Indiana’s Early Learning Advisory Committee (ELAC) just released its 2018 Annual Report—the fifth since ELAC’s inception in 2013. Annually, ELAC completes a needs assessment for the state’s early learning system and recommends solutions. The goal is to baseline where Indiana is using key indicators and to make best practice recommendations to address the gaps. The result of this year’s annual needs assessment is three key reports and tools:
ELAC’s seven appointed members work alongside 150 workgroup volunteers who focus on different aspects of the state’s early learning system. All this energy centers on providing early childhood care and education that is accessible, high-quality, and affordable to all families.
How Are Children Ages 0-5 Doing Today?
- Of the 506,761 children in Indiana ages 0-5, 65% need care because all parents are working. This includes working parents who are single as well as households where both parents work outside the home.
- Of those children who need care, only 41% are enrolled in known programs. The other three-fifths of children are in informal care settings—with a relative, friend, or neighbor—where the quality of care is unknown.
- Of the young children who need care, only 15% are enrolled in high-quality programs. A high-quality program not only ensures that children are safe, but also supports their cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development for kindergarten readiness and beyond.
What Are Some Of Indiana’s Accomplishments On Behalf Of Young Children?
- There are more high-quality early childhood care and education programs available. In 2012, Indiana had just over 700 high-quality programs. There are now almost 1,200.
- Today there are 4.5 times more children enrolled in high-quality programs than there were five years ago.
- Over half of the counties increased their number of high-quality programs.
What Is The Unmet Need Identified In The 2018 ELAC Annual Report?
- There are communities in Indiana with no high-quality programs.
- The tuition cost of high-quality early childhood care and education programs is unaffordable, and the available financial assistance for low-income families is insufficient.
- There is a lack of high-quality seats for infants. Only 7% of children ages 0-5 in high-quality programs are infants.
How Can I Find Out More?
- As in past years, ELAC has published a full annual report, which includes statewide data on Indiana.
- ELAC has also compiled updated 2018 county-level data for all 92 Indiana counties to aid local stakeholders and coalitions in their work. Use the map to select your county. You can review your county’s profile in an interactive dashboard or a PDF report!
- There is a newly created feature this year! ELAC published an interactive dashboard with all of the data in the annual report—allowing you to learn more about specific data points and easily present data to stakeholders. There are also comparisons between counties to see how well your community is doing compared to others.
Transform Consulting Group is proud to support ELAC’s work to help each of our youngest learners reach their full potential!
Transform Consulting Group can also help your organization or coalition with data analysis, creating dashboards to visualize your data, and meaningful reporting. Contact us to multiply your impact!
