CREATING AN INCLUSIVE SYSTEM OF EARLY EDUCATION

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CREATING AN INCLUSIVE SYSTEM OF EARLY EDUCATION
CARE AND FAMILY SUPPORT

• Elisabeth Schaefer
• Massachusetts Department of Education

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Supporting and Sustaining Change and Innovation

• Creating a Culture of Inclusion Using a Systems
  Approach
• Seymour Sarason
• Managed the Process of Change
• Ronald Heifetz
• Included a Combination of Factors
• Richard Villa and Jacqueline Thousand

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 There is nothing more difficult to take in
hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain
in its success, than to take the lead in the
introduction of a new order of things.Niccolo
Machiavelli, The Prince
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Key Contributors to Sustaining Change

• Develop a vision / mission / goals
• Review the overall system and decide what
  elements need to change
• Manage the process of change
• Use a variety of tools
• Be prepared to change yourself
• Nurture people in the system

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More Key Contributors to Sustaining Change

• Include both horizontal and vertical stakeholders
• Plan for all four stages awareness adoption
  implementation internalization
• Communication is key
• Monitoring the progress of change is critical

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Why a Systems Approach?

• Creating inclusive programs requires
• ? Changing the operation of all early childhood
  programs
• Special education sharing the responsibility for
  young children with disabilities with others

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Who Did We Involve?

• Parents, advocates, college faculty, teachers,
  state agency staff, unions
• Representing special education and early
  childhood education, Head Start, and child care,
  public and private schools, Early Intervention

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Managing the Change ProcessLeadership Without
Easy Answers Ronald A. Heifetz

• Regulate stress by
• ?pacing the rate of change
• ?giving structure to the process
• ?being willing to improvise

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Keep Attention Focusedon Relevant Issues

• ? Stay aware of the total picture
• Frame issues that need workinclusion, quality,
  staff turnover, infrastructure (local, state, and
  national), funding, child and program assessment

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Acknowledge That Some Problems Do Not Have Known
Solutions

• Be prepared to make mistakes
• Be willing to take risks
• Evaluate the effectiveness of your policies
• Accept that programs will evolve

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Devise a Strategy That Shifts Responsibility for
the Problem to the Primary Stakeholders

• Transform the expectation that authority will
  solve the problem, involve stakeholders in the
  design of the solution

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Be Prepared to ChangeThe Creation of Settings
and the Future of SocietySeymour Sarason

• As new programs are developed mistakes will
  be made which require adjustments. States can not
  expect school districts to experiment with
  inclusion without help and the state Department
  of Education poised in a supportive role. Ready
  to work with programs in order to solve problems
  and to share blame for a less than perfect
  system.

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Nurture the People in the System

• Create a culture
• of systems change that
• respects those involved
• ? Create cultures that nurture administrators and
  teachers
• ? Who in turn nurture children and families

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Develop a Vision/Mission

• We are committed to developing quality
  programs that are inclusive, and integrate a
  mixture of children representative of the
  community children with and without
  disabilities, and children from diverse cultural,
  linguistic, and economic backgrounds.

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Gap Analysis How Did MA Decide Where to Start?

• New state preschool legislation presented many
  opportunities for policy development
• Federal funding for early childhood allocation
  grants presented opportunities for inclusion

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Consumer Driven Gap Analysis
We regularly design programs based on demands
from the field for training to support teachers
in implementing new MA policies. ? Into the
Mainstream funded courses in inclusion. ?
Advancing the Field demonstrated that child
care providers and Head Start teachers could
successfully earn degrees in early childhood or a
related field. ? Building Careers improved
inclusive practices by implementing Early
Childhood Program Standards and Guidelines for
Preschool Learning Experiences for all children.
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Research Driven Gap Analysis

• To address problems, we identified with quality
  when we studied inclusion, and we developed the
  Early Childhood Quality Network to support
  programs becoming accredited by NAEYC
• We also asked NAEYC to strengthen accreditation
  to support inclusion

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Consumers Lead Gap Analysis

• Following Bostons lead, we created Community
  Profiles to assist communities with uniform
  needs assessments.
• We sponsored statewide meetings and asked staff
  to present to each other on innovative programs
  they had piloted.

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Designing Strategy

• Be multidimensional
• Plan timelines that allow for process
• Make process meaningful
• Embrace continuous improvement
• Practice the art of negotiation
• Expand into new areas as needed
• Teach survival skills
• Monitor effectiveness

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The art of progress is to preserve order amid
change and to preserve change amid order.
Alfred North Whitehead 1861-1947 
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Factors in Managing Complex Change
Creating An Inclusive School by Richard Villa
and Jacqueline Thousand
Vision Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan CHANGE
Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan CONFUSION
Vision Incentives Resources Action Plan ANXIETY
Vision Skills Resources Action Plan RESISTANCE
Vision Skills Incentives Action Plan FRUSTRATION
Vision Skills Incentives Resources TREADMILL
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Time Line 1985 to 1992

• Massachusetts
• Education
• Reform

Public School Improvement Act of 1985 Early
Childhood Discretionary Grants
Federal and State Funding for Integrated E. C.
Programs
Personnel Preparation Grant Into the Mainstream
Kindergarten Guidelines
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
1991 1992
Established Bureau of Early Childhood and Early
Childhood Advisory Council Education of
Handicapped Amendments of 1986
Standards for Early Childhood Programs for 3 4
year olds Project Impact Systems Change
Evaluation Initiative
E. C. Quality Network / Accreditation
Joint E. C. Teacher Certification
(Regular/Special Ed.) Study of E. C. Inclusion
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Time Line 1993 to 2000

• Massachusetts
• Education
• Reform

Pre-K through 12 Curriculum Frameworks An
Evaluation of the Massachusetts Community
Partnerships for Children Program Early
Childhood Discretionary Grant Enabling
Legislation to be Amended 1996
Ed. Reform Act of 1993 Established a Commission
to Study Universal Preschool and Full Day
Kindergarten and Pilot Family Education Project
Community Partnerships for Children Grants
Advancing the Field Teacher Scholarship Program
Community Profiles of Early Childhood Services
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
1999 2000
All Districts Reach Foundation Budget
Target Full-Day Kindergarten Grants
Early Childhood Commission Report Children
First
MA Family Networks Grants
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Time Line 2000 to Present

• Massachusetts
• Education
• Reform

New Legislation for an Early Education and Care
System New Board of Early Education and Care and
New Department of Early Education and Care
Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences and
Early Childhood Program Standards
Cost and Quality Studies
2001 2002 2003 2004
2005
Report of the Council on Early Education and Care
Early Childhood Mental Health Grant Training of
Trainers on the Early Childhood Guidelines and
Standards Hancock Report released to
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
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Embraced the Concept of Continuous Improvement.

• In collaboration with the Early Childhood
  Advisory Council, created Community Partnerships
  for Children, as a natural next step to bringing
  together early childhood and early childhood
  special education.
• Created a family education and outreach project,
  the Massachusetts Family Network, in response to
  concerns raised by the Department of Public
  Health and Early Intervention programs that the
  Department of Education, and schools did not know
  how to work effectively with parents.

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Learned the Art of Negotiation as we Implemented
Education Reform in Massachusetts. Eighty
percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen

• Early childhood staff took active roles pushing
  up the curriculum discussions on each Curriculum
  Framework Committee.
• Served as staff to the legislative Early
  Childhood Commission included in Education
  Reform. Successfully negotiated a strategy to
  fund full-day kindergarten.

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Expansion Resulted in the Exponential Growth of
Both Work and Politics.

• Created a technical assistance guide and related
  training to support
• Creation and improvement of local early education
  and care systems
• Accountability and consistency across programs
• Development of expertise in fiscal management
• Creation and implementation of a monitoring
  system

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Created synergy in the field of early childhood
and family support, bringing people together to
work together on behalf of children and families

• Community Partnerships for Children programs
  adopted and adapted Massachusetts Family Network
  strategies for working with children and
  families.
• In times of deficits and budget cuts, some
  communities funded children in other communities,
  in order to support children and families during
  difficult times.

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Taught survival skills for times of recession.
All of our programs survived the last recession.

• Worked with programs to plan how to cut services
  in ways that balanced cuts across program
  objectives and did not eliminate funds dedicated
  to quality.
• Supported programs by providing TA on how the
  state budget and legislative process works.

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Celebrate Your Success!

• Over 78,800 young
• children with disabilities
• have been educated with
• their peers as a result of
• our work since 1987 on
• inclusion.