According to statistics made available by 1Core Solution — an innovative software company passionate about early childhood education — 40 percent of surveyed childcare providers indicated they would have to close their doors without financial assistance.
Equally disturbing — the ones able to stay open incur tremendous additional costs to meet state safety guidelines. In fact, according to the Center for American Progress, childcare providers experience, on average, a 47 percent increase in operating costs, with even higher increases for programs serving three and four-year-olds.
These statistics are sobering. Simon Ho, CEO and Co-Founder of 1Core Solution, adds, “Child care, as an industry, is the backbone of our economy. The pandemic has proven that the economy cannot function without reliable childcare.” He is right; in the past months, Americans have witnessed that our economy relies on a workforce, and families rely on childcare.
Learn@Home offers a solution
Learn@Home is 1Core Solution’s comprehensive platform with all of the resources necessary to enable a childcare provider to go virtual. “Our solution is an all-in-one virtual learning platform that allows child care centers to manage their entire remote learning offerings in a simple way that children, families, staff, and providers can easily adopt,” states Yane Diaz, 1 Core Solution’s Peace of Mind Advocate. “And our software puts their preschool online with the Learn@Home Accelerator program. We believe virtual learning is a great solution that will pandemic-proof the childcare industry now and in the future,” offers Ho.
The Learn@Home Accelerator Program offers the resources, training, and community support childcare facilities need when going virtual. With the Learn@Home program, teachers and other facility staff are still an essential component of the process. “Over 325,000 childcare staff have already lost their jobs since February of this year. With Learn@Home, teachers continue to work, and children continue to learn,” adds Swami Venkat, Co-founder of 1Core Solution.
Implementing new software can be a scary venture for schools. However, Learn@Home works in conjunction with any core center management system a school might already use.
It also works with full-time, part-time, or hybrid remote schedules. The team at 1 Core Solution knows nothing can replace in-person learning. However, they believe Learn@Home offers a viable solution that prevents preschool children from missing out on essential early childhood education.
Not only is Learn@Home an ideal solution for maintaining learning and keeping child care facilities open, but it also offers excellent peace of mind for parents. Children are not the only ones forced to be home during this pandemic. Many parents are also working remotely. With a program like Learn@Home, children stay engaged and involved with school activities while parents monitor and get their work completed.
Ho, Venkat, and Diaz are passionate about the importance of early childhood education and concerned with the industry’s state. They wholeheartedly believe much of the problem stems from a lack of funding and how society perceived childcare before the pandemic.
“Child care facilities and their services have never been prioritized through funding like K – 12 schools. Yet, as we’ve witnessed the past several months, the entire economy is at risk when parents cannot go to work due to child care closures,” says Venkat. Indeed, something needs to change. Ho adds, “Child care has not been treated as essential, and now we are paying the price. We must change the way business is done.”
Recreating the structure of funding for early childhood education is out of our hands and will take time and additional strategizing. However, some remedies can be put in place immediately to keep child care facilities open. The team at 1Core Solution offers some answers schools and parents need to weather this storm. Their Learn@Home program can keep facilities open, save jobs, and provide excellent virtual learning environments for children who might otherwise lose this valuable learning time.