American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Update and Restructuring Proposal

1. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Update and Restructuring Proposal September 2010

2. ARRA Activities - COMPLETE • Summer Only 2009 • Up to $2.5M allocated ($636,714 spent ) This initiative supported “Summer Only” financial assistance to 701 children of working families (extended to 2010 program) which include children attending the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Commissioner’s Districts and children whose siblings are already enrolled/receiving child care financial assistance from EEC. • QRIS – Environmental Rating Scale Staff Training • Up to $120,000($85,416 spent) This initiative supported the training of EEC staff to become reliable raters using the Environmental Rating Scales. • Voucher Reassessment For CCR&Rs, Contract Providers, and IT Consultant Service • Up to $2.27M be used in FY2010 and FY2011 (spent in full) This initiative supported: contracted providers in assuming the voucher assessment process (up to $1.12M); reimbursement of CCR&Rs for the purpose of providing transitional support and funded efficiency proposals(up to $1M ); and IT consultant services to perform IT systems enhancements (up to $150,000). • Information and Referral • Up to $150,000 (spent in full) This initiative supported the streamlining and improvement of information and referral services provided to families and educators in Massachusetts through the competitive procurement of a call center service for fiscal year 2010.

3. ARRA Activities (Infant and Toddlers) • Improvement of Physical Environments Up to $500,000 This initiative will support a two part model, which begins with training of providers that serve infants and toddlers and then offers small grants to the trained programs to implement an environment improvement project. • Development of Infant Toddler Early Childhood Program Guidelines Up to $50,000 This initiative supported the development of Infant and Toddler Early Childhood Program Guidelines that align with the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences. The consultant will gather information from national and Massachusetts stakeholders with relevant experience to develop drafts of the documents. The end product is a final set of standards and guidelines for release to the early childhood field. • Early Literacy Program Up to $175,000 Up to $150,000 targeted for professional development opportunities and technical assistance regarding early literacy for families and Family Child Care Educators serving infants and toddlers. Providers that are serving at least one subsidized child, will receive a developmentally and culturally appropriate collection of children's books. Up to $25,000 to support a one‐time professional development conference and on- going opportunities for reflective practice, in partnership with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), which will focused on closing the early literacy proficiency gap within the pre‐kindergarten to age eight continuum.

4. ARRA Activities (Infant and Toddlers) • Infant/Toddler Rate Increase • Proposed: Up to $3M to reduce the market rate gap by providing a 3% rate increase to all EEC Infant and Toddler educators across the Commonwealth.

5. ARRA Activities (Preschool) • Access to Financial Assistance for Preschoolers Up to ~$12.2M Allocation of up to $12.2 million to open access for preschoolers on the waiting list. EEC preliminarily anticipated that access could be opened for approximately 877 preschool children. $135,000 supported CCR&R agencies for administration of this voucher initiative for three months. REKEEP: Providing before and/or after school care for children who participated in the Summer 2010 KEEP, are entering kindergarten in September, 2010 and continue to meet the Department’s financial assistance requirements (i.e., income eligibility, service need, etc.). Continuity of care for these children will be through ARRA financial assistance, to begin in September, 2010 and continue through Summer 2011; HS Wrap: Providing before and after school care for eligible preschoolers currently enrolled in Head Start programs (i.e., wrap-around care) who will enter kindergarten in September, 2011 and who meet the Department’s financial assistance requirements. Wrap-around care for these children will be through ARRA vouchers beginning in September, 2010 and continuing until late June, 2011. Eligible Head Start preschoolers may then be eligible to receive a full-day voucher following the close of their Head Start program through Summer 2011, if applicable; and Monitoring: Use not more than 5 % of the resources to hire fiscal and programmatic monitors for ARRA funding. Intensive Summer Only Kindergarten Preparation (KEEP) ~$4M for the summers of FY10 and FY11 Supports an intensive kindergarten preparation program during the summers of 2010 and 2011 to address the achievement gap. This program will support preschool children entering kindergarten who have not previously had access to high quality early education and care or are at risk for summer learning loss.

6. Pre-School Kindergarten Program $4.1 Million 18 month Voucher Program $12.2 Million $16.3 Million MONITORING 1. PSCCE 2.(proposal to pay add-on rate for quality) HS WRAP KEEP REKEEP QRIS (proposal to add funds

7. ARRA Activities (School Age) • Out of School Time Learning Promotion Initiative • Current: Up to $250,000 Proposed: Up to $250,000 to extend program into FY11 for five regions The goal of the Out-of-School Time Literacy and Learning Promotion grant is to retain or increase students’ academic gains, particularly in the area of literacy, by reinforcing their school day and year learning through high-impact activities and effective curricula during the summer months and throughout the school year This grant will support increasing OST programs’ capacity to implement high-impact learning activities through partnerships with public school districts for direct training, modeling of effective direct instructional practice and coaching/feedback for staff. • Summer Only Vouchers 2010 • Up to ~1.6M for FY2010 Provided “Summer Only” child care financial assistance to the children of working families (extension of 2009 program) which include children attending the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Commissioner’s Districts and children whose siblings are already enrolled/receiving child care financial assistance from EEC.

8. School Age Summer Voucher 2010 $1.6 Million Summer Voucher 2009 $636K $2.236 Million Waitlist Solution (proposed) PD Evaluation (proposal to add funds) Birth-8 Study (proposed) Out of School Time Learning (proposal to add funds)

9. ARRA Activities • Communications Campaign Current: Up to $298,500 : This initiative will support workshops for key stakeholders on using evidence-based communications to change public perceptions; technical assistance on communications materials (review existing EEC publications and materials and revise to more effectively communicate a unified message that supports building a statewide birth to 8 early education and care system); study circles to deliver integrated technical assistance on changing the public conversation around the importance of early education and care; and will provide a creative brief that translates the findings from research on how to talk about early child development in a format relatable to the media and key stakeholders. Proposed: Up to $200,000 to purchase collateral materials and products for distribution and TA on EEC website. • CSEFEL Professional Development Opportunity Up to $250,000 This initiative will support the provision of a 15 hour course (1.5 CEUs) in the CSEFEL curriculum to enhance educators’ knowledge and skills for helping children develop social and emotional competency and lessening challenging behaviors. • Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grantee- Infrastructure Grants Up to $250,000 This initiative will support CFCE grantees to develop and implement a community based strategic plan for meeting the needs of families with children birth to eight years old in their communities.

10. ARRA Activities • Professional Development to Address Limited English Proficiency Up to $225,000 This initiative will support the delivery of comprehensive career development and training services geared to the needs of the Spanish-speaking early education and care professionals with limited English proficiency (up to $150,000); and 2) award $75,000 to support a vendor to work directly with the Readiness Center Network to further develop a statewide system to support increased access to higher education for early educators with limited English proficiency • Early Childhood Information System Up to $750,000 This initiative will support the development of three new data system initiatives including 1. an “early childhood information system” (ECIS) that incorporates the assignment of unique child IDs, educator/staff IDs, and program IDs, linked with timely, accessible, useful data to improve the effectiveness of both teaching and learning and increase access to secondary data from multiple sources. Anticipated cost is $325,000-$400,000; 2. data analysis and research capability and to continue the agency’s partnership/membership in the UMass (Lowell) Open Indicators data presentation tool development and use. Data analysis of extant EEC data to be provided for at least 12 months at a cost of $100,000-$150,000 and membership in the Open Indicators data collaborative at a cost of $75,000; and 3. establish an “early warning indicator system” as called for in the Governor’s Readiness Cabinet data report, apply it to children younger than five, and recommend state and local intervention and coordinated case management ($100,000 to $125,000).

11. ARRA Activities • Quality Rating and Improvement SystemUp to $1.5M This initiative will support the implementation of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) by administering training and issuing quality improvement grants to eligible programs that will allow them to progress to the next QRIS level; and programmatically and fiscally monitoring a random sample of 15% of FY2010 QRIS Program Quality Improvement Grantees. Proposed: Up to an additional $1.9M to increase the grant award for the Quality Rating and Improvement System to provide targeted quality coaching to support FY2011 grantees in advancing their program’s quality level according to the QRIS.

12. CCR&R Focus CCR&R Streamlining $200K Provider Reassessment Transition $1.0 Million $1.2 Million Review of Business Model (proposal to fund initiative) Provider Transition CCR&R Streamlining (proposal to fund initiative)

13. ARRA Spending Update

14. ARRA Proposals Expanding the KEEP Model using PSCEE • Extend the Preschool Child Care Education Initiative beyond FY2011, i.e. June 30, 2011, through August 31, 2011; • Allow funding for preschoolers through contract slots as well as vouchers; • Allow all preschoolers, not just those entering kindergarten in September, 2011 to participate in this initiative; and • Require that participating preschool programs demonstrate the following quality components (for which they will be reimbursed $17.22/child/day) • full-day services (e.g., ten hours per day and five days per week) • partnerships with a public school system to aid in transition services, supports and communications between families and the school system • classroom sizes limited to twelve to fifteen children in center-based programs; family child care providers may only enroll up to their licensed capacity • for center-based programs: classrooms must be staffed by at least two teachers, one of which is strongly encouraged to hold a bachelor’s degree; for family child care programs: classrooms must be supervised by a staff person with a bachelor’s degree or higher (masters preferred) • all programs must be supervised by a staff person with a bachelor’s degree or higher (Master’s preferred) • support for English language learners (ELL) must be evident (e.g., having a staff person available who speaks the native language of the ELLs) • programs must demonstrate a focus on school readiness, including family engagement, curricula, assessment and alignment with public school system • programs must agree to use an EEC-approved assessment system and agree to administer whole child assessments for the purpose of providing aggregate level data to EEC.

15. ARRA Proposals, Continued • Up to $1.9 million to increase the grant award for the QRIS Quality Program Improvement grant to provide targeted quality coaching to support FY2011 QRIS Grantees in advancing their program’s quality level according to the QRIS and award an additional $1.5 million to be distributed through program level grants. • Up to $125,000, through a competitive process, to hire a vendor to plan, organize and implement in conjunction with EEC and ESE three in-depth meetings in the 2010-2011 school year that will support principals of Level 4 Elementary schools and community-based early education and care leaders in learning together about child growth and development, literacy, and dual language learners focusing on children birth to age eight. • Up to $500,000, through a competitive bid process, to hire one vendor who will provide and implement a Waitlist solution that will improve data collection and manage subsidized care administration through EEC’s centralized waitlist. • Up to $165,000 to hire a consultant to design and conduct a research study of the new professional development system, including providing research-based recommendations to further the development and effectiveness of the system and to develop a series of on-line courses for use by EEC that focus on the preschool standards and core competencies.

16. ARRA Proposals, Continued • Up to $557,845 for (1) Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) to provide and implement specific transition services, implement efficiencies in the voucher management system, and support enrolling preschoolers in the Preschool Child Care Education initiative and (2) to hire a consultant to conduct an analysis of the CCR&Rs business model and the voucher management system. • Up to $60,000 to rehire the Environmental Rating Scales Institute, Inc. to train early child care and out-of-school time educators on the Environmental Rating Scales. • Up to $150,000 to hire an IT software development consultant to continue to develop short term and long term enhancements to increase streamlining of the voucher management system and to hire a consultant to conduct a business analysis and audit of EEC’s information systems and security. • Up to $250,000 to extend the Out of School Time Learning Initiative through FY2011 in order to maintain the program structure in EEC’s five regions.

17. ARRA Proposals, Continued • Up to $200,000 to increase the grant award for the Communications Campaign initiative to purchase collateral materials and products for distribution and for further technical assistance to review and improve EEC’s website content. • Up to $3 million to reduce the market rate gap by providing a 3% rate increase to all EEC Infant and Toddler educators across the Commonwealth. • Up to $400,000 to provide specific support for core competencies and infants and toddlers within one or more of the five regional Readiness Centers to support early education and care initiatives throughout the Commonwealth.