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Public Meeting May 31, 2013

Public Meeting May 31, 2013. Agenda. Welcome (9:00 AM – 9:10 AM) Presenter: LaShonda Brown Council Update (9:10 AM – 10:00 AM) Presenter: Don Titcombe Public Comments (10:00 AM – 10:30 AM). Council Members. Chair: LaShonda Y. Brown

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Public Meeting May 31, 2013

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  1. Public MeetingMay 31, 2013

  2. Agenda • Welcome (9:00 AM – 9:10 AM) Presenter: LaShonda Brown • Council Update (9:10 AM – 10:00 AM) Presenter: Don Titcombe • Public Comments (10:00 AM – 10:30 AM)

  3. Council Members Chair: LaShonda Y. Brown Texas Head Start State Collaboration Office Michele Adams Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Michael Berry Texas Education Agency Mary Capello Teaching and Mentoring Communities Deborah H. Cody Mount Pleasant Independent School District Gina S. Day Texas Education Agency Ana de Hoyos O’Connor San Antonio College Blanca Estela Enriquez Education Service Center – Region 19 John W. Gasko Children’s Learning Institute Angela Hobbs-Lopez Texas Department of State Health Services Jonel Huggins Elsa Cardenas-Hagan University of Houston Reagan Miller Texas Workforce Commission Rhonda Paver Stepping Stone School Bobby Ott Temple Independent School District Elaine Shiver Mental Health America of Texas Kim Wedel, Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services John Whitcamp Texas Early Learning Council

  4. Texas Early Learning Council Priorities • Workforce and Professional Development • Parental • Outreach • and • Communication • Improved School Readiness • Collaborations and Standards • Data and Quality Rating Improvement Systems

  5. Texas Early Learning Council Priorities

  6. Data and QRIS TOTS - The On-Track System: The goal of The On-Track System (TOTS) project was to create an integrated, comprehensive early childhood data collection system for Texas. The Council signed a contract to develop a strategic plan to achieve information sharing among the various early education data-collecting entities in Texas; conduct a stakeholder review; and, design a framework for the new TOTS data system. This contract has been discontinued.

  7. Data and QRIS

  8. Data and QRIS Updates: • Council has approved and posted it recommendations • Recommendations' can be accessed at www.earlylearningtexas.org/tots

  9. Data and QRIS Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) The Council will develop recommendations for a Quality Rating Improvement System for Texas.

  10. Data and QRIS Read the Council’s Paper on QRIS! http://earlylearningtexas.org/umbraco/qris.aspx

  11. Data and QRIS Updates: • stakeholder meetings were conducted • Final strategic plan is published and available at www.earlylearningtexas.org/qris • Council members have reviewed first round of recommendations draft • Council members will work today finalizing the recommendations • Hope to use the recommendations to support implementation of HB 376

  12. Public Outreach and Communications Statewide Needs Assessment: The needs assessment is the first ECE needs assessment in Texas in 40 years. The Council signed a contract with the Ray Marshall Center at UT-Austin and the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University to conduct the needs assessment. The contract started on June 1, 2011. The needs assessment will provide: a 40-year state population projection of Texas children; analyses of current supply of and projected demand for early childhood services; and, a survey of the quality of the early childhood services available to families.

  13. Public Outreach and Communications Updates: • Needs assessment is completed and posted at www.earlylearningtexas.org/needs • In addition to the final report, 3 complete reports are available: • Texas Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment: Change in the Early Childhood Population in Texas, 2000 to 2010, and Projected to 2015 • Texas Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment: Supply and Quality of Early Care and Education and School-Age Programs • Texas Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment: Gaps Between Need and Availability of Early Care and Education

  14. Public Outreach and Communications Texas Community Campaign for School Readiness: The Council is funding 4 Texas communities to implement a cutting-edge, population-based school readiness assessment tool, the Early Development Instrument (EDI).  In addition to the EDI, the Council will support each of the funded communities in developing and implementing a strategic change process based on the EDI results.  EDI is a comprehensive, community-level, measure of early development and school readiness for young children. It is the vision of the Council, that the selected communities will utilize the EDI data to inform the creation of long-term, sustainable, and responsive systems to better meet the needs of young children.  Therefore, the Council is seeking to support lead agencies that are committed to measuring and improving school readiness outcomes in their communities and to serving as catalysts for community change.

  15. Public Outreach and Communications Updates: • The Council formed a strong partnership with UCLA and United Way Worldwide to make Texas a trend setter in ECE community planning

  16. Public Outreach and Communications Updates: • The Council contracted with 4 organizations/communities to participate: • United Way of Southern Cameron County for the Brownville community • United Way of El Paso County for the El Paso community • United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County for the San Antonio community • North Texas Area United Way for the Wichita Falls community • Sites submitting strategic plans reports today! • Texas recognized as an important site for innovation in this realm – the National EDI conference is being held in San Antonio

  17. Public Outreach and Communications These are examples of the Community-Level Data produced by this project! 7 New Texas Communities have joined the project through Federal Home Visitation funds!

  18. Public Outreach and Communications Public Awareness Campaign: The Council will fund a significant statewide public awareness campaign in Texas committed to two goals: • enhancing awareness of early childhood education availability and quality with a focus on underrepresented and special populations • fostering optimal brain development in young children

  19. Public Outreach and Communications Updates: • An RFP for the creation of the campaign and materials was released in January • A contractor was selected and we are very close to beginning commercial production • Radio commercials will be produced next • Media buying RFP launched and closed • Media buying to begin in early August

  20. Collaborations and Standards Infant, Toddler, and Three Year Old Early Learning Guidelines: The new Texas ITELG will improve the quality of care for infants and toddlers inside and outside the home by supporting and guiding more appropriate practices for early care and education professionals who work with our youngest children.  With clearly defined statements on what infants and toddlers should developmentally know and be able to do, the ITELGs will support the healthy development of infants and toddlers because they will positively influence the design of professional development strategies, parent engagement, administrative planning, key materials, and curricula.

  21. Collaborations and Standards Updates: • The guidelines are complete! • Spanish is available and Vietnamese coming soon. • Approximately 35,000 copies have been distributed! – there is still high demand for more • Staff is working on the creation of a website and a mobile website for fast and easy access to the Guidelines • Staff is currently working on creating age-based guides for parents and caregivers • These will be available in libraries, WIC clinics, and other parent focused locations • Staff is working on creating a train the trainer on the Guidelines

  22. Collaborations and Standards

  23. Collaborations and Standards

  24. Collaborations and Standards Texas ECE Standards Comparison Tool: The Council will create an online early care and education comparison tool. The tool will allow early childhood stakeholders to readily investigate and compare competing sets of regulations and standards operating in Texas early care and education. The tool will be designed for multiple audiences (Parents, Providers, and Policymakers), and each audience will have the ability to query a database of program standards on key variables such as safety standards, staff qualifications, curriculum, etc.

  25. Collaborations and Standards Updates: • The Comparison tool is complete and ready for launch • It can be accessed at the Texas Head Start Collaboration Office website: http://thssco.uth.tmc.edu/

  26. Collaborations and Standards Beginning Education: Early Childcare At Home (BEECH): The Council is funding a major Family Home Child Care quality improvement project now being called Beginning Education: Early Childcare at Home (BEECH). It will result in a study that will incorporate technology and mentoring to improve the level of quality in home –based care • The study will include 180 providers -- computer based training modules, and mentorships for 30 of the participants

  27. Collaborations and Standards Updates: • Children’s Learning Institute has developed a 20-course online module and a mentoring and professional development strategy for the project • Both Studies are wrapping up and closing – data analysis is next • The Texas School Ready! Project is asking Lead Agents to bring home-based child care providers to BEECH • Staff is currently working on devising delivery models for other new users

  28. Collaborations and Standards Download our BEECH Paper at: http://earlylearningtexas.org/beech.aspx

  29. Collaborations and Standards Mentoring analysis and toolkit: The Council is funding an analysis of different mentoring strategies and the development of a toolkit providers can use to implement “in-house” mentoring techniques in their programs. The analysis will detail core competencies of mentors and coaches and strengths of the various mentoring approaches in existence. The Toolkit will serve as a how-to in using existing program staff and resources to implement “in-house” mentoring strategies in early childhood programs.

  30. Collaborations and Standards Updates: • The first draft of the toolkit has been completed • Staff is reviewing draft and will work to incorporate changes by mid June • Toolkit should be posted by June 30, 2013

  31. Collaborations and Standards • Act Early Texas! The Council recently approved funding to create a new website for parents and providers to access developmental screening tools for children. Users will be able to complete a screening tool on a particular child right from their computer. The tool will have the ability to generate referrals to ECI for children identified as having developmental delays or signs of Autism.

  32. Collaborations and Standards Updates: • Lengthy requirements have been created • An RFP for the site has been created and posted • RFP closes June 21, 2013

  33. Workforce and Professional Development Early Childhood Workforce Registry: The early childhood workforce registry will serve as a key workforce support for ECE professionals.  This online project will be an interactive hub for all EC professionals.  It will store all professional development information and users will be able to share ECE workforce data across multiple categories and populations

  34. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • Council staff ran into barriers in the development of the registry: data bases and coding have proven to be more complex than expected • Staff re-tooled and went back to the business requirement process • Re –drafted business requirements and altered the development process to go section by section, with review along the way • RFP for system was posted, Vendor was selected, and work has begun • Development has been very positive and the system is expected to be completed by mid August • Launch may not come until after August

  35. Workforce and Professional Development

  36. Workforce and Professional Development

  37. Workforce and Professional Development New Core Competencies for the ECE Workforce: This work will expand the current Core Knowledge and Skills Areas to Coaches and Mentors and enhance and expand the current ones for practitioners, administrators, and trainers. Core Competencies will inform professional development activities for Texas EC professionals.

  38. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • Core Competencies for Practitioners and Administrators are complete and can be downloaded at earlylearningtexas.org/tecpds (Spanish coming soon!) • Core Competencies for Trainers have been drafted, reviewed by the Council, and are being fine tuned • Core Competencies for Mentors will be created based on knowledge gained from the mentoring toolkit project

  39. Workforce and Professional Development Core Competencies Online Training Modules: The Council will fund the development of online training modules on the new Practitioner and Administrator Core Competencies. These modules will help professionals become familiar with the key concepts in the Core Competencies and how to use them.

  40. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • Contract was signed to create requirements for the trainings • Requirements and instructional design guidance was created • An RFP for the build was posted and a contractor was selected • Work has begun • System should be ready by mid August.

  41. Workforce and Professional Development ECE Career Lattice: The Council will develop a career lattice for early care and education professionals. Also known as a career ladder or career pathway, career lattices define the relationship between education, work experience, and ongoing professional development for early childhood professionals, from entry-level staff to experienced professionals with advanced degrees. The goal of the tool is to provide early care and education professionals with clear paths of professional development and career planning. As early care and education professionals progress in their development, through formal education, trainings, and work experience, they will be able to chart their progress on the career ladder. 

  42. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • The Career Lattice is complete and available for download at www.earlylearningtexas.org/tecpds

  43. Workforce and Professional Development

  44. Workforce and Professional Development Compensation Study The Council will conduct a statewide compensation study in order to explore compensation parity in Texas for the early care and education workforce. Ultimately the information collected will be used to develop a recommended baseline state compensation plan for early childhood professionals.

  45. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • The Compensation study is completed • Staff and contractor are still making minor changes to layout, design, and language • Study should be posted mid June • Council will use study to evaluate making recommendations on the subject

  46. Workforce and Professional Development Higher Education Articulation Agreements The Council will conduct research to identify model articulation agreements that between 2 year and four year institutions of higher education. This initiative will identify model agreements, analyze why they are successful, and create a toolkit that will help communities to put their own successful agreements in place.

  47. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • First two deliverables of this project are complete and available for download at www.earlylearningtexas.org/ihe-articulation-agreements-toolkit • Full Toolkit is completed and available at http://earlylearningtexas.org/articulation-toolkit.aspx

  48. Workforce and Professional Development Assessing the Capacity and Effectiveness of Higher Education The Council will conduct an assessment of higher education, in regard to early childhood education degrees and professional certificates.

  49. Workforce and Professional Development Updates: • Contract was signed and work has begun • There were some data collection problems: • Institutions were somewhat reluctant to provide responses to surveys • Difficult finding participants that meet study criteria • Study period was extended • First report was completed – profiles early childhood educator’s thoughts about preparedness for the classroom • Full project should be complete by end of June 2013

  50. Workforce and Professional Development Download our workforce paper at: http://earlylearningtexas.org/tecpds.aspx

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