Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge

Purpose of the grant Purpose is to improve program quality and services coordination for infants, young children and their families to maximize infants and young children’s learning and development, starting during pregnancy

Grant Snapshot Dec 31, 2013 through Dec 31, 2017 Pregnancy to Eight Result of 2 years of work of four state agencies and NJ Council for Young Children One of 6 states to receive the grant (NJ, VT, KY, GA, PA, MI) Grant award: $44.3 million

Department of Education Division of EC Education (P-3) Head Start Collaboration Teacher Credentials & Licensing IDEA Part B (Preschool Special Education) Office of Special Ed Federal Title I and other Federal Programs Regional Achievement Centers County Offices Migrant, Homeless Ed Office of Bilingual Ed Department of Human Services Subsidized child care Wraparound care First Steps Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies Family Worker Outreach TANF SNAP (food stamps) NJ Medicaid NJ Family Care PINJ (Workforce Registry) Department of Children & Families Child Welfare Child Care Licensing Home Visiting Program Strengthening Families through Early Care & Education Family Success Centers Family Day Care Provider Registration (voluntary) NJ Children’s Trust Fund Federal Community Based Child Abuse Prevention Funds Department of Health IDEA Part C (Early Intervention) Special Child Health Services Home Visiting Program Maternal and Child Health Services Immunizations Childhood Lead Poisoning Indoor Environments Program Shaping NJ Current Structure of State Early Childhood Services

The Early Learning Challenge will help Build Our System

Who’s Involved Department of Education Department of Human Services Department of Children and Families Department of Health The Inter Department Planning Group The Early Learning Commission The NJ Council for Young Children Head Start Collaboration Office Stakeholder Groups

5/23/2015 At the heart of the grant is the identification and implementation of common standards across all of our agencies through Grow NJ Kids, our Quality Rating Improvement System

Grow NJ Kids drives the improvement process Like a “Consumer Reports” of home, center and school-based care and education programs for birth to five.

Grow NJ Kids Road map to achieving quality for early learning and care providers Sequenced levels of evidence-based practices in health, family and community engagement, early learning and assessment, workforce development and administrative practices Assistance and resources to help sites progress through the 5 levels Incentives for participation Rating processes Evaluation of efficacy of the system Outreach to ensure provider and family participation

The grant will allow us to: Finalize the school/center based tool Develop and test the Family Child Care tool, and begin rollout Rollout will be cross sector

Our targets ProgramsChildren Total Sites Included by end of Grant Center-based sites serving children receiving subsidy25, Family Child Care sites serving children receiving subsidy Head Start and Early Head Start (outside State Preschool sites)6, State Preschool sites (incl. 619)25, ECPA/ELLI (incl. 619)9, Public and approved private schools for children with special needs67221 Programs funded by 619 (non Abbott/non ECPA/ELLI)4, Non-High Needs Programs10, ,1961,788

Our mission is to go from this

To this

5/23/ Or this

To this 5/23/2015

The Projects

Create A Sustainable Early Childhood Training and Professional Development System Establish an Early Learning & Development Training Academy with 3 regional locations (at IHEs) What is it? Training hubs with endorsed/certified trainers in required tools, measures, and curricula in Grow NJ Kids Purpose? To provide training and support to the Quality Improvement Specialists and will be a resource for all early childhood programs in the state

Align Early Childhood PD Systems Finalize the revisions of New Jersey’s Core Knowledge and Competency Framework & Career Lattice; Meet targets for professional development and higher education institutions and agencies that do not yet use the Framework by working with the Higher Education Commission; Conduct mid grant and end of grant higher education inventories to track progress

Set up the Grow NJ Kids Incentive System Quality enhancement grants (budgeted at $500/room with a max of $10,000) Scholarships  scholarships for teachers and directors ($6,000 over 2 years)  scholarships for teacher assistants ($2,000 over 2 years)  scholarships for Family Child Care directors ($2,000 over 2 years) Professional development, on site coaching and mentoring Hire a consultant to help establish a fund for incentives through public/private partnerships and set funding targets

Develop Grow NJ Kids Rating System Create an Early Learning Improvement Consortium (ELIC) to draw in at least 3 colleges/universities to begin conducting the ratings

Validate Grow NJ Kids MOU to validate the system to answer 4 questions:  Do our indicators differentiate quality?  Is our technical assistance effective in moving sites up through the levels?  Are higher levels associated with better outcomes?  Are we using the ratings protocol reliably?

Promote Family Engagement & Health Expand central intake hubs to six additional counties (one stop shop for connection to services) Establish county-level parent-led Councils for Young Children in all 21 counties Increase the number of infants and young children screened for social-emotional and developmental concerns

Begin 3-year campaign to promote Grow NJ Kids and make public aware of program standards Publicize Grow NJ Kids for Target Families

5/23/2015 Create infrastructure to link data across state systems Expand current Workforce Registry Support Licensing Data System Support the development and connection of early childhood data systems

Extend support to kindergarten-3rd Grade Pilot technology-based curricula designed to boost children’s mastery of math and literacy skills; Create guidelines for 1-3; Create modules for implementation; Build capacity of teachers and leaders in k-3 settings by focusing on optimizing instruction, using data from child assessments and measures of instruction; Establish steering committee to create an evaluation component

Implement a Kindergarten Entry Assessment Complete a phased-in voluntary statewide implementation of the KEA between September 2014 and September 2019 (not grant funded)

Integrate and align the standards from birth to eight Articulate and align New Jersey’s birth to three and preschool standards with the K-3 standards Include early learning standards (infant/toddler and preschool) in regulatory documents- licensing, Child Care, home visiting, Early Intervention, Family Child Care Create self-paced training modules  Train cross sector

Common evidence-based program and learning standards (Grow NJ Kids) Connect families to comprehensive services Prepare workforce to meet particularized needs Coordinate programs and funding across state agencies Data systems to track and support programs, children, families and workforce High Quality Early Experiences Healthy, Happy, Ready Kids 28 What will happen if we are successful