Early Steps to
School Success
Save the Children’s Early Steps to School
Success Program
NCFL Conference, April 28, 2013
Margaret Sergin
Senior Early Childhood Specialist
About Us
• Leading independent
organization creating lasting
change for children
• Founded in Appalachia in
1932, celebrating over 75
years of service to children
• In more than 50 countries,
including 16 states in the US
• Serve more than 37 million
children and 24 million
adults
2
Working in
Rural America
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
High % of poverty
Isolation
Lack of community resources
Receive less per capita
federal funds and private
charitable funding than urban
areas
Transportation issues
Access to skilled workforce
Drug use/Alcoholism
Other high risk factors
US Programs Overview
• Early Childhood: Early Steps to
School Success
• Literacy Program: In-school,
Afterschool, Summer
Programming
• Healthy Choices
• Children in emergencies and
crisis
4
The Evidence: What
Research Tells Us
• Starting early matters
• The quality of the early learning experiences
matters
• Low-income children lagging behind
• School readiness skills make a difference
• Poor and minority groups benefit the most
from high-quality early childhood programs
Early Steps
Characteristics
• Early Steps is a language development and pre
literacy program
• Early Steps provides services through home visiting
and parent groups
• Early Steps works with children and families from
pregnancy until the child enters kindergarten
• Early Steps is connected to the schools and other
community partners
Early Steps
Program Goals
1. Children will enter school with the skills necessary
for school success.
2. Parents will have the knowledge and skills to
support their children’s education.
3. Home and school connections will be strong.
4. Early childhood knowledge and skills in
communities will be significantly increased.
How is Early Steps
Different?
• Location: Rural areas where there are few other early
childhood supports
• Community and school based: building local capacity
• Connections: We are creating a critical home-school bond
and strong school transitions
• Continuity: By working with families from pregnancy and
connecting families with schools, we provide a seamless
delivery of services beginning from birth and continuing
through children’s entrance into school
• Quality: Evidenced based birth to five curriculum; training
and technical assistance
• Flexibility in model implementation
• Affordability: Average cost per child per
year is $1600-$1800
Community Based: ESSS
Solutions
• We go where the families are
– Meet families where they are and where the support is needed
– Onsite training and mentoring
• We partner with the schools
– Working with school districts and other local agencies
– Working across communities
• We build local expertise and knowledge
– ECE capacity: paraprofessionals from the community
– Social capacity for families: connecting with peers, reducing isolation
and rates of depression
9
Early Steps Model
ESSS
Curriculum
Staff
Training and
Support
Community
Connections
Transition to
School
Home
Visiting
Early
Steps to
School
Success
Parent-Child
Education +
Support
Groups
Develpmental
Screenings
and Referrals
Book Bag
Exchange
Implementing the
Model
1. Bi-weekly home visits by trained early childhood
staff from the community; developmental
screenings
– Language and literacy skills
– Social-emotional skills
– Thinking (cognitive) skills
– Physical (motor) skills
Implementing the
Model
2.
Regularly scheduled
parent/child support
and education groups in
school
–
–
–
–
Toddler storybook hours
and play groups
Parenting education
groups
Family nights
Building connections with
school personnel
Implementing the
Model
3. Positive Transition to School
– Parent/teacher meetings
– Child visits to school
– Teacher home visits
– Summer program before
school entry
Implementing the
Model
Book Bag Exchange
–
Age and culturally
appropriate books
–
Training for parents in
dialogic reading
Implementing the
Model: Capacity
Building
4. Training and Technical Assistance
--T & TA is carried out at the national, regional and
local level.
--Average number of training hours per Coordinator
was approximately 65 hours for 2012 .
--Staff Development Competency Matrix
Integrated Curriculum
Materials
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Plan and Play Sets
Parent/Child Groups
Child Transitions into Public Schools
Dual Language -- specific to the populations Early
Steps serves
Coordinator Guide
Early Steps Program Specialist Guide
Portfolio Templates
Gather Round Book Activity Sets
Tools for Measurement &
Ongoing Program
Improvement
• Program quality
assessment tool
• HOME, ASQ, PPVT at
age 3 and 5
• Demographic
information
• Risks and Resources
• Standard Indicators
• Outside Evaluation
ESSS Children are
Doing Well!
• At 3 years of age, 83% of
children tested scored average
or above average for language
development
• At 5 years of age, 91% of
children tested scored average
or above for language
development
• As in an IQ test, the standard
average for all children on the
PPVT is 100. The average
standard score for ESSS children
is 96.8 (N=630)
Our Local Partners
• School districts and county agencies
• Local healthcare providers, such as clinics,
physicians, dentists, and other health professionals,
• Mental health providers
• Other educational agencies: libraries, museums,
community centers, YMCA, etc.
• Center and home based child care providers
• Child Protective Services, other agencies providing
home visiting services
Early Steps
Partners
•
•
•
•
•
Private and Public Funders
Zero to Three
Raising a Reader
State and Local Partners
University of Nebraska, University of
Maryland, George Mason University
• Office of Head Start, Administration for
Children and Families
ESSS
Formula/Structure
Senior Early Childhood Advisor (1)
Early Childhood Deputy Director (1)
Senior Early Childhood Specialist
Southwest (1); South Central (1); Western (1)
Support Staff:
Data Manager (1)
Data Coordinator (.33)
Evaluation Consultant (1)
Early Childhood Program Specialist
1 per 8-10 sites
Coordinator (Home Visitor)
One per 50 children
at each site
ESSS Theory of Change
Thank You
“I like ESSS because you can
start seeing everyday
progress. I’ve learned that it
is a good idea--no matter
how old he is-- it’s
important to get them
involved in reading.”
-ESSS Parent
23