Soaring to New Heights

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Soaring to New Heights

• Through Child Care Health Consultation, Quality
  Assurance, and Evaluation

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Objectives

• Explain the services child care health
  consultants provide
• Identify the immediate and long term outcomes of
  having the consistent presence of a consultant

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Objectives

• Apply basic evaluation techniques such as CDC
  framework for program evaluation and logic
  modeling
• Apply quality assurance measures such as action
  planning
• Utilize ITERS and ECERS as child care center
  assessment tools

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Importance of Center Assessments

• Identify and maintain center strengths
• Identify areas of improvement
• Identify needs of center staff

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Importance of Center Assessments

• Gauge client satisfaction
• Gauge staff commitment
• Gauge Goal setting and attainment
• Where are you and where do you want to go?

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Tools for Assessment

• Child Care Health Consultant
• Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale-
  ITERS
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-ECERS
• CDC Framework for Program Evaluation

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What tools do you need to use?

• Varies center by center
• Resources
• Financial
• Manpower
• Time
• Need

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A quick look at the tools reveal

• Child care health consultant
• Contract with a certified health professional
• One person- multiple tasks
• External evaluator
• Consultation, assessment, linkage to Resources
• Center commitment
• Progress reporting

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A quick look at the tools reveal

• ITERS/ECERS
• Center staff may be trained to conduct the
  assessment
• Time consuming
• Reveals weaknesses and strengths in a variety of
  areas personal care routines,
  language-reasoning, activities, program
  structure, etc.
• Assessment results is used by the center to
  facilitate change

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A quick look at the tools reveal

• CDC Evaluation Framework
• External or internal evaluation
• Must clearly define the centers activities,
  objectives, and outcomes
• Need data or baseline information to evaluate
• The evaluation findings must be used to identify
  ways to improve the quality of services the
  center provides

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Child Care Health Consultation

• Certified consultant
• Healthcare professional
• Resource referral
• Training
• Health consultation
• Policy development
• Evaluation

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Benefits to Consultation
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Benefits to Consultation- Center

• Increased knowledge and compliance of health and
  safety guidelines
• Discover a network of resource training tools and
  classes
• Increased referrals and linkages to community
  resources
• Assurance of active policy development
• Movement of center towards higher accreditation
  level
• Reduction of communicable disease among staff
• Reduction of sick leave
• Increase in revenue
• Reduction of employee turnover

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Benefits to Consultation-Children

• Protection from communicable diseases via
  immunization mandates and increase in health and
  safety practices
• Protection from injury
• Mental, emotional, and social readiness for post
  pre-care settings

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Benefits to Consultation-Parents

• Protection from communicable diseases through
  infected child
• Reduction in time off due to child care issues
• Increased knowledge in health and safety issues
  and parenting skills
• Increase in the practice of health and safety
  practices and parenting skills

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Assessing the Center ITERS/ECERS

• Infant-Toodler Enviromental Rating Scale (ITERS)
  and Early Childhood Environmental Rating
  Scale(ECERS) are standard assessments for child
  care centers.
• ITERS/ECERS assessments can be the tool to start
  a center on its journey to self improvement and
  higher credentialing. 

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Age Appropriate Assessments

• ITERS
• ECERS
• Designed to assess group programs for children
  of preschool through kindergarten age, 2½ through
  5.

Designed to assess group programs for children
from birth to 2½ years of age.
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Benefits to ITERS/ECERS

• ITERS/ECERS IS
• Research Proven
• Based on Best Practices
• A Reliable and Valid Tool
•  Based on NAEYC definition of program quality

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Components of ITERS/ECERS

• ITERS/ECERS assesses
• Space and Furnishing
• Personal Care Routines
• Listening and Talking (ITERS)
• Language Reasoning (ECERS)
• Activities
• Interaction
• Program Structure
• Parents and Staff

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Space and Furnishings

• Furniture for play, learning, care, relaxation
  and comfort
• Room size, arrangement, and privacy allowance
• Space for gross motor play and equipment
• Display for infants

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Personal Care Routine

• Greeting at arrival and departure from the care
  givers to the children
• Meals and Snacks
• Naps/Rest
• Toileting and or Diapering
• Health and Safety Practices

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Listening and TalkingLanguage - Reasoning

• ITERS
• Helping children understand and use language
• Introduction to books

• ECERS
• Using books and pictures
• Encouraging communication
• Using language to develop reasoning skills
• Informal use of language

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Activities

• Fine motor skills and active physical play
• Art, Music, Blocks, Sand and Water,
• Dramatic Play
• Nature, Science and Math
• TV, Video, Computer use
• Promoting Diversity

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Interaction

• Supervision of children
• Discipline
• Staff Child Interaction
• Peer Interaction

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Program Structure

• Scheduled Activities
• Free Play
• Group Time
• Provisions for children with Disabilities

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Parent and Staff

• Provisions for parents
• Provisions for
• Personal needs of staff
• Professional needs of staff
• Supervision and evaluation of staff
• Opportunities for professional growth
• Staff interaction and cooperation
• Staff Continuity

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A Step in the Right Direction

• The Challenge to provide child care settings for
  children that promote optimal physical, mental
  and emotional development.
• One Solution ITERS/ECERS, a tool that can help
  assess the needs of the child care center and
  obtain the highest level of accreditation.

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Additional Information

• http//www.fpg.unc.edu/ecers/
• Also Available
• FDCRS
• Family Day Care Rating Scale
• Designed to assess family child care programs
  conducted in a provider's home.
• SACERS
• School Aged Care Environment Rating Scale
• Designed to assess group-care programs for
  children of school age, 5 to 12.

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CDC Framework for Program Evaluation

• Engage stakeholders
• Describe the program
• Focus the evaluation
• Gather credible evidence
• Justify conclusions
• Ensure lessons learned

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Engage Stakeholders

• Identify stakeholders- staff, parents, local
  businesses, civic organizations, educators
• Identify stakeholder role
• Part of evaluation team
• Data collectors
• Evaluation advisors
• Create a plan for their involvement

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Describe the program

• Define the need for the program
• Identify program resources
• Identify the current status of the program
• Explain the context of the program
• Describe program activities
• State program objectives
• Develop a logic model

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Logic Model
Does increasing the number of caregivers increase
the level of supervision ?
Outcomes
Inputs
Activities
Output
Caregivers provide appropriate level of
supervision and guidance to the children.
Hire more caregivers.
Child to care giver ratio increases.
Center Director Center Staff Parents
Provide training for caregivers in early
childhood development and health and safety
issues.
Caregivers are trained in early childhood
development and health and safety issues.
Caregivers uses appropriate standard procedures.
Children who attend this ECE center exemplify
school readiness.
Redesign student curricula based on best
practices.
A new curricula is developed.
Do children appear to learn more and be ready for
school after attending the center?
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Focus the Evaluation

• Whats the purpose of the evaluation?
• What will you do with the results?
• What are the most important evaluation questions?
• Is there baseline data available?
• How will you collect comparison data?

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Gather Evidence

• Collect data
• Develop indicators- measures
• Link indicators to data sources

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Putting It All Together
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Justify Conclusions

• Check data for errors
• Analyze data
• Compare actual and intended outcomes
• Document potential bias
• Examine limitations of the evaluation

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Ensure Use and Share Lessons Learned

• Pick a format for dissemination that will be
  readily accepted and used by stakeholders
• Share evaluation findings
• Use evaluation findings
• Make recommendations for change
• Address recommendations made by stakeholders

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ACTIVITY- Using the Framework

• You spent months planning a social for your
  staff, parents, and community stakeholders.
• Youve been asked to do the social on a quarterly
  basis.
• A center director who youre friendly with is
  thinking about doing something similar and she
  wants to know if it was worth all the time and
  effort.
• How would you evaluate the success of your social?

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Activities
Outcomes
Inputs
The cost of the social does not exceed the budget
amount
Center staff Parents Community members
Develop a budget
Locate a venue
Venue is cost effective and is ideal for a social
event
Find a caterer
Guest represent all community stakeholders.
Develop a guest list
Invite guests
Invited guests are happy and see the event as a
great networking opportunity
Welcome guests and conduct social activities
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Evaluation Framework
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Okay, I did the evaluation- now what?

• Develop recommendations
• Prioritize
• Develop an action plan
• Implement the action plan
• Track progress
• Evaluate

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Prioritization tool
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Action plan
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Where do you go from here?

• No evaluation is worth the effort unless
• the results lead to recommendations
• the recommendations lead to plans
• The plans lead to action
• Consider External Resources
• Child Care Health Consultant
• Inclusion Specialist
• Other Community Agencies

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Thank you!!!

• Any Questions?
• For more information
• Angela Moore- armoore1_at_dhr.state.ga.us
• Cathy Wiley- ccwiley_at_dhr.state.ga.us