Become an Advocate for Early Childhood Education!

“All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Early childhood education needs YOU!

Help us advocate for accessible, high quality early childhood education (ECE).
​Just follow these two steps:

STEP 1.  Get informed

Here are four elements of quality child care from ZERO TO THREE's website, in an infographic entitled “America’s Future Depends on Quality Child Care.”

The decision-makers affecting policies and funding need all our voices. Let's remind them about the value of childhood and about the resources needed to provide the education and care that nurtures it.

​Let's help policy-makers and funders see ECE as a wise investment - every dollar spent on quality ECE saves many more dollars in the future. And good ECE makes for happier childhoods that lead to more productive adult lives!

It's important for our voices to be heard. Legislation and administrative decisions about ECE have a profound impact on how children and families are served, how child care professionals and educators are trained, evaluated and compensated, and ultimately, how children remember their childhood.

These decisions affect not only children and our ECE workforce but also our communities and our country’s economy and workforce.

So we need to share with decision-makers what “quality early child care” is and what it isn’t. Administrators, legislators, school board representatives and the voting public need to know what caregivers, teachers and researchers have learned through our work with young children.

Remember:  Advocacy is just reaching out and telling people what we know, and we can all do our part. Join us in advocating for ECE with the decision-makers in your community.  Together we can support early childhood care and education!

Here are more facts for you:

Child care is an essential service that requires support!​

There are so many young children in care, but unfortunately most of them are in programs of low quality. Child care professionals' work is critical to children's development, but it receives extremely low compensation. For high quality, affordable care and wages that support child care professionals, we need public investment - and we need it now!

Again, please do your part to support early childhood education, childcare workers and families in the important work they do! Know the facts and share what you know with policy makers.

Here are some statistics from ZERO TO THREE, from their resource "Infant-Toddler Child Care Fact Sheet":

• ”Of the 12 million infants and toddlers in the United States, more than half spend some or all of their day being cared for by someone other than their parents.”
• ”75% of toddlers in center care and 93% in home-based care are in low or mediocre quality care settings that can be detrimental to their development. Only 10% of child care programs nationwide are rated as high-quality.”
• ”In 30 states and Washington, D.C., center-based child care for infants and toddlers is more expensive than in-state tuition and fees at a public university.”

Together we can work to change facts to ones that reflect support for young children and those who care for them!

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STEP 2.  Reach out

​Let’s share what we know as ECE professionals!  Research and experience tells us what children, families, and communities need to thrive, and policy makers need to know this information.

​Here are two organizations we recommend that share our concern for not only funding early childhood education, but also for how those dollars should be spent: 

• The National Association For the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides lots of information on policy and advocacy affecting early childhood.  Their action center offers a “fill-in” letter to Congress regarding the issue of quality child care.
• Defending the Early Years (DEY) encourages parents and educators to advocate for education in preschool through 3rd grade.  As a resource, DEY offers a downloadable “Mobilizing Kit” that includes helpful information about advocate meetings and fact sheets about school standards. ​

Don’t let your busy schedule prevent you from doing something to advocate for young children, families - and yourself! 
​If not us, then who?

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At ECS, we're advocating for you!

My statement on this image sums up the reason I am so passionate about supporting children, families and early childhood caregivers. Early childhood education affects us all - whether we are in the early childhood profession or not, whether we are parents or not.

When I wrote this statement, I was thinking primarily of the early childhood workforce. But it’s true of all parents - they need to feel supported in their work of raising children as well as in their paid employment.

That’s why we early childhood educators must advocate for our profession, in addition to our primary task of meeting the needs of the children we teach and care for. We need to be supported, so we and our children can thrive!

We wholeheartedly agree with Michelle McCready, the interim CEO of @Child Care Aware of America. Her opinion piece appeared in the publication The Hill on January 9, 2023, entitled “America 2023: When even members of Congress don’t have child care.”  She discussed the importance of affordable and high-quality child care for families and for our country.

Here is an excerpt:
“Child care is a crucial component of our country’s economy; it’s the work that makes all other work possible. The high cost of child care and lack of availability is bad news for families, but it’s also bad news for employers and communities who benefit from widespread access to affordable, high quality child care.”

Well said, Michelle!  You can read the rest of her opinion piece here.

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References & Resources

Defending the Early Years (DEY).  (n.d.).  Mobilizing kit for parents and teachers concerned about what’s happening in our early childhood classrooms (Preschool through 3rd grade).  https://dey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/DEY-Mobilizing-Kit-FINAL-FINAL-2020-updated.pdf​

McCready, M. (2023, January 9). America 2023: When even members of Congress don’t have child care.  Child Care Aware of America.  https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3805641-america-2023-when-even-members-of-congress-dont-have-child-care/
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​National Association For the Education of Young Children.  (n.d.).  Public policy and advocacy. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/public-policy-advocacy

National Association For the Education of Young Children.   (n.d.).  Tell Congress to #SolveChildCare! https://www.votervoice.net/NAEYC/Campaigns/101148/Respond

Zero to Three.  (2019, October 11).   America’s Future Depends on Quality Child Care.  https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/americas-future-depends-on-quality-child-care/

Zero to Three.  (2021, September 6).  Infant-Toddler child care fact sheet.  https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/infant-toddler-child-care-fact-sheet/