American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act: Continued
Initiatives
Board of Early Education and Care
September 2011
0
ARRA Initiatives: Program/Educator Quality
1

Infant/Toddler Early Childhood Program
Standards and Guidelines

Training of EEC and others Staff in Use of
Environmental Rating Scales

Improvement of Physical Environments

CSEFEL Professional Development

English Language Learners

Professional Development System Research
Project

Readiness Center Support

Early Literacy Program
ARRA Initiatives: Community and
Family Engagement
2

Communications Campaign

Early Childhood Information System

Information and Referral Program

Coordinated Family and Community
Engagement Grantee- Infrastructure Grants

Waitlist Solution
Sustained Results of ARRA Initiatives:
Program/Educator Quality
3
Infant/Toddler Early Childhood
Program Standards and Guidelines
ARRA Allocation:
$ 50,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 50,000*
Sustained Results
of Initiative:
The Guidelines are available to programs
on-line in English and Spanish and provide
a comprehensive view of infant and toddler
development with suggested experiences to
support each stage of development.
Professional development opportunities
(on-line course) are also supporting the
implementation on this new resource.
Quantitative
Impact:
4
• 200+ educators trained on the Guidelines
• 1 online course accessible to educators
beyond the 200 trained
• 100 copies of the Guidelines have been
distributed directly by EEC
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Environmental Rating Scales
ARRA Allocation:
$ 145,416
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 139,314*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
An increase in institutional knowledge
regarding the scales, used in the Quality
Rating and Improvement System.
Quantitative Impact:
• 187 educators training on using the
Environment Rating Scales.
• All EEC regions represented
• All programs represented serve more
than 50% subsidized children
• 146 attended Early Childhood
Environment Rating Scales session
• 41 attended the Infant Toddler
Environment Rating Scales session
• 25 educators participated in reliable
raters training.
• All participants were given the entire set
of scales for their age groups
5
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Improvement of Physical Environments
ARRA Allocation:
$ 500,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 500,000*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Program physical quality and safety
improvements.
Quantitative Impact: • 267 educators completed a two part
training
• 123 Center Based programs and 144
Family Child Care programs represented
• 5 regions across state served
• 33 completed train the trainer sessions
• 94 grantees (66 Family Child Care and
28 Center Based
• 1,261 infants and toddlers served
through grants
6
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
CSEFEL Professional Development
7
ARRA Allocation:
$ 300,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 264,204*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Built educator and program capacity to
support all children’s social and emotional
health, including specialized supports for
high need children.
Quantitative Impact:
1,420 child care staff (and potentially
1,900 bye the end of program) trained in
the CSEFEL social emotional pyramid
model.
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
English Language Learners
ARRA Allocation:
$ 150,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 123,073*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Supported educators in defining appropriate pathways
to competency development as evidenced by CDA
certification, certificate achievement, and/or the
beginning pathway to degree attainment.
Wheelock study to identify the strategies in working
with the ELL population.
Quantitative Impact:
588 Spanish speaking LEP educators received career
development and training.
100 educators assessed in ability to take college
courses in Spanish.
100 educators assessed in their English proficiency
skills.
75 providers completed college and/or CEU courses
that will advance them in QRIS
25 providers will have completed or be actively
pursuing the CDA and CDA renewal
8
20 providers will enroll in an Early Childhood
Certificate or A.A. program
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Professional Development System Research Project
ARRA Allocation:
$ 165,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 137,272*
Sustained Results
of Initiative:
Research study on the new professional development
system and included research-based recommendations to
further the development and effectiveness of the system.
Assisted the development of a series of on-line courses for
use by EEC, focusing on the preschool standards and core
competencies.
Recommendations on governance, communication,
professional development service delivery and alignment,
and use of data to inform regional practices
Final report:
http://www.mass.gov/Eoedu/docs/EEC/20110909_ma_pr
of_dev_sys_study.pdf
Quantitative
Impact:
9
Survey of 6 regional partnerships
2 rounds of interviews, Fall 2010 and Spring 2011
55 interviews; average of 4-5 participants/ region
5 interviews with EEC central office and regional staff
(Spring 2011)
27 regional and statewide meetings observed
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Readiness Center Support
ARRA Allocation:
$ 596,963
ARRA Funds Spent: $ 542,033*
Sustained Results
of Initiative:
Linkage of professional development grantees to
Readiness Centers to support early education and
care initiatives throughout the Commonwealth.
Provided or supported:
Family Child Care Orientation,
Developed /offered credit-bearing college level
courses that address one or more of EEC’s Core
Competencies (Associate/Bachelor and Graduate
Level Coursework)
Developed and offered courses that address the
infant/toddler standards and guidelines.
Quantitative
Impact:
10
8 associate degree level college courses
2 bachelor level college courses revised to include
EEC core competencies.
5 graduate level courses at Northeast campuses
3 institutions of higher education revised coursework
to include MA new Early Learning Guidelines for
Infants and Toddlers
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Early Literacy Program
ARRA Allocation:
$ 225,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 183,833*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Professional development opportunities
and technical assistance regarding early
literacy for families and for Family Child
Care Providers serving infants and
toddlers.
Providers serving at least one subsidized
child, received a developmentally and
culturally appropriate collection of
children's books.
Quantitative Impact:
11
4 workshops
1,200 Family Child Care Educators trained
5 regions; 10 communities served
75% of providers attending had EECsubsidized child/children in their care
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Sustained Results of ARRA
Initiatives: Community and Family
Engagement
12
Communications Campaign
ARRA Allocation:
$ 498,500
ARRA Funds Spent: $ 341,935*
Sustained Results
of Initiative:
An external and internal communications
strategy was created to convey the value of
early education and care to stakeholders,
consumers and families/ general public.
Provided an overarching infrastructure to which
local efforts can align.
Quantitative
Impact:
~50 organizations trained
2 Advertorials in 3 communities
1 TV Public Service Announcement (2 regions)
WCVB Net Impressions: ,651,630 persons 25-54
WGGB Net Impressions: 105,439 persons 25-54
www.thebostonchannel.com Net Impressions:
1,116,000 impressions
1 web PSA
1 Guide to Quality
7 users will test website changes
13
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Early Childhood Information System
ARRA Allocation:
$ 710,170
ARRA Funds Spent: $ 665,170*
14
Sustained Results
of Initiative:
An “early childhood information system” (ECIS)
that incorporates the assignment of unique child
IDs, educator/staff IDs, and program IDs, linked
with timely, accessible, useful data to improve the
effectiveness of both teaching and learning and
increase access to secondary data from multiple
sources;
Data analysis and research capability and to
continue the agency’s partnership/membership in
the UMass (Lowell) Open Indicators data
presentation tool development and use; and
An “early warning indicator system” as called for
in the Governor’s Readiness Cabinet data report,
apply it to children younger than five, and
recommend state and local intervention and
coordinated case management.
Quantitative
Impact:
85 Strategic Planning Institute attendees
24 Data Workgroup participants (4 meetings)
1 Vision Document, 13 key indicators
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Information and Referral Program
15
ARRA Allocation:
$ 150,000
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 150,000*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Expanded capacity to provide information
and referral services regarding high
quality programs and services offered by
EEC by establishing a statewide call
center through Massachusetts 2-1-1.
Quantitative Impact:
Total
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
calls handled:
Central
Boston
Northeast
Southeast
Western
Unknown
Total
979
594
590
685
531
57
3436
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Coordinated Family and Community
Engagement Grantee- Infrastructure
16
ARRA Allocation:
$ 246,436
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 244,681*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
18 CFCE grantees developed and implemented
a community based strategic plan for meeting
the needs of families with children birth to
eight years old in their communities.
Quantitative Impact:
• 100% submitted 3 year Strategic Plans
• 39% Commissioner’s Districts or
Underperforming Schools
• 50% addressed governance/council
administration issues
• 38.9% addressed service area realignment
• 77.8% addressed their ability to meet child,
family and community outcomes
• 77.8% addressed coordination for an effective
local model
• 61.1% addressed the refinement of local
service delivery
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Waitlist Solution
ARRA Allocation:
$ 490,096
ARRA Funds Spent:
$ 387,572*
Sustained Results of
Initiative:
Improved EEC’s centralized waitlist (data
collection and the management of
subsidized child care) with the
implementation of a customized “COTS”
waitlist product.
Quantitative Impact:
• 7 Regional agent trainings (303
participants from 189 organizations)
• 9 Train the Trainer classes (73
participants from 62 organizations)
• 7 KinderWait webinars and webinar
series (760 participants)
• 14 Recorded trainings
17
*ARRA funds must be spent by 9.30.11; billing is in process.
Overall Impact
18

Educator and Program Quality:
$2,132,379

Community and Family Engagement:
$2,095,202

Total ARRA allocation on sustained
initiatives: $4,227,581