Democratic Candidates and Education - Where do they stand?

It's no secret that I spend most of my work life focused on children and the people who get paid to take care of them when their parents are at work. So when I saw the following OP-ED in the New York Times, None Dare Call It Child Care, it caught my eye. Author Gail Collins skewers moderator Chris Matthews for asking Republican candidates at the last debate

whether this country would ever get back to the days when a young guy could come out of high school, get an industrial job “and provide for a family with a middle-class income and his spouse wouldn’t have to work.”

Collins points out that since 2/3 of American moms have been in the workforce since the 1980's, the question was as pointless as asking when we'd get back to using manual typewriters or rotary dial phones.

It was a sideways question about child care, and the value we put on the field. None of the Republicans had particularly good answers (and I didn't expect them to.) Since I'm not interested in voting for any of them, I didn't bother looking further into their position on early care and education. But I do plan on voting for one of the Democratic nominees for President, so I thought I'd take a stroll through their statements and policies on the topic, and give an early childhood educator's take on how they're doing by the children.

Joe Biden

Biden calls on his own experience of raising two small children on his own to identify with the plight of parents who are struggling to balance the needs of family and work. He fought for the Family Medical Leave Act, which requires companies of a certain size to allow unpaid leave to care for sick children or parents (or a new infants.) He is also working on a Healthy Families Act, which would require any company with 15 employees or more to offer 7 days of paid leave. While this isn't directly related to child care, it does affect families, and those paid leave days can make the difference between a job and no job for parents in tight situations.

Biden also is insistent on supporting new moms.

Joe Biden knows raising healthy and happy children takes help. As President, he will make two years of pre-k available to all parents and expand early childhood development programs. Joe Biden wants to make two years of pre-school available to all parents. Currently, 900,000 students are served by Head Start, and he would double that to 2 million; currently, 60,000 toddlers are served by Early Head Start, and he would quadruple that to nearly a quarter of a million. He has advocated for more resources for the Women, Infants, and Children program that provides food, nutrition counseling, and access to health services to pregnant women, new mothers, and their infants.

Expanding existing programs is a good idea, however, Head Start and Early Head Start are not mandated to provide care during regular working hours, and are often inaccessible to families who need their services the most. Some programs have "wrap-around" care, but many, particularly in rural areas, do not. The programs themselves, when administered as intended, provide excellent services to the families they do serve. There is a parent involvement/education component, a home visit component, and a nutrition component as well as the typical pre-school developmentally appropriate classroom environment. However, there is no innovation here, which is what I would like to see from this candidate (or any candidate for that matter.)

Hillary Clinton

Clinton emphasizes what she has done in the past in the cause of children and families - and it's an impressive list. Some of the bullet points list what she has done, and some list what she would like to do.

• Attracting and supporting more outstanding teachers and principals, and paying them like the professionals they are.

• Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act. This law represented a promise -- more resources for schools in exchange for more accountability -- and that promise has not been kept.

• Giving new parents support and training to promote healthy development for their children.

• Increasing access to high-quality early education and helping to create Early Head Start.

• Helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act to enable new parents to take time off without losing their jobs, and expanding it to make it available to more parents and to provide for longer leave.

• Advocating for adoption and for abused and neglected children -- as First Lady, Hillary pushed legislation that more than doubled adoptions out of foster care.

• Promoting programs, like Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, that provide new parents with support and guidance in caring for their children. As First Lady of Arkansas, she helped bring HIPPY to the U.S.

• Protecting children against violence and sexual content in the media and studying the impact of electronic media on children's cognitive, social, and physical development.

• Providing meaningful support to households, called "kinship care" families, where grandparents and other relatives are raising children.

Hilary recognizes the need for both formal and informal care arrangments - "kinship care", something none of the other candidates articulate well. She also has specific approaches - such as HIPPY - to help young parents support their children. Most importantly, she addresses the need to revisit the No Child Left Behind act. This BushDoublespeak Act changed the face of American Public educaton - and turned classrooms into training grounds for tests rather than places of learning. It also opened up our children's records to the military unless we specifically opt out.

I still don't see specific language discussing the need for child care while parents are at work, even though that is a necessity for many families. I want the leaders in my party; I want the person who will be president to speak plainly about what the needs of the nation are.

Chris Dodd

Chris Dodd understands that while children are 25 percent of our population, they are 100 percent of our future. But if America is going to face the challenges of the 21st century with boldness and optimism, we will need the best-educated generation in the history of our country.

Chris Dodd has the longest, most comprehensive plan available on the web. Like Clinton, he addresses the failed promise of No Child Left Behind, and vows to reform that act.

Reforming No Child Left Behind: The Dodd plan will reform No Child Left Behind by easing burdens on students, teachers and administrators. Dodd will provide states with the flexibility to use multiple measures to assess student learning-- measures like student improvement over time. The Dodd plan will allow schools to target resources such as tutoring to the students who need them most. Dodd will introduce more common sense into the teacher certification process. And, instead of penalizing public schools that need help, Chris Dodd will invest in them.

Dodd also addresses an issue that's been buzzing in the Early Childhood field for sometime:

Universal Preschool: The Dodd plan will ensure that every parent has access to high-quality, affordable preschool by creating a Pre-K Incentive Fund that matches state funds -- dollar for dollar-- in providing free, high-quality preschool to 4-year-olds from families with incomes below $50,000 and matches state dollars on a sliding scale thereafter. To receive grants, states would have to adopt developmentally appropriate school-readiness standards and require that lead teachers have a bachelor’s degree and training, education, and/or experience in child development or early childhood education within six years. Priority will be given to applications that ensure lead teacher salaries are comparable to K-12 teachers and to applications that assist lead teachers in meeting the bachelor’s degree requirement. States will have considerable flexibility to build on their existing preschool programs and use a variety of providers to deliver preschool, including Head Start and child care programs. Federal funds must supplement, not supplant, existing programs. In addition to his preschool initiative, Dodd will increase funding for Head Start and invest in infant and toddler programs.

By addressing these issues, among others, in such detail, Dodd shows an instinctive understanding of the field of education and the role that our youngest citizens will play in the future of our country. He also discusses the need to attract and keep the best teachers, the need to involve philanthropists in the funding of schools, and the use of virtual, online classrooms to supplement public education. I see the expansion and reformation of existing programs, as well as some innovative ideas about partnering with states to create high quality programs for infants and toddlers - children that are all too often left out of the discussion entirely.

Dodd has the most expansive and well thought out plan for education - and he calls it "Restoring America's Competitive Edge." Read it. You'll be impressed.

John Edwards

Most of us are familiar with John Edward's story - he had the opportunity that a good education and a strong family gave him. Look at him today. He makes it clear that he wants all children to have that same opportunity. His education agenda includes creating a national

"Great Promise" program, which would give high quality early education to every four year old in the country, beginning with poor children in neighborhoods with struggling schools. To reach even younger children Edwards will create a national Smart Start program that will improve child care and invest in child health.

Edwards has a bit of an advantage in living in NC; our Smart Start program has been a model for early childhood initiatives all over the country, and indeed the world. I am quite familiar with this model, and know that when it is used well, it is effective in improving conditions for all children.

He proposes an excellent teacher in every classroom, and incentives to make every school an outstanding school. When it comes to No Child Left Behind, Edwards has this to say:

"When it comes to reform, a good place to start is by radically overhauling No Child Left Behind. NCLB is a case study in the broken system in Washington, D.C., a system that has looked the other way as its failed policies and incompetent leadership have broken our schools and broken the spirits of our children and their teachers."

Taken together with his anti-poverty initiatives, Edwards' education plans are exciting and possible. Once again, I see innovation in building on good ideas, and no hesitation to throw away bad ones.

Mike Gravel

As entertaining as he can be, Gravel does not address early education at all. He does however, call for the end of No Child Left Behind.

No Child Left Behind has left far too many children behind. We have a dire situation in America; 30% of our kids do not graduate from high school. Nearly a third of our children are condemned to a substandard economic existence. Education in America must be properly funded. However, money will not solve all the problems. For example, Washington D.C. ranks first in dollars spent, yet ranks last in achievement. We need to approach education comprehensively. We must properly fund education while raising the overall standard of living in America and making education a vital part of a healthy, thriving community.

Nice words, not much substance.

Dennis Kucinich

Kucinich doesn't have much about education on his campaign website. However, a perusal of his congressional site shows that he has supported children's legislation for his entire career. This isn't surprising. What is disappointing, to me, is the lack of new ideas or strategies from my favorite little peacenik on taking care of our youngest citizens.

Barack Obama

Obama's positions on education are forward looking, but not well-fleshed out.

Research shows that many low-income children do not enter kindergarten ready to learn. In fact, half of low-income children start school up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills, and these early achievement gaps continue throughout elementary school. Barack Obama supports increasing funding for the Head Start program to provide preschool children with critically important learning skills, and supports the necessary role of parental involvement in the success of Head Start.

As I stated above, Headstart is a wonderful program, but does not meet all of the needs of all of the working families. There needs to be more attention to non-traditional hours of care, and expanded , wrap-around care.

Obama agrees with Edwards, Dodd, (and Richardson) that teachers should be paid more.

Barack Obama wants to make a promise to educators -- if you're a teacher or a principal doing the hard work of educating our children, we will reward that work with the salary increase that you deserve. If you're willing to take on more responsibilities like mentoring, we'll pay you more. And if you excel at helping your students achieve success, your success will be valued and rewarded as well. Obama believes the key is finding new ways to increase pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them and not based on some arbitrary test score. Obama will start treating teachers like the professionals they are.

Obama also would change No Child Left Behind - but he believes that all children should be able to reach the same high standards; something that many educators find unrealistic. However, Obama does say that he would reform and fully-fund NCLB.

Bill Richardson

As I would expect from a former governor, Richardson is well-versed in education policy and the practicalities that it takes to run an educational system efficiently. The three main points of his plan that I appreciate are:

Provide Universal Access to Quality Pre-K Programs

As an investment in early education, I will create a program to provide universal access to full-day pre-kindergarten to all four-year-olds for the entire school year, and I will fully fund Head Start.

Scrap No Child Left Behind

It is imperative that the next President ensures that states receive appropriate funding and are no longer forced to accept one-size-fits-all programs. I will reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but eliminate the punitive approach of No Child Left Behind and replace it with a fairer, more comprehensive, and more supportive system of measuring progress.

Increase the Availability of Quality Teachers

To attract and retain the best and brightest teachers, we must raise teacher's salaries to a national average starting salary of $40,000, improve and expand teacher training, increase the number of nationally-certified educators, increase standards and accountability, and hire an additional 100,000 math and science teachers.

Richardson also has innovative ideas, such as creating 250 Math, Science Academies, and Innovation academies, changing the structure of the student loan system, etc.

So the big question is - for Early Care and Education, who has the most comprehensive ideas, the best plan? Not many of the candidates even acknowledge the need for working families to have high quality affordable child care. However, based on the research I've done over the past few days, it's a toss-up between Dodd and Edwards, with Richardson coming in a close second (third?).