Transcript EEC Annual Legislative Report February 14, 2012 Context • Legislative language requires EEC to report on Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), Mental Health initiatives and the Workforce Development.

EEC Annual Legislative
Report
February 14, 2012
Context
• Legislative language requires EEC to report on
Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), Mental
Health initiatives and the Workforce
Development System
• FY2012 Budget Language requires a feasibility
study of the MA Child Care Resource &
Referral Agencies
• Report seeks to provide an update on EEC’s
five-year Strategic Plan and will frame this
year’s accomplishments and future planned
activities by the Board’s Strategic
Directions and Indicators of Success
What EEC Must Report (at a
Minimum)
Progress in achieving goals and implementing programs
authorized under M.G.L. c. 15D;
Progress made towards universal early education and care for
pre-school aged children;
Progress made toward reducing expulsion rates through
developmentally appropriate prevention and intervention services;
Behavioral health indicators;
Rules and regulations promulgated by the Board related to civil
fines and sanctions, including the types of sanctions and the amount
of the fines; and
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Findings and recommendations related to the study on the
programmatic financing and phase-in options for the development
and implementation of the Massachusetts universal prekindergarten program.
EEC System Components and Strategic
Directions: Legislative Report
EEC Strategic
Directions
Standards,
Assessment
and
Accountability
Informed
Families and
Public
Finance
Quality
Family Support,
Access, and
Affordability
EEC System
Components
Governance
Early Ed &
Care and K12 Linkages
Workforce
Communications
Regulations
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Workforce &
Professional
Development
Infrastructure
Framework of Report
Introduction
FY12 Context
Strategic Directions
Focused Strategic Directions
• Indicators of Success
MA Early Learning Plan
Strategic Direction:
Quality
Strategic Direction:
Workforce
Strategic Direction:
Family
• Accomplished this year
• Plan to do next year
• Accomplished this year
• Plan to do next year
Strategic Direction:
Communications
• Accomplished this year
• Plan to do next year
Strategic Direction:
Infrastructure
• Accomplished this year
• Plan to do next year
Appendices
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• Accomplished this year
• Plan to do next year
FY2012 Context will include:
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
Conclusion of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (ARRA) Funding

Race to the Top - Early Learning
Challenge Funding

Work of the Board of Early
Education and Care
Example: Strategic Direction: Quality
Indicator of Success: MA Quality Rating and Improvement
System (QRIS) has been developed, validated, funded and
implemented with full involvement of EEC’s community
partners and EEC staff.
Accomplished This Year
 FY2011 Launch of On-line System for Programs to
Manage QRIS Participation
 As of January 2012, of the 10,910 total programs
licensed by EEC, 16.3% (1,778) of programs have
submitted final applications to participate in the QRIS.
 Of the 1,778 programs, 1,660 programs have a
subsidy agreement with EEC (which indicates that
28.3% of the 5,741 subsidy providers participate in
QRIS.
Continued on next slide
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Example: Strategic Direction: Quality
Indicator of Success: MA Quality Rating and Improvement
System (QRIS) has been developed, validated, funded and
implemented with full involvement of EEC’s community
partners and EEC staff.
Accomplished This Year
 Implementation of FY2011 and FY2012 (in progress)
QRIS Program Improvement Grants
In FY2011, 100 FY2010 grantees were monitored; over 1,100
providers were trained on advancing on the QRIS; and 445
program level grants to early education and care and after
school programs.
 In FY2012, 376 applications were submitted for this grant
(including 73 after school programs, 159 center and school
based programs and 144 family child care programs).


Verification of Programs

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The verification process for the 2,255 QRIS applications has
begun (expected to be completed by Early March 2012)
Example: Strategic Direction: Quality
Indicator of Success: MA Quality Rating and Improvement
System (QRIS) has been developed, validated, funded
and implemented with full involvement of EEC’s
community partners and EEC staff.
Planned for Next Year

Evaluation of the QRIS Standards
 Over 4 years, EEC plans to hire a vendor to validate
the tiered QRIS, ensuring program quality matches
assigned tiers and leads to improved child
outcomes.

Move Toward Universal Participation in the QRIS
and Quality Improvement

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Through RTT funding, MA proposes to fund program
supports, online professional development training, and
technical assistance for early childhood programs to
increase both program participation and level
advancement on the tiered QRIS.
Example: Strategic Direction: Quality
Indicator of Success: Programs seeking to improve
their quality have access to a range of resources
and supports.
Accomplished This Year

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Professional Development Programs
 FY2011 Educator and Provider Support RFP
 Institutions of Higher Education Mapping Project
 Targeted Professional Development Resources
 Early Educator Scholarship Program: In FY2012, 1,004
applicants approved by EEC
 Professional Qualifications Registry (as of December
2011, 49,670 educators were entered)
 Assessment Supports (In FY2011 896 educators were
trained in 29 differentiated trainings (introductory,
intermediate and advanced levels) and 694 child
assessment tools and 5,101 on-line licenses (needed per
child) were given out.
Example: Strategic Direction: Quality
Indicator of Success: Programs seeking to improve
their quality have access to a range of resources
and supports.
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Planned for Next Year
 Educator and Provider Support: using data gathered
during the first two years of the 3 year grant, EEC continues
to refine the requirements for continuation grants.
 Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Mapping
Project: EEC is funding a part time position at DHE
beginning focus on implementation of the Early Education
Compact and supporting educators in completing their
degrees.
 Targeted Professional Development Resources for the
Field: EEC will work with EPS grantees and their Readiness
Center partners to make resources available through the
Readiness Center Network.
 FY2012 Assessment Grant: it is anticipated that a total of
800 educators will benefit from training and 225 programs
will receive assessment and/or screening tools.
Key Initiatives Advanced in FY2012
Highlights of the FY2011-2012 initiatives
that advanced the work of EEC include:
Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R)
Reform
 Redefining Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK)
 Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge
 Comprehensive Child Data System
 Early Childhood Information System (ECIS)–
Access to Parental Consent Forms at a Variety of
Access Points
 ASQ – Access to Children Beyond Formal Child
Care Settings
 Alignment of Quality with a Rate Reform Initiative
 Availability of On-line Resources

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CCR&R Reform
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
Over the past year, EEC has received input
from a variety of sources that point to a need
for reform of our CCR&R System.

As a result of analysis and discussion
(NACCRRA, CAYL, SAC Family Survey, CCR&R
staff and Board members), EEC plans to move
forward with a reform effort in four phases,
which will ultimately result in a new
CCR&R model through a competitive bid that
implements new standard policies, procedures
and protocols starting January 1, 2013.
Redefining Definition of UPK

EEC’s Board, and its Committees, allocated time in
FY2012 to discuss the further development and
definition of UPK, including refinement to the
structure, purpose, funding mechanism and
alignment with QRIS.

Some topics discussed relative to advancing the
UPK program include:






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
Connecting UPK participation to level 3 in QRIS
Serving “high needs children” as defined in the
RTTT-ELC grant and through the use of formative
assessments and screenings
Submission of individual child data
Movement toward median compensation
Program matches
PreK-3 alignment
Fund use
Race to the Top – Early Learning
Challenge
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
Securing $50M over the next four years will
allow Massachusetts to continue
strengthening our current system of early
education and care and allow many initiatives
to go to scale.

Specific projects will be carried out by both
public and private sector partners and will
result in full implementation of the
Massachusetts Early Learning Plan. The
projects are either direct community
investments or are statewide
infrastructure investments with secondary
gains for communities.
Comprehensive Child Data System
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
EEC has continued work on the new IT Unified
system
 web-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
Financial Assistance system that will help manage
EEC business practices and promote a more
unified and efficient system of early education and
care

The system will help:
 streamline statewide early education
business processes
 improve child and family data
 manage annual financial assistance

HCL America was chosen as the apparent winning
bidder. The project began in early December
2011
ECIS: Access to Parental Consent
Forms at a Variety of Access Points
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
EEC’s goal is to provide opportunities for families to
complete parental consent forms at a variety of
access points.
 EEC began a pilot with CFCE grantees designed to
get their input on EEC’s first draft of a Parental
Consent form that will be used as part of the ECIS;
 The parental consent form is a tool that allows CFCE
information that will enhance their capacity to identify
and provide the most appropriate resources
/referrals to families.

One UPK FY2012 grant objectives (continued from
FY11) includes an agreement to provide child level data,
with parent consent, allowing children to be assigned a
State Assigned Student Identification (SASID).
Ages and Stages Questionnaire
Access to Children Beyond Formal Child
Care Settings

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As part of implementation of Help Me Grow, EEC is currently
piloting the use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
screening tool in 15 CFCE programs, with the goal of
integrating this into the CFCE model across the Commonwealth.
 Help Me Grow is a prevention program designed to identify
children at risk for developmental or behavioral problems
and to connect these children to existing community
resources.
 The ASQ creates a structured opportunity for grantees to
talk with parents about child development, with
specific attention to the needs of their children. An integral
part of the screening process is linking families to local
resources to support their child’s development.
 Next Year, through RTT funding, the purchase of ASQ)
screening toolkits will be provided to 107 CFCE grantees
to engage families in their child’s development, normreferenced assessments to support individualized instruction
of licensed and licensed exempt early education and care
programs.
Alignment of Quality with a Rate
Reform Initiative
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EEC has initiated an analysis of the current cost of providing
quality, whole child education and care reimbursement in the
Massachusetts mixed delivery system.
 This approach will be the first step in the reform of the child
care rates for subsidized child care that takes into account all
costs associated with quality programs.
 The study will explore different costs per child according to
the ages of children and settings of child care to establish items
in the business of early childhood program delivery.
 Ideally, EEC will have an interactive model that will present
current “settings” in the Massachusetts child care system and
allow users to adjust settings for a range of components tied to
the state’s QRIS standards to see the cost implications.
 The cost model will also allow users to examine the effects of
various methods of allotting money, including modeling the
cost implications of changing child care reimbursement rules.
 The model will present results at the county, regional, or
state level and will estimate the costs for providers based on
provider characteristics.
Availability of On-line Resources
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
Targeted Professional Development Resources: EEC
developed a series of on-line courses on the Preschool
Guidelines, the Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and
Toddlers, the Core Competencies, and Early Literacy.

On-Line Professional Development Calendar: collects
data on opportunities offered throughout the state
 847 courses listed in 2011
• 482 of those were funded in part or in total by EEC
• 351 Courses were evaluated and 7,730 Educators
attended the evaluated professional development
offerings

Improved Access to Care: development of an on-line
waiting list application links all waiting list activities to the
enrollment and placement of children in programs
(August 2011 rollout).
Timeline: 2012
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January 10, 2012
EEC Board Meeting Discussion
January 19, 2012
Board Planning and Evaluation
Committee Meeting – Discussion
February 7, 2012
Send draft of the near final
report to the Governor’s Office
for review
February 14, 2012
EEC Board Meeting – Vote
February 15, 2012
Report Due