BUILDING A STATEWIDE EARLY LEARNING SYSTEM: How Does It All Connect To Your Work? FOCUS ON CHILDREN CONFERENCE February 2, 2013 Bette Hyde, PhD Director, Department of Early Learning

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS CHILDREN QUALITY Our focus is on

What we are doing to support school-ready children! ELP Parent support and information Subsidies Home visiting Infant/ Toddler Hubs Therapeutic Child Care Benchmarks /Guidelines Early Support for Infant & Toddler ECEAP HSSCO P-3 partnerships WaKIDS Professional Development QRIS/ Early Achievers

What we do Based on our state’s 10-year Early Learning Plan

Ready and successful… 2012 Partnership Priorities 2013 Partnership Priorities …Children  Expand services, build coordinated, well- evaluated home visiting system  Develop, implement statewide Birth-Grade 12 literacy plan  ECEAP: entitlement or basic ed?  Make home visiting available to at- risk families  Ensure developmental screening  Increase use of early literacy services and programs  Expand and enhance ECEAP …Parents, Families and Caregivers  Grow “Love. Talk. Play.” campaign, begin parent ed about Early Achievers  Deepen parenting, caregiver and early learning professional knowledge and learning opportunities. …Early Learning Professionals  Expand Early Achievers  Implement PD recommendations, including FOI executive functioning pilot  Develop and implement regional service model of consultation in Infant-Toddler Hubs  Fully implement comprehensive professional development and compensation system  Implement Early Achievers

Ready and successful… 2012 Partnership Priorities 2013 Partnership Priorities …Schools  Continue implementation of WaKIDS  Continue phase-in of full-day kindergarten  Align and strengthen pre-K and K-3 instructional practices statewide  Align prekindergarten and K-3 instructional and programmatic practices  Continue implementation of WaKIDS  Continue phase-in of full-day kindergarten …Systems and Communities  Strengthen and expand role of ELAC  Work with ELAC, coalitions and infant toddler hubs to create state/local governance structure  Disseminate, promote use of early learning guidelines.  Continue coordination of child care licensing/ECEAP/HEAD START/ K-3 as an early learning system.  Promote use of Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines  Build statewide infrastructure for partnership and mobilization  Expand P-20 longitudinal data system

DEL’s vision Our state offers world-class, developmentally and culturally appropriate early learning opportunities for all of Washington's youngest learners, so each child enters kindergarten with a solid foundation for success in school and life.

Vision In Washington, we work together so that all children start life with a solid foundation for success, based on strong families an a world-class early learning system for all children prenatal through third grade. Accessible, accountable, and developmentally and culturally appropriate, our system partners with families to ensure that every child is healthy, capable and confident in school and in life.

Early Learning and Development Guidelines

Birth to 11 months

3 to 4 years

Social-emotional development, age 5 Self-management – Resist impulses and choose appropriate behavior with little adult direction. – Make and follow, some of the time, multi-step plans for completing a task. – Change actions to meet what is expected in different settings and conditions, such as taking shoes off at home, leaving them on at school, and putting boots on in the rain. – Communicate about emotions and how to express them in a constructive way.

What is WaKIDS?

What We Learned About: Family Connection The opportunity to welcome families and students to the “world of school” through individual family/teacher/student meetings at the beginning of the school year was viewed positively.* 73.8% of teachers said the family connection gave them a good understanding of their students and their families very early in the year. 41% of teachers said the Introducing Me! Booklet was helpful or extremely helpful. 65.3% of teachers said they used the time to let families share information about the kindergarten student’s interests, needs and family culture. *WaKIDS Fall 2011 Implementation Feedback Survey

Fall 2012 WaKIDS data

Career Lattice Career Lattice: Three years in the making Child care licensing reviews…family homes and school age Early Achievers/QRIS: Five years in the making Revised trainer approval process Partnership with higher education … “stackable certificates,” guide books review

Race to the Top-Early Learning Grant focus To build a high-quality early learning system The system must be sustainable after the grant money ends The system must focus on achieving better learning outcomes for high-risk children

Only nine states were awarded funds Washington ranked 3 rd in the nation $60 million over four years Race to the Top-Early Learning Grant facts

Race to the Top-Early Learning Grant: In a nutshell Race to the Top is the fuel to move the engine of quality.

EARLY ACHIEVERS: PILOT TO SCALE How we do it Review research and stakeholder input Pilot Refine empirically Take to scale Refine empirically

Early Achievers: From pilot to scale 2007: Pilot funded in state budget 2008: Create standards with Thrive by Five Washington ; funding cut due to economy : Modified field test to test key elements of the model. Programs are rated and receive coaching. December 2011: Race to the Top- Early Learning Challenge grant July 2012: Statewide implementa tion begins with coaching, technical assistance, quality awards. Data used to refine, improve

Level 2 – Technical Assistance Accessed through local Child Care Aware offices TA Specialists provide support to Early Achievers participants working through Level 2 requirements TA Specialists are individually assigned to each facility after registration and work with each facility’s schedule TA focuses on helping facilities understand and implement and quality standards, training in concepts and ensuring the Early Achievers are ready to apply for a rating for Levels 3-5

Incentives/support for participants Level 2: Individualized technical assistance Free training series Level 3-5: Coaching Scholarships (precollege level – graduate) Quality improvement awards (see next slide) Tiered reimbursement proposed

Quality Improvement Awards Family Home Level 3$2,000 Level 4$2,250 Level 5$2,750 Center Level 3$5,000 Level 4$7,500 Level 5$9,000

Early Achievers Stats Early Achievers Levels 2-5 As of Jan. 24, 2013 Total Programs962 Head Start and ECEAP145 Licensed Child Care817 Family Child Care455 Child Care Centers362 Total Children Served22,979 Teaching Staff4,255

Why professional development? The most important factor in a child learning and development is the quality of the teacher/caregiver Research/idea/materials change “If you are not changing, you are following behind” All of us need to keep up/continue to grow All of us deserve quality professional development and support

Early Achievers video

Early learning is a critical component of public education because… Longitudinal studies how long-term positive benefits for kids and families HighScope Perry Preschool Study Carolina Abecedarian Project Chicago Child-Parent Center Program Benefits include: Increased reading and math skills Social competence Staying in school College attendance Full-time employment in adulthood But, only if high-quality early learning program In Washington, about 70,000 children enter kindergarten each year

March 2012 Washington State Institute for Public Policy

There are economic advantages to schools and society Schools save money o Increased enrollment o Public goodwill/support for levies and bonds o Costs avoided for support programs Society saves money o Less incarceration o Less welfare o More taxpaying citizens Early learning is a critical component of public education because…

(Source: James J. Heckman, The University of Chicago-Dept. of Economics)

The brain “grows” (maturates) the most in the first five years of life—about 92 percent of all human brain development. Learning will occur – The extent and quality of the content are the earliest variables in children. There are 2,000 days between birth and kindergarten entrance. Every day counts! Early learning is a critical component of public education because…

Center of the Development Child Harvard University ~Serve & Return video~

~Still Face Experiment video~

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