Massachusetts State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and

Care:

Draft Strategic Report

April, 2010

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Purpose of the ReportThis report, required under federal law,

provides the basis for submittal of the State Advisory Council’s three-year $1,137,560 ARRA non completive grant application (due no later than August 1,2010). State required match $2,654,307 over three years.

The report summarizes progress on the 7 federally designated functions of a State Advisory Council and one additional function identified specific to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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State Advisory Council Functions

A. Needs assessment

B. Early education and care collaboration

C. Early education and care enrollment & outreach

D. Unified data collection

E. Quality improvement in early education and care (NEW MA Item)

F. Professional development

G. Early education-higher education workforce preparation partnerships

H. Early learning standards3

What We Found (in brief)

Strong progress in each of the 8 areas of work, but 8% - 30% of MA young children vulnerable to developmental and readiness challenges

Significant new opportunities for collaborative development of B through 8 early childhood systems at state and community levels

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Six Areas for Possible ARRA Grant

1. Early Childhood Information System development and use (2010-2013)

2. Needs Assessment (2010-2012)

3. B-8 Community Planning and PreK-3 Partnerships (2010-2013)

4. Early Education/Higher Education Data Partnership (2010-2011)

5. Policy/Best Practices: Limited English Proficient Children & Families (2010-2013)

6. ARRA Council Implementation Support and Accountability (2010-2013)

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Early Education and Care System Components

The early education and care system is comprised of connected components that form a complex unit with an overall function that is achieved through the actions/interactions of the components.

Systems and Strategic Plan Alignment

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Strategic Plan Area

SAC Functions

Nee

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Asse

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Colla

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Enro

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Out

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Dat

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Qua

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Impr

ovem

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Prof

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D

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Hig

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Stan

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Quality X X X Family Support, Access, Affordability

X X X

Workforce X X X Communications X Infrastructure X X X

Healthy, Safe and Ready Children

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5

Early Care and EducationB-3rd grade

Health, Oral Health and Mental

Health Care

Family Support, including,

economic self sufficiency,

parental literacy

Early Intervention

Healthy,Safe and

Ready Children

Key Sectors of the Service System

A sample of programs included within each sector in a birth through age 8 system:

 Physical, oral and mental health services: health insurance, prenatal care, developmental screenings, well child visits, nutrition and food programs, dental care

 Family supports and services: family literacy, parenting education, fiscal supports, family friendly work policies, parental mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse or incarceration, housing, child welfare

 Early education and care: licensed and unlicensed family-based child care, center-based child care, preschool and Head Start, and

 Early intervention: Early Head Start, B-3 programs and preschool special education.

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Data

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DATA: MA Young Child Demographics In 2008, Massachusetts was home to slightly less than 1.8 million children

under the age of 18 475,131 under 6 years old 231,083 under 3 years old

Annual births in Massachusetts number nearly 78,000. One third of Massachusetts’ adults had children 

*Data Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008 

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Massachusetts Population Distribution of Children by Race/ Ethnicity, states under the age of 18 (2008)*

MA

# of Children MA

Percent

White 1,118,400 73%

Black 114,700 7%

Hispanic 187,500 12%

Other 115,200 7%

Total 1,535,800 100%

DATA: Economic Insecurity

In 2008, 17% of children under age six in MA lived in families at or below the Federal Poverty Level ($18,310 for family of 3). 28% lived in low-income families (200% of FPL)

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Towns With 20% + Young Children @ FPL Poverty Commissioner’s Districts All Other Towns

Boston (25%) Brockton (21%) Fall River (31%) Holyoke (45%) Lawrence (34%) Lowell (21%) Lynn (22%) New Bedford (34%) Springfield (39%) Worcester (26%)

Chelsea (27%) Cummington (20%) Gosnold (78%)* Greenfield (22%) Hawley (23%) Montague (23%) North Adams (33%) Peru (26%) Pittsfield (20%) Revere (21%) Wareham (21%) West Springfield (22%) * population = 86 total

DATA: Risk Factors in Early Childhood

Multiple risk factors in the early lives of children has been shown to result in short and long term health, development and learning challenges

The National Center on Children in Poverty Profile for Massachusetts reports:

27% of the state’s children <6 years old experience 1-2 risk factors; 8% experienced 3+ risk factors

Risk factors include economic insecurity; family and child health:

• Low birth weight babies

• Children of single parents incl. teen parents

• Children living at or below the poverty level

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DATA: Screening and Intervention

Early Childhood Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) guidelines call for six screening visits in the first year of life.

In 2008 100% of EPSDT eligible children ages 12 months or younger received at least one screening

89% of children ages one to two years and 83% of children ages three to five years received at least one screening

Massachusetts does not have a measure of “school readiness” determined at entry to kindergarten

Need data from Early Intervention14

Progress

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PROGRESS: Collaboration

Head Start Collaboration survey feedback: MA Head Start agencies scored 2.8 out of 4 points on interagency working relationships

Highest levels of coordination between Head Start agencies and education, disability, child care, and higher education sectors

The lowest level of engagement was with programs serving immigrant, migrant, refugee and seasonal workers

Coordinated Family Community Engagement local coordination within mixed delivery system (0-8)

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PROGRESS: Collaboration Department and Local Agency Cooperative Work Community meetings on early childhood assessment system Parent Advisory Group and the Provider Advisory Group Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) grant Community meetings on the Birth to School Age Task Force to

establish a statewide strategy Co-sponsored conference on diverse children, families and staff Early Literacy conference with ESE focused on birth to 8

 State-Level Interagency Cooperative Work Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Department of Higher Education Departments of Public Health, Mental Health Head Start State-Based Training and Technical Assistance Massachusetts Head Start Association Office of Immigrant and Refugees Department of Children and Families (DCF)

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PROGRESS: Enrollment and Outreach

Parent Advisory Team Quarterly Parent Advisory Team meetings assure

continuous flow of guidance from parents and families to Commissioner and Board

Outreach to Families Several EEC grants fund reaching out to families and

communities with information and support on children’s development

Commissioner conducted a series of parent outreach meetings to discuss effective communication strategies

Specialized Support for Vulnerable Families

 Literacy: professional development on fostering early literacy, including targeting family child care providers

Priority Populations RFR: Homeless families, teen parents, and families requiring supportive services from the Department of Children and Families (DCF)

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PROGRESS: K-12 Data Partnerships

ESE “Massachusetts i-Passport” application for ARRA Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grant; goals:

 Integrated P-20 Data System - assignment of State Assigned Student Identifiers (SASIDs) across EEC, ESE and the Department of Higher Education (DHE)

“Early warning and opportunity system” that starts at birth and continues through high school

State Education Agency student and educator data in the SLDS

Identify prospective educators through assignment of unique “education personnel identifier”

Continued improvements in the SLDS data audit system

 EEC and ESE MOU on SASIDs and work with the Council of Chief State School Officers to develop an assessment system and implement a joint PreK-3 initiative

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PROGRESS: Promoting/Supporting Quality

System- building to promote and support quality: adoption of early childhood standards; a Quality Rating and Improvement System

(QRIS) model; access to well-planned system of professional

development opportunities based on core competencies; and

a data system capable of tracking teacher effectiveness and program quality, and linking data to child outcomes.

In January 2010 research-based changes to child care licensing regulations went into effect

EEC allocated funds for grants to preschool programs to meet and maintain Universal PreK quality requirements

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PROGRESS: Quality Improvement

2009 evaluation of quality in a statewide sample of early childhood settings

significantly lower levels of quality in instructional support

Higher levels in emotional support or classroom organization

In response, awarded assessment grant to support training statewide

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PROGRESS: Professional Development

EEC has completed its review of eight core workforce competency areas and indicators

Career qualifications are built into each QRIS level

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PROGRESS: Higher Education Partnerships

Created Task Force with DHE to review Early Childhood Educator Scholarship applicant data

Moved up application release to April 1, 2010 to give students more advanced notice and expedite processing

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PROGRESS: Early Learning Standards

Adopted preschool standards in 2003

Hired consultant to draft new standards and guidelines for infants and toddlers

Held “Closing the early literacy proficiency gap” conference with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)

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Plan

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PLAN: Needs Assessment

Design needs assessment in 2010-11

Conduct needs assessment in 2011-12

Partner with University of Massachusetts Lowell Open Indicators Initiative for data reporting tools

Implement March 2010 recommendations of the Massachusetts Birth to School-Age Taskforce

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PLAN: Collaboration

Strengthen partnerships with public school districts (e.g. Springfield)

Coordinated Family Community Engagement grant focus on birth to 8 plans

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PLAN: Enrollment & Outreach

Focus on the needs of families most vulnerable to job loss, and prioritize early education and care funding for children already in care, families already in care.

ARRA funding to increase access

Increase number of contracted slots for homeless families to 600

Develop Language policies to inform educators about emerging and best practices and approaches to use with limited English proficient (LEP) children

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PLAN: Unified Data System

EEC’s Unified IT data system design: Child/Family Access and Assistance: manage and support all Commonwealth children/ families

Licensing, Monitoring, and Support: manage and support all programs funded by EEC including those licensed by EEC and license exempt providers  

Professional Development: maintain a repository of educators and their qualification, and information about professional development opportunities 

Purchase of Services: support a standardized contracting process for the various services purchased by EEC, including contracts, vouchers, and grants. 

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PLAN: Early Childhood Information System

SAC funding to support design of an Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) that: links data on children, the workforce and

program services within DEECLinks data systems of other state agencies

that serve the state’s young vulnerable children

Incorporates several EEC initiatives:• QRIS• transformation of the EEC educator

registry into a professional development data management system; and• system for assessing school readiness and

child outcomes30

PLAN: Quality Improvement

QRIS will be piloted and evaluated with CCDBG funds beginning this spring, with full implementation to be phased in over the next 18 months.

Train-the-trainers model for the development of departmental staff as raters

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PLAN: Professional Development

Professional registry is under development, linked with EEC’s new data system and supported by new regulations requiring the annual registration of all educators in the field of early education and care

Implement systemwide efforts to build workforce: Career planningCoachingCompetency development

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PLAN: Higher Education Partnerships

Contract to map existing network of IHEs that offer certificates and/or degrees in early childhood education, elementary education or a related fieldprofiles of each programtrends and gaps noted across programsassessment of the current capacity of the

MA higher education system to meet the post-secondary education needs of the EEC and out-of-school time workforce

recommendations for next steps

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PLAN: Early Learning Standards

Adopt early learning standards for infants and toddlers aligned with current preschool standards

Work with ESE and DHE to examine alignment of early learning standards (B-5) with emerging national standards (K-12) and teacher preparation programs

Follow up regional conferences w/ESE in June

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Priority Areas

Recommended SAC Strategic Priorities 2010-13

Early Childhood Data Development (2010-2013) Data development, analysis; interagency ECIS;

assign program, workforce, child identifiers; report data on child needs, programs

Needs Assessment (2010-2012) Design and implementation of needs assessment,

special emphasis on multi-risk families with infants, toddlers and preschoolers

B-8 Planning, PK-3 Partnerships (2010-2013) Community B-8 strategic plans using data on

child/family needs, and quality/effectiveness of PreK – Gr.3 aligned systems

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Priority Areas (Cont’d)

Recommended SAC Strategic Priorities 2010-13

Higher Ed Workforce Prep Partnership (2010-11) Finish development of workforce prep data infrastructure

with DHE and public/private higher ed to create access for adult learners

Policy and Practices: Children, Families (2010-13) Develop policy, best practices, recommended models for:

Programs serving low English proficient children/families Children with developmental delay and multiple risk

factors (DCF, EI)

Implementation, Support, Accountability (2010-13) Staff to advance SAC agenda and integrate SAC priorities

with EEC’s comprehensive system of early childhood services

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