DEVELOPING STATE PLANS TO IMPROVE
SERVICES FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS
ZERO TO THREE Policy Center Webinar
Andrea Booher
March 23, 2010
Key Points about Planning
All planning is strategic.
Planning is an ongoing process.
Planning has many benefits:
 Setting priorities
 Developing a process to identify and resolve issues
 Keeping the work focused
 Building commitment
 Evaluating results and adjusting in light of experience
The Planning Process
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Involve a diverse group of key stakeholders.
Develop a common vision and set of values/principles.
Analyze needs and assets.
Create both a long-term plan and shorter-term
priorities for implementation.
 Establish benchmarks and track progress toward
outcomes.
Infants and Toddlers in the Policy Picture
A Self-Assessment Checklist for States
www.zerotothree.org/checklist
Infants and Toddlers in the Policy Picture
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Four sections
Each item rated
Services and policies
Factual and subjective
Baby Matters
Baby Matters:
A Gateway to State Policies
and Initiatives
www.zerotothree.org/babymatters
Baby Matters
Shifting the Paradigm for Infant and Toddler Policy
A Place to Get Started
www.zerotothree.org/gettingstarted
Part of the policy guide, which is
available at
www.zerotothree.org/policyguide
Shifting the Paradigm for Infant and Toddler Policy
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Infant and early childhood mental health consultation
Developmental screening
High quality home visiting services
Permanent placements for children in foster care
QRIS inclusive of infants and toddlers
Early Head Start expansion
Early childhood professional development system
Collaborative planning and decision-making structures
Discussion with States
 Facilitator: Barbara Gebhard, ZERO TO THREE
 Maryland: Margaret Williams, Maryland Family
Network
 Pennsylvania: Debi Mathias, Office of Child
Development and Early Learning
Overview of Maryland’s Planning Process
• Led by nonprofit intermediary with State Department of
Education leadership
• What Should We Do?
How Should We Do It?
How Should We Pay for It?
• Mantra: The plan must be research- and practicebased, approved by key stakeholders, informed by
content experts, and sufficiently detailed to guide
statewide program and policy developments for the
next decade.
Overview of Maryland’s Planning Process
• 2 years to plan
• 5 foundations
• 1 facilitator with graduate students
• 6 months to execute
• 49 stakeholders
• 48 pages and a disc, pictures and charts
LifeStockPhoto
Overview of Pennsylvania’s Planning Process
• Convene a Team
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Application process for selecting members, ended up with 27 members
Chaired by foundation leader
Committee members included high level government, health care, early intervention,
infant-toddler child care experts, early intervention, Early Head Start, university
faculty, education association representatives, and cross-sector systems thinkers
• Survey the Landscape
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Reviewed report and progress on the BUILD Infant-Toddler Task Force:
Recommendations to Promote Infant and Toddler Development – Establishing an
Integrated and Coordinated System for Infants, Toddlers and their Families in
Pennsylvania, February 2006
Reviewed status of infants and toddlers in Pennsylvania (Risk and Reach Data) and
identified gaps
Reviewed elements of early childhood systems, policy and planning frameworks,
and resources
Reviewed innovations in other states including programs, evaluation and research in
the areas of quality programs, professional development, early identification, home
visiting and financing
Overview of Pennsylvania’s Planning Process
• Develop the Vision
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Brainstorming exercise – what are we celebrating about the work in PA and how
does that reflect the values that we hold, improvements that have been made, and
accomplishments to support families?
Developed a vision statement for the infant-toddler work
“Children are our future. We share in the responsibility to guarantee for each child the
opportunity to thrive in the early years of life, and for each parent the knowledge and resources
to nurture their child’s development. Therefore, we intend to create a future in Pennsylvania
where every infant and toddler is supported with a comprehensive continuum of high
quality, integrated educational and behavioral health services that are responsive to
individual family needs.”
• Create the Deliverables and Follow Up Mechanisms
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Goal - end up with a handful of agreed-on ‘Big Ideas’ with strategies and
benchmarks for implementation
Created the report with background, research support and recommendations
Handed off recommendations with next steps to appropriate group/individual
Assigned person to check in on progress and update community
Process
What resources, tools, or activities were particularly
useful to your planning group? (Pennsylvania)
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Data reports from PA (Reach and Risk)
http://www.pakeys.org/pages/get.aspx?page=EarlyLearning_Reach
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Maintaining a system viewpoint
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Examples from other states
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Policy and planning resources from ZERO TO THREE and CLASP (Center
for Law and Social Policy)
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National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative (NITCCI) – Strategic Planning Toolkit
ZERO TO THREE Self-Assessment Checklist for States
Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care Project
State CCDBG Plans to Promote Opportunities for Babies and Toddlers in Child Care and Tool to
Examine State Child Care Subsidy Policies and Promote Stable, Quality Care for Low-Income Babies and
Toddlers
Process
What resources, tools, or activities were particularly
useful to your planning group? (Maryland)
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Informants (Knitzer, Lombardi, Melmed, Ramey, etc.)
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One-page program summaries
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Unusual suspects – business leaders, housing developers, and venture
capitalists
Process
How did the group deal with conflicts, bridge differences,
and build consensus? (Maryland)
(income targeting, multiple generations, dosage, and illegal family, friend
and neighbor care providers)
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Use of a straw man
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Brought the matter to all 3 work groups for consensus of each, then to
Leadership Council for decision
Process
How did the group deal with conflicts, bridge differences,
and build consensus? (Pennsylvania)
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By having a well-planned, expertly facilitated group process
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Began with a “big tent” vision and over time, with discussion and
activities, ended up with a product that the committee could fully
endorse. Some of the well-known specific strategies included:
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Ground rules for the committee
Spirit of compromise, how can we have win/win with differences,
where do we agree
Priority setting, weighing options
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Realistic filters, accomplishable
Product
What priorities were identified in your plan? (Maryland)
1.
Hubs
2.
Child care
3.
Special services
Debbie Rappaport
Product
What priorities were identified in your plan?
(Pennsylvania)
1. Develop a statewide infant-toddler service program to assure that the
most vulnerable infants and toddlers receive quality early learning.
2. Assure early identification and referral through developmental screening.
3. Support a qualified multidisciplinary workforce of professionals with
infant-toddler expertise in the service delivery system.
4. Assure the provision of behavioral health services as necessary to
enhance the social and emotional health of infants, toddlers and their
families.
Product
How did you disseminate the plan to key stakeholders
and cultivate support for its recommendations?
(Pennsylvania)
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BUILD listserv – emailed to over 8,000
Build Early Childhood E-News is a biweekly e-newsletter to inform early
learning professionals, the early childhood community, policymakers,
community leaders and the public on developments in early childhood
education and care in Pennsylvania. The newsletter is free and open to
anyone.
Shared at committee meetings - Early Learning Council, Early Learning
Career Preparation and Development Committee, and Early Childhood Mental
Health Committee
Posted on the PA Key website
Product
How did you disseminate the plan to key stakeholders
and cultivate support for its recommendations?
(Maryland)
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Local Management Boards
Public Policy Committee
Early Childhood Work Groups – LAP
Everybody’s Everything
Results
What has been accomplished so far related to the
priorities in your plan? (Maryland)
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Merger
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Infrastructure has remained intact
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Several initiatives involve the model
Results
What has been accomplished so far related to the priorities in your
plan? (Pennsylvania)
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Develop a statewide infant-toddler service program to assure that the most
vulnerable infants and toddlers receive quality early learning.
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Pennsylvania was able to add to our continuum of infant-toddler services - Nurse
Family Partnership, Parent Child Home Program, Early Intervention, CCW
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Keystone Babies was released as a pilot project funded through ARRA for
applications in February 2010, decisions about funding were announced in March.
Anticipated to add funding into 25 Keystone STAR 3 or 4 subsidized child care
infant-toddler classrooms to improve outcomes for 200 children.
http://www.pakeys.org/pages/get.aspx?page=Programs_Other
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Pennsylvania applied for and became an Early Head Start grantee
serving 128 infants and toddlers in home- and center-based settings
beginning March 2010
Results
What remains to be done, and what are your next steps
for moving forward? (Maryland)
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327 more to go
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Build on existing programs
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Prove the model
Andrea Booher
Results
What remains to be done, and what are your next
steps for moving forward? (Pennsylvania)
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Assure early identification and referral through developmental screening.
The ECMH Committee is reviewing recommendations at the March meeting and
laying out next steps to move ahead in this goal area. The committee and OCDEL
have already recommended consistent use of Ages and Stages developmental
screener across systems.
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Support a qualified multidisciplinary workforce of professionals with infanttoddler expertise in the service delivery system.
Early Learning Career Preparation and Development Committee is reviewing the
recommendations at the March meeting and developing a subcommittee to work
on more detailed recommendations.
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Assure the provision of behavioral health services as necessary to enhance the
social and emotional health of infants, toddlers and their families.
The ECMH Committee is developing strategies for each of the next steps.
Reflections
What challenges have you faced, and how have you dealt
with them? (Pennsylvania)
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Qualification and compensation issues in the ECE field exacerbated in
the infant-toddler setting due to cost of providing high quality services.
Required minimum qualifications and salaries for EHS and Keystone
Babies.
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Coordinated follow-up and benchmarking the success of implementation
after the committee was dissolved. Assigned to paid staff at OCDEL.
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Public and political will-building for continued investment in infants and
toddlers. Continuing to strategize.
Reflections
What challenges have you faced, and how have you dealt
with them? (Maryland)
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Few expansion opportunities and all competitive
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Economic model incomplete
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Focus on Pre-K
Comstock
Reflections
What have been the main keys to success? (Maryland)
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Staying active and visible – public policy
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Being part of all early childhood initiatives, not just 0-3
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Building social network
Reflections
What have been the main keys to success?
(Pennsylvania)
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Ability to leverage high level cross-sector planning committee and come
to consensus on recommendations
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Ability to secure funding to implement recommendations
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Ability to ‘house’ recommendations in already functioning committees
for implementation
Andrea Booher
Reflections
What advice would you offer to other states as they
develop infant-toddler plans? (Pennsylvania)
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Maintain a cross-systems approach with diverse planning partners
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Create a vision and a sense of urgency
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Build in accountability, identifiable outcomes and be able to describe
what success looks like within a recommendation or strategy
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Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good
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Leverage the strengths of the system in your state and be flexible and prepared to
move quickly if opportunities arise; prioritize specific realistic goals that can be
accomplished so there is success around the work
Reflections
What advice would you offer to other states as they
develop infant-toddler plans? (Maryland)
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Make sure all options are on the table
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Involve influencers, wherever they are
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Keep it a short, tight process with a clear goal in mind
Andrea Booher
Contact Information
Barbara Gebhard
bgebhard@zerotothree.org
Margaret Williams
mwilliams@friendsofthefamily.org
LifeStockPhoto
Debi Mathias
demathias@state.pa.us
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Please visit www.zerotothree.org/policywebinars to download all the
materials for this webinar