first 5fundevelopment spring report 2010

In Partnership with

The Pierce CountyEarly Learning InitiativeReport to Investors | Spring 2010

www.first5FUNdamentals.com

Our Vision: All Pierce County children start school ready to succeed

Our Mission: Build and sustain an integrated early learning system of community partners and organizations to support our young children (0-5 years) and their families.

A collaboration of over 30 partners in Pierce County, we work together to create an intentionally coordinated early learning system of services for children and families.

We work to create a true system through a business plan with:

• Commonly agreed upon tools, such as evidence-based practices and models

• Common agreement to modify our work to facilitate work of partners in the system

• Common agreement on desired outcomes

• Common agreement on marketing, advocacy and funding goals to achieve the business plan

About Us:Targeted efforts are underway in these highest need communities:

Tacoma (Tacoma School District)

Parkland (Franklin Pierce School District)

Spanaway (Bethel School District)

Lakewood (Clover Park School District)

As we builld upon the success in these four communities, we expect to expand efforts throughout Pierce County.

Our Goals:• Improve effectiveness of children’s care in these five focus areas to expand access to quality, development-focused care

• Increase the number of children who achieve developmental milestones upon entering kindergarten

Where Children (0-5 years) Learn:

At Home Care

Family, Friends & Neighbors

Head Start / ECEAP

Licensed Childcare & Preschool

Kindergartens / Schools

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Research tells us that Early Learning is absolutely vital to the economic health of our community and the financial well-being of our state and nation.

If children are ready for school at age 5, their success rates are high. If they are not ready, the failure rates are equally as high.

Two out of 3 parents in Pierce County want help getting their child ready to start school.

Our unique system of care focuses on providing parents and others (family, friends, neighbors and licensed care givers) with the tools to help children be ready for school socially, emotionally and cognitively.

The system of care consists of components outlined in a business plan developed by a consortium of about 30 Pierce County organizations. (See list on the first page)

Five things you should know about the Pierce County Early Learning Initiative

Conversely, research shows children who are not ready for kindergarten typically fail at very high rates.

Costs to society skyrocket as they grow up, drop out of school, have difficulty finding and keeping living-wage jobs and get into trouble.

These children are not without hope. But the kind of constant, intensive and extensive intervention it takes to change their path is typically not available. It is simply too expensive and not sustainable.

For the most part, the achievement gap grows wider and wider over time.

Why Early Childhood Matters

Return on Investment

Early Learning DramaticallyInfluences Long-Term Success

Quality Early Learning

INCREASESSuccess in SchoolGraduation Rates

Workforce ReadinessJob Productivity

Community Engagement

Quality Early Learning

REDUCESCrime Rates

Teenage PregnancyWelfare DependencyJob Training Costs

Special Education CostsGrade Repetition

Early learning is more than just knowing your ABC’s and being able to count to ten. Every child who reaches kindergarten age ready to learn – cognitively, socially and emotionally – has the fundamental tools necessary to succeed in school and throughout life.

Research shows these children succeed at very high rates.

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Five things you should know about the Pierce County Early Learning Initiative

Early Childhood Development has Economic ImpactJames Heckman, A University of Chicago Nobel Laureate, conducted a “study of studies” around early learning. His work outlined the major advantages of early learning programs and the significant costs associated with poor early learning.

Using Heckman’s study and other research, Arthur J. Rolnick of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve was able to quantify the Return on Investment (ROI) to the public for every dollar spent on early learning and early childhood development. By looking at the achievement gap over a 40-year period, Rolnick calculated the ROI between 16-17% a year, compounded annually over 40 years.

Any private-sector venture achieving this level of ROI would be immediately, fully and continuously funded by thousands of investors.

ELEMENTARY

MIDDLE SCHOOLSUCCESS

INCREASEDHIGH SCHOOLGRADUATION

SUCCESSFULCOLLEGE GRADUATION

SUCCESSFULCAREER ENTRY

HIGHERCAREER EARNING

LONG-TERMBENEFITS TO SOCIETYENTER KINDERGARTEN

READY TO SUCCEED

ENTER KINDERGARTENNOT READY TO SUCCEED

BIRTH TO 5 PREPARATION

Negative consequences of poor early learning

16%-17% Return on Investment compounded annually over 40 years

LONG TERMCOST TO SOCIETY

AC

HIE

VE

ME

NT

GA

P

LOWGRADUATION NO COLLEGE HIGHER

CRIME RATE WELFAREDEPEDENCY

THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP

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Promoting First Relationships (PFR) Program (Success Indicators)Results from the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) program are exciting and pivotal. PFR is a very sophisticated, evidence-based, home visiting program that supports and teaches bonding and communication between parent and child. Through video-taping by a welcome home visiting professional and a strong evaluation process, PFR helps parents learn how to be their child’s first and most important teacher. Skilled staff at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s Family Support Centers in Hilltop, Parkland, McKinley, Eastside and Lakewood, have already begun to make a measureable difference in the lives of little children using the program.

Outcomes: Your Investment in Pierce County

The numbers spell success … and in their own words

Goal

Video-taping used during home visits will reveal improved interaction between parent and child.

Parents will show increase in knowledge of the needs of their child and of developmentally appropriate behaviors and use what they have learned to help their child develop to his/her maximum potential.

Children will show visible signs of enhanced relationships with their parents.

Families will voluntarily enroll in the program to capacity.

80 families will be served in year one (since this report represents only ten months of service, we would expect only 83% of the 80, or 67 families, would be served).

Staff will show high rates of consistency using the PFR model, as evidenced through the multi-step analysis by the University of Washington.

Achievement

100% of parent-child interactions show positive improvement using Health Department metrics.

98% of parents engaged in PFR show increased knowledge of their child and of developmentally appropriate behaviors. 93% of parents have learned how to help their child develop physically, socially and emotionally.

98% of children have shown visible signs of enhanced relationships with their parents.

100% Families have enrolled beyond capacity. We currently have families on the waiting list for services.

208 families have volunteered in this program. 72 families have been served by Gates-funded staff in the targeted investment communities; 136 additional families have participated in the program throughout Pierce County.

100% of staff passed their fidelity tests.

“It’s wonderful to have this opportunity in such a tough time--a great break, outlet, resource, opportunity for support and to meet other parents. Thank you!”

“I have learned to be patient and let my children try things on their own.”

At Home Care

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The numbers spell success … and in their own words

At Home Care

“I have learned to be patient and let my children try things on their own.”

“My son started singing in English. (We speak Spanish.) He is excited on Wednesdays because he knows we’ll come here! I’m so happy, because this is a great and creative program.”

“I use the songs daily and have noticed that my son’s attention span is increasing.”

Play to Learn Program (Success Indicators)The Play to Learn program offered by the Children’s Museum of Tacoma reaches out to children in at-home care. At neighborhood sites in the four target areas, Play to Learn sessions are free and provide developmental early learning experiences for children and parents that are fun. Play to learn also provided opportunities for parents to learn about community resources and what it means to be school-ready.

Over 13,000 children and families learned together last year and research shows through program participation, parents and caregivers are better prepared to nurture their child’s school readiness.

95% now feel play is more important in their child’s learning.

94% of adult participants reported they know more about what it means for children to be school ready.

97% view play as an important way to connect with their children. They learned about in Play to Learn.

81% used community resources or programs

Outcomes: Your Investment in Pierce County

Family, Friend and Neighbor Care

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Better understanding the importance of play in their children’s social/emotional, cognative and physical development

Being aware of what “school ready” means and learn strategies to cultivate their readiness through play

Viewing play as an enjoyable avenue for meaningful connections with their child

Having an increased awareness of available community resources

Goal Achievement

Trained experts from Puget Sound Educational Service district, Child Care Resource and Referral and our Technical and Community Colleges, are coaching and mentoring over 50 local child care providers in our four targeted communities and impacting approximately 500 children.

In the above child care sites, we are helping to implement best practices in creating improved learning and developmental environments.

Evaluation data suggests a high degree of success in improving these child care environments. The rigorous evaluation tools used by the professional development coaches show 100% of coached child care providers have improved their physical environment and their daily interactions with their children.

As one specific example, the chair of the board of directors of the Hilltop Child Care Center contacted First Five FUNdamentals for assistance in incorporating developmental strategies in their site. The call resulted in the creation of a business plan for the child care center, now being implemented, to bridge the preparation gap for its most vulnerable children.

We are also helping the State Department of Early Learning (DEL) develop a formal Quality Rating and Improvement System for licensed child care providers. This state effort is called Seeds to Success. However, knowing that state processes often take significant vetting time, we have launched a local but aligned effort. Our pilot project work is helping to inform DEL.

Quality Improvements in Pierce County Licesed Child Care

Kindergarten Connection and AssessmentBy hiring a local research consultant to work with schools in our targeted communities, we learned that teachers in most schools were evaluating incoming kindergarten students on 11 common developmental data points. We also learned that many teachers were doing informal assessment of social and emotional readiness. By combining these common data assessments with a formal literacy test called DIBELS, which many schools already use, the ability to assess early childhood readiness upon kindergarten entry not only can be done, it is being done. However, it is not formally organized, collected and assessed for purposes beyond the work of the individual teacher in the individual classroom.

We also learned that to collect and sustain such an assessment effort on a large scale requires sustained oversight and staffing focus which we were unable to accomplish at this point in our growth. That leaves us waiting for the state to develop a formal kindergarten readiness assessment program. We did learn that readiness in some individual Pierce County schools is actually worse than the average of 60% “not ready”. Some schools have readiness rates as low as 25% to 30% in Pierce County (70%-75% not ready).

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Licensed Childcare & Preschool

Research suggests that the time to invest most in children and families is the very early years when most of brain development occurs. Yet hardly any public investment occurs there relative to other educational expenditures.

Too Little, Too Late?

* Portion of total public investment in children being spent during indicated years in chilren’s lives. SOURCE: The RAND Corporation

Kindergartens / Schools

first 5fundevelopment spring report 2010

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