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2019 Blended Funding and Collaboration Report for Child Care, 4K, and Head Start

This report explores the collaboration and blending of funding between child care, 4K, and Head Start programs in Wisconsin, highlighting successful models and identifying gaps in resources. It aims to encourage collaboration, improve access to care, and support quality improvement in the early childhood education system.

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2019 Blended Funding and Collaboration Report for Child Care, 4K, and Head Start

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  1. 2019 Blended Funding and Collaboration Report for Child Care, 4K, and Head Start Jennie Mauer, Wisconsin Head Start State Collaboration Director-Office of Early Learning Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Sherry Stuart, MS Program & Policy Analyst – Quality - Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

  2. 2019 Blended Funding and Collaboration Report for Child Care, 4K, and Head Start Introductions: Please tell us your name, where you’re from, what you do, and what brought you to the session?

  3. Sources of Funding CCDBG: Federal funding to State agencies- TANF, Shares, CCR&R’s, background checks, QRIS (YoungStar) a variety of programs. CCDBG Background 4K: DPI (state) to local LEA who funds community-based options or HS options or School District based options. Head Start/ Early Head Start: federal/state to local HS ages 3-5 and EHS ages 0-3. Center-based, home-based, combination with CC partnerships

  4. Why the data collection and blending project? • DCF, DPI, and Head Start wanted to use data as a starting point to being the process of looking at collaborations across the state to determine their basic structure and function and review how these collaborations change over time. • A project was approved to enhance the YoungStar system to identify and store information about official public collaboration in 2017. • In September of 2018, DCF sent out a second annual statewide survey to child care programs who said that they collaborated with 4K or Head Start on their YoungStar contracts. • Completing and returning the annual survey and reporting document is mandatoryfor all programs eligible to receive Wisconsin Shares payments from families. However, there were no changes to Wisconsin Shares policy because of the survey.

  5. Why the data collection and blending project? • Goal: using data as a jumping off point, identifying gaps in resources for families, and encouraging collaboration through blended/braided funding models and the impact of this research on an already underfunded ECE system. • Showing providers partnerships/models that are successfully maximizing blended funding resources and supporting continuity of care. • Reporting and looking at changes in partnerships models from year to year.

  6. Why the data collection and blending project? • Giving policy guidance around Wisconsin Shares and YoungStar for programs wishing to engage in community collaborations and quality improvement. • The survey could be expanded in the future to collect additional information such as 4K per child reimbursement rates from School Districts and number of 4K children served to support the equitable distribution of 4K funding across the state. • Successfully communicating collaboration information to parents looking for services through the public CCF site

  7. Updated Collaboration Information The collaboration information is updated each month. For up-to-date information on YoungStar child care collaborations, please use the following link and check the Narrative Report: https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/youngstar/program/impact *The YoungStar Child Care Collaboration information is based on returned YoungStar surveys and all programs may not be included. The annual survey was finalized in December, 2018. The data below is for 1/31/2019. YoungStar programs should review the 4K Collaborations List provided as a resource to make sure their program is identified.

  8. Measuring Head Start, 4K, and Child Care Collaboration in Wisconsin

  9. Identification of Service Gaps - YoungStar Program Capacity to Estimated Population <5 Years Old Needing Care – 9/30/2018 *Data Sources: DCF WEBI, Administrative Boundary: data.gov, US Census.gov/data *

  10. Blending Funding Can Expand Access to Care & Improve Quality Why is collaboration important?

  11. Survey Requirements for 4K/Head Start Collaboration with Child Care All YoungStar Child Care programs partnering to deliver 4K or Head Start services were sent a survey. The survey also asked if the 4K teacher/s/ were employed by the program or the school district. There is a list of these programs provided. Standalone Head Starts returned their survey letter indicating collaboration status with 4K. Currently, DCF reports out on Standalone Head Start collaboration with 4K by region on the YoungStar website monthly under impacts. https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/youngstar/program/impact DCF plans to make enhancements to Child Care Finder (CCF), the public search engine site, in 2019 for collaborative programs by using features to showcase unique services that YoungStar programs offer. There will be distinctive icons displayed on CCF for each type of collaboration. Families will be able to search geographic area by feature to look for nearby services. For example, families will be able to search for Standalone Head Starts delivering 4K services. The CCF search engine is available at the following: https://childcarefinder.wisconsin.gov/Search/Search.aspx

  12. What Makes it Work? How 4K and Head Start Impact Wisconsin Shares Authorizations As partners define the community approaches they will use, they need to be specific about funding sources for direct classroom hours. In addition to 4K or Head Start funding, low income families may be eligible for the child care subsidy program, Wisconsin Shares. • Reporting classroom hours is important for data research and may be helpful in resolving Shares authorization discrepancies in some cases. • Programs need to communicate 4K/Head Start programming hours offered daily to parents for their child’s classroom, so that parents can accurately relay the information to authorization workers. • In cases where reported public funding hours exceed 4 per day, but public programming is offered four or less hours per day, additional documentation may be necessary for full day authorizations.

  13. Determining your Wisconsin Shares Authorizations In order to determine whether Wisconsin Shares authorizations can extend beyond child care to fund 4K/Head Start program time, authorization workers will ask families the following questions related to Wisconsin Shares Policy: • Is the family eligible for a Wisconsin Shares authorization- by participating in an approved activity- during any period of time that their child is participating in Head Start and/or 4K programming? • Is the child care program in the same location and a unique entity as the Head Start and/or 4K program? • Is Head Start and/or 4K programming offered in the child’s classroom for four (4) or fewer hours each day? • It is important for providers to inform parents of the public programming hours offered in their child’s classroom. • Is the family eligible for a Wisconsin Shares authorization totaling five (5) or more hours (including school program hours) per day?

  14. How Head Start and 4K Impact Wisconsin Shares Authorizations • If the answer to all of the above questions is “yes,” the Wisconsin Shares subsidy authorization can cover the total time that a family is eligible for an authorization, including any time that their child is participating in Head Start and/or 4K programming. • If the response to any of the questions is “no,”the child care subsidy authorization must not include the 4K/Head Start hours. • For specific questions or detail on child care subsidy authorizationsparents should contact local agency authorization workers. It is important for programs to communicate specific programming hours to families.

  15. Head Start and Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Summary Service Type Description: Head Start falls into two categories for services and rating in YoungStar based upon the hours of child care provided in addition to Head Start programming type as follows: Category 1. Standalone Head Starts (sites that do not partner with child care): • These programs are required to participate in YoungStar but do not receive YoungStar services or Wisconsin Shares authorizations. • These programs receive an automated 5 Star rating if they receive no deficiencies from the ACF Aligned Monitoring System review. • These programs may partner with local School Districts to deliver 4K services.

  16. Head Start and Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Summary (Continued) Category 2. Head Start – Child Care Collaborations (Child care programs with more than three hours of child care per day in some or all classrooms that partner to deliver some type of Head Start services): Type A:These programs have direct hours of Head Start/Early Head Start in some or all classrooms. Type B:These programs have child care hours and receive Early Head Start Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) funding for comprehensive services that does not provide support for direct classroom activities. • Are not eligible to receive an automated 5 Star rating in YoungStar. • Are eligible for YoungStarservices and to participate the program turns in a YoungStar contract to their local YoungStaroffice. • These programs are eligible for Wisconsin Shares.

  17. 4K Partnerships with Child Care • School districts determine if 4K services will be delivered in the community at partnership or in an exclusively school based setting. • School districts determine the professional development methods for teacher trainings. • Services are delivered at partner site for approximately 12 hours each week during the school year. • School districts determine who will be an eligible partner based on need. • Partners deliver 4K services in different schedules. - Most deliver 4K services in AM/PM blocks of time. • In community approach 4K sites, there are two basic models used around 4K teacher employment: • The teacher is employed by the school district. • The teacher is employed by the Child Care/Head Start program.

  18. Collecting and Tracking 4K-Head Start-Child Care Classroom Information The collected survey information from 2018 has been entered in the YoungStar Case Management System (CMS). The data is exported to the DCF data warehouse and is reported on a monthly basis. The reporting documentation is uploaded and stored in the CMSand viewable in the Provider Portal.

  19. Collecting and Tracking 4K-Head Start-Child Care Classroom Information In the near future, the collaboration document uploaded in the YoungStar Case Management System (CMS) will be exported and viewable in the Provider Portal. Programs will be able to see the information they reported. The necessary system changes needed to support viewing the document should be deployed by April of 2019.

  20. Reporting Public Collaborations on the YoungStar Website From the survey information collected, DCF reports official public collaborations monthly on the YoungStar website under Impacts. In addition, DCF plans to make enhancements to Child Care Finder (CCF), the public search engine site, in 2019 for collaborative programs by using features to showcase unique services that programs offer. There will be distinctive icons displayed on CCF for each type of collaboration. In addition, families will be able to search geographic area by feature to look for nearby services. For example, families will be able to search for Standalone Head Starts delivering 4K services. The collaboration information should be available on CCF sometime in 2019.

  21. What Does Collaboration Look Like in Wisconsin?

  22. Categories of Collaboration & Classroom StructuresUniform Uniform: programs with this type of structure have mostly the same levels of public funding per day across classrooms. • These are mostly child care programs collaborating with 4K. There are also examples of uniform structure across classrooms for child care programs collaborating with Head Start. Example: Program H has two classrooms (A and B) and is open 9 hours each day. Classroom A has 2.5 hours of 4K funding and 6.5 hours of childcare each day. Classroom B has 2.5 hours of 4K funding and 6.5 hours of childcare each day.

  23. Categories of Collaboration & Classroom StructuresVaried Varied:programs like this have different levels of public funding in different classrooms. • These programs have different types of classroom funding structures in place designed to meet the attendance needs of various children. Example: Program T has four classrooms (A thru D) and is open 9 hours each day. Classroom A has 3.5 hours of Head Start funding and 5.5 hours of child care each day. Classroom B has only 6.0 hours of Head Start funding. Classroom C has 3.5 hours of Head Start funding, 2.5 hours of 4K funding, and 3.0 hours of child care each day. Classroom D has 9.0 hours of child care.

  24. Categories of Collaboration & Classroom StructuresBlended Blended:in these programs, children receiving public funding and children not receiving public funding are placed in the same classroom. This funding structure model blends Head Start and child care funding. This model works well in rural areas where resources are scarce and small populations are spread out over large areas. Example: Program R has four classrooms (A thru D) and is open 9 hours each day. Classroom A has two children receiving Head Start funding and two children enrolled in child care in the same room. Classroom B has four children receiving Head Start funding and four children enrolled in child care in the same room. Classroom C has 2.5 hours of 4K funding and 6.5 hours of child care each day. Classroom D has 9.0 hours of child care.

  25. A Look at Wisconsin Collaborations What does the classroom structure look like for Wisconsin’s collaborations?

  26. Using Data as a Starting Point: YoungStar 4K-Head Start-Child Care Collaboration Data Project • What does our data tell us? What do we want to know? • What can be done to increasing service delivery of 4K using the community approach model? Barriers Requirements Incentives/Advantages • What are the advantages of delivering 4K services in a collaborative model versus an exclusively school based model? (1) Developmentally Appropriate Environments: Play Based Regulated Staff-Child Ratios (2) Shared Professional Development Opportunities: Pyramid Model WMELS (3) Other Ideas

  27. Using Data as a Starting Point: YoungStar 4K-Head Start-Child Care Collaboration Data Project • What does our data tell us? What do we want to know? • Where are the highest quality 4K community approach programs located and what can be done to support these programs in retaining high quality teachers?

  28. Collaboration Opportunities Map of 4K and YoungStar Child Care collaborations. *The 4K Child Care Collaboration information is based on returned YoungStar surveys and all programs may not be included. The survey was finalized in December, 2018.

  29. Collaboration Opportunities Map of Standalone Head Starts currently participating in YoungStar: The Head Start information is based on returned surveys and all programs may not be included. The survey was finalized in December 21, 2018. Stand-alone Head Starts will be required to participate in their state’s QRIS but do not receive YoungStar services. DCF will soon map the collaboration of these programs with 4K.

  30. Collaboration Opportunities Map of Head Start and YoungStar Child Care collaborations. *The Head Start and Child Care Collaboration map is based on returned YoungStar surveys and all programs may not be included. The survey was finalized in December, 2018.

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