Quality Partnerships That Last A Discussion of Developing Pre-K Expansion Grant Partnerships in Orleans Parish April 8, 2016
Early Childhood Education in Louisiana Only 54% of Louisiana children enter kindergarten ready. A 2013 Picard Center longitudinal study shows that children who participate in quality early childhood programs are more likely to enter kindergarten ready and to succeed in the long term. Children participating in the LA 4 program significantly outperform their peers who did not attend pre-K, with 5-11% higher rate of proficiency in all subject areas of the i LEAP and LEAP in 3 rd -8 th grade.
New Orleans Early Education Network (NOEEN) The New Orleans Early Education Network (NOEEN) serves as the Act 3 early care and education network for Orleans Parish. NOEEN is led by Agenda for Children and governed by the NOEEN Steering Committee. 23 Early Head Starts and Head Starts 37 Public Schools 10 Nonpublic Schools 84 Child Care Centers NOEEN is dedicated to ensuring that every eligible child from birth to five- years-old has access to a free or low-cost seat in a high-quality early childhood education program by: • Improving QUALITY in the classroom • Increasing ACCESS for families • Serving MORE children
Improving Quality Prior to this school year, not all early childhood programs used a uniform set of standards or evaluation tools to measure progress. Now, NOEEN provides trainings and ensures that all 500 classrooms are using a uniform set of standards, student evaluation tools, and classroom interactions observations. • TS GOLD checkpoints • Twice-yearly CLASS system observations • MyTeachstone access • Teacher coaching for all early learning centers in the Preschool Expansion Grant
Increasing Access Before this year, parents had no resource available to provide them with information on the 150+ publicly funded early childhood options available. Now, NOEEN has partnered with EnrollNOLA and other community partners to: • Create “OneApp: Infant to Pre - K 4” • Provide trained early childhood Family Resource Center staff • Develop the EnrollNOLA Early Childhood Catalog and the New Orleans Guide to Early Childhood Education • Build a centralized process to track enrollment in all programs
Serving More Children This year, NOEEN created a single annual process for early childhood providers to request funding for various types of state-funded early childhood programs. This coordinated process has significantly increased the number of early childhood seats recommended by LDE to BESE for New Orleans providers for the 2016-17 school year: • 130 additional free pre-K seats at public and nonpublic schools • 140 additional free pre-K seats at early learning centers partnering with public schools in the Preschool Expansion Grant
Improving Quality • Minimum quality star rating (2+ stars) and additional quality evaluation for programs wishing to participate • Agenda for Children provides regular on-site coaching for all PEG center teachers • School-Center partnerships encourage sharing of best practices and special expertise between school and center Increasing Access • Enrolled through OneApp (New Orleans coordinated enrollment process for grades PK-12) • Included in New Orleans Guide to Early Childhood Education • Additional, unique PK program option for families Serving More Children • 120 PEG seats in 2015-16 • 260 PEG seats in 2016-17 • Priority enrollment to School Partner’s kindergarten class
January - LDOE granted Agenda for Children funding to support 120 new PEG seats for four-year-olds in Orleans Parish February - Agenda for Children designed a plan for program implementation • Due to an education landscape of 90% charter school population and 100+ centers, Agenda for Children needed to develop a process for interested schools and center to apply March – application and selection process for interested schools and centers • Programs/partners had to be finalized by April in order to meet the deadline to include new programs in OneApp Round 2 application • Many Center Partners applied, however there was a shortage of interested Schools to partner with.
During the first year of implementation, NOEEN encountered several challenges that necessitated proactive solutions . Challenge Program application process that was rushed, not in-depth Details of program administration settled far too late Respective responsibilities for schools and centers were unclear Communication breakdowns between partners Center budget constraints
The purpose of the handbook is to provide information and guidance to 2015-16 Preschool Expansion Grant school-center partnerships. This handbook has proven to be a valuable resource and seeks to provide the following information: • Background • Basic information • Grant requirements • Points of contact • Appendix of important forms and information, including a school- center partnership MOU May 2, 2016
School-center partners Tomika Suarez and Karen Gauthier will now share their Year 1 PEG experience • Tomika Suarez is currently the Director of Rainbow Academy and Preschool and has held the position since 2001. Tomika has been involved in center operations since a young age, as her parents founded Rainbow Academy in 1973. Tomika is a lifelong New Orleans native and when not busy running her center (which is rare), she can be found attending her daughter’s volleyball games around the country. • Karen Gauthier , is a career educator who is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of children. Karen serves as an Early Childhood Coordinator/Literacy Facilitator with New Beginnings Schools Foundation, working with local school leaders, instructional specialists, teachers, students and families. In addition to her work as an educator, Karen enjoys traveling and sharing her love for New Orleans as a volunteer tour guide.
May 2, 2016
Challenge Solutions • Coordinated Funding Request for PEG, NSECD, LA 4 • Program application Evaluation committee made up of process that was rushed, representatives from public schools, centers and not in-depth non-public schools • Scores based on parent demand, quality, citywide needs, and site visits • Partners formalized intent to partner in February Details of program • Collaboration Plan administration settled far too late • Kickoff meetings • Monthly Meetings beginning in April
Challenge Solutions Respective • Launch and completion of 2015-16 MOU responsibilities for • Review and revise 2015-16 MOU with partners schools and centers • Webinars on partner responsibilities were unclear • Monthly PEG group sessions Communication • Kickoff meetings breakdowns between • Clear points of contact partners • Completion of 16-17 MOU • 2015-16 budget evaluations Center budget constraints • Budget review for 2016-17 Center Partners
For the launch of the 2016-17 partnerships, NOEEN has developed the following SMART (specific and measurable) goals: • All 2016-17 partnerships will continue for 2017-18 • The number of children in a PEG classroom enrolling in their partner school’s kindergarten class the following year will increase by at least 10% • Increase the number of PEG seats by 20% for 2017-18 • Teacher’s pre -k CLASS scores, specifically in the Instructional Support Domain, will improve from fall to spring • Ensure 90% enrollment in all PEG classrooms for 2016-17 and a minimum monthly attendance rate of 75%
May 2, 2016
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