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Introduction to the Race to the Top – ELC Grant

Introduction to the Race to the Top – ELC Grant. Why now? Why is the federal government investing over $800,000,000 on Race to the Top?. Old Way of Thinking. Keep them healthy and safe fed until kindergarten… …and then the learning begins. dcf.wisconsin.gov.

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Introduction to the Race to the Top – ELC Grant

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  1. Introduction to the Race to the Top – ELC Grant

  2. Why now? Why is the federal government investing over $800,000,000 on Race to the Top?

  3. Old Way of Thinking. • Keep them healthy and safe fed until kindergarten… • …and then the learning begins. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  4. The science proves otherwise. • By age 2, children produced an average of 338 comprehensible utterances per hour. (Hart & Risley, 1999). • Beginning at about age 3, young children learn an estimated 6 to 10 new words per day (Spodek & Saracho, 1993b) dcf.wisconsin.gov

  5. Early learning lays a foundation... • Language affects not only cognitive growth but also social competence (McCabe & Meller, 2004). Children who learn to speak and interact successfully with others tend to develop more effective learning strategies and literacy skills. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  6. … for critical social and emotional development. • Teen pregnancy, high school dropout rate, adverse health conditions — can be traced to low levels of social skills such as attentiveness, persistence and working with others. • These so-called “soft” social skills are neither soft nor unimportant. • Evidence shows that these capabilities are essential ingredients for success in life. Skill begets skill; motivation begets motivation. In fact, early development of effective social skills greatly influence the successful development of IQ and ultimately, personal and social productivity. • - James Heckman dcf.wisconsin.gov

  7. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  8. But… Not all kids are getting a fair shake. By age 2, children produced an average of 338 comprehensible utterances per hour, but the range was enormous: from 42 to 672. The 2 year-olds used approximately 134 different words per hour, with a range of 18 to 286 (Hart & Risley, 1999). The range in vocabulary size parents reported for their 2-year-olds was 50 to 550 words. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  9. The inescapable conclusion… Quality and opportunity gaps in early childhood. = Achievement and opportunity gaps in high school. = Problematic social and cultural outcomes.

  10. Investing early is not just fair, it’s practical. The capacity of the brain to absorb new learning peaks at age 3. An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure…?

  11. The smartest way to solve society’s problems? • Early. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  12. So why don’t we just fix it? • What makes early childhood so complex. dcf.wisconsin.gov

  13. K-12 System

  14. Early childhood services and experiences. Care Complexity Head Start Family Care Group Care Parents at Home Service Complexity State Agencies Intervention Type Historic Goals Demographic Complexity

  15. The early childhood “system.”

  16. OK, so now what? RTT-ELC

  17. 5 Key Things to Know About RTT-ELC. Number 1: It is asystem buildinggrant.

  18. 5 Key Things to Know About RTT-ELC. Number 2: It’s really big. Ten times bigger than any other federal grant received by DCF… But kinda small. But MPS 2014 Proposed Budget is $1,170,867,945.

  19. 5 Key Things to Know About RTT-ELC. Number 3: It is a cross departmental grant.

  20. 5 Key Things to Know About RTT-ELC.

  21. Breaking Down Silos.

  22. 5 Key Things to Know About RTT-ELC. Number 4: Consists of10 unique projects across a broad range of issues.

  23. Project 1: Aligning and coordinating early learning across the state.

  24. Aligning statewide. A key term… “alignment.”

  25. Who is served and how?

  26. Aligning statewide. Managing the grant. (not too exciting)

  27. Aligning statewide. Aligning the state and the tribes. • 11 Tribal Nations - GLITC • Enhance tribal involvement • Tribal consultant • Catalog and describe

  28. Aligning statewide. Incentivizing private investment. (aka “public-private partnership”) • Making the case for private investment. • Wisconsin-specific issues and challenges. • Process

  29. Project 2: YoungStar Training and Technical Assistance plus family engagement.

  30. YoungStar training. Expand child care provider knowledge about comprehensive childhood screening. Support roll-out of “mandatory family engagement point.”

  31. Project 3: Increasing YoungStar participation by aligning with 4KCA

  32. Increasing YS particpation What is 4KCA? 4K community approaches

  33. Increasing YS particpation • Aligning standards and policies. • Making YS training available.

  34. Project 4: Increasing YoungStar participation among high-needs children.

  35. What are “high needs” kids? Broad definition: "Children with High Needs means children from birth through kindergarten entry who are from Low-Income families or otherwise in  need of special assistance and support, including children who have disabilities or developmental delays; who are English learners; who  reside on ``Indian lands'' as that term is defined by section 8013(6) of the ESEA; who are migrant, homeless, or in foster care; and other children as identified by the State."

  36. How do we reach them? Communications plan. • Targeted. • Culturally relevant. • Non-traditional. • Making case for YoungStar.

  37. Project 5: Increase YoungStar ratings via provider support.

  38. Supporting Providers • Training. Expanded access to WMELS, Pyramid Model, and family engagement opportunties. • Bonuses. Incentives to increase star level. • Scholarships. More Teach scholarships.

  39. Project 6: Validating YoungStar.

  40. Validation Study • Revisiting the concept of YoungStar. • But how do we know it works?

  41. Project 7: Expanded training for providers.

  42. WMELS training • Improving training modules. • Mini-grants to regional teams. • Supporting training events statewide. • Expanded work with Pyramid model.

  43. Project 8: Improving family engagement.

  44. Engaging families What exactly is family engagement and why does it matter?

  45. Engaging families • Develop and implement “mandatory point.” • Improve communication with hard to reach families. • Support families in EC to K transition.

  46. Project 9: The challenge of professional development.

  47. Professional Development • Why it is so hard. • What has worked.

  48. Professional Development • Supporting PDI pathways workgroup. • Professional development implementation portfolio.

  49. Project 10: Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System

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