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School Readiness and Early Grade Success Update

Leah Hendey

Tom Kingsley

NNIP May 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul

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Overview

NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success Cross-site Initiative

Objectives Phase I Findings Phase II Plans

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NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success Cross-site Initiative Goals:

Develop understanding of school readiness and early grade success system as a whole

Use data to promote collaboration and coherence

on policy advocacy in this area

Ready Child Equation: Ready Families + Ready Communities + Ready

Services + Ready Schools = Ready Children

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NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success Cross-site Initiative Phase I: (Oct. 07-May 08)

Scan local early childhood support system Involve other local organizations Complete school readiness and success brief

Phase II: (June 08-Sep 09) Plan for future activity to address local priorities Conduct a Community Children’s Policy Forum Participate in cross-city research and advocacy

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Phase I Findings (System Scan): State of school readiness systems varied

considerably across sites - high level of fragmentation typical

Ranged from Miami and Cleveland (developed systems – still need some integration) to Milwaukee (little or no local engagement on the issue).

Several sites have a county-level group or collaboration on early childhood and families.

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Phase I Findings (System Scan): Available data varies substantially by site and

domain Few have adequate kindergarten assessment

Scan laid out the elements of the school readiness

system but did not evaluate adequacy of the system

Concerns about capacity: Home Visits/Parental Support, services ages 0-3 generally IDEA services Child Care Subsidies

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Phase I Findings(School Readiness Briefs):

Clear disparities between neighborhoods on risk factors for not being school ready

Almost all sites developed a risk or vulnerability index to map where the most at-risk children live. Most indices included some data on birth outcomes

Most at-risk children typically in high poverty/high minority neighborhoods - often not located near good schools or services

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Phase I Cross-site Conclusions: Initiative able to bring together relevant actors, use

data to create momentum for more coherent system

Need for integrated organization that engages stakeholders, promotes system integration and uses data to support early childhood policy

Invest In Children – Cuyahoga County, OH

Need for better kindergarten assessments (data by neighborhood)

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Phase I Cross-site Conclusions: Little information or emphasis on kids 0 to 3

Except some home visit programs

Need for formal evaluation of early childhood programs and system as whole (performance management)

Will require development of new information systems to track outcomes

Providence model – establish record at birth

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Phase II – Future Activities Reports and Data

Atlanta

Chattanooga

Cleveland

Denver

Memphis

Miami

Milwaukee

Providence

Update School Readiness Brief/Report x x x x xContinue work on school readiness indicators and increasing data access

x x x x x

Establish countywide database for early childhood interventions/at-risk children

x

Future Research Study x x x

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Phase II – Future Activities Advocacy and Policy

Atlanta

Chattanooga

Cleveland

Denver

Memphis

Miami

Milwaukee

Providence

Continue Local Collaboration x x x x x xCreate coordinating council on early childhood

x

Identify and push for new school readiness instrument

x

Draft service integration and quality assurance plan for publically funded early childhood programs

x

Inform state and local discussions on school readiness

x x x x

Engage local business leaders on issue x

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Phase II – Community Forums Four partners already conducted forums (Denver,

Milwaukee, Providence, Atlanta)

All well attended and seem to have had positive response

Still to come: Chattanooga, Miami, Memphis & Cleveland

UI will obtain systematic information (who attended, content, conclusions of participants, follow-on impacts)

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Directions for Cross-site Report UI taking lead in drafting but will ask assistance from

partners

Start with summary as in this briefing Preface with materials from our handbook (by Charlie

Bruner) Explain importance of local vs. state context in advocacy

Probe further to add detail on important examples E.g., story of how Cleveland structure was developed, use

made of Denver work since forum

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Steps to Project Completion

Presentations in early fall E.g., National Association for the Education of Young

Children (NAEYC), Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education

Develop funding proposal for next stage Align with ARRA funding & efforts to develop Statewide

Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS), Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)

Explore broader work: link to grade level reading goal E.g., possible projects around chronic absence