BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE:
Jane Zehnder-Merrell - Mich League for Human Services
* TANF: There is nothing of substance to report.
* "Right Start Data" This "Kids Count" project looks at eight risk indicators existing at the time a child is born. These data are collected for Michigan's 59 cities and townships with a population over 30,000. Each risk factor is averaged over three years to mitigate interpretation problems if a particular factor spikes or dips an unusual amount in one year. You can access this report at: www.milhs.org; on left side, click on "Kids Count" then click on "Right Start 2005"

Steve Manchester - Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children
* A relatively new organization has formed called "Heroes of Public Education" or "HOPE." It is dedicated to improving public education in Michigan by supporting . . . a healthy and strong public education. Steve can provide information on this organization.
* A conference on toxic threats to the development of young children will take place in Ann Arbor on November 3. The cost for this full-day conference is $50. For more information contact Lauren Zajac at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor? lauren@ecocenter.org.
* Michigan AEYC is working with other organizations to call attention to developmental problems for newborns and mothers created by mercury emissions? Mostly from coal fired electricity power plants. People wishing to encourage Governor Granholm to propose an effective environmental rule that enormously reduces such mercury emissions may visit http://www.mecprotects.org/mercury.htm

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GUEST SPEAKER:
James Gale, Director, Office of Child and Adult Licensing, Michigan Department of Human Services
This Office oversees, among a number of things, the Division of Child Day Care Licensing. Recently, Gale has been involved in the promulgation of new rules for child care centers and day care homes. OCAL is a public regulatory agency with oversight and sanctioning duties in three licensing areas. A key value is to assure that all stake holders affected by specified regulations participate in guiding and evaluating the regulatory agency. OCAL is accountable to the stakeholders.
An example of a difficult policy that affects various child care stakeholders is the practice of putting negative information on the web site regarding providers. Protection of children and families must be balanced with fairness to providers. OCAL has to balance the wishes of some licensing consultants that want to close a child care operation based on inferences drawn from site visits. OCAL has insisted that closing an operation and posting that on the internet must be based on fact and not mere opinion.
Allegations about harmful child care practice unsupported by facts do not lead to closure and publication of that closure. This is but one example of the difficulty inherent in balancing the needs and rights of various stake holders.
Gale testified before a special joint Senate/House committee in mid-March regarding the proposed revisions to the child care center rules. He had to face about 100 providers upset with the increased regulatory standards under consideration. He wants OCAL to conduct an open process in promulgating new rules although this openness creates tense moments as different stake holders hold opposing views. Having an open process represents an OCAL value even though it means changing the center rules will take a bit longer than first anticipated. OCAL has to face realities regarding its child care mission established by state laws and a too-small staff. The Office is striving to drive more efficiencies into its operation. It is also shifting more staff into the field and trying to find a larger number of work spaces for staff that cover large geographic areas. Many decisions on changing office practices have been based on gathering and evaluating data. This takes time and creates tensions among those who know immediate change is needed. Gale has insisted in change based on data and planning instead of change for change's sake.
Gale sees staff training as key to creating better performance. He has focused on internal writing that provides high quality information. The writing has to use language that means the same thing to different staff in different locations. Information has to be fact-based, not opinion-based. Reports based on instinct or gut feelings are discouraged. It takes no extra time to do high quality work once high quality is defined and understood; in fact, it saves time.

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS:
An experienced early childhood educator can know something is amiss in a child care operation by observing the way kids react to the adults. Doesn't your approach to sanctioning providers tend to overlook important social-emotional interactions that are hard to describe but easy to see as indicators of problems? ANSW: Adverse actions against providers have to be based on the facts. It is possible to achieve inter-rater reliability among people who observe things like child care. Is OCAL trying to achieve rating reliability among its child care consultants? ANSW: Yes, but we find reliability to be a continuing problem.
Is OCAL looking at suggestions to let child care centers operate without oversight if no complaints are lodged against them? ANWS: OCAL has established a work group to examine this. Some of the proposed suggestions violate current laws that protect children. This is one of those delicate political walks in which protection of providers can sometimes appears to clash with protection of children and families. Getting back to observations of social/emotional interactions in child care settings, recent advances in understanding such interactions make it possible to derive facts from what was once seen as hunches and instinct. Would OCAL be willing to explore this new skill/fact area, perhaps by meeting with people from MDCH_s mental health unit and also the Child Care Expulsion Program in Michigan? ANWS: Yes.

Jim Gale may be reached at: jbgale@michigan.gov

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OTHER BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
Judy Levine - Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services;
Michigan Department of Education
* Preschool Standards of Quality of Standards have been passed. The Office is working on infant/toddler standards, which will be posted on the MDE website for public commentary in the near future.
* The Michigan School Readiness application process for the competitive grants is underway. Applications are due on May 23 and a reader session to examine the applications will take place oh June 14. The process for allocating funds to the school aid supported MSRP programs has begun. Schools should respond to MDE requests for information about their programs quickly because that will speed up the process of getting money to those schools.
* An Even Start reading session, recently held, has whittled down the number of applications; another session will take place on June 1.
* Senate Bill 324 deals with changing the eligibility start date for kindergarten from the current December 1 date to September 1. This bill also has a new provision that allows 4 year-olds to be deemed "ready" and enrolled in kindergarten [or developmental kindergarten] by the local district. Senate Bill 325 deals with how to spend the dollars realized through cost-savings by the state related to the date change. These two bills were passed out of the Senate Education committee on April 26, 2005; however, were referred back to the committee on May 5, 2005. There is currently a variety of issues within the majority caucus surrounding the 4 year-olds provision and what impact it will have on developmental kindergarten programs that are already existing around the state and their funding levels. No further hearings have been scheduled in committee at this time for the bills.

Deb Marciniak - Department of Community Health
* National Study on PreK Expulsion Rates In May, a study was released titled, "Prekindergarteners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Systems," by Walter S. Gilliam, PhD, Yale University Child Study Center. Findings are: PreK students are expelled at a rate more than 3 times that of their older peers in the K-12 system.
Although rates of expulsion vary widely among the 40 states that fund preK, state expulsion rates for preKindergarteners exceed those in K-12 classes in all but 3 states.
Prekindergarten expulsion rates are lowest in classrooms located in public schools and in Head Start, and highest in faith-affiliated centers and for-profit child care.
The likelihood of expulsion decreases significantly with access to classroom-based behavioral consultation from mental health professionals. Michigan is one of two states that have child care expulsion prevention programs. To see the full paper or the executive summary, go to http://www.mailman.org/new/pre-k.htm.
* A new organization called "Pre-K Now", is working with state advocates to advance high-quality pre kindergarten for all 3 and 4 year olds in the USA. Pre-K Now encourages states to translate the results of Gilliam study into high-quality preschool programs that include comprehensive behavioral supports to pre-k teachers and parents, including classroom-based consultation and teacher training. Pre-K Now was created by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Their web site address is http://www.preknow.org/about.html. MiAEYC Infant Toddler Conference – Sept. 16, 2005 MiAEYC will sponsor an Infant Toddler Conference on Sept. 16, 2005 at the Sheraton in Novi. It will focus on promoting social-emotional development. Head Start Reauthorization – Richard Lower The first version of the Head Start Reauthorization Act was released by the U.S. House on May 5, 2005. This kicked off the Head Start reauthorization process with this Congress. After the U.S. Senate offers its version, both houses of Congress will work on their bills in June. Please visit www.saveheadstart.org
or www.nhsa.org http://www.nhsa.org/> for regular updates.

A number of issues seem headed for hot debate:
* Awarding Head Start grants through competition: a) About 2/3 of grants awarded will have to be competed or recompeted for every five years; Calls for more competition are fueled by allegations of deficient performance by Head Start grantees although critics are vague as to what they mean by "deficiencies."
* Teacher pay and education standards: Head Start teachers will be required to attain higher degrees, but with no additional dollars for compensation.
* Block grants to states are off the table for now – but the idea could return and we must remain vigilant on this issue. Additional information about Head Start is available from: www.saveheadstart.org for up-to-date information during the reauthorization process; www.nhsa.org for the views of the National Head Start Association. Born Learning media campaign – Steve Manchester and Jacquie LaFay Michigan United Way has received funding from its national organization to do a three year public awareness program regarding zero-to-five child development. The campaign focuses on the stages of child development, how parents can promote good child development and how communities can do the same. A very brief presentation of a couple of TV ads that will air this summer was shown. Bob Parks from Michigan United Way will be invited to the Task Force this fall for a more thorough discussion of Born Learning.The development of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation continues.Community conversations that permit citizens to weigh in on ways in which the ECIC can promote community organization of zero-to-five networks will be available this summer at: www.greatstartforkids.org. Mike Flanagan is the new Superintendent of Public Instruction, appointed by the State Board of Education. Lynne Martinez has resigned as the Children's Ombudsman so that she can run for Mayor of Lansing. Lisa Brewer is stepping down as Co-chair of this Task Force. People interested in being considered as co-chair should contact Lisa or Richard (see below). Jane Zehnder-Merrell from the League of Human Services and agreed to be considered for this post. The change over will take place at the September meeting. The meeting adjourned shortly before noon.

The NEXT MEETING is on Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 7 at the State of Michigan Library, Lake Ontario Room - 9:30 a.m. - noon.
GUEST SPEAKER: Jan Fowler, Early Education Coordinator, Charlevoit-Emmet Intermediate School District. She will speak on local "best-practices" of collaboration between ISDs and the early childhood education and care community.
Steve Manchester, Michigan AEYC, took notes for this meeting.
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* Send comments and suggestions regarding this e-mail network, or requests to be added or removed from it, to mcctforce@miaeyc.org.
* Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite and encourage people to join this e-mail network.

MCCTF Co-Chair Contact Information:
Lisa Brewer Walraven
Michigan 4C Association
T.E.A.C.H. Director
866-648-3224, ext.27; brewer@mi4c.org

Richard Lower
Michigan Head Start Association
Executive Director
517-374-MHSA; Richard@mhsa.ws

The MCCTF Organizational Sponsors:
Michigan 4C Association (Community Coordinated Child Care); Michigan’s
Children; Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children; Michigan
League for Human Services; and Michigan Head Start Association.

Legislative Sponsors:
Senator Patricia Birkholz, Dist. 24;
Representative Michael Murphy, Dist. 68.