Early Childhood Programs How Do I Ask a Question? Federal Offices - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Federal Perspectives and New Initiatives Related to Family-Provider Relationships in Early Childhood Programs

How Do I Ask a Question?

Federal Offices Represented U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Administration for Children and Families)  Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development  Office of Head Start  Office of Child Care  Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children’s Bureau U.S. Department of Education  Office of Innovation and Improvement

Content Overview  Commonalities across program offices  Unique perspectives across program offices  Guiding frameworks or principles  Flexibility in regulations  Innovations from the field  Using research to facilitate effective practice  Discussion questions  What trends are you seeing related to family-provider relationships in early childhood programs?  What do you see as the top priorities for improving family-provider relationships?  What information do you think researchers could provide to fill in critical gaps in knowledge?

Commonalities across Program Offices  Importance of family-provider relationships, and specifically family engagement  Need for partnerships in engaging families  Need for flexibility in creating policies, RFP criteria, and regulations related to family-provider relationships

Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Moushumi Beltangady Senior Policy Analyst

Guiding Framework/Principles Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting  Home visiting IS family engagement  Engagement of parents, caregivers, and families is the core service delivery strategy  Through positive, ongoing, and goal-oriented relationships with families, home visitors 1) expand parent/caregiver’s knowledge and skills to nurture child development; 2) promote growth and healthy development of young children; and 3) connect families to resources in the community  Engaging families in the home environment v. early care and education setting  Participation v. engagement, minimizing attrition, engaging fathers  Home visiting model-specific family engagement strategies

Encouraging Flexibility in Standards and Regulations Home Visiting in Tribal Communities  Inter-generational families and home environments  Community norms around child-rearing  Role of elders  Other cultural considerations  Distrust of home visitors from outside the community  Need for adaptation or enhancement of models

Innovations from the Field Tribal MIECHV grantee innovations  Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (WA)  Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) home visiting model  Brazelton Touchpoints framework  NFP Nurse and Family Support Specialist/Cultural Liaison  Fairbanks Native Association (AK)  Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting model  “We don’t think we’re better than them”  Adaptation of PAT lessons to diverse Alaska Native population  Native home visitors

Department of Health and Human Services ACF Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge INSERT LOGO HERE Richard Gonzales Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Development

Guiding Framework/Principles RTT-ELC Focused Investment Area/Selection Criteria (C)(4) – Engaging and Supporting Families The extent to which the State has a High-Quality Plan to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate information and support to families of Children with High Needs in order to promote school readiness for their children by — (a) Establishing a progression of culturally and linguistically appropriate standards for family engagement across the levels of its Program Standards, including activities that enhance the capacity of families to support their children’s education and development; (b) Increasing the number and percentage of Early Childhood Educators trained and supported on an on-going basis to implement the family engagement strategies included in the Program Standards; and (c) Promoting family support and engagement statewide, including by leveraging other existing resources such as through home visiting programs, other family-serving agencies, and through outreach to family, friend, and neighbor caregivers.

Encouraging Flexibility in Standards and Regulations The progression of culturally and linguistically appropriate family engagement standards used in the Program Standards that includes strategies successfully used to engage families in supporting their children’s development and learning. Strategies must address, but need not be limited to:  Parent access to the program  Ongoing two-way communication with families  Parent education in child development  Outreach to fathers and other family members  Training and support for families as children move to preschool and kindergarten  Social networks of support, intergenerational activities  Linkages with community supports and adult and family literacy programs  Parent involvement in decision making, and parent leadership development Documentation that this progression of standards includes activities that enhance the capacity of families to support their children’s education and development.

Innovations from the Field State Advisory Council Work Examples  Maine - Examined various metrics and evaluation tools and measured the degree of success of parent engagement strategies.  Missouri and Georgia - Developed family engagement recommendations for adoptive parents.  New York - Developed certification for parent educators.  California - Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Competencies: one of the 12 areas is Family and Community Engagement.  Guam - Collaboration with the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority to conduct parent outreach activities for families who reside in government- subsidized housing.  Nebraska - Developed core messages for engaging parents, early care and education providers, and schools on the topics of school preparedness and prepared schools.

Innovations from the Field Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge Work Examples  North Carolina - Head Start Hub sites will provide technical assistance, demonstration, and coaching regarding family engagement strategies to ECE workforce in non-Head Start ELD programs; 3 counties within the Transformation Zones will implement the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program (prevent and treat behavioral/emotional problems).  Maryland - Established and overseeing a Coalition for Family Engagement; customizing for Maryland needs the Head Start Family, Parent, and Community Engagement Framework.  Ohio - Revised Step Up to Quality, its QRIS, to include program standards that address how early childhood educators are to share assessment results with families.  Massachusetts - An affiliated site of Help Me Grow (a national program that connects parents, pediatricians, and child care providers), has distributed the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and ASQ-Social Emotional (ASQ-SE) toolkits to community agencies.  Delaware - Created Parent and Community Engagement Workgroup; implementing Engagement Plan with multiple audiences to promote Stars (TQRIS).  Wisconsin – Development of a progression of family engagement standards used to determine mandatory points across its TQRIS star levels.

Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of Head Start Kiersten Beigel Family and Community Partnerships Specialist

Guiding Framework/Principles

Encouraging Flexibility in Standards and Regulations  Regulations are locally interpreted and locally implemented.  PFCE Outcomes represent groupings of regulations.  The PFCE and TTA Resources are regulation implementation tools.  Programs use required community assessment and family assessment/family report data to design services.

Innovations from the Field  Systemic, Integrated, Comprehensive  Positive, Goal Directed Relationships  Outcomes Based & Data Driven  Understanding Family Progress

Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Care Leatha Chun Child Care Program Specialist

Guiding Framework/Principles Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)  CCDF Federal block grant program providing funding to States, Territories and Tribes.  Primary funding source for providing access to child care services and improving child care quality Twin Principles: 1) Promote self-sufficiency by making child care more affordable for low-income families 2) Foster healthy child development and school success by improving the quality of child care.

Encouraging Flexibility in Standards and Regulations OCC’s Focus:  Improving health and safety in child care  Improving the quality of child care  Establishing family-friendly policies Achieve focus by working with States, Territories, and Tribes to:  Set minimum health and safety standards for all child care providers  Provide more detailed provider information for parents to allow them to make better informed child care choices  Provide a descriptive system /transparent method of quality indicators so parents can differentiate between the quality levels of child care providers available in their communities