State Advisory Council Activities: Update

EEC Advisory Sub GroupsMay 2011

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EEC Strategic Directions

A Systemic Approach

State Advisory Council (SAC)

The Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 requires the Governor of each “State” to designate or establish a council to serve as the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care for children from birth to school entry.

To be eligible to receive a grant, a state had to prepare and submit an application for a three-year period that addresses select criteria.

The State Advisory Council is responsible for leading the development or enhancement of a high-quality, comprehensive system of early childhood development and care that ensures statewide coordination and collaboration among the range of programs and services in the State including: child care, Head Start, IDEA preschool and infants and families programs, pre-kindergarten programs and services.

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State Advisory Council Membership

Board of Early Education and Care

Policy and Fiscal Committee Participants (for SAC):

Nancy Topping-Tailby – Massachusetts Head Start Association

Janice Santos - Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start

Kate Roper – Department of Public Health

Jay Smith – Parent Representative

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SAC Six Focus Areas

1. Early Childhood Information System development and use

2. Needs Assessment

3. B-8 Community Planning and PreK-3 Partnerships

4. Early Education/Higher Education Workforce Preparation Partnership

5. Policy and Best Practices for Children & Families with Limited English Proficiency and/or Developmental Delays or Multiagency Involvement

6. ARRA Council Implementation Support and Accountability

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SAC Goal 1: Early Childhood Information System

Interagency Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) assignment of child, workforce, and program identifiers coupled with the analytic capacity to examine and report on data collected on young children’s needs and programs.

Continued partnership with UMass Lowell and the Open Indicators Project. Provided support for presentation of ECIS at Harvard

University in November.

Trained EEC staff on geo-coding and use of WEAVE Technology

Support for development of Access presentation to the Board, April 2011

Developed staff capacity and supported all EEC/ECIS data delivery

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SAC Goal 2: Needs Assessment Consulting

Design and implement the required needs assessment with emphasis on multi-risk families with infants and toddlers

Hired Wellesley College to design to: Design two study models for identifying the needs of young children

birth to age eight and assessing the “quality and availability of early childhood education and development programs and services for children from birth to school entry.”

Review other states’ needs assessments that address children birth to age eight including the unique needs of multi-risk infants and toddlers

Meet and consult EEC, in order to identify the key research questions to answer (indicators to measure) through the needs assessment.

Focus on the needs of young children birth to age eight, and assess the quality and availability of programs and services for children from birth to school entry.

Project the cost for implementing each component of each study model in a needs assessment

Provide a timeline for each component of each study model in a needs assessment

Identify additional tools to understand the needs of vulnerable children and families

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SAC Goal 3: B-8 Community Planning

Co-Investment Funding Partnership Contracts with the Philanthropic Sector

Support for community birth through age 8 (B-8) strategic plans, anchored in local data on: Child/family needs, and The quality/effectiveness of Pre-K through Grade 3 aligned

systems linking local schools, local providers, and families through grants to communities.

Development of tools and assessments which are aligned based on child development including standards, to be used locally between the early education and public schools

A state-wide series of meetings between public preschool and Head Start representatives with a focus on full implementation of the required activities of the federally required Head Start –LEA Memorandum of Understanding

EEC and ESE are hosting a Birth to 8 Leadership Institute Early Educator Fellowship series

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SAC Goal 4: Workforce Preparation Partnerships Complete development of an early education and care workforce

preparation data infrastructure partnership with the Department of Higher Education and with public/private higher education institutions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Institutions of Higher Education Mapping Project: Phase I Study - EEC and the Head Start Collaboration Office contracted with Oldham Innovative Research, Inc to: Create a single repository of information for higher ed. programs that

lead to certificates and degrees in ECE or elementary education; Map current network of 2 and 4 year public and private IHEs in MA; Create program profiles

Phase II Study – Intent to ease transfer between degree programs and among IHEs for educators, and create a clear pathway for degree attainment from certificate, to associate’s, to bachelor’s degree in ECE with minimum loss of credit from one level to the next. Oldham Innovative Research is: Reviewing and comparing required coursework at colleges; Identifying core set of courses in ECE; Identifying inclusion of EEC Core Competencies; Creating final report, fact sheets, database of coursework, and

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SAC Goal 5: Limited English Proficiency, Developmental Delays or Multiagency Involvement

Develop policy, best practices and recommended models for serving limited English proficient children and families and/or children with developmental delays or multiple system involvement.

Through three in-depth meetings EEC will support Principals and community-based providers in learning together in 1) Child growth and development, 2) Literacy, and 3) Dual language learners

Community Strategic Planning Efforts: Plans to improve educational outcomes for children shifting focus from “child

readiness” to working to develop policies and practices that focus on the “readiness” of schools and their leadership to receive children and maximize their opportunities for success.

Dual Language Learner Study Findings: The document effectively described the need for the implementation of

research-based policies and guidelines that foster best practices for DLLs in EEC programs. 72% Agree, 12% Disagree

Integration of these five types of research based practices will yield positive outcomes for DLLs. 77% Agree, 10% Disagree

The Policies and Guidelines are comprehensive and support best practices in EEC programs. 74% Agree, 10% Disagree

The key questions that guided the creation of the draft document were a reasonable foundation for the development of these draft Policies and Guidelines. 78% Agree, 7% Disagree10

Community Strategic Planning

Three Areas of Focus1. Co-Investment Funding Partnerships Contract with Philanthropic Sector, $50,000

2. Community Strategic Planning: Birth – 8 community initiative on child growth and development, literacy assessment and dual language learners, $20,000

3. Grants of $3-5K to participating communities for training and tool development, $25,000

Funding Requirements Work must be done within a birth – 8 framework Must in relationship with local communities Support/build upon CFCE work related to transition Measurable outcomes Must support or involve 3 “Policy Levers” for Literacy:

Teacher Quality Family Engagement Environment/ Community cultural institutions support literacy development

Delivery Options for Discussion and Consideration Testing in local communities One grant with several parts; Separate grants 3 Categories of funding for which level four communities can apply 11

Proposal: Grants to Support Birth to 8 Community Planning in Rural Communities

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Proposal: Grants to Support Birth to 8 Community Planning in Rural Communities

In response to feedback provided by the SAC suggesting that resources be targeted to rural communities, EEC proposes awarding grants to rural communities to support birth to 8 community planning.

Grants relate to SAC Goal 3: Birth to 8 Community Planning and Pre-k to 3rd partnerships.

• EEC plans to allocate $95,000 of the ARRA SAC the purpose of rural community planning grants.

• Grants will be approximately $5,000 each and will be focused on supporting the needs of children and families in rural communities through community planning.

• EEC has reviewed population per square foot and the number of children ages 0-5 in communities to determine which communities would be eligible to apply for funds (see following data).

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Defining “Rural” and Potential Target Communities

While there is no national definition on what an urban or rural city/town is in recent years some Massachusetts researchers have settled on using a population density of less than 500 per square mile as the criterion.

The principal alternative criterion was a population less than 10,000, which is what is now used by the Massachusetts Rural Development Council and is the "official" definition in state government.

Of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, 192 cities/towns meet one or more of the criteria noted above. 147 out of 192 cities/towns meet both definitions.

• The remaining 45 cities/towns meet only one of the definitions described above.

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Questions/Feedback?

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