Floridas Efforts to Link Part C and 619 Outcomes Measurement

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Floridas Efforts to Link Part C and 619 Outcomes
Measurement

• April 25, 2006

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A little bit about us -

• Early Steps
• Reported over 12,000 infants/toddlers in the
  04-05 count
• Broad state definition for eligibility but does
  not include at risk
• 16 local Early Steps areas
• Culturally and linguistically diverse population
  large urban areas as well as rural areas

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A little bit about us -

• Part B Preschool -
• Reported over 35,000, three through
  five-year-olds in 2004
• Of those children, 22,000 are in preschool
• 67 school districts
• Large, culturally and linguistically diverse
  state

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Some History

• Early Steps received GSEG grant in 2004
• Last April, attended ECO Outcome meeting together
• Had an epiphany did not seem to make sense to
  take building a measure system on as two
  independent entities

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Early Steps Activities to Date

• Convened stakeholders group to advise process
• Developed Guiding Principles
• Developed recommendations for system design
• Considered meaning of the 3 OSEP outcomes
  through examination of instrumentation

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Early Steps Activities to Date

• Assessed current practices related to use of
  instrumentation for evaluation/assessment
• Recommended instrument for phase in based on
  existing requirements for evaluation process
• Communicated with stakeholders throughout process

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Part B Preschool Activities to Date

• Convened stakeholders group to advise process
• Developed guiding principles (used Early Steps
  principles as foundation)
• Assessed current practice related to
  instrumentation used for evaluation
• Concurred with instrument recommendation made by
  Early Steps for the purpose of first phase pilot

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Jointly weve -

• Shared and modified the guiding principles
  between the separate stakeholders groups and now
  have a common document
• Will jointly convene the groups for any future
  meeting
• Decided on key elements and since Fall 05 have
  had joint planning/management team

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Other Considerations

• Lessons weve learned from K-12 accountability
  systems
• Accountability systems must use reliable and
  valid data
• Accountability systems must measure child
  progress in a consistent manner
• Accountability systems must apply rules and
  decisions consistently across programs/schools

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Elements of Our Plan

• Phasing in with select Early Adopters who
  represent population of children served in the
  state.
• Early Adopters are paired a school district
  and corresponding Early Steps
• For this years status data, we are mining
  existing data of a subset of adopters who are
  experienced with the instrument recommended

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Elements of Our Plan

• Using existing evaluation processes as primary
  vehicle for collecting data
• Only collecting entry/exit data
• Negotiation over shared data point critical
  (Early Steps exit/Part B preschool entrance)

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Elements of Our Plan

• Have left decision on how this shared data
  point will happen to the local level
• Attempting to depict four common scenarios (flow
  charts) to further define what children and
  when data is collected

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Elements of Our Plan

• Will report data to same data collection system
• Each Department is taking on different aspects
  of what will be needed to get our Early
  Adopters off the ground

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Whats ahead

• Assistance with capacity building, data analysis,
  consideration of research questions that emerge
• Building process documents that articulate
  procedures developed and tested out

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Whats ahead

• Determining how data collected will convert to
  OSEP reporting categories
• Responding to myriad of policy/implementation
  issues
• Future reporting to multiple audiences

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Positive Consequences (we hope -?)

• Strengthened collaboration between school
  districts and Early Steps programs
• Improved, and more timely, transition planning
• Expanded joint evaluation teams (already
  emerging in a few places)

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More information ?

• Sally Golden-McCord
• Sally_Golden-McCord_at_doh.state.fl.us
• Cathy Bishop
• Cathy.Bishop_at_fldoe.org