By Craig Chamberlain, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign -- Everyone seems to agree—early childhood education is a good thing. Studies show that high-quality early education makes children 20 percent more likely to complete high school; those children are also substantially less likely to be arrested as juveniles and go on to have higher earnings as adults.
Because of these and other benefits, Illinois has increased its funding for early childhood education by more than $163 million since 2003. And in 2006, Illinois enacted Preschool for All, legislation that aims to make preschool available for all the state's 3 and 4-year-olds by 2011. The drive to provide early childhood education involves a diverse mix of programs and providers, funded by different agencies and levels of government. It can be difficult for decision makers, legislators, advocates, businesses, and the public to get an overview of what's available and where, matched with demographics on the preschool population. Thanks to collaboration of computer visualization, demographic, and early childhood specialists at the University of Illinois, working in collaboration with Chicago Metropolis 2020, that information is now integrated and available in one online system, called the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM). IECAM, which went online last fall, appears to be the first system of its kind in the nation, according to education professor Susan Fowler, the project's principal investigator. Other states already have inquired about doing their own, she said. "Until we put together IECAM, it was nearly impossible to find out how many kids could be served in the combination of Head Start, licensed child care, license-exempt child care, state pre-K programs, licensed family care," Fowler said.
The Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map shows the diverse mix of early childhood education programs and providers, giving policymakers and the public an overview of what's available and where.
Now someone using the site can find those numbers by county, township or legislative district, or any area of their choosing. They can produce a map showing the location of almost every program or center, down to the neighborhood or block, and find the capacity of each, along with other details. NCSA's Alan Craig, Bernie Acs, and Lorne Leonard have been involved with the development of the tool over the past two years, with Leonard functioning as the primary programmer for the geographic information system (GIS) mapping software. The GIS mapping is important, Fowler said, because "it really gives someone a way of looking at a community and seeing the distribution of resources or services." IECAM includes tools for submitting complex queries and for generating reports, all with a few clicks of the computer mouse. "We tried to balance the need to provide lots of very robust features with the need for the tool to be easy-to-use," Leonard said. IECAM users also can access demographic data on the preschool-age population in an area, such as the number of children living in families whose incomes are at various percentages of the Federal Poverty Level. Fowler said project staff had put in a lot of hard work contacting many of the more than 3,000 individual agencies, programs and centers to obtain basic information, and to develop a single reporting system.
Someone interested in a particular area of the state can focus their search geographically.
As the project continues into the next phase, data will be updated annually and new types of data will be added on individual programs, Fowler said. Eventually, the site also will include information on the qualifications of the teachers in each program or center. School districts have always had estimates of the number of 4-year-olds ready to enter kindergarten, Fowler said. Future additions to the system, however, will enable districts to see how many of those 4-year-olds have had experience in various programs, helping to answer questions of school-readiness. The impetus for the project came in 2005 from the Illinois Early Learning Council, which wanted a tool that would help make the allocation of state funds for early childhood programs, such as Preschool for All, more effective and transparent, Fowler said. The initial development of IECAM was led by Emily Harris at Chicago Metropolis 2000 and Dianne Rothenberg, now retired as director of the university's Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative in the College of Education. Rothenberg served as the project coordinator until last November, when she was succeeded by Dawn Thomas. Bernard Cesarone, also at ECAP, serves as the project's technical manager. The IECAM site is available to the public, but it is not intended as a resource for parents to find child care, Fowler said. Individuals looking for child care are encouraged to visit their local Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. Major funding for the project comes from the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Human Services, along with funds from various foundations. Craig Chamberlain is the education editor with the University of Illinois News Bureau. Trish Barker, NCSA Public Information Officer, contributed to this article. Project Team
Susan Fowler, College of Education, principal investigator
Bernie Acs, NCSA
Bernard Cesarone, College of Education
Michael Ciffarelli, College of Education Alan Craig, NCSA
Deb Fuoss, College of Education Atakan Guven, Chicago Metropolis 2020
Paula Halpern, Chicago Metropolis 2020
Emily Harris, Chicago Metropolis 2020
Andrew Isserman, College of Fine and Applied Arts Lorne Leonard, NCSA
Nancy McEntire, College of Education
Brent Metcalf, College of Education Kate Nesse, College of Fine and Applied Arts
Laurel Preece, College of Education Dianne Rothenberg, College of Education
Karen Smith, College of Education
Dawn Thomas, College of Education
