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In 2003, The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) published “a discussion paper for the Policy Matters Project with a lengthy, but descriptive title": Policy Matters: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies �" Improving the Readiness of Children for School: Recommendations for State Policy. Authored by Sharon Lynn Kagan and Elizabeth Rigby, the report is one of several CSSP publications addressing families, education, and economics. It is also a link to a Policy Matters project conducted by Teachers College, Columbia University.

Kagan and Rigby seek “to help state policymakers think strategically about policy decisions that create opportunities for young children to experience high quality Early Care and Education (ECE) services.” That is, policymakers should view ECE policy decisions “in a coordinated and systemic manner,” not focus on individual programs that ignore the results of mixed efforts.

A more recent component of the Policy Matters project, Twenty State Policies to Enhance States’ Prosperity and Create Bright Futures for America’s Children, Families and Communities (January 2006), demonstrates the impact of a long-range, well-funded, and articulate research project. Early educators in local programs, working with one child at a time, also need to know more about the wider public context in which they do their valuable work. The reports cited on the CSSP web site are a continuing effort to bring data to every educator and, in this election year, to all citizens.

To read or download the Policy Matters documents, go to www.cssp.org or www.policymatters.us.

Submitted by Edna Ranck

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