This summer, delegates to the AFT 2002 biennial convention are expected to consider a major resolution calling for a national commitment to high-quality early childhood education.

The topic should strike a familiar note with many delegates--the union passed its first major resolution on early childhood education more than 25 years ago. Since then, the AFT has made this important topic a major advocacy issue at all union levels.

Last summer, AFT president Sandra Feldman made early childhood education the focus of her keynote speech to the 2001 Quality Educational Standards in Teaching (QuEST) conference, and many reforms Feldman called for are reflected in the new convention resolution. Included in the proposal are calls for early childhood education programs that:

• are free for poor children and affordable for all families;

• focus on school readiness;

• provide comprehensive support services;

• have clear and specific linkages to K-12 education; and

• include resources and support for high levels of training, certification, professional development and compensation of staff.

In many ways, these positions reflect policies that already are being cultivated at many union levels. For example, the AFT has a long history of lobbying for adequate funding for Head Start--which the proposed resolution calls the foundation on which to base a system of quality early childhood education. Additional funding is needed not only to allow all eligible children to participate but also to provide them with educational programs that include and enhance Head Start's performance standards.

The union also is working with groups seeking to upgrade the quality of programs and the expertise of childcare providers across the board. The nonprofit Albert Shanker Institute, for example, recently sponsored a trip that allowed national education leaders to view France's internationally acclaimed early childhood education system. The institute is working with other major groups to help program directors select the highest-quality early childhood programs.

The union also is a strong proponent of building a well-trained and well-compensated work force. Under a grant from the National Skill Standards Board, the AFT has taken a leading role in developing skills standards for classroom instructional support, including early childhood education workers. The AFT also has advocated for quality professional development that will enable existing staff to achieve higher credentialing standards offered by such groups as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).

The NBPTS standards for early childhood education reflect the very distinctive tasks that these professionals perform and "could be used as the core of all professional development for early childhood educators," says AFT member Lynn Cherkasky-Davis, who helped write the NBPTS standards for early childhood education and has been working to help prepare educators for board certification through the Chicago Teachers Union QuEST Center.

The call for higher standards must be matched with efforts to improve compensation and provide early childhood educators with a greater voice, Cherkasky-Davis says.

That goal was recently advanced in San Francisco, when a coalition of AFT educators helped organize a lobbying day for teachers and administrators in several preschool centers. The frontline providers visited their representatives in Sacramento to warn that state budget cuts now on the table could spell disaster for many of the children they serve.