Connect 4 S uccess W illiamson C ounty I nnovation Z one Implementation: Year 1

1. Connect 4 Success Williamson County Innovation Zone Implementation: Year 1 Facilitated by CCRR at John A Logan College

2. Children in Williamson County Demographics • 4753 children ages 5 and under • 1471 children live in families whose income is at 100% poverty or less (IECAM) • 945 children live in households where income is between 100% and 185% of poverty (IECAM) • 8 children live in non English speaking homes and are linguistically isolated Child Well Being • Twice the state average of indicated abuse/neglect reports • Number of children on medical assistance has increased by 43% in last 6 years • Percentage of children in substitute care- 46% increased in last 10 years

3. Williamson County Early Childhood Education • Preschool for All slots in 13 sites with capacity of serving 660 children • Head Start slots: capacity 120 children • 14 licensed centers, 1246 slots • 2 LE centers capacity to service 89 children • 38 licensed family child care providers, capacity to serve 351 children

4. Building on Strengths • Existing program capacity. • Strong commitment to quality • Able and stable of leadership   • Strong backbone organization-CCRR’s • Strong programs and services   • Existing coalition

5. Addressing Gaps & Weaknesses • Lack of consistent developmental and social emotional health screening • Increases in children with challenging behaviors/social emotional health concerns.   • Number of young children living at or below 200% of poverty is increasing.   • State and local budget challenges • Lack of alignments and coordination of services and programs

6. Connect 4 Success

7. Target Population • Children living in poverty or deep poverty (100% of poverty or less) or • Children who have a disability and receiving services or those not yet identified, not currently served or • Homeless children or • Children who are rurally isolated*

8. Goal # 1 A well-coordinated screening and referral system results in the children of highest need enrolled in high quality early education and receive appropriate intervention services as needed to increase their potential for school success.

9. Innovations Screening Coordination 1)County Wide Screening Collaborative 2) Online ASQ – Centralized Data Collection Overcoming Access Barriers: 3)KG Parent Survey 4)CCAP Policy Exemption Pilot

10. Accomplishments • Screening Collaborative Formed and Active, MOUS in place for Core Screening Partners • 1106 children in 8 child care centers, 2 Head Start programs and all 13 sites from the Williamson County Early Childhood Cooperative screened • 12 programs online, 368 child profiles entered into Online system to date, remainder will be entered by June 30, 2015 along with additional screenings –On target to exceed goal 65% of all 3-4 year olds will be screened and data collected in the ASQ online system and 30% of all children will be screened and data collected in the ASQ online system • Referral protocols created and adopted for Early Intervention and Special Education Services • Parent survey executed in three largest districts. 72.3% of families registering their children for KG completed the survey, exceeding our goal of 50% of parents registering their children for KG completing survey. Results utilized for outreach efforts. Survey will be executed in smaller districts in 2015.

11. CCAP Policy Pilot

12. CCAP Policy Pilot

13. Goal # 2 Early childhood programs in Williamson County are high quality  and actively engaged in continuous quality improvement and 25% of the programs have achieved the Silver Circle Level of Quality or above  Courtesy: Robin’s Nest- Carterville

14. Innovations 5) Infrastructure to Support Coordinated/Collaborative Professional Development Coaching and Mentoring with Focus on Use of Technology to Leverage Regional Resources and Talent and Overcome Barriers to Participation 6) Bi-annual Teacher Institutes/CCAP Policy Exception-postponed until August 2015 7) Focused PDA Attention on Credentials-Amended /Launched Class of 2015 Initiative in cooperation with CCR&R 8)Credential Recognition: Repurposing of Funds

15. Accomplishments Regional Blueprint for Professional Development Teacher Think Tank Community of Practice Teacher to Teacher Peer Mentoring

16. Gold Circle of Quality Programs 8 ISBE Pre-K Programs Adams School Carterville Elementary Crab Orchard Elementary Jefferson Elementary Lincoln Elementary Longfellow Elementary Northside Primary Washington Elementary • 5 Child Care Centers • Developmental Preschool • Heartland Kids • John A Logan College • Robin’s Nest • Yellow Brick Rd. • Silver Circle of Quality- Provisional • SIUC Head Start- Marion

17. Goal # 3 Families are strong and engaged in their child's learning with access to information, services and support they need to help their child succeed Courtesy: Yellow Brick Road Learning Adventures .

18. Innovations • Pilot a shared services Family Engagement Specialist position within CCRR( or possible with the school system) to work with schools, family, early learning providers and community members to design, organize and implement parent, family and community engagement activities and help to grow partnerships and collaboration between the groups to improve alignment and focus. • Amended: 2 part time graduate social work students and contract with local school district to develop outreach strategies linking with other early childhood providers and promoting kindergarten readiness

19. Accomplishments • Job descriptions completed and approved • MOU with SIUC for Graduate School Assistantships • Social work graduate students selected, • and orientation completed • Baseline data collected for ECE program’s family • engagement through surveys and interviews • Family Nutrition night and Family Reading night- families surveyed about involvement/ needs • Herrin School implemented a monthly KG readiness night for children/ families of preschoolers entering KG in Fall 2015 and will host KG camp during the summer

20. Goal #4 Community members, families and groups are invested in providing strong foundations that promotes child success Courtesy: Marion Carnegie Public Library

21. Innovations • 8) County-Wide Registration/Membership Campaign that includes locally provided incentives for“ signing on” and becoming a member. Information collected will provide necessary contact information that will be used to educate and inform families using different means of technology such as email, texts, podcast, twitter, etc. • 9) Increase families’ connections to available resources & child development information. Expand “The More We Know, the Better They Grow” campaign designed to increase parent, teacher, caregiver and community knowledge about child development.

22. Activities • Marketing Consultant chosen and hired • SI Families will be family outreach/ arm of coalition work • Websites in development/ coordinating both agency/ Professional Site and Parent Education Site ( formerly sifamilies.org) • Back end Database being developed for parent contact information for outreach activities • Community Champions for Children materials being developed to solicit business and community involvement- launch date scheduled for Sept 2015 • The More We Know the Better They Grow Posters almost completed and distribution to begin in late Spring 2015

24. Increase # of Screenings/ partners in Collaborative • Expand Screening Collaborative to include medical community • Offer Family Access to ASQ online • KG Registration survey final 2 districts • CCAP Pilot/ Increase Parental Involvement Requirements • Cross Sector Early Childhood Teacher Online Orientation on Desire2Learn • Launch LifeSize network/ train partners • Further embed technology into professional development system • Launch SIFamilies- website and registration • Expand Teacher Think Tank/ Teacher to Teacher Peer Mentoring • Develop systemic distribution plan for More We Know the Better They Grow Posters Year # 2 Next Steps