Survey on Early Childhood Advisory Councils
Coordinating child-care and preschool programs for young children and working to overcome barriers to integrating federal and state early-childhood services are among the top priorities for state Early Childhood Advisory Councils, concludes a survey by the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices.
With last year’s congressional reauthorization of Head Start now requiring such councils, these committees are taking a more visible role in state early-childhood education policy.
Also called children’s cabinets, task forces, and interagency coordinating councils, these entities now exist in 31 states, the survey shows. Child-care, pre-K, and healthcare administrators, as well as representatives from resource and referral agencies and professional development organizations, are the most common members of the councils.