The Colorado Sun | Erica Breunlin “Without effective mental health supports our youth broadly are at risk of having tremendous negative implications for their well-being long term.” Colorado lawmakers are considering two new proposals that would allocate millions of dollars to much-needed mental health supports for children, including free counseling. The state was already under-resourced…
Opinion: We Expect 300,000 Fewer Births Than Usual This Year
The New York Times | Melissa Kearney & Phillip Levine “Some women and couples will have fewer children than they hoped, and some kids will grow up without the younger sibling they would have had otherwise. This could contribute to what some have referred to as America’s loneliness epidemic.” In a report for the Brookings Institute last summer,…
Opinion: Universal Pre-K Isn’t Enough — the Programs Must Be of High Quality. Here Are Some Ways to Make That Happen
The 74 | Bridget Hamre “Over 200 research studies have demonstrated that children in classrooms with more effective teacher-student interactions, as measured by CLASS, have improved literacy and math outcomes, as well as increased social and cognitive skills. ” Louisiana has rooted how it approaches access to quality early care and education in the nationally recognized Classroom Assessment…
Idaho Rejects $6 Million in Child Care Funding, Sparking Protests from Women
The 19th | Alexa Mikhail Idaho state Rep. Muffy Davis, a Democrat, said she never thought she would have to defend working moms. “We aren’t in the 1800s here. And all women don’t have to stay at home and care for the kids… That’s not how it works here.” Idaho’s House of Representative has rejected a…
Coronavirus has Stolen Some Kids’ Sense of Smell, and It Stinks
The Colorado Sun | Jennifer Brown “Some days are really good and she can walk in the house and smell a candle, and other days she can’t smell anything at all. The other day she said, ‘I can taste my Taco Bell today!” A new “olfaction training” clinic from Children’s Hospital Colorado is working to…
Most Colorado Educators Have Had Their First COVID Vaccine Shot
Chalkbeat Colorado | Erica Meltzer “I’m just feeling safer, feeling more secure, knowing I won’t disappoint my kids or get my family sick.” In the three weeks since COVID vaccinations became available to educators and child care staff, the state has seen 93,175 of 120,000 professionals receive their first shot. Read more from Chalkbeat.
To Reduce Child Poverty, Increase Family Incomes
Child Trends | Carol Emig & Kristin Anderson Moore “On average, children in more affluent families are more likely to receive medical care on a regular basis and are in better physical and mental health than their peers who live in poor families. Additionally, they have better educational outcomes and are less likely to have contact with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.”…
Fauci: Kids Could Get COVID Vaccine by September, All Adults by April
Newsweek | Aristos Georgiou “…as we get into the middle and end of the summer, we could have accomplished the goal of what we’re talking about—namely, the overwhelming majority of people in this country having gotten vaccinated.” The production and rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations has Dr. Anthony Fauci optimistic there will be enough supply for…
This Year’s State Test Results Will Be Tough to Make Sense of, Experts Warn
Chalkbeat | Matt Barnum “State testing isn’t one of those things that if you build it, they will come… [The existence of the exam] doesn’t mean parents will send their kids to school.” Policymakers across the country have significant concerns about the validity of state education testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for good reason….
Colorado Educators, Community Leaders Uniting for “Summer Recovery Coalition” to Address Learning Loss
KOAA News5: Southern Colorado | Mayo Davison “Families are the first and best teachers … so how do we create opportunities for parents to engage in activities, programs, support, extracurriculars during the summer months? When schools close down, how do we support our families, and how as a community do we come together and partner…
