Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today State of the State: Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Access to quality early education for Pennsylvania’s young children can: Reduce public costs for special education, public assistance, prisons and health care. –Pew Center on the States: high-quality pre-kindergarten programs can decrease special education placements by 50%. –Fight Crime: Invest in Kids: high quality early learning could cut 25% or more of the costs of corrections in PA. –Harvard, Columbia: children who have access to quality early education from birth have more resilience against toxic stress and better health outcomes and behaviors as young adults

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Facilitate job growth. –America’s Edge: Every dollar spent on early education generates $1.06 dollars in the local economy. –America’s Edge: For every 10 jobs created in early childhood education sector, three more jobs are created outside early childhood education. –Bartik: Parents with access to reliable, affordable early childhood education are more likely to be employed, have less absenteeism, and can earn up to 30% more over the course of their lifetimes because they are able to stay in the workforce

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Effectively prepare students for new workforce demands. –Georgetown: 63% of jobs in the next decade will require some post-secondary education. –Perry Preschool & Abecedarian: children receiving high quality early education are more likely to be prepared for and do better in school; graduate high school; attend college or job training; and have higher earnings.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Profile of young children in PA There are 729,538 children under age five living in Pennsylvania. Of those: 58% live in economically at-risk families earning up to 300% of the federal poverty level; and 16% have mothers with less than a high school education.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Children served 36% of children under age five served in quality early education programs –20.4% of infants and toddlers served –52.4% of preschoolers served

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Pennsylvania's approach Ensuring quality early childhood education programs Providing families with a variety of early learning choices Embracing accountability for results VISION: Every child enter kindergarten ready to succeed

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Ensuring quality early childhood education programs Coordinated early childhood programs Effective teachers and leaders Quality classrooms and instruction Quality program standards Alignment with K-12 education Continuous quality improvement

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today OCDEL’s mission The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) promotes opportunities for all Pennsylvania children and families by building systems and providing supports that help ensure access to high quality child and family services. The office is a joint initiative between the Departments of Education and Public Welfare.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today OCDEL programs Child Care Certification Child Care Works Children’s Trust Fund Early Head Start (grantee) Early Intervention, birth- five Full-Day Kindergarten Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program Keystone STARS/ PA Early Learning Keys to Quality Parent-Child Home Program Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Nurse-Family Partnership Public-private partnerships

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Ensuring quality ECE programs: highlights Expanded ECE resources available on the Standards Aligned System (SAS) portal and created Early Learning Professional Learning Community (PLC). 57 ECE Program-to- Program Articulation agreements developed among 2- and 4- year higher education institutions. In , 264 early education professionals earned their Director Credential, 11% more than in school and early education leaders participated in one of eight Early Childhood Executive Leadership Institutes around the Commonwealth, nearly twice as many as participated in

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Ensuring quality ECE programs: highlights, cont’d Children in a Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts classroom with a lead teacher who holds a Teacher Certification are approximately 50% more likely to achieve greater than average gains in language and literacy, math, and personal and social development than children whose lead teacher does not hold a certificate. Child care providers receiving Keystone STARS Technical Assistance were 2.2 times more likely to advance a STAR level than those who did not receive help.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Providing families with a variety of early learning options Meeting the diverse needs of families Educating families about early learning options Engaging families in their children’s early learning

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Providing families with ECE options: highlights During , in partnership with 63 early care and education sites, serving approximately 3,500 children, 29 out of 33 Preschool Early Intervention programs participated in Preschool Early Intervention Positive Behavior Support Program for Inclusion. Nearly 180,000 materials were distributed to families through early childhood education programs, libraries and Community Engagement Groups (now LEARN teams) in

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Providing families with ECE options: highlights, cont’d More than 38,600 individuals submitted applications for Child Care Works online through COMPASS in , 72% more than in More than 93% of respondents to the OCDEL family survey indicated that they have used information about their child’s performance to make changes in how they teach their child and to support their child’s learning and development at home.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Embracing accountability for results OCDEL Reach and Risk Report includes data by school district for the first time. Environment Rating Scale (ERS) Assessor reliability average: 93% STARS Designator Reliability: agreed on 97% of standards Pennsylvania is the only state that can link data across all ECE programs at the child and program site levels as defined by the Early Childhood Data Collaborative.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today As a result of your work…

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Children making progress, entering school ready to succeed

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today More quality early learning choices are available to children and families

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today More quality choices for families

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today More quality choices for families

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Continuous quality improvement among ECE programs and professionals

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Continuous quality improvement

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Seven year trend of increasing quality in ECE classrooms Note: Figure presents all available ECERS-R scores, including Keystone STARS, PA Pre-K Counts, and Head Start facilities. Assessments are made at the classroom level. Each data point is a single assessment of a classroom

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Higher classroom quality/ more children proficient

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Vision for the future Facilitate quality improvement in early childhood programs in high-risk communities by: –piloting enhanced case management and TA for Keystone STARS programs in high-risk communities to help them increase their STAR level. –streamlining and expanding eligibility for Keystone STARS quality improvement initiative for Head Start and other early learning provider types as possible. Fully integrate PA Early Learning Standards into the Standards Aligned System

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Vision, cont’d Develop and implement Early Learning Outcomes Reporting strategy –Programs will have expanded options for choosing an authentic assessment tool for reporting child outcomes Pilot Family Engagement Project –Helping at-risk communities coordinate family supports and create local partnerships Enhance the early childhood workforce data system –Linking early childhood instructor and professional development registries –Coordinating with PDE teacher certification and PA Key educator registries

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for Economy continues to be in recovery Need a budget which is both fiscally responsible and provides vital services for children and families Governor’s commitment: No tax increase

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for No longer looking at $4.2 billion state budget deficit Projected $700 million shortfall in Providers experiencing increased costs Families experiencing increased need

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for Proposed Budget Total Budget Amount $27.14 billion 33 line items eliminated Total reduction of $20 million (.1%)

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for Serve additional families in: Early Intervention – Expanding to reach 85,500 children (35,300 infants and toddlers and 50,200 preschoolers) by adding 1,500 preschoolers.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for Sustain progress in: Head Start Supplemental – Sustaining services to reach approximately 4,930 children.* Keystone STARS – Sustaining services to more than 168,200 children and making it possible for programs to achieve higher STAR levels. Nurse-Family Partnership – Sustaining to reach more than 5,125 children and families. Parent-Child Home Program – Sustaining services to reach more than 190 children and families. Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts – Sustaining services to reach approximately 11,380 children. * Number of children served in dependent upon completion of competitive grant process

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today Governor’s Budget Proposal for Reduce services for children in: Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program – Serving nearly 130,400 children (monthly average), a reduction of approximately 365 children.

Early Learning in Pennsylvania Today

Children served, , est and Governor’s proposed