Achieving School Readiness

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Achieving School Readiness

• Marylands 5-Year Action Agenda for Maryland
• Council of Chief State School Officers
• Ready Schools National Meeting
• November 4, 2005

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Maryland Model for School Readiness School Years
2001/02 2004/05
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Maryland Model for School Readiness Summary of
Results, School Years 2001/02 to 2004/05
Fifty-eight percent (58) of kindergarten
students in Maryland were evaluated by their
teachers as fully ready, a nine percent (9)
increase from SY 2001/02.
Source Maryland State Department of Education
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Leadership in Action Programs in Maryland

• Investment by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and
  the Subcabinet for Children, Youth and Families
• Purpose
• Accelerate the rate at which Marylands young
  children enter school ready to succeed
• Increase the leadership capacity of those leaders
  in Maryland accountable for that result

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Leadership in Action Programs in Maryland

• Early Care and Education Committee
• M-LAP
• Baltimore City
• B-LAP Family League of Baltimore City, Inc
• Southern Maryland (Calvert, Charles, St. Marys
  Counties)
• Two scale-up Programs in 2006

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Achieving School Readiness.

• The 5-Year Action Agenda outlines 6 goals, 25
  Strategies and 106 activities that grounds the
  work of the Early Care and Education Committee
  and its 6 goal groups.

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Goal 1

• All children, birth through age 5, will have
  access to quality early care and education
  programs that meet the needs of families,
  including full-day options

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Progress Toward Goal

• Strengthen the capacity of ECE programs to
  provide culturally competent outreach and
  accommodations for families in their home
  language culture and recognizing their diverse
  learning styles
•  Annual school readiness report heightened
  awareness about achievement gap
• Focused outreach for ELL and Hispanic children
• Expand opportunities for young children with
  disabilities to participate in ECE programs
• Development of a statewide work plan to promote
  inclusive child care

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Examples of Best Practices

• Judy Centers
• Evaluation indicates that ELL students
  performed as well as all students in kindergarten
• Materials on school readiness in 15 languages
• MSDE flyers available for pre-k and K
  registration
• Child Care
• MMSR and other training and improvement in
  readiness schools in prior-care reports

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• Many ELL and Hispanic children in informal care
  arrangements
• ELL children are thriving in high quality early
  childhood programs
• Greater need to reach children in informal
  settings
• Develop strategies to provide child care
  subsidies for ELL students

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Goal 2

• Parents of young children will succeed in their
  role as their childs first teacher.

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Progress Toward Goal

• Attempts to catalogue efforts have highlighted
  extent of activities statewide and have increased
  coordination and collaboration.
• Review of WSS data by entire ECE Committee has
  identified gaps. In response Goal 2 Team has
  added Strategies and Activities.
• Increased awareness that impact of parents as
  first teacher begins way before pre-school.

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Examples of Best Practices

• Availability of high quality school readiness
  materials and tips for parents is essential.
• Opportunities for parents to network while being
  introduced to materials and practices maximizes
  effectiveness. (Learning Parties parent/child
  activities library story hours, etc.)
• Train early childhood workers in effective ways
  of supporting and respecting parents in their
  role as childs first teacher.

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• It is effective to link efforts and share
  materials and ideas across initiatives.
• Small, local, targeted initiatives with clear
  goals, a specific audience, and energized
  implementers are critical.
• Acknowledging that the literacy needs of parents
  must be met before those parents feel they can be
  effective first teachers.
• Early childhood workers must be provided with the
  most effective ways to work with English Language
  Learner (ELL) families of young children.
• Find more effective ways to catalog and count
  activities.
• Continue efforts to get materials and message to
  hard to reach populations.

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Goal 3

• Children, birth through age 5, and their
  families
• will receive necessary income support benefits
  and health and mental health care to ensure they
  arrive at school with healthy minds and bodies

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Progress Toward Goal

• State Health Agency follow-up
• Maryland Medicaid supports prenatal coverage
  (MCHP) and dental services.
• Department Health Mental Hygiene (DHMH)
  Childrens Health Initiatives, including lead,
  asthma, childhood obesity, and Fetal Alcohol
  Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

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Progress Toward Goal

• Utilization of ECE programs and practitioners to
  provide information on child health issues
  contributing to school readiness.
• Child abuse/neglect/bullying.
• Early Childhood Mental Health Steering Committee,
  promotes and implements an integrated early
  childhood mental health system of care.
• DHMH develops school health policies and
  guidelines in collaboration with MSDE.

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Examples of Best Practices

• Local family support and home visiting programs.
• Relationship between DHMH, DHR, Medical
  Assistance, MDE and MSDE.
• The Governor designating 2005 as the Year of the
  Child
• Results-based Accountability of budgeting that
  links performance measures and funding.
• Post partum depression interventions expanded to
  the lifecycle of women as documented by PRAMS.

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• More work is needed to remove the barriers that
  exist in health and mental health systems of care
  for young children
• Address health needs prior to entering school.
• Create and implement consistent polices
• Do not need to re-invent the wheel
• Incorporating HCCA goals

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Goal 4

• All early care and education staff will be
  appropriately trained in promoting and
  understanding school readiness.

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Progress Toward Goal

• Joint training sessions offered and expanded
• Increased the number of articulation agreements
  for courses completed
• Established an Associate of Arts in Teaching -
  Early Childhood Education
• Increased participation in the Maryland Child
  Care Credential

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Examples of Best Practices

• Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR)
  Training provided to public school pre-K
  teachers, family child care providers, child care
  center providers, Head Start teachers, and
  others.
• Maryland Child Care Credential provides a
  framework for training.
• AAT in Early Childhood Education

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• Continue to expand training opportunities across
  all care provider types
• Increase articulation agreements
• Increase the number of credentialed child care
  providers

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Goal 5

• All Maryland Citizens will understand the value
  of quality early care and education as the means
  to achieve school readiness.

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Progress Toward Goal

• Countdown to Kindergarten (State Campaign,
  Maryland Committee for Children)
• Countdown to Kindergarten (Baltimore City)
• Help Me Grow (Montgomery County)
• Families Friendly Practices Program (Frederick
  County)
• Partnerships

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Examples of Best Practices

• Countdown To Kindergarten success may be
  attributable to
• A broad base of support, including parents,
  businesses, local government, advocates, resource
  and referral centers, community organizations,
  and other interested stakeholders
• A proven Boston model first introduced in
  Maryland through the Baltimore City LAP
• Statewide dissemination of valuable school
  readiness guidance for parents and website
  information on school readiness.

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Examples of Best Practices

• Montgomery County promotes parent and community
  awareness and knowledge of good school readiness
  practices as part of the Montgomery County
  governments five-year early childhood strategic
  plan
• Family Friendly Practices Program provides
  support and recognition to businesses that have
  in place policies and practices addressing
  employees child care needs.

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• Value of consistent messages
• Necessity for grassroots support
• Spreading the word more globally to service
  providers, advocates, state and local agencies,
  parents, community, and businesses, among others
• Increasing resource through education on the
  benefits to society of quality early childhood
  programs.

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Goal 6

• Maryland will have an infrastructure that
  sufficiently funds and holds accountable its
  school readiness efforts.

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Progress Toward Goal

• Leadership In Action (LAP)
• Maryland LAP
• Baltimore City LAP
• Southern Maryland LAP
• 5-Year Action Agenda (State)
• Local Action Agendas
• Baltimore, Calvert, Frederick, Howard, and
  Montgomery Counties

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Progress Toward Goal

• Early Care and Education Committee (ECE)
• Resource List on School Readiness (Countdown to
  Kindergarten, Maryland Committee for Children)
• Partnerships

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Examples of Best Practices

• Implementation of additional LAPs
• Sustainability Plan for implementation
• Partnerships
• Alignment of Action Agenda with other State and
  local plans

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Lessons Learned/Next Steps

• Sustainability plan for maintaining existing LAPs
  and initiating additional LAPs
• Partnerships are key
• ECE infrastructure requires a modified systems of
  care approach

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Achieving School Readiness

• Marylands 5-Year Action Agenda for Maryland