What we want for each child, and what each child is currently getting

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What we want for each child,and what each child
is currently getting

• Bostons Birth to FiveSchool Readiness Planning
  InitiativeECE SubcommitteeJuly 10, 2007

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A high quality, well-aligned early childhood
education that
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Includes quality options for all early childhood
stages (2A)In the last 9 years, ECE capacity in
Boston has increased across all settings by at
least 4,748 spaces.
Source C. Zimmerman and K. Connaghan. Where
are the kids?! Boston EQUIP. April 2007
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Includes quality options for all early childhood
stages (2A) Currently we have enough capacity for
81 of our Preschoolers. UPK Demand estimates
suggest you need to match 80 of your PreK
population to be at universal.
K1 SY07-08 506, _at_ 85
Source Boston EQUIP. Boston Early Care and
Education Fact Sheet. March 2007.
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Is offered in an accessible setting that meets
the familys needs (location, cost, schedule)
(2B)Most parents rate their current care and
education arrangements as excellent or good.
(85)
(84)
(66)
Source 2006 Boston Parent Survey Release of
findings. Boston EQUIP. June 2006
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Is offered in an accessible setting that meets
the familys needs (2B) - some other ways of
looking at it

• Number of care arrangements per child
• Affordability
• Cost Subsidies
• Number of kids on the EEC Waitlist
• Could also consider, but dont have data right
  now
• Number of vacancies
• Turnover in slots

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61 of Boston children experience 1 or 2 care
and education arrangements per weekin addition
to their parents.
0 Parent(s) only Mean 1.61.7 arrangements
( of children)
(Number of care education arrangements per week)
Source Boston EQUIP. 2006 Boston Parent Survey
Release of findings. June 2006
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Arrangements for a particular settingBoston
Public Schools K1 Out-of-School Time Services

• 1,467 four year old children are currently
  enrolled in BPS K1 classrooms and 3,897 five year
  olds are enrolled in BPS K2 classrooms (Total
  5364 children) Fall 2006.
• 1,212 OST slots are available, enough for 23 of
  the 5,364 children.
• In a recent survey of families using the K1s and
  K2s,
• In over 50 of families all adults worked full
  time.
• About 50 of all families who did not already
  have extended day services would use an
  affordable after school program.
• M. Cowden in her analysis based on the family
  survey calculated 2076 slots still are needed to
  meet the current demand of K1 and K2 families. If
  K1 enrollment climbs to a projected 3,500, then
  an additional 1,016 slots will be needed. In
  addition, at least 73 of all families will need
  affordable or subsidized OST services. (p. 2)

M. Cowden (2006). Executive Summary -
OUT-OF-SCHOOL TIME (OST) SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN
K1 AND K2 CLASSROOMS AT THE BOSTON PUBLIC
SCHOOLS. Unpublished.
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Budget experts recommend, child care costs should
equal about 10 of the budget. The cost of child
care in Boston ranges from 16 to 32 of
families incomes, for just 1 childs
arrangements.
2005 Boston Median Family Income 49,320
Source Median Rate Data Source
http//www.eec.state.ma.us/docs/ExecutiveSummary20
06MarketRateSurvey.pdf. Analysis Boston EQUIP in
C. Zimmerman and K. Connaghan. Where are the
kids?! Boston EQUIP. April 2007
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How many children qualify for subsidies depend on
the stringency of the eligibility criteria. Many
children meet the income requirements, few
children meet the income full-time employed
parent requirements.
Family income levels of Boston children (0 - 5.4
yrs)
Family income levels of Boston children (05.4
yrs) with all parents working full-time
Columns are inclusive of the number to the left
Source The Demand for Full-time Subsidized Care
and Education in Boston (2006). Boston EQUIP.
Associated Early Care and Education.
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There are more kids on the waitlist than 18
months ago.Although the waitlist is a snapshot
in time, and there are still unresolved data
entry and duplication questions about families on
the waitlist. (Unresolved question If its
taking longer to fill slots, b/c of the
centralized waitlist?)
Source 2005 http//www.eec.state.ma.us/docs/REAg
eGroupByZipAndTownCrosstabJune2005.pdf 2007
Child Care Choices of Boston in C. Zimmerman and
K. Connaghan. Where are the kids?! Boston
EQUIP. April 2007
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Subscribes to agreed-upon standards of quality
across all settings and builds relationships
across educators in all professional settings (2F)

• There is no one common set of standards, the
  requirements differ by funding stream. Examples,
• Licensing regulations
• DOE Standards and Guidelines
• NAEYC / NAFCC
• PRISM
• UPK standards
• Different educator qualifications requirements
• Educator relationships - Data?

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Includes quality options for all early childhood
stages (2A)

• EQUIP Benchmark Areas
• Accreditation
• Lead Teachers and Teachers with a BA or higher
• Teachers Receiving Training or Education for
  College Credit in the past year
• Facilities
• Parent Engagement
• Salaries
• Regulation Reform Fall 2007

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Shortly Boston Quality Inventory data will be
available - looked in depth at quality within
Bostons ECE settings.
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Is responsive to special needs, individual
development, and varying learning styles (2D)
Child Outcome Assessment Tool use in Boston ECE

• Child Outcome data used to individualize
  curriculum, plan professional development, and
  continuous quality improvement
• According to a recent Boston EQUIP survey,
• 81 of the survey respondents reported that their
  program conducts some form of assessment and/or
  observation and recording.
• 55 of respondents reported using/beginning to
  use High/ Scope COR Ounce Scale/Work Sampling,
  Ages Stages, and Creative Curriculum
• The overwhelming majority of community-based
  programs (88) were using the Creative Curriculum
  Developmental Checklist and the Boston Public
  Schools are using at least Work Sampling
• The average length of use for the four tools was
  54 months, with a range of 1 month to 10 years

Source K.Connaghan C. Zimmerman. Child
Assessment Tools in Boston Early Care and
Education Programs. June 2007. Boston EQUIP.
Response rate 40 of the ECE capacity in Boston
455 classrooms, 168 family child care homes, and
serve 7,685 children
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Is responsive to childs family structure,
culture and language, building on these as assets
(2C)

• 78 of parents rated their early child care and
  education as excellent or good with regards to
  the ethnicity, language, and religion.
• The ethnicity and culture of teachers in
  community center-based programs mirrors those of
  the children served.
• BPS? Family structure?

1) Boston EQUIP. 2006 Boston Parent Survey.
Boston, MA. 2) K. Connaghan and C. Zimmerman.
Education Barriers and Supports for the Early
Care and Education Workforce. Boston EQUIP. Feb
2007.
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Integrates effective engagement of the family in
the childs care and education (2E)

• There are a few examples around the city of
  programs doing this well Head Start, Parent
  Child Home Program
• However we do not have a common definition and
  set of best practices for what this looks like to
  measure the extent to which this is happening.
• The DART felt that this was an area where the
  research documents the importance of this
  practice, however
• little information is available about what is
  being done in Boston programs.

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Promotes quality by building relationships
between those professionals and informal care
providers (2G)

• Massachusetts historically has not focused on
  informal care providers or FFN (family, friend,
  and neighbor care).
• Boston EQUIP is working on an estimate of the
  number of FFN providers in the city.
• There are best practices around the country about
  how you reach out to FFN providers.

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Effectively prepares for and supports the child
and family to transition to the next ECE setting
and phase of learning (2H)

• PreK to BPS K Countdown to Kindergarten
• Early Intervention to Community-Based or BPS
  classrooms
• Early Intervention to Special Education
• Infant/Toddler to Preschool
• Family Child Care to Center-Based/School-Based

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Partners with key systems serving children and
families
Special Education
Early Care Education
Affordable Housing - Homeless
Early Intervention
Dept. Social Services
Children Families
Health Care
Economic Supports - TANF
Mental Health
Substance Abuse

• Nutritious Food
• WIC
• Food pantries

Public Schools
Transportation
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Ready Schools???
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Capacity in Boston to support this work

• Boston Community Partnerships for Children
  Council Clusters
• CPCares
• Innercity Network of Early Education
  Professionals
• BAEYC
• Boston Child Care Alliance
• Boston EQUIP
• Child Care Choices of Boston

• Higher Education institutions
• ABCD CDA program
• Countdown to Kindergarten
• Early Education for All
• Boston Ready - UMass
• School Readiness Initiative - Jumpstart
• Read Boston

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Summary

• As a result of growth in last 7 years, we have
  enough raw capacity for PreK, unclear what full
  demand is for Infants and Toddlers
• Is it accessible to families? They say yes, could
  differ by age of child, neighborhood, unusual
  time needs, part time schedule. However, not
  accessible cost wise, and many families dont
  qualify for subsidies
• Quality no common standard of quality
• EQUIP benchmarks were making progress in many
  areas
• Shortly will have the findings from the Boston
  Quality Inventory
• Some to many programs are using child outcome
  tools to individualize their curriculum.
• Dont know how Boston ECE programs engage
  parents?
• How well do we build relationships between
  educators?
• How well do we transition kids and families to
  next setting? Countdown to Kindergarten

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Possible priority areas

• Need strategy for additional PreK expansion, as
  at possible saturation
• Focus on quality Accreditation as possible
  uniform standard?
• Professional development for the workforce,
  compensation
• Parent engagement develop new robust models
• Transitions / Ready Schools

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For more informationCorey ZimmermanResearch
and Policy DirectorBoston EQUIP / Associated
Early Care Education617-695-0700 x
229czimmerman_at_associatedece.orgwww.bostonequip.
org