2010 OSEP Leadership Mega Conference Collaboration to Achieve Success from Cradle to Career Collaborative Planning for State Early Learning Systems Dawn Ellis, OSEP Martha Diefendorf and Kathy Whaley, NECTAC Barbara J. Smith, University of Colorado Denver Early Childhood Strand Presentation #S2-208

Overview and Purposes Key considerations for effective collaboration for a high quality inclusive system of early learning State and local collaborative planning tools for examining and promoting state capacity to coordinate and integrate its early learning system, both vertically and horizontally Approaches and learnings from selected national initiatives and centers Work environment and effective processes 2

Conceptual Framework for System Improvement State Infrastructure Improved Practices Results are improved for CHILDREN and FAMILIES Local Infrastructure THEN Personnel Development IF SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE 3

State Infrastructure policy, funding, support and collaboration at the state level Personnel Development higher education and state’s capacity for training & TA across the state Community Infrastructure policy, funding, support and collaboration at community and local agency level Service Provider/Practice provider knowledge and skills Children/family positive outcomes for children and family Levels of the Service System 4

5 Early Head Start Early Intervention (Part C) Child Care Head Start Preschool Special Ed (Sec. 619) State Pre-K Programs in the Service System

6 Tools for Collaboration Array of tools that address: Different levels of the system Different audiences Different foci Different purposes Different level of detail Different implementation processes

7 Audience: State, Territory, and Tribal policymakers—particularly Child Care and Development Fund Administrators and their partners Focus: building more comprehensive and collaborative early and school-age care programs for serving children and families Six training modules:  Fundamentals of Collaborative Leadership  Creating, Implementing, and Sustaining Partnerships  Communication Strategies  Financing  Managing and Facilitating Successful Partnerships  Building Capacity to Evaluate Partnership Initiatives An NCCIC initiative, which is a service of the Child Care Bureau within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

8 Audience: State-level, professional development, community, and family members that bring a state systems-wide perspective Focus: Supporting sustainable and systematic improvements for: Including Children Birth–Five with Disabilities, Involving Families of Young Children with Disabilities, Providing Integrated Services to Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers with Disabilities, and Supporting Implementation and Sustainability. Rating Scale: For measuring progress and growth across 3 stages of implementation State-Level Perceptions of Inclusive Practices (SPIP)

9 SAMPLE PROMISING PRACTICE (SPIP, continued) Our state has a cross-agency network to plan and coordinate early childhood services, including services for young children with disabilities and their families. Not Implemented (0) 0 Our state does not have a cross-agency network to plan and coordinate early childhood services, including services for young children with disabilities and their families. Partially Implemented (1-6) 4 Our state is in the early stages of becoming involved in supporting the implementation of a cross-agency network to plan and coordinate early childhood services, including services for young children with disabilities and their families. Fully Implemented (7-10 ) 7 Our state modifies its implementation of a cross-agency network to plan and coordinate early childhood services, including services for young children with disabilities and their families, based on an assessment of successes and identified areas for improvement. 10 All elements of this practice are fully implemented, are being refined, have a process of ongoing evaluation/continuous improvement, and have been sustained with high quality for at least one year.

10 National Professional Development Center on Inclusion The Big Picture Planning Guide: Building Cross-Sector Professional Development Systems in Early Childhood Audience: State-level team that represents the various early childhood sectors with people who have the influence and authority to transcend traditional boundaries Focus: Helping states achieve a single, integrated professional development system that supports high quality inclusion Four Steps:  Take Stock  Identify a Shared Vision and Focus Areas for Improvement  Develop an Implementation Plan  Create a Structure for Continuous Improvement planning-and-facilitation- tools/NPDCI_Big-Picture-Planning- Guide_2008.pdf/at_download/file

11 A Road Map for Facilitating Collaborative Teams Hayden, Frederick, Smith, 2002 Focus: essential topics for educators, including facilitator role, stakeholder relationships, action planning, and evaluating results. Audience: Administrators, Technical Assistance Staff, Interagency Coordinating Councils (ICCs) Tasks, Tips and Tools for Promoting Collaborative Community Teams, The Collaborative Planning Project,

12 Partnership Checklist: Shaping A Partnership A Checklist for Developing a Partnership Agreement/Contract A Fiscal Management Checklist for Partnerships Questions for State-Level Leaders to Consider: A Focus on Early Education Partnerships That Stimulate Quality and Heighten Standards QUILT: Quality In Linking Together

13 PARTNERSHIPS FOR PRESCHOOL INCLUSION: SELF-EVALUATION TOOL Audience: Team of child care provider, family member, and preschool special education representative Focus: Promoting partnerships among local team members to benefit the development and learning young children with special needs and their families. Four main areas:  Accessing services  Acquiring and sharing information  Planning and providing services  Administrative support New Hampshire Preschool Technical Assistance Network (PTAN, 2009) /calls/2009/sec619/nh_self_ eval_tool.pdf

14 Early Childhood Program Partner Questionnaire Audience: systems level to identify programs in the community with which to partner. program level used with a family of a child identified as having a disability to assist in identifying an appropriate child care environment. Focus: Identifying programs and their ability and willingness to partner and serve children with disabilities Appendix F (pp ) Florida Department of Education (2008) Expanding Opportunities for Providing Services: A GUIDE FOR MAKING SYSTEM AND PROGRAM LEVEL DECISIONS

Expanding Opportunities An Interagency Inclusion Initiative “The goal is to support state efforts to increase inclusive opportunities for young children with disabilities.” 15

Background and Status 2004 The Child Care Bureau, the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) held two policy forums in Washington, D.C. – Discussed strategies for including young children with disabilities in community-based settings and activities Creation of a Federal Interagency Team – Office of Special Education – Child Care Bureau – Office of Head Start – Administration on Developmental Disabilities 16

Background and Status 20 States since 2004 Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin 17

Value of Interagency TA Support In depth knowledge of individual programs and services is pooled for effectiveness Ongoing assistance over one to three years with development/implementation of systems change plan requires intensive TA resources Unique resources and information to support both development and implementation of the plan Coordinate and share plan evaluation and impacts 18

Collaborative Planning Approaches and Impacts - State Infrastructure  Increased awareness among state agencies about inclusion  Improved communication, coordination  Improved knowledge about state programs and systems  Identification of resources within agencies for serving children and families  Designing interagency activities to address identified barriers 19

Collaborative Planning Approaches and Impacts - State Infrastructure 20  Improved coordination of existing initiatives and activities  Influencing other existing state plans to address inclusion  Stronger connections and relationships between and among EC programs for joint training  Embedding inclusion in policy, regulation reform and MOA updates

Focus of State Plans Public Awareness across Agencies and with Public Professional Development Policy, Regulations and Guidance Access to Resources Resource Development Family Support Alignment of Competencies and Standards Funding strategies Interagency Coordination 21

Accomplishments Stimulated successful state applications to SpecialQuest Birth to Five and NPDCI Developed web sites with resources for personnel and family members Developed training materials Provided cross agency training opportunities Increased child care assistance specialized reimbursement rate for children with disabilities 22

More Accomplishments Developed stronger partnerships with state institutes of higher education to embed content into curricula for producing a larger pool of practitioners with background knowledge in inclusive early childhood practices Developed a Web-based training calendar supported by all early care and education agencies to coordinate training opportunities 23

And Some More Accomplishments Developed a Community Toolkit of program assessment resources to assist consultants, program administrators and staff in examining practices 24

Lessons Learned and Insights Interagency coordination is considered critical but is extremely challenging to implement Teams and plans need leadership and shepherds TA support is valued and takes attention over time Developing plans may be easier than implementing them 25

For More Information Expanding Opportunities NECTAC Systems Change Model 26

Promoting Social Emotional Competence in All Young Children Through Collaboration Barbara J. Smith OSEP, August,

The Center on Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning 28

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Shared Conceptual Framework: Pyramid Model for Promoting Social and Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children 30

Shared TA Model Cross-agency Collaborative State Team to: – Improve child social, emotional and behavioral outcomes through building infrastructure to implement, scale-up and sustain Pyramid Model practices with fidelity across systems – Establish/support Pyramid Model Trainers – Establish/support Pyramid Model Coaches (who can coach to fidelity) – Establish/support Pyramid Model demonstration sites who collect data: fidelity to practices and child and program outcomes – Data-based decision making at all levels: Fidelity measures (TPOT), Child data (behaviors, social skills), program data (Benchmarks of Quality), state infrastructure data 31

Partner States Current CSEFEL States: CO, MD, IA, VT, NE, TN, HI, NC, CA, MA, WI Current TACSEI States: AK & MN 2 new TACSEI States will be added in Fall

33 Collaboration Progress to Date The earliest state collaborative teams have moved toward scale-up and sustainability through: – continuing the collaborative team for 3-4 years! – funding – policies – staffing – embedding the Pyramid work within on-going initiatives – establishing a “home” for the sustained effort, e.g. within an existing program; creating a new “center” across state systems

Collaboration Progress to Date The earliest state collaborative teams have moved toward scale-up and sustainability through : – continuing the collaborative team for 3-4 years! – funding – policies – staffing – embedding the Pyramid work within on-going initiatives – establishing a “home” for the sustained effort, e.g. within an existing program; creating a new “center” across state systems 34

Collaboration Progress to Date Pyramid Model training provided for cross-systems audiences Pyramid Model trainers, coaches and sites representing cross- systems, e.g. Head Start, School Districts, child care, Part C, ECSE Cross-agency stipends provided to attend trainings Pyramid Model college courses created Developing cross-agency Pyramid trainer, coach and site certification process Agencies jointly funding a “Center” to sustain the effort across systems (CO) 35

36 Our state partnership “Model” works! It takes time, time, time, time Time for system/program planning (monthly meetings, building relationships) Time for data collection and analysis And, Time = Money and other resources! It takes HARD WORK, COMMITMENT and RELATIONSHIPS = attending to the “work environment” Collaboration Lessons Learned So Far

“Co-Labor” Collaboration is “a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond what their own limited vision of what is possible (Gray, 1989) Collaboration is a process put into place for an intended outcome Collaboration is only as good as the process that is designed to support the interaction of the people who are supposed to engage in “co-labor” The collaboration meeting is the “co-labor” “work environment” and therefore, needs to be facilitative of the work to be done 37

Design the Process for “Co-Labor” “Work Environment” What is the “workforce” and “work environment”? – stakeholders, leaders, experts, depends on purpose – In early childhood collaborative efforts, that means all the service systems: Child Care, 619, Part C, school districts, Head Start, etc. – Numbers matter: – Consistency in meeting attendance: no reps, meet at least monthly—build relationships! – It’s all about relationships, trust, shared commitment and ownership 38

39 Work Environment, cont. What is the “work environment”? – Establish common ground: vision, language, shared understanding on current context (challenges/resources) – Attend to effective meeting logistics that promote effectiveness, efficiency and ownership/buy-in: Frequency, length, convenience of meetings Ground rules Action oriented Activities that promote shared decision making and ensuring all voices are heard and appreciated – Provide resources (FTE, time, money, workscope, etc)

Measure the Process Variables Survey’s, interviews and other qualitative methods to obtain perceptions of the effectiveness of: – Membership – Numbers – Consistency – Group norms (values, vision, shared language and concepts, meeting logistics, ground rules, etc) – “ownership” strategies – Resources and supports both within the collaboration as well as within each organization – Efficiency (were objectives, vision, action plans met?) 40

Outcome Measures Outcome Measures: – Objectives and action plans (goal attainment, content analysis, etc) – Effects on systems, policies (environmental scans, focus groups, policy analysis, content analyses, etc) – Effects on consumers (measures of child outcomes, family outcomes, program outcomes, personnel outcomes, etc.) 41

Confirm vision Update mission: Scale-up & Sustaining Update objective/action plan re: new mission Confirm team membership, meeting ground rules and logistics re: new mission and action plan EVALUATION, EVALUATION, EVALUATION! Make decisions based on data! 42 Scaling-up & Sustaining

 Questions  Comments  Examples of other tools  Use of tools  Effective practices  Tips to avoid pitfalls 43 Discussion