On February 28 and March 1, 2017, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Inter-American Development Bank held a Seminar on the Quality of Early Childhood Development Services in Latin America. Participants included representatives from different government ministries, civil society organizations, non-profits, and universities. The seminar was made up of presentations, working groups, and a round table with representatives from different governments. 

PANELS AND PRESENTATIONS

February 28, 2017

The quality of early childhood development services                     

How do we understand and measure the quality of early childhood development services? What is the effect of service quality on childhood development? What do we know about the quality of early childhood development services in the region?

Hiro Yoshikawa (Professor of Globalization and Education, New York University): An international perspective

Norbert Schady (Principal Economic Advisor for the Social Sector, Inter-American Development Bank): The Latin American perspective

Moderator: Mercedes Mateo-Berganza Díaz (Lead Education Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank)

The Quality Assurance System: Progress and Challenges

What lessons have we learned from efforts to develop quality assurance systems for early childhood development services? Legal bottlenecks. Capacity to regulate public and private, institutional and non-institutional services. Progress made in different service modalities (work with children, work with families). What is the perspective of providers about the quality assurance system? How to translate legal standards into standards that are met?

Ana María Nieto (Director of the Early Childhood Directorate, Ministry of Education, Colombia)

Rodrigo Castillo (Advisor to the Subsecretariat of Pre-School Education, Ministry of Education, Chile)

Adriana Antúnez (Director of the Family Support Unit of Uruguay Crece Contigo, Ministry of Social Development, Uruguay)

Michel Macara-Chvili (Vice-minister of Social Services, Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, Peru)

Moderator: Caridad Araujo (Lead Economist, Division of Social Protection and Health, Inter-American Development Bank)

Quality Assurance: The United States’ Perspective

Kim Boller (Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy Research): Quality Assurance

Sarah Weston and Sheila Williams (District of Columbia Public Schools): Curricular reform

Moderator: Emiliana Vegas (Inter-American Development Bank)

Curriculum and Content: What Have we Learned?

Why is it necessary to have a curriculum and learning guidelines for early childhood development services? What is their instrumental value in the classroom, and from the point of view of accountability and quality assurance? Why has this topic been so controversial in the region but not in the rest of the world? What is the importance of having a curriculum with clear learning guidelines in contexts where the providers (educators, teachers, caretakers) have scarce information?

Carolina Maldonado (Associate Professor, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)

Nathalia Mesa (AeioTu, Colombia)

Alicia Milán (Asst. Secretary, Council of Early and Primary Education, National Public Education Administration, Uruguay)

Roxana Cardarelli (Director of Early Childhood Education, Ministry of Education and Sports, Argentina)

Moderator: Emiliana Vegas (Inter-American Development Bank)

March 1, 2017

What lessons have we learned from efforts to improve the management of human resources for formal education programs and for support to households and the community? Bottlenecks related to the functioning of civil service systems (careers, selection, compensation, etc.). How do we promote adequate training at a large scale? What requirements are needed to regulate training institutions? How to best provide the needed support, monitoring and supervision to providers (educators, teachers, caretakers)? 

Raquel Bernal (Professor, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)

Jennifer Locasale-Crouch (Professor, University of Virginia)

Mercedes Iacoviello (Professor, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Soledad García (National System for the Protection of Girls, Boys and Adolescents, México)

Moderator: Ferdinando Regalia (Inter-American Development Bank)

 High-quality Early Childhood Development Services: Transforming Design into Implementation

What are the problems (political, institutional, financial, and capacity-related) that must be resolved so that efforts to improve the quality of early childhood development services are fruitful? How to respond to the political pressure to increase coverage with good quality? What is necessary to ensure that the financial and political commitment to the quality of early childhood development is sustainable over time?

Lynn Kagan (Professor, Columbia University): What are the questions that must be answered?

Roundtable with government representatives

Moderator: Ariel Fiszbein (Inter-American Dialogue)            

Moderator: Mercedes Mateo-Berganza Díaz (Inter-American Development Bank)