We are currently in the midst of several projects!
Data and Research Team (DART)
The Mayor has launched a new initiative in Boston to prevent the achievement gap prior to school entry. There will be a 30-50 person Action Planning Team that will work in tandem with a Data and Research Team (DART). Boston EQUIP will co-facilitate the DART.
Boston Family Child Care Study and the Boston Quality Inventory
Boston EQUIP and the Boston Child Care Alliance are working with the Wellesley Centers for Women to create a fact-based understanding of the quality of community-based early care and education programs. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the strengths of Boston’s ECE community and to find common areas for shared professional development. This study is being done right now, so that the citywide process for developing a 21st Century Plan for Boston’s Youngest Children will have accurate and current data about Boston’s ECE programs and providers.
If you receive a letter or a phone call from Wellesley Centers for Women asking you to participate in this study, please say yes! (Those who have already been contacted and agreed, thank you!)
“Where are the children?”
This fall we have heard from many programs in the community that they are experiencing higher vacancy rates than usual. Everyone has a hypothesis for why this is happening now. We are pulling together data to test these hypotheses, and get a handle on why programs are experiencing this now. The results will be posted by the end of this month.
“What services do at-risk children need?”
We are working with the CPCares Council to formulate a response to this question posed by the Board of the Department of Early Education and Care. We are focusing on what would an add-on subsidy look like for at-risk children.
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Click here to read more findings from the Boston Parent Survey 2006
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Boston Parent Survey: Boston EQUIP and Strategies for Children have engaged Opinion Dynamics to conduct a survey of parents to learn about their needs and priorities for early care and education to inform planning efforts for Universal Preschool and all services for children birth to school-age. The research questions that will be addressed are 1) What are the current patterns of early care and education experienced by Boston children ages 0-6? 2) What are families' preferences for their early care and education arrangements? 3) What criteria do families use for selecting early care and education arrangements? 4) If families could choose one thing about their current arrangements, what would it be? Results are anticipated in early June 2006.
Mapping Early Care and Education in Boston: Boston EQUIP is working with the Comprehensive Services Committee of the Boston Community Partnerships for Children to address transportation as a barrier for young children receiving special education services in Boston. The maps will include all of the early care and education programs, family child care providers, and Boston Public Schools ELCs, EECs, K-5s and K-8s, with distance rings of .25 miles and .5 miles around each BPS school. Each zone will have its own PowerPoint. Click here for North Zone
Click here for East Zone
Click here for West Zone
Assessing the Barriers and Supports to Higher Education for the Boston Early Care and Education Workforce: We are engaging in a series of focus groups to speak with teachers, directors, family child care providers, and others involved in professional development about what they say the best supports would be for succeeding in higher education. We are also profiling exemplary higher education support programs in Boston. This project is being done in partnership with the Quality Committee of the Boston Community Partnerships for Children. Our findings will be released in early July 2006.
Analysis of the Demand for Subsidized Child Care in Boston: In an effort to address the question of the demand for full-time subsidized care and education in Boston, Boston EQUIP has analyzed data from the Census 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) and the Boston Public Health Commission birth records. The specific research question addressed was: What is the demand for full-time subsidized care and education in Boston, as determined by calculating the number of preschool children with working parents who fall below 50%, 85%, 100% and 125% of the state median income (SMI)? Click here for the report "Demand for Subsidized Care and Education in Boston.
2005 Neighborhood Profiles Presentations and Reports This fall Boston EQUIP presented the 2005 Neighborhood Profiles at nine community meetings around Boston. We shared the neighborhood specific data from the Early Childhood in Boston report and discussed with programs and providers the implications of the data.
Mapping Early Care and Education in Boston: The maps include all of the early care and education programs, family child care providers, and Boston Public Schools ELCs, EECs, K-5s and K-8s, with distance rings of .25 miles and .5 miles around each BPS school. The purpose of this tool is address transportation as a barrier to young children receiving special education services. Each zone will have its own PowerPoint.
Click here for North Zone.
Demand for Subsided Care and Education in Boston: This report uses U.S. Census PUMS data to answer the question, "what is the demand for full-time subsidized care and education in Boston?"
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Welcome to the new www.bostonequip.org!
Launched on October 21, 2005, this website has been
created to provide access to objective data about early
care and education in Boston in a user-friendly format.
We hope that you take the time to explore the wealth of data on this site, and come back frequently as we continue to populate the website with data and reports.
Early Childhood in Boston: What do children and families need? What's available? How good is it?
Access and Adequacy of Comprehensive Services for At-Risk Children in Boston’s Early Care and Education Programs:An analysis of the 2003-2004 Community Profiles data
Content copyright 2005 BostonEQUIP.org • Tel: 617.695.0700 • Fax: 617.695.9590