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Early Learning Challenge Opportunity: Massachusetts’ Plan. Outline of Massachusetts’ Application Plan. Early Learning Challenge Goals.
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Early Learning Challenge Goals “This competition represents an unprecedented opportunity for States to focus deeply on their birth through five early learning and development (ELD) systems and build a more unified approach to supporting young children and their families — one that increases access and quality and helps ensure that children enter kindergarten with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions they need to be successful.”
Overview of Programs and Points • Absolute Priorities • Priority 1: Promoting school readiness for children with High Needs* • Competitive Priorities • Priority 2: Including all programs in tiered QRIS (10 pts) • Priority 3: Understanding the status of children at kindergarten entry (10 pts) • Invitational Priorities • Priority 4: Sustaining effects in early elementary grades • Priority 5: Encouraging Private-sector support *The state has traditionally defined high-needs populations as those with sufficiently low-household incomes or in need of special education assistance and support. The state envisions a more aggressive approach, however, to identifying and supporting high-needs populations by leveraging the Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) to collect and analyze socio-economic, demographic, and educational data and through informed consent proactively engage children with multiple risk factors.
Overview of Programs and Points Core Areas • Successful State Systems • Past commitment to ELD • State reform agenda and goals • Aligning and coordinating ELD across state • Budget to implement and sustain work • High-quality, accountable programs • Establish statewide tiered QRIS • Promote participation in QRIS • Rate and monitor ELD programs • Promote access to high-quality ELD programs for children with High Needs • Validate effectiveness of QRIS
Overview of Program and Points Focused Investment Areas • Promoting ELD outcomes for children • Use statewide ELD standards • Support effective uses of assessment • Engage and support families • A great early childhood workforce • Support educators’ knowledge, skills and abilities • Measuring outcomes and progress • Kindergarten entry assessment • Early learning data systems
RTTT-ELC Application Process • Leverage EEC Board strategic plan; use to guide decision-making in application process • Hold public forums and solicit feedback on ELD agenda • Convene MA RTTT-ELC leadership team, made up of EEC Advisory Council members to develop high-quality plans • Work with national experts, provided through the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative TA initiative, to solidify details of RTTT-ELC application • Secure MOUs from participating education and health and human services agencies for shared work • Reach out to key stakeholders for letters of support endorsing the state’s application • Secure signatures from Governor, Attorney General and participating state agency heads • Submit the ELC application on behalf of the Governor
Massachusetts Context • Leader in education, health care and public service • Strong governance structure • An Act Relative to Early Education and Care • Creation of EEC • Children’s early learning and development – the unfinished business of education reform • 135,000 children (B-5) with multiple risk factors • Strategic Goals • Enhance children’s healthy growth and development through quality early childhood programs, both formal and informal • Strengthen community, school, state and family supports to support parents as first teachers • Identify developmental risk to support school readiness and prevent achievement gap • Invest in early educators workforce as it relates to skills, knowledge, abilities and compensation
Support for High Needs* Children • State: governance, resource distribution, oversight, data management • Regional: infrastructure • EPS grantees including Readiness Centers, CCR&Rs, Mental Health grants • Community: capacity-building, leadership, public awareness, family engagement • Public awareness campaign • Evidence based literacy strategies • Outreach to hard to reach families especially those not in formal programs • Universal screening => ASQ/ASQ SE • CFCE grantees statewide • Programs: quality enhancements, data collection, assessment • Family assistance/child subsidies • Licensing • Reprocurement • Families: engage and educate • Strengthening families, Home visiting • Interagency collaboration (Early Intervention and Special Education), MOUs *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.
Participating State Agencies • EEC has secured MOUs with the following state agencies: EOE, ESE, DHE, CTF, DPH, DMH, DCF, DHCD, DTA, ORI, the State Advisory Council (SAC), and the Head Start State Collaboration Office. • The MOUs will help improve the administration and coordination of programs and services serving children from birth through school age, particularly in the following areas: • Data sharing; • Training and professional development; • Referrals, especially through Kinderwait; • Child screening; • Program evaluation; and • Communication and governance.
Participating State Agencies Additional proposals: • Support the continued development of the state Readiness Centers • In partnership with ESE, establish the Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment system • In Partnership with ESE, expand the work of wraparound zones to include programs for children from birth through age five • Support staff at DPH and DCF to embed early childhood development knowledge within approaches to children’s mental and behavioral health • Continue shared oversight and management of Maternal, Infant, Child Home Visiting (MIECHV) program • Augment DPH’s MA Children at Play program • Augment DCF’s Family Resource Centers • Support DHCD’s Home Base approach to homeless service provision; • In partnership with CTF, continue CSEFEL and Healthy Families training modules • Provide one staff member to ORI to raise awareness of immigrant and refugee needs within the early childhood field • In partnership with DMH, support the MA Child Psychiatry Access Project and the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative 10
What is Massachusetts Story? How do we achieve our strategic goals? • What outcomes do we want for children? • Standards • How do we support them their achievement? • Governance and infrastructure • Where should we target resources? • Program quality enhancements • Teacher quality enhancements • Family/community engagement • How do we track our investments and measure growth? • Comprehensive assessment and Data systems • How do we know we have achieved our goals? • Measured growth in children
Massachusetts High-Quality Plans • Design and implement a comprehensive assessment system. • Engage and strengthen communities and families by formalizing community family engagement grants. • Support workforce development and increased compensation. • Improve program quality (primarily through the QRIS as a definition of quality). • Link schools and communities to promote healthy child development through prek to 3rd grade alignment. • Build data systems to support infrastructure.
Design and Implement a Comprehensive Assessment System • Screening – ASQ/ASQ SE • Early Warning Indicators – needs and risk assessment • Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA) • PK-3 formative assessment system alignment with Common core and PARCC • Support and training and data anylsis
Highlight – Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA) • Identify formative assessment tools • Measure children’s progress through growth • Individualize teaching and learning • Guide classroom practice and improve Professional Development • Measure children’s school readiness via a common metric • Communicate with parents (via assessment results and potentially with report cards) • MKEA methodology • Align formative assessments with standards • Norm-referenced validation of formative assessment • Item analysis to produce common metric
MKEA: Cohort I • The following districts have agreed to participate in the initial year of the MKEA: • Chelsea • Holyoke • Lawrence • Lowell • Ludlow • Lynn • Medford • New Bedford • Northampton • South Hadley • Taunton • EEC is continuing its outreach and anticipates 12-15 districts participating in the 1st year.
Engage and Strengthen Communities and Families • Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grants (CFCE) • ASQ/ASQ SE screening • Evidence-based literacy models • Strengthening Families/Brazelton Touchpoints Frameworks • Partnerships with museums and libraries • Countdown to Kindergarten expansion • Public awareness campaign – Brain Building in Progress • Financial literacy education for families
Support Workforce Development and Increased Compensation Practice-based supports • Educator and Provider Support grants • Provider planning • Formalize Coaching and Mentoring • Competency measurement for literacy, numeracy and social emotional development • EPS system acceleration strategy • Evaluation: Educator training and practice to determine efficacy • Readiness Centers: ECE and K-12 alignment for assessment and data analysis
Support Workforce Development and Increased Compensation Career advancement • Paraprofessional support with a focus on educators whose home language is not English • Tapping Academic Potential as a bridge for educators whose home language is not English • Wheelock College post-MA program to develop practice based research Compensation • “Support for early educators doing more!” Stipends • Assessment training • Coaching and mentoring
Improve Program Quality • QRIS grants • Online unit-based courses • Online application system • QRIS validation study
Link Schools and Communities to Promote Healthy Child Development • MOUs with local school districts/communities • Three point PK-3 alignment plan • Engage leadership • Develop universal screening process • Build PK-3 formative assessment system • Wrap-around zones • Summer learning supports
Build Data Systems to Support Infrastructure • Build system • MOUs with participating agencies • Informed consent • Data entry • Dashboard/early indicator system • EEC Unified Data System including Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) • Student Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) • SASIDs
Due Date and Grant Period • The application due date has been given for October 19th, 2011. • The grant period would run from December 2011- December 2015.