State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network

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SECPTAN
218 6th Ave., Suite 1021
Des Moines, IA
50309-4013
Phone: (515) 280-9027
Fax: (515) 244-8997

SECPTAN is a network of early childhood researchers, consultants, policymakers, and practitioners providing credible and unbiased help to state decision makers on policy issues.

SECPTAN knows the challenges that governors, legislators, agency heads, and their staff face in developing public policies: Balancing competing demands for finite resources. Reflecting societal values amid diverse political pressures. Developing sound policies without accessible, credible sources of information, particularly on early childhood issues. And doing it all under severe time and financial constraints.

The early childhood experts who make up the State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network help state decision makers meet those challenges through consultation, publications, presentations, workshops and conferences, on-line support, and other resources.

SECPTAN's assistance is:

Timely, to meet executive and legislative deadlines
Policy-directed, linking credible research to specific policies
Consumer-driven, focusing on state-specific issues identified by officials
Evidence-based, grounded in experience and research
Individually tailored, meeting the specific needs of the state


From Health Coverage to Healthy Child Development: SCHIP Reauthorization and Improving Children's Health Improving children's health starts with health insurance coverage, but it goes well beyone that to providing needed services that will improve children's health7 development. A growing body of research shows the importance of incorporating quality primary, preventive, and developmental services within pediatric practices. At the federal level, SCHIP reauthorization provides the opportunity to promote such effective practices. A pediatric health policy expert panel met in December 2006 to explore how such practices could be encouraged as a part of SCHIP reauthorization. Click here to access the synthesis of this discussion and policy options. The Child & Family Policy Center has developed a Healthy Child Story Book that provides the rationale for such a comprehensive approach and describes the evidence base on exemplary pediatric practices to improve children's healthy development, and identifies the leadership role that the federal government can take in this process. Click here to access this Story Book and its policy options.

Featured Publications:

Village Building and School Readiness: Closing Opportunity Gaps in a Diverse Society
by Charles Bruner with Michelle Stover Wright, Syed Noor Tirmizi, and the School Readiness, Culture, and Language Working Group of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2007, 93 pp.
This resource brief is a compilation of articles providing the rationale for placing a major emphasis upon investing in poor, immigrant, and minority neighborhoods and incorporating community-building strategies into early childhood programs and services. Separate chapters of Village Building provide descriptions of exemplary programs and offer recommendations for building an early childhood workforce that reflects the race, culture, and language backgrounds of those living in those neighborhoods. Charles Bruner, Director of the Child and Family Policy Center, is the lead author, with one chapter adapted from California Tomorrow's report, Getting Ready for Quality. The report also includes commentaries from Lynson Moore Beaulieu, Hedy Nai-Lin Chang, Robin Jarrett, Audrey Jordan, G. Thomas Kingsley, Jane Knitzer, Edward Schor, Lisbeth Schorr, Ken Seeley, Ralph Smith, and Yoland Trevino. Find out more...

Beyond Parallel Play: Emerging State and Community Planning Roles in Building Early Learning Systems
by Julia Coffman, Michelle Stover Wright and Charles Bruner, 2006, 80 pp.
This resources brief examines the respective roles of state and community governance structures in building early learning systems. It includes case studies of six states where concerted efforts have been made to establish both state and community governance structures to work together to build those early learning systems - Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Vermont. Julia Coffman, Michelle Stover Wright, and Charles Bruner co-authored Beyond Parallel Play, which also includes a survey instrument for states and communities to assess their work in building such systems. Find out more...

A national network of early childhood experts is available any time you need help or information. Sign up for the SECPTAN listserv and you can reach them all with one e-mail.