Cambridge's Early Childhood Director Lei-Anne Ellis has been recently sharing some of the lessons learned in Cambridge about how to strengthen and improve early childhood programs throughout our community.
On March 28, Ellis discussed the model and approach of the of the Birth to Third Grade Partnership during a panel presentation hosted by the Edgerley Center for Civic Leadership at the Boston Foundation.
Then, Ellis joined Researcher David Jacobson at a convening organized by the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. to discuss his study, “All Children Learn and Thrive," which examines equity-driven efforts to expand access to high-quality early childhood programming.
As Ellis explained, it is not enough to focus strictly on availability and affordability of early childhood education and care. In fact, low-quality programs have been shown to have a detrimental effect on students.
Therefore, she said, "Educational equity is really the crux of this work. We don't want children going to sub-par programs just because that's what they can afford."
She continued, "Raising the quality of all early childhood programs, including family programs, is really at the center of what we are doing."