Press reports, via MSNBC.com.  The Obama administration wants to eliminate these “food deserts” during the next five years, according to Let’s Move.

More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in urban and rural neighborhoods without adequate access to a supermarket. – Let’s Move website.

Michelle Obama appears determined to create a more realistic plan to lower childhood obesity rates.

“The question is how do we help people balance that out so that they're not facing life-threatening, preventable illnesses, but they're enjoying their food, they're eating their vegetables, they're doing their running and walking and playing and still have time to get a good, fun meal in every once in a while," Michelle Obama told ABC News, via MSNBC.com.

One day after releasing research on the importance of sleep, family dinners and television limits in fighting childhood obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics joined the first lady’s fight.

“We face a medical and moral imperative to rescue our children’s health,” AAP president Dr. Judith Palfrey said in a statement. “Over the past twenty years, our nation has seen an alarming rise in the number of our children who are overweight and obese. It will take a concerted effort and thoughtful collaboration to help create healthier communities for children.”

Further reading:

• Let’s Move, official government website.
• Spotlight: White House Obesity Initiative, a resource for families and doctors, American Academy of Pediatrics.
• “First Lady Aims to Fight Fat” – Wall Street Journal, 2/9/10.
• “First lady begins fight against childhood obesity” – AP, via MSNBC.com. 2/9/10

Dancing for quality early education: MomsRising created this short video for people who missed the dance party for early learning with Caspar Babypants last week in Olympia.

Massive presidential budget proposals are worth a second, third and fourth look and a closer examination of President Obama’s plan reveals more good news for early learning, including a fresh focus on early literacy and a boost for child nutrition.

For example, President Obama tucked a proposed increase of $1 billion for child nutrition in his budget, the National Association for the Education of Young Children reports. Obama also wants to wrap together a group of literacy programs into “a comprehensive birth through high school literacy grant program. $250 million total, of which 15% for birth to kindergarten…”

Even though shiny new programs sound great, CLASP points out Obama is focused on building upon what is already there, such as child care block grants and Head Start. (The president, however, clearly wants to add the creation of the Early Learning Challenge Fund to his resume. He asked for $9 billion over ten years, CLASP reports.)

The administration's FY 2011 budget proposal represents a blueprint for the vision that President Obama would like to put in place. It is clear that high-quality, comprehensive early childhood programs that serve the needs of vulnerable children and their families are at the forefront of that vision. – “Administration Reverses a Decade of Indifference.” CLASP, 2/1/10.

To help you digest Obama’s many plans for early education here are a few resources to get you started:

• “Obama’s FY11 Budget Requests a Boost for Early Childhood Programs.” Early Ed Watch, 2/2/10.
• “President’s Budget Request Places Priority on Early Childhood Investments.” NAEYC, 2/1/10.
• “Administration Reverses a Decade of Indifference.” CLASP, 2/1/10.
• “Administration’s FY 2011 Budget: Early Childhood Highlights.” National Women’s Law Center, 2/1/10.
• "Capitol Connection:CCR&R's Weekly Source for Federal Child Care Policy News" NACCRRA, 2/1/10.

Tomorrow, we will take a look closer to home, examining Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposed cuts that could trim child care subsidies.

The Obama administration released its new budget this morning and despite the large federal budget deficit it contains new money for Early Head Start, child care subsidies and other incentives for early learning, interest groups reported.

Two of the nation’s biggest early learning programs, Head Start and Early Start, would receive a total increase of $989 million in fiscal 2011 over last year’s level, according to Zero to Three. It should be interesting to watch the Congressional reaction to that request, since Head Start was criticized last month in a federal report.

In the hopeful thinking department, Obama also wants $625 million for his Early Learning Challenge Fund, even though legislation that would create that fund remains stuck in the Senate.

It wasn’t all about raises, however, because Obama proposed freezing funding for Part C Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers at $440 million, the interest group said. (Check out Zero to Three’s Facebook page to read the details of this handy summary.)

Obama already told the nation last week that he wants to nearly double the child care tax credit and add more money to the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. Zero to Three breaks it down this way:

An increase of $800 million (and an additional $11 billion over ten years) in mandatory Child Care and Development Funds to allow states to provide child care subsidies to additional working families. In addition, another increase of $800 million is proposed to provide quality improvements through the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). Total funding for CCDBG under this proposal would equal $2.927 billion, $137 million of which is targeted for improving the quality of infant-toddler care. – “Breaking News for Babies: President Requests Increased Funding for Key Infant-Toddler Services.”

We are still learning about the president’s new fiscal blueprint, but you can start here:

• The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2011, Office of Management and Budget. (Check by department links.)

Stay tuned because CLASP and the National Women’s Law Center will host a conference call Wednesday entitled “The President’s Budget Proposal: Opportunities and Challenges for Early Childhood Programs.”

California has been cutting programs not adding new ideas, but it clearly wants to add early learning work because it’s a major element of the state’s bid for some of $4.35 billion in fresh federal education reform dollars, according to California Progress Report.

… California mentions early learning repeatedly throughout its 129-page application – a recognition that early learning programs play an important role in making the state competitive for a share of the funds. -- “Early Learning Key Part of Race to the Top Education Reform Conversation.”

In its request for billions of Race to the Top dollars, Cali also appeared to endorse PreK-3rd – a movement to better integrate early learning with the first grades of school, Catherine Atkin, president of the non-profit Preschool California, wrote.

…Among the 800 local educational agencies that signed agreements to address each of the Race to the Top reform areas, nearly a third also committed to improving the quality of early childhood education by helping students make better transitions between preschool and kindergarten, a voluntary element of the agreements.

(Check out the relatively short article. It is worth a few minutes.)

Obama Update: I didn’t hear a lot about early learning in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. In fact, I didn’t hear anything until roughly 34 minutes into his speech, when he mentioned his plan to nearly double the child care tax credit.

Don’t Forget English Language Learners: I came across a set of researchers’ ideas on Twitter about how to use economic stimulus funds to help English language learners. There is a section devoted to Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant towards the end.

Today, President Barack Obama proposed nearly doubling the Child Care and Dependent Care Tax Credit for lower-income families and adding $1.6 billion to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, the National Center on Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies reports.

The report cites a White House release that says the CCDBG budget increase would be “the largest one-year increase in 20 years, to help an additional 235,000 children.”

Washington education leaders unveiled a 10-year plan today that would build an early learning system that runs from pregnancy through third grade and could help the state compete for a bigger slice of federal education funding.

The ambitious draft covers everything from children’s health and nutrition to support for parents and teachers.

There is another reason for the 119-page blueprint. It could put Washington in a far better position to compete for billions of dollars in fresh and future federal early learning dollars. The Obama administration is pushing to expand investment in early education – it helped insert $2 billion to help poor families pay child care bills in the economic stimulus package – and more is contained in pending legislation to overhaul the U.S health care system and student lending.

“With a solid plan for advancing a systemic approach to early learning, Washington State will be in an advantaged position for capturing some of the new and significant funding coming from the federal government,” said Lynn Kagan, one of the nation’s leading experts on early education and co-director of the National Center on Children and Families at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

The challenge for states is that comprehensive early learning infrastructures may be key in winning these federal funds, in part because Obama made it clear the funds should largely go to proven strategies.

The draft’s goals are far broader than this, however, and build on years of past work. For example, a key goal is to break down walls between agencies responsible for early learning by uniting them under a coordinated strategy. It also would create a more seamless transition between early learning and the first four grades of school – a concept known nationally as Prek-3rd.

It encourages breaking down the barriers created by traditional silos based on children’s narrow age ranges, old funding patterns, different types of development (i.e., physical, mental, social-emotional, etc.), and the historic distinctions between the preschool and school years. – Plan for the Washington Early Learning System, 2010 – 2020, Draft, 12/1/30.

The changes won’t happen overnight, especially given the precarious state of the economy. In fact, the plan won’t even be finalized until late March. In the meantime, the public is invited to read, comment on and hold public meetings to discuss the blueprint. The plan actually has two parts: a long-term blueprint and recommendations for Gov. Christine Gregoire and the upcoming legislative session.

While the draft is ambitious, funding remains a concern. It would use federal and state money differently and more efficiently. It also introduced the idea of a public-private financing tool, though that idea is still developing.

But, if Washington doesn’t implement this plan, it may have a harder time winning federal funds that could become available as early as next year.

For more information:

• Statement.
• Draft plan.
• Recommendations to the Governor for Action in 2010.