Resources

An overview of birth-through-eight provisions in Governor Cooper's 2019-21 budget proposal.

Audio file of NCECF presenting the Pathways process and Action Framework to the NC State Board of Education in February 2019.

NCECF presented to the State Board of Education on the importance of focusing on the birth-through-age-eight period as a time of rapid brain development, the Pathways to Grade-Level Reading process, the importance of using a racial equity lens, and the recommendations in the Action Framework.

Hundreds of North Carolina leaders have worked across sectors, geography, and the political aisle to co-create a blueprint for North Carolina to improve a key developmental milestone for young children—reading on grade-level by the end of third grade. The NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Action framework outlines expectations for the state’s child and family serving systems and actions to support children’s social-emotional health, ensure high quality birth-through-age-eight early learning environments, and create the conditions for every child to be in school every day.

January 2019 by Kenneth Dodge, Yu Bai, Helen F. Ladd, and Clara G. Muschkin

On January 17, SAS CEO, Dr. Jim Goodnight, and North Carolina business leaders helped release a new report and recommendations on North Carolina’s funding structure for NC Pre-K to support the program’s expansion. The report is authored by National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

PNC Financial Services and SAS commissioned NIEER to study local barriers to NC Pre-K expansion. In 2017, 44 counties declined new expansion funding, even though eligible children were not being served. Again, in 2018, 34 counties declined expansion funding. A key factor, NIEER determined through its statewide survey and analysis, is the way in which state funding for the program is structured.

The NIEER report outlines recommendations to modify the state’s approach to funding NC Pre-K. It supports previous recommendations to increase third-grade reading proficiency that were outlined in a report from the Business Roundtable released by this group of CEOs in 2017.

James Hansen, Regional President of PNC Bank Eastern Carolinas, shares recommendation from NC business leaders for NC Pre-K.

Infographic showing goal of NC CEOs of 75 percent enrollment of all eligible children.

A one-page overview that explains why the data confirm that “waiting lists” maintained by only some North Carolina counties are not an accurate measure of demand and need for the NC Pre-K program.

This report provides recommendations regarding three interrelated issues critical to expanding the NC Pre-K program: first, determining how many children are eligible for NC Pre-K but do not have access to it; second, analyzing whether county “waiting lists” are an accurate measure of the need and demand for the NC Pre-K program; and third, understanding what barriers exist to expanding NC Pre-K to fully meet the actual need.