Board of Directors MeetingMarch 12, 2013

2012 Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant Annual Report

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RTT-ELC Grant Overview

$50 million awarded for the Massachusetts Early Learning Plan 2012-2015

Funding to accelerate EEC’s existing work and start new initiatives that build on MA’s comprehensive early education system

12 RTT-ELC Projects in Program Quality, Educator Quality, Screening & Assessment, Family & Community Engagement, and Infrastructure

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RTT-ELC Annual Report

Reporting progress in EEC’s priority areas:

Program Quality: High Quality Accountable Programs, Early Learning & Development Standards

Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Screening & Assessments: Comprehensive Assessment Systems

Family & Community Engagement: Engaging & Supporting Families

Infrastructure: Successful State Systems, Early Learning Data Systems

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Program Quality: High Quality Accountable Programs, Early Learning & Development Standards

Project #2: QRIS Program Quality Supports Budget: $8,791,879 Activities: QRIS online courses, QRIS program

improvement grants, scholarships for educators in QRIS programs, QRIS health advisors, business planning course

Project 6: Standards Validation and Alignment Budget: $950,748 Activities: QRIS validation study, English language

development standards, multilingual translation of QRIS and early learning standards

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Project #5: Sustaining Program Effects in the Early Elementary Grades Budget: $4,992,219 Activities: Early Educators Fellowship Institute,

Readiness Centers

Project #8: Ensuring Competency through Workforce Knowledge, Skills and Practice-Based Support Budget: $10,944,853 Activities: analysis of professional development data,

validation study of educator competencies, higher education for educators who are English language learners, post-master’s certificate, peer and coaching

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Project #11: Pre-K to Grade Three Alignment for Educational Success: Communications Budget:$113,584 Activities: Exceptional Educator and Exceptional

Instructional Leader Award, Brain Building in Progress

Project #12: Pre-K to Grade Three Alignment for Educational Success: Content Based Media Partnership Budget:$582,652 Activities: media partnership with WGBH to create

early learning resources for educators and parents

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Screening & Assessment: Comprehensive Assessment System

Project #3: Measuring Growth Through the Massachusetts Early Learning and Development Assessment System (MELD) Budget: $15,540,199 Activities: ASQ toolkits with training for CFCE

grantees and DHCD shelters, assessment tools for public school teachers in MKEA

Project #9: Measuring Growth by Developing a Common Measure for Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) Budget: $401,336 Activities: development of a common metric based on

assessment data

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Family & Community Engagement: Engaging & Supporting Families

Project #4: Family Engagement Evidence Based Practice Budget: $15,529,169 Activities: financial education for families, family literacy,

adult literacy, partnership with museums and libraries, Brazelton Touchpoints training

Project #5: Sustaining Program Effects in the Early Elementary Grades Budget: $4,992,219 Activities: Birth to Grade Three alignment

Project #12: Pre-K to Grade Three Alignment for Educational Success: Content Based Media Partnership Budget:$582,652 Activities: media partnership with WGBH to create early

learning resources for educators and parents

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Infrastructure: Successful State Systems, Early Learning Data Systems

Project #1: Systems Infrastructure Activity: EEC Budget Budget: $967,989 Activities: staffing and administration

Project #7: Interagency Partnerships Budget: $1,232,564 Activities: partnerships with DCF, DHCD, DMH, DPH, ORI

Project #10: Implementing the Early Childhood Information Systems (ECIS) Budget: $628,614 Activities: development of an Early Childhood Information

System (ECIS), Longitudinal Data System (LDS)

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Program Quality: High Quality, Accountable Programs

Increasing the number of programs in QRIS

7,327 programs receiving CCDF funds of which:• 166 are UPK and 214 are Head Start programs• 136 are license exempt programs• 70 are programs funded by IDEA, Part B, section 619• 28 are programs funded under Title I of ESEA

307 QRIS Program Improvement Grants awarded (RTT#2.2) Development of QRIS Technical Assistance and Business

Planning courses to complement existing QRIS online fundamentals course

Revising and Validating QRIS Standards

EDC report “Review of Research on Child Care Quality” completed

Launch of QRIS Validation Study with pilot study underway (RTT#6.1)

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Program Quality: Early Learning and Development Standards

Massachusetts Alignment Study (RTT#6.2)

Major Findings Overall: • Massachusetts has a solid set of standards that address the birth-through-

five age continuum. • EEC has made a good effort to align its standards across a broad age

spectrum and with seminal documents, particularly the Common Core.

Study Recommendations: • Create robust set of standards that do not ignore either of the national

documents, but aligns with them as appropriate within the context of Massachusetts.

• Addition of indicators to the preschool and kindergarten standards to fully address Social and Emotional Development, Approaches Toward Play and Learning, the Cognitive Processes, and English Language Acquisition.

• Adjust some of the indicators to make the progression of difficulty between the preschool and kindergarten standards more consistent.

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Program Quality: Early Learning and Development Standards

English Language Development Standards (RTT#6.4)

Development of English Language Development Standards for children 2.5 to 5.5 years old.

Alignment with the recently adopted use of the K to 12 assessment of English Language Development by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Full day work session with over 40 participants from public schools, higher education, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Head Start programs and center based programs on the draft Early Language Learning Standards.

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Readiness Centers (RTT#5.2) Funding to regional Readiness Centers to provide professional

development related to QRIS, data management and MKEA 332 professional development opportunities aligned with QRIS

Standards, MA Curriculum Frameworks, and Infant, Toddler and Preschool Learning Guidelines

Validation of Workforce Competencies (RTT#8.2) Validating educator competencies in social emotional development,

literacy, numeracy, and digital techniques in the classroom Pilot study in progress with 80 family, center based and out of

school time programs

Peer Assistance and Coaching (PAC) (RTT#8.7) Improve the education, training, and compensation of early

childhood educators to promote effective practice and alignment with EEC‘s workforce core competencies, increase workforce retention, and strengthen adult-child interactions, especially among high needs children

PAC Model consist of Consultant Teachers, Mentees, and CLASS

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Business Planning for Early Educators (RTT#2.8) Assist educators in family and center based programs to

implement sound business practices that will result in higher scores on the PAS, BAS and APT to reach higher QRIS levels

Higher Education for English Language Learners (RTT#8.5) Program for educators who are English Language Learners

to access higher education while providing immediate content needed to improve practice

Cohort 1 focused on Spanish speaking educators in family based programs

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Early Childhood Educators Scholarships (RTT#2.3) Collaboration with Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) to

fund annual scholarships to early education and out of school time providers working in the field to attain associates or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or related area

$4.2million allocated to these scholarships ($3.2m from state, $1m from RTT-ELC grant)

Over 2,300 educators applied for 2012-2013 scholarship. EEC received 1,569 applications from OSFA

Post Master’s Certificate in Early Education Research, Policy & Leadership (RTT#8.6)

Educate new generation of early childhood leaders Fund 3 cohorts of 15 educators from 2012-2015 135 applications received, 15 educators selected

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Educator Quality: Early Childhood Education Workforce

Early Educators Fellowship Institute (RTT#5.1) Provides content relevant to EEC core competencies, EEC and ESE

initiatives and are counted toward college credit offered to every individual participant. The Institute fosters cross-sector collaboration among public school, Head Start, center-based, out of school time, family child care, mental health, and early intervention programs. 129 educators completed Institute from 2011-2012.

FY12 speakers include: Barbara Bowman, the Chief Officer of Early Childhood Education for the Chicago Public Schools; Dr. Ed Tronick from Children’s Hospital Boston and the University of Massachusetts Boston; Rebecca Soden from the Clayton Early Learning Center in Denver, Colorado.

Media based literacy support for educators (RTT#12) Partnership with WGBH to develop “digital hub”, a free, online

platform that will feature a centralized library of these resources, direct links to related materials, and customized pathways to guide teachers, parents and other care providers through the site

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Screening & Assessments: Comprehensive Assessment Systems

Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA)

(RTT#3) Cohort 1 of 20 public schools using formative assessment

tools Teaching Strategies GOLD or Work Sampling System. 809 teachers and administrators have been trained.

Cohort 2 recruitment underway.

Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) (RTT#3.1) Assessment tool for parents to learn more about their

child’s development and to help them understand that they are their child’s first teacher. ASQ toolkits delivered to 99 CFCE grantees.

ASQ toolkits to be delivered to staff working at Dept. of Housing and Community Development shelters and other service providers.

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Family & Community Engagement: Engaging & Supporting Families

Evidence Based Literacy (RTT#4.2) $400,000 awarded to 24 CFCE grantees to serve 338 cities

and towns in early and family literacy

Professional Development Opportunities for CFCE grantees ASQ (RTT#3.1) Brazelton Touchpoints (RTT#4.5) Read and Rise Recognizing Signs of Post Partum Depression Financial Literacy (RTT#4.1)

Museum and Libraries Partnership (RTT#4.4) Boston Children’s Museum leading statewide strategy

increase capacity of museums and libraries to support family and community engagement

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Family & Community Engagement: Engaging & Supporting Families

Infant/Toddler Guidelines, Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences (RTT#6.4)

Guidelines translated into 6 languages

Media Based Literacy Support For families (RTT#12) Partnership with WGBH to develop “digital hub”, a free,

online platform that will feature a centralized library of these resources, direct links to related materials, and customized pathways to guide teachers, parents and other care providers through the site

Brain Building in Progress (RTT#11.1) Partnership with United Way of Mass Bay & Merrimack

Valley raise public awareness about importance of quality early education

Birth to Grade Three Strategy Development (RTT#5.1) 5 communities awarded grants to improve local

infrastructure

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Infrastructure: Successful State Systems, Early Learning Data Systems

Interagency Partnerships (RTT#7) Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) Department of Higher Education (DHE) Department of Public Health (DPH) Department of Children and Families (DCF) Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Office of Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) The Children’s Trust Fund (CTF)

Governance Structure Governor Patrick and the Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet

overseeing Education Action Agenda Stable leadership of EEC Board of Directors, Commissioner and

Senior Management

Public and Private Stakeholder Involvement WGBH United Way of Mass Bay & Merrimack Valley Boston Children’s Museum IBM

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Infrastructure: Successful State Systems, Early Learning Data Systems

Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) (RTT#10)

Construction of ECIS to create single source for data reporting across agencies

Partnership with ESE on Longitudinal Data System

12 reports available on ECIS include:• Children by Ethnicity• Children by Federal Race Classification (trend)• Children by Federal Race Classification (regions)• Children by Primary Language• Children by Second Language• Children by Age Group• Children by Funding • Children by Top 7 Primary Languages• Attendance – Annual Absentee Percentage by Region• Attendance – Annual by Regional Ratio per Annum• Monthly Child Subsidy Attendance