Two Generation StrategyWhose job is child development?

--Vision for the Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet,

The Patrick Administration Education Action Agenda, June 2008

“There is widespread awareness that children do not develop and learn in schools alone.

Instead, they mature across many dimensions — physical, social, emotional, ethical and intellectual — within networks of families,

schools, neighborhoods, communities and our larger society. Consequently, government agencies charged with fostering children’s

development and working with families must incorporate these dimensions and networks into their service delivery systems and improve their

coordination.”

Whole System Reform for Children and

FamiliesCapacity Building vs. accountability

Group Solutions vs. individual solutions

Technology to drive practice

Integrated system vs. a fragmented system

HIGH NEEDS CHILDREN

Of the nearly half million children birth to age five in Massachusetts (2010 Census), close to one-third are low-income, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, while 17.4% are English language learners, 6.7% have special needs, and .9% are homeless.

Based on the data from the National Center for Children in Poverty, we believe that 135,000 children in MA experience at least one risk factor and 20,000 have three or more risk factors, which without intervention, may lead to developmental delays.

Children with risk factors are more vulnerable to encountering developmental delays and having school readiness gaps, and are most likely to benefit from high-quality early learning experiences.

Whole Family Approach

From an Ascend at the Aspen Institute report, “TWO GENERATIONS, ONE FUTURE: Moving parents and children beyond poverty together”. 2012

TWO GENERATIONSSTRENGTHENING FAMILIES

Supporting families concrete needs

Supporting parents to understand growth and development

Supporting parents to understand the social and emotional needs of children

Supporting families to have social networks

Supporting family resiliancency

RESOURCES THAT SUPPORT CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Housing ResourcesHealth Care Public Safety ServicesNutrition AssistanceSupport for ParentsRecreation and EnrichmentCrisis and Support ServicesChildren’s ProgrammingEarly EducationElementary and Secondary Education

Adult Education

CONDITIONS OF EFFECTIVE RESOURCES

Accessibility

Prevention Programs

Community Initiatives

Community and Agency Practices

Birth to 3 rd grade

mechanisms for cross-sector alignment (Governance, strategic plans)

Administrators and Leadership Quality (Leadership is inclusive/facilitative and focused on instruction)

Teacher Quality and Capacity (Focus on credentials and professional development; professional dispositions; professional community)

Instructional Tools and Practices (Curriculum content; alignment of standards and curricula; pedagogical methods)

Instructional Environment (Student-centered learning culture (classroom and school) home

Data and Assessments (Data and assessment used to improve instruction)

Engaged Families (Families and communities engaged in student learning)

Transitions and Pathways (Focus on children’s movement through the continuum)

1 1 Kauerz, Kristie (2011). Sustaining Your Work: PreK-3rd Implementation and Evaluation Framework; a presentation to ESE PK-3 grantees. Harvard University: Cambridge, MAKauerz, Kristie (2011). Sustaining Your Work: PreK-3rd Implementation and Evaluation Framework; a presentation to ESE PK-3 grantees. Harvard University: Cambridge, MA

STRATEGIC AREAS OF FOCUS

EEC is focused on strengthening the system of early education and care in Massachusetts as a critical element of the education pipeline from cradle to career.

The child outcomes that we are trying to achieve require investment in four critical areas:

teacher /educator quality,

program quality,

screening and assessment, and

engagement of communities and families.

The system EEC is building includes all children not just those in formal care.

EARLY CHILDHOOD INFORMATION

Providing parents/families with information about early learning and development programs available to them and giving them the information needed to support their children development

Providing programs and services with information about the children they are serving and to improve individualized teaching and learning at the classroom and program level through formative assessment,

Provide an opportunity for state agencies to understand where children may be served by multiple systems that would benefit from greater coordination and integration; and

Providing policy makers with information about the current use of early learning and development programs

Opportunities

Committed leadership

Support from the governor

Support from the legislators

Resources for alignment

Defined goal to close the achievement gap

Infrastructure to build from for young children

Challenges

Leadership buy in vs field buy in

Defining supporting development of children as a shared goal

Lack of data systems to demonstrate benefit of two generation focus

Unequal infrastructure at the state and local level

What we are doing?

Making services family focused

Creating a child development lens

Recognizing that parents are children's first teachers

Using a single service entry point to have a single message about the development of children

Create service models that support, not hinder child development

How are we doing this?

Understand the science of child development in the early years

Using as a foundation a two generation focus with a do no harm to child development

Understanding the opportunities children need to grow and develop (Early Learning Standards)

Supporting parents as first teachers to understand what supports development as well as adverse conditions (Screening)

Knowing each child and family by name in a trusted relationship (data)

Sharing responsibility for all of our children and their growth and development (cross training and professional development)

Today's charge

Define concrete next steps for cross agency training and the uses of engagement

Look at eligibility differences and determine where we align and where we can move to align

Frame for our work today

Increase an understanding of what we want children to learn and how our agencies support, advance or hinder that learning

Remind ourselves of the importance of family engagement as a necessary tool for child growth

Urgency

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time.

Martin Luther king