Building Early Learning Access and Quality with
District Partners and Families
September 25, 2013
Overview
I.
Importance of Early Investment
II.
FIRST 5 Santa Clara County and United Way Silicon Valley
a. Background
b. Goals
c. Funded Programs
III.
Importance of Parent and Community Engagement in Early Education
a. Triangle of Success
IV. Bridge to Kindergarten Programs
a. Components and Description
b. Roles
c. Outcomes
d. Testimonial
V.
Continued Parent and Community Engagement Ideas
VI. Interactive Questions
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Mismatch in Public Investment in Early Years
Source: Brain Growth and Public Investment, A Mismatch (Children Now) 2010
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Returns in Human Capital to a Unit Dollar Invested
4
Proposition 10 – Creation of FIRST 5
California voters understand the importance of early investment. In 1998,
voters passed Proposition 10:
•
$0.50 tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products
•
Tax revenue distributed to all 58 California counties to be spent on early
childhood health and development programs. Approximately $15.4 Million
distributed to Santa Clara County in FY13-14
•
FIRST 5 organizations must invest tobacco tax funding locally, and priorities
are determined by local needs
•
FIRST 5 provides funding to local non-profits, schools, and public agencies
to deliver high-quality health, early education, and family support programs
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FIRST 5 Vision and Mission
Vision
FIRST 5 Santa Clara County will be
a catalyst for ensuring that the
developmental needs of children
prenatal through age 5 are a priority
in all sectors of the community.
Mission
FIRST 5 Santa Clara supports the
healthy development of children
prenatal through age 5 and enriches
the lives of their families and
communities.
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United Way Silicon Valley Education Goals
Focused on families with young
children. Supporting family and
parent engagement, and ensuring
children:
• Enter kindergarten ready to learn
• Read proficiently by 3rd grade
• Make a successful transition from
elementary to middle school
• Graduate from high school on
time
• Be ready for success post high
school graduation in college,
work and life
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Where We Serve: Cumulative Child Risk Factors by Zip Code
Legend Total
Rating Points
2-6
7-9
10 - 16
17 - 23
24 - 29
No data
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Who We Serve - Birth through 5 and Kindergarten Population
149,000
Children birth through age 5 in Santa Clara County
22,000
Children enter Kindergarten each year in Santa Clara County
Source: Census 2010 and CA Dept. of Education
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How We Serve – FIRST 5
Physical Health
• Children’s Health Insurance
• Oral Health
• Children’s Vision Screening
• Childhood Obesity Prevention
• Breastfeeding Support
• Public Hospital/Clinic Support
Behavioral Health
• Developmental Screenings
• Home Visitation
• Parent/Child Therapy
Early Care and Education
• High Quality Preschool for 3 and 4
year olds
• Summer Bridge to Kindergarten
Programs
• Raising Quality Standards of
Preschool
• Educare
• Professional Development for
Teachers and Family Childcare
Providers
Family Support
• Family Resource Centers
• Parent Workshops
• Court-involved Families
• Child Welfare and Safety
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How We Serve – United Way Silicon Valley
Bringing partnerships, innovative programs, and advocacy to most challenging areas
of the county. Several programs underway:
 Summer reading kits to all K-5 students in six elementary schools
 Holiday giving program supporting all K-5 students and siblings at four elementary
schools
 Day of Action - full day volunteer event focused on school beautification and
projects at one site (completed three sites to date)
 Reading mentors - early literacy focus matching volunteers 1:1 with students K-3
in two schools for a school year
 One-day volunteer activities - KaBoom playground build, science fair judging, Dr.
Seuss Reading
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Parent and Community Engagement
“All of the high-performing school systems we studied
have discovered ways to build in processes for parent
and community engagement, believing that early
childhood education is a part of the community.”
Six Drivers of Student Success – A Look Inside Five of the World’s Highest-Performing
School Systems, Battelle for Kids, 2012.
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Parent Engagement and Early Childhood Education
“Engaging families in their children’s education early
in their lives improves school readiness, produces
higher gains in reading and math achievement, and
increases graduation rates.”
Dr. Karen Mapp, Senior Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2012.
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Kindergarten Readiness – Triangle of Success
School/Teacher
Kindergarten
Readiness
Parent
Community
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – FIRST 5
Components:
 Four-week summer program taught by
Kindergarten teachers
 Targets students who with no Pre-K or
any other formal preparation for starting
school.
 Primarily in high-risk school sites that also
contain FIRST 5 Family Resource
Centers
 Provide Abriendo Puertas parent
workshops focused on parent leadership,
advocacy, and school readiness skills
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – United Way Silicon Valley
 United Way Silicon Valley’s (UWSV) strategic plan focuses on
supporting families with young children and building
connectedness and self-sufficiency
 Bridge to Kindergarten (BTK) was a natural next step to build
family engagement and support in early learning
 In 2013, UWSV Invested in the BTK Program
 Four schools in the Alum Rock School District
 Based on program success United Way hopes to engage
partners to invest in additional schools next summer
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – Roles
Teachers and
Schools
Parents
• Student
Recruitment
• Curriculum
• Student and
Parent
Engagement
• Transition Lessons
• Engage with
Teacher
• Attend BTK Class
• Continue
Classroom
Learning at Home
• Support Teacher
Community
• Student
Recruitment
• Parent
Workshops
(Abriendo
Puertas)
• FIRST 5 Family
Resource
Centers
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – Readiness Outcomes
Teacher Assessment of School Readiness
3.00
Proficient
Pre
2.52
Post
2.44
2.38
2.26
2.33
2.24
2.00
In Progress
1.67
1.78
1.87
1.84
1.74
1.22
1.00
Not Yet
Adjusted to
parent
separation
Can count
syllables in
name
Can sit and
listen
Can follow
rules
Can express Can share and
feelings
take turns
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – Self Regulation
 Deeper look at Self Regulation Outcomes of
Bridge to Kindergarten Program
 Self-regulation skills enable children’s
successful adaptation to the more structured
classroom environment found in K-12
 Self-regulation provides a foundation for
positive school experiences and predicts
later academic achievement
 Used the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Task (HTKS)
o
o
Structured 5-7 minute assessment played like a game, where children are
asked to perform the opposite of a series of commands.
Test consists of 20 commands and up to 2 points can be earned on each if
the correct opposite action was produced for the command. One point can
be earned for a “self-correction”
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – Self Regulation Outcomes
Mean HTKS Scores by School: 2013
17.87
Overall
13.9
21.39
Cesar Chavez
Santee
16.36
Post
Pre
15.06
11.94
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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Bridge to Kindergarten Programs – Self Regulation Outcomes
Effect sizes by language
0.6
0.5
0.54
0.47
0.39
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Overall
English
Spanish
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Bridge to Kindergarten – Parent and Teacher Testimonial
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Continued Parent/Community Engagement
In addition to Bridge to Kindergarten
Programs, teachers and schools and can
engage parents and the community before
and after children enter Kindergarten:
 Kindergarten Readiness
Assessments / DRDP – SR
 Refer parents and students to local
FIRST 5 Family Resource Centers
and other community resources
 Invite community leaders and organizations to visit your classrooms
 Conduct home visits
 Parent classroom visits/observations
 Parent volunteer opportunities
 Parent “homework” assignments that strengthen in-home reading and
other lessons
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Interactive Questions
1. Immediate thoughts or questions from the presentation?
2. How important do you think the parent/teacher relationship is in affecting
student achievement?
3. How has parent involvement been trending at your school and district?
4. Do you know your feeder preschools and involve parents at the early
stages?
5. What are specific parent activities/events at your school currently?
6. What would you like to do as next steps to strengthen family
engagement? (i.e. implement Summer Kindergarten Bridge programs,
train in DRDP-SR or other tools, build stronger partnership with local
service provider agencies, do home visits, etc.)
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Thank You!
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Contact Information
Jolene Smith
Chief Executive Officer
FIRST 5 Santa Clara County
408.260.3700
Jolene@first5kids.org
Pearl Cheng
Education Program Manager
United Way Silicon Valley
(408) 345-4390
Pearl.Cheng@uwsv.org
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