From the Desk of Robin Steans—6 Recommendations from Experts for Transforming Illinois’ Early Childhood Education and Care System

This spring, we had the opportunity to host and co-host a number of events across the state for legislators, state leaders, advocates, district, school, and program leaders, teachers and other interested stakeholders on how Illinois can create an Equitable Early Childhood System for Illinois – and boy, did we learn a lot.  

Joined by national experts Linda K. Smith, the Director of the Bipartisan Center’s Early Childhood Development Initiative and Dr. Dan Wuori, Senior Director of Early Learning at the Hunt Institute at all events, and Deputy Governor of Education Martin Torres and Emnet Ward, HR Director and Interim CEO of Eyes on the Future Child Development Center at our 11th Annual Legislative Education Forum, we discussed the current national and state early learning environment, where Illinois stands against the 2021 Funding Commission recommendations and potential opportunities and considerations for the Governor’s Smart Start Initiative and efforts to expand access to preschool and child care.  While there were many helpful considerations and lessons from other states, six key recommendations from the experts and presenters stood out:  

1. Set quality as a goal from the beginning. Decades of research have shown the importance of a child’s first years of life and the positive impact that quality early learning experiences have, not only on children’s success in school, but throughout their lifetime. Yet, rarely do states and communities center quality as an initial or central objective for their early childhood and care programs as they look to expand or reform their system. Too often, quality becomes something that the state will focus on “next” once the foundation and systems are launched, and/or in favor of increasing numbers and slots.  The experts vehemently cautioned against this. They urged Illinois to be explicit and tireless in anchoring all policies, funding, and redesign in quality programming for all children from the beginning. This includes ensuring such efforts as quality staffing and compensation levels, full-day versus half-day preschool, and more. 

2. We need to think about Governance, Funding Mechanisms, and Quality all at the same time. The current early childhood business model is fundamentally broken. State and Federal resources are insufficient – resulting in childcare deserts, poverty level wages for early childhood staff, and program quality as an afterthought or add on. While this isn’t unique to Illinois, our current policies and practices reinforce a flawed status quo. As Illinois advances policy and investment in our early childhood education and care system, it is vital to understand that we cannot meaningfully address access and wage issues without first fixing the business model of childcare.  This includes working on “supply”—teachers, facilities, supports—not just “demand”—expanding slots; transforming how we allocate funding to be more equitable, adequate, and stable; rethinking our fractured governance model; and focusing on education pipeline and compensation systems.  

3. Inclusive, extensive, and ongoing engagement matters. The state needs to engage parents and families to better understand what they want and need for their children not just what we think they need. Furthermore, we cannot solely focus these efforts on the urban and suburban context, we must engage and include rural areas. This engagement needs to start early and span from planning to design and development to implementation. For meaningful change to occur, the state needs to listen to those impacted.   

4. Establish timelines that we can be held accountable to as a state. The ambitious early childhood plan under discussion in Illinois is truly transformative and exciting, and we have made tangible progress in the past few years. Yet, for the state to tackle the major system improvements it aspires to make, there must be a clear multi-year plan - with clear leadership and external accountability around timelines and benchmarks. While one suggestion was to have legislative deadlines - similar to what US Congress did for the Department of Defense childcare system - other approaches like a public-private blueprint were discussed.  

5. Transformation needs external expertise and perspective. Transformation along the lines that the state is discussing can benefit from external expertise and perspectives because, in our speakers’ experience, this level of change is difficult to make from the inside alone. 

6. There is an opportunity for bipartisan partnership and support. In states across the country, early childhood education and care seems to be one of the few areas on which both Republicans and Democrats want to make progress.  Our speakers cited numerous polls demonstrating overwhelming popular support for early childhood programs, policies, and investments.  And while we have made important progress, we have a long way to go, including streamlining governance so we can be more strategic, effective and equitable. 

In recent years, Illinois has taken key steps in increasing its investments in the education and care of our young learners. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Governor JB Pritzker made nation-leading investments in the childcare sector, providing a lifeline to keep providers afloat through the pandemic and their doors open to provide essential support for working families. The Governor also convened the state’s first bipartisan Commission on Equitable Early Childhood Education and Care Funding.  In 2021, this Commission released a set of recommendations for the development for a unified, equitable, and fully funded early childhood system in Illinois. And now, as the Governor enters his second term, he has made bold proposals to make preschool available to all families and close child care deserts – proposals that will certainly advance his vision of making Illinois the best state in the nation for families raising young children. It is essential that we listen to and learn from both external experts and internal stakeholders with lived experiences and knowledge to truly transform Illinois early childhood and care system and ensure Illinois continues its journey is providing every child in our state the opportunity for a high-quality early learning experience. 

We would like to thank our speakers and panelists for their insights, expertise and feedback. We would also like to thank the over 150 participants who turned out to events across the state – we hope you learned and benefited as much as we did. And finally, we would like to thank the many partners who helped make last week possible and such a stimulating success.