Early Learning Challenge Opportunity: Massachusetts’ Plan

1. Early Learning Challenge Opportunity: Massachusetts’ Plan

2. Outline of Massachusetts’ Application Plan

3. Early Learning Challenge Goals “This competition represents an unprecedented opportunity for States to focus deeply on their birth through five early learning and development (ELD) systems and build a more unified approach to supporting young children and their families — one that increases access and quality and helps ensure that children enter kindergarten with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions they need to be successful.”

4. Overview of Programs and Points • Absolute Priorities • Priority 1: Promoting school readiness for children with High Needs* • Competitive Priorities • Priority 2: Including all programs in tiered QRIS (10 pts) • Priority 3: Understanding the status of children at kindergarten entry (10 pts) • Invitational Priorities • Priority 4: Sustaining effects in early elementary grades • Priority 5: Encouraging Private-sector support *The state has traditionally defined high-needs populations as those with sufficiently low-household incomes or in need of special education assistance and support. The state envisions a more aggressive approach, however, to identifying and supporting high-needs populations by leveraging the Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) to collect and analyze socio-economic, demographic, and educational data and through informed consent proactively engage children with multiple risk factors.

5. Overview of Programs and Points Core Areas • Successful State Systems • Past commitment to ELD • State reform agenda and goals • Aligning and coordinating ELD across state • Budget to implement and sustain work • High-quality, accountable programs • Establish statewide tiered QRIS • Promote participation in QRIS • Rate and monitor ELD programs • Promote access to high-quality ELD programs for children with High Needs • Validate effectiveness of QRIS

6. Overview of Program and Points Focused Investment Areas • Promoting ELD outcomes for children • Use statewide ELD standards • Support effective uses of assessment • Engage and support families • A great early childhood workforce • Support educators’ knowledge, skills and abilities • Measuring outcomes and progress • Kindergarten entry assessment • Early learning data systems

7. RTTT-ELC Application Process • Leverage EEC Board strategic plan; use to guide decision-making in application process • Hold public forums and solicit feedback on ELD agenda • Convene MA RTTT-ELC leadership team, made up of EEC Advisory Council members to develop high-quality plans • Work with national experts, provided through the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative TA initiative, to solidify details of RTTT-ELC application • Secure MOUs from participating education and health and human services agencies for shared work • Reach out to key stakeholders for letters of support endorsing the state’s application • Secure signatures from Governor, Attorney General and participating state agency heads • Submit the ELC application on behalf of the Governor

8. Massachusetts Context • Leader in education, health care and public service • Strong governance structure • An Act Relative to Early Education and Care • Creation of EEC • Children’s early learning and development – the unfinished business of education reform • 135,000 children (B-5) with multiple risk factors • Strategic Goals • Enhance children’s healthy growth and development through quality early childhood programs, both formal and informal • Strengthen community, school, state and family supports to support parents as first teachers • Identify developmental risk to support school readiness and prevent achievement gap • Invest in early educators workforce as it relates to skills, knowledge, abilities and compensation

9. Support for High Needs* Children • State: governance, resource distribution, oversight, data management • Regional: infrastructure • EPS grantees including Readiness Centers, CCR&Rs, Mental Health grants • Community: capacity-building, leadership, public awareness, family engagement • Public awareness campaign • Evidence based literacy strategies • Outreach to hard to reach families especially those not in formal programs • Universal screening => ASQ/ASQ SE • CFCE grantees statewide • Programs: quality enhancements, data collection, assessment • Family assistance/child subsidies • Licensing • Reprocurement • Families: engage and educate • Strengthening families, Home visiting • Interagency collaboration (Early Intervention and Special Education), MOUs *Children with High Needs means children from birth through kindergarten entry who are from Low-Income families or otherwise in need of special assistance and support, including children who have disabilities or developmental delays; who are English learners; who reside on “Indian lands” as that term is defined by section 8013(6) of the ESEA; who are migrant, homeless, or in foster care; and other children as identified by the State.

10. Participating State Agencies • EEC has secured MOUs with the following state agencies: EOE, ESE, DHE, CTF, DPH, DMH, DCF, DHCD, DTA, ORI, the State Advisory Council (SAC), and the Head Start State Collaboration Office. • The MOUs will help improve the administration and coordination of programs and services serving children from birth through school age, particularly in the following areas: • Data sharing; • Training and professional development; • Referrals, especially through Kinderwait; • Child screening; • Program evaluation; and • Communication and governance.

11. Participating State Agencies Additional proposals: • Support the continued development of the state Readiness Centers • In partnership with ESE, establish the Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment system • In Partnership with ESE, expand the work of wraparound zones to include programs for children from birth through age five • Support staff at DPH and DCF to embed early childhood development knowledge within approaches to children’s mental and behavioral health • Continue shared oversight and management of Maternal, Infant, Child Home Visiting (MIECHV) program • Augment DPH’s MA Children at Play program • Augment DCF’s Family Resource Centers • Support DHCD’s Home Base approach to homeless service provision; • In partnership with CTF, continue CSEFEL and Healthy Families training modules • Provide one staff member to ORI to raise awareness of immigrant and refugee needs within the early childhood field • In partnership with DMH, support the MA Child Psychiatry Access Project and the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative 10

12. What is Massachusetts Story? How do we achieve our strategic goals? • What outcomes do we want for children? • Standards • How do we support them their achievement? • Governance and infrastructure • Where should we target resources? • Program quality enhancements • Teacher quality enhancements • Family/community engagement • How do we track our investments and measure growth? • Comprehensive assessment and Data systems • How do we know we have achieved our goals? • Measured growth in children

13. Massachusetts High-Quality Plans • Design and implement a comprehensive assessment system. • Engage and strengthen communities and families by formalizing community family engagement grants. • Support workforce development and increased compensation. • Improve program quality (primarily through the QRIS as a definition of quality). • Link schools and communities to promote healthy child development through prek to 3rd grade alignment. • Build data systems to support infrastructure.

14. Design and Implement a Comprehensive Assessment System • Screening – ASQ/ASQ SE • Early Warning Indicators – needs and risk assessment • Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA) • PK-3 formative assessment system alignment with Common core and PARCC • Support and training and data anylsis

15. Highlight – Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA) • Identify formative assessment tools • Measure children’s progress through growth • Individualize teaching and learning • Guide classroom practice and improve Professional Development • Measure children’s school readiness via a common metric • Communicate with parents (via assessment results and potentially with report cards) • MKEA methodology • Align formative assessments with standards • Norm-referenced validation of formative assessment • Item analysis to produce common metric

16. MKEA: Cohort I • The following districts have agreed to participate in the initial year of the MKEA: • Chelsea • Holyoke • Lawrence • Lowell • Ludlow • Lynn • Medford • New Bedford • Northampton • South Hadley • Taunton • EEC is continuing its outreach and anticipates 12-15 districts participating in the 1st year.

17. Engage and Strengthen Communities and Families • Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grants (CFCE) • ASQ/ASQ SE screening • Evidence-based literacy models • Strengthening Families/Brazelton Touchpoints Frameworks • Partnerships with museums and libraries • Countdown to Kindergarten expansion • Public awareness campaign – Brain Building in Progress • Financial literacy education for families

18. Support Workforce Development and Increased Compensation Practice-based supports • Educator and Provider Support grants • Provider planning • Formalize Coaching and Mentoring • Competency measurement for literacy, numeracy and social emotional development • EPS system acceleration strategy • Evaluation: Educator training and practice to determine efficacy • Readiness Centers: ECE and K-12 alignment for assessment and data analysis

19. Support Workforce Development and Increased Compensation Career advancement • Paraprofessional support with a focus on educators whose home language is not English • Tapping Academic Potential as a bridge for educators whose home language is not English • Wheelock College post-MA program to develop practice based research Compensation • “Support for early educators doing more!” Stipends • Assessment training • Coaching and mentoring

20. Improve Program Quality • QRIS grants • Online unit-based courses • Online application system • QRIS validation study

21. Link Schools and Communities to Promote Healthy Child Development • MOUs with local school districts/communities • Three point PK-3 alignment plan • Engage leadership • Develop universal screening process • Build PK-3 formative assessment system • Wrap-around zones • Summer learning supports

22. Build Data Systems to Support Infrastructure • Build system • MOUs with participating agencies • Informed consent • Data entry • Dashboard/early indicator system • EEC Unified Data System including Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) • Student Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) • SASIDs

23. Due Date and Grant Period • The application due date has been given for October 19th, 2011. • The grant period would run from December 2011- December 2015.