American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

1. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act October 12, 2010 EEC Board Meeting

2. ARRA Proposals Update Programs Awarded Since Board Vote • PSCCE: EEC has selected 485 programs (384 FCC and 101 Center-based) representing as many as 4,200 children to participate in the PSCCE Quality Add-on Initiative.  As many as 818 children can be enrolled with PSCCE Add-on funds. • QRIS: Revised scope of work was issued to and signed with Wheelock College to reflect the total $3.4M award to Wheelock and its partners (United Way, CAYL Institute, and translation service provider). • Birth to 8 Leadership Institute: EEC awarded $125,000 to the CAYL Institute for the Early Educators Fellowship Initiative to work through a state-wide planning committee to create a series of learning experiences for the entire 2010-2011 academic year. • Waitlist Solution: EEC hired Control Tec for $490,096 to deliver a dynamic package that will allow us to access waitlist information by provider and in total. • Professional Development Research Project: Awarded contract to Ann Douglass from UMASS Boston for a total of $176,221 (the balance to come from Quality Support funding) to create a PreSchool Standards and Guidelines Course, evaluate the Professional Development System, and develop a course on Core Competencies and Evaluation. • CCRR Streamlining: EEC signed contracts with each of the nine CCRRs for a total of $561,186 to provide and implement specific transition services, implement efficiencies in the voucher management system, and support enrolling preschoolers in the Preschool Child Care Education initiative. • CCRR Business Model: EEC signed a contract with the CAYL Institute for $75,000 to assess ways to improve information and referral, consumer education, and voucher management services provided by the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies. 

3. ARRA Proposal Update Programs Awarded Since Board Vote, Continued • Environmental Rating Scales Institute: EEC has contracted with ERSI and four other providers (location, printing, supplies, ECRS books) for a total of $60K to provide five full days of training: a one day introductory training followed by four days of training that will assist participants in reaching accuracy on the scales and meet reliability standards. • Business Analysis of EEC IT Security: EEC has signed a contract with Janus for $28,010 to assess if the EEC environment can withstand cyber attacks, attempts to gain unauthorized access, and/or other forms of malicious activity. • Streamline Voucher Management System: EEC has already interviewed and will be hiring a consultant through PeoplServ to support the voucher management system. • Out of School Time Learning Initiative: EEC extended its contract with United Way for a total of $499,000 through June 30, 2011 to initiate a statewide training and technical assistance grant to support partnerships between public schools and school age child care programs to deliver intentional summer learning promotion opportunities. • Communications Campaign: EEC extended its contract with United Way for a total of $498,500 through June 30, 2011 to build the capacity of stakeholders in Massachusetts to initiate a statewide communication infrastructure that is able to create and sustain public awareness and understanding regarding the importance of quality early education and care experience during children’s earliest years. Additional funding allows the United Way to develop a web content strategy for EEC, to edit and design EEC’s website, and to produce additional necessary collateral. • Infant/Toddler Rate Increase: EEC has set aside $3M in its flex pool funding to pay for this initiative should the Board approve it. EEC has the ability to dedicate funds from this initiative to PSCCE should this be required. • Readiness Centers Support: EEC awarded $400,000 in funding to the Professional Development grantees to work with the Readiness Centers to provide more coordinated professional development offerings for early education and out of school time providers and educators throughout the State.

4. ARRA Board Vote History • In May, 2010, EEC Board authorized EEC to award $75K to support a vendor to work directly with the Readiness Center Network to further develop a statewide system to support increased access to higher education for early educators with limited English proficiency and improved outcomes for the children, birth to age 8, they work with. • In June EEC initiated this work with EOE but in September together made the management decision to return responsibility to EEC. • In September EEC posted a request for services to approved vendors on EEC’s Training RFR list, seeking a consultant to work closely with EEC, EOE and the statewide Readiness Centers Network to, among other things, identify and disseminate best practices to address the needs of early educators with limited English proficiency and to implement and coordinate specific activities, and to support a higher education curriculum for dual language learners in early education and out of school time learning programs. • Only Wheelock College responded with a very strong proposal to assess the professional development needs of English language learners working in education across the state (including literature and current projects reviews) with the intention of using those results to work with EEC, EOE, and DHE to develop a systematic approach that will lay the groundwork for a statewide system of professional development for linguistically diverse educators. • Given the far reaching range of the proposal; the costs associated with the research, analysis, and policy recommendations conducted by a group of people rather than a consultant (as originally envisioned); its excellence; and the added value of a Summer Institute to build capacity, EEC funded Wheelock at a cost of $196,963 subject to Board approval. Board Vote • The Board of Early Education and Care ratify the Department’s increased expenditure of ARRA funds from $75,000 to $196,693 awarded for a consultant to support increased access to higher education for early educators with Limited English Proficiency through activities which include working directly with EEC, EOE, and the Readiness Center Network.

5. ARRA Spending Update