Massachusetts State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care: Draft Strategic Report April,

Purpose of the Report This report, required under federal law, provides the basis for submittal of the State Advisory Councils 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. 2

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 standards 3

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 4

Six Areas for Possible ARRA Grant 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 Data Partnership ( ) 5. Policy/Best Practices: Limited English Proficient Children & Families ( ) 6. ARRA Council Implementation Support and Accountability ( ) 5

6 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 7

Healthy, Safe and Ready Children 8

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. 9

Data 10

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

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) 12

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 states 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 13

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 % 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 Intervention 14

Progress 15

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) 16

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) 17

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 childrens 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) 18

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 19

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 20

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 21

PROGRESS: Professional Development EEC has completed its review of eight core workforce competency areas and indicators Career qualifications are built into each QRIS level 22

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 23

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) 24

Plan 25

PLAN: Needs Assessment Design needs assessment in Conduct needs assessment in 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 26

PLAN: Collaboration Strengthen partnerships with public school districts (e.g. Springfield) Coordinated Family Community Engagement grant focus on birth to 8 plans 27

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 28

PLAN: Unified Data System EECs 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. 29

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 DEEC Links data systems of other state agencies that serve the states 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 outcomes 30

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 31

PLAN: Professional Development Professional registry is under development, linked with EECs 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 planning Coaching Competency development 32

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 field profiles of each program trends and gaps noted across programs assessment 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 33

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 34

Priority Areas Recommended SAC Strategic Priorities Early Childhood Data Development ( ) Data development, analysis; interagency ECIS; assign program, workforce, child identifiers; report data on child needs, programs Needs Assessment ( ) Design and implementation of needs assessment, special emphasis on multi-risk families with infants, toddlers and preschoolers B-8 Planning, PK-3 Partnerships ( ) Community B-8 strategic plans using data on child/family needs, and quality/effectiveness of PreK – Gr.3 aligned systems 35

Priority Areas (Contd) Recommended SAC Strategic Priorities Higher Ed Workforce Prep Partnership ( ) 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 ( ) 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 ( ) Staff to advance SAC agenda and integrate SAC priorities with EECs comprehensive system of early childhood services 36