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On Thursday January 8^th, Scarlett Bouder, Vice President, and Heather Lenz, Policy Associate, facilitated discussions with Arizona’s early intervention stakeholders to refine strategies and start determining benchmarks to measure the success of the state’s early intervention system. Led by First Things First (FTF), these discussions are part of the federal Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant (ECCS), received by First Things First for 2013-2016.  Arizona’s ECCS grant focuses on increasing developmental screening of young children to identify and treat problems early among children birth through age two.

ACS is entering their second year providing support to FTF leadership on strategy planning and facilitation to fulfill the grant requirements and goals of the ECCS grant. Last year, ACS worked with FTF to develop and adopt a three-year workplan with specific goals and strategies led by other statewide early intervention stakeholders in Arizona.

A recent study from Stanford University’s Center for Research of Educational Outcomes (CREDO) examines Ohio’s charter school performance has gained attention around the state. The Akron Beacon Journal and Plain Dealer reports the CREDO’s findings that Ohio’s charter schools rank 23rd out of 26 states where charter schools had been in operation long enough to produce measurable results. In a state like Ohio, where for-profit companies dominate the charter school landscape, that means families, students and taxpayers may not be getting their money’s worth.

“After a year in a charter school, Ohio students typically lag behind district school students by weeks in reading and months in math,” the paper reports. Only Michigan and Texas surpass Ohio in the number of charter schools run by for-profit companies.

On December 10, 2014, Macke Raymond, Director of CREDO, outlined key findings from their newly released report before a group of education advocates and state leaders at the Cleveland City Club.

While the report highlights increased positive performance of Ohio’s charter schools, it also reinforces the need for increased oversight of charter school sponsors and boards in order to ensure that charter schools are providing quality educational opportunities for all students.

The Beacon Journal also shares data from its own study of charter school performance management, which found that:

• Charter schools that hired no company, as a group, performed the best academically; those managed by nonprofits showed the best student academic growth; and those managed by for-profits scored lowest in both categories.
• Of the 16 lowest performing networks, 14 were managed by for-profit companies.
• The online charter schools Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and Ohio Virtual Academy, which account for a quarter of all charter enrollment, averaged the lowest student growth in the state.
• Of the 12 highest-performing charter school networks, eight hired nonprofit management organizations.
• $503 million of $920 million in public funding went to charter schools managed by for-profit companies. A little over half of the $920 million went to out-of-state companies.
• Out-of-state and for-profit companies enrolled 74,458 of the 119,271 Ohio charter school students.
• The 10 highest performing companies managed schools with above-average revenue, many propped up by private philanthropists who invest in successful academic models. Others got a boost from Cleveland voters, who approved additional local aid (about $1,000 more per pupil) for high-performing charter schools. A similar local levy failed in Columbus. The state offers no financial incentive for top-performers.

 

Rhian Evans Allvin, Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) appears in this year’s edition of NPR Education Blog’s 2015 Education Predictions List by predicting kindergarten entry assessments will be implemented as a key transition into elementary school.

ACS organized a press conference on December 19, 2014 to launch a national model that will help more than 130 homeless families and their children find stability in Cuyahoga County. Here are two stories from the press event, one from Cleveland.com and the other from Ideastream. With funding from The Reinvestment Fund, The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Nonprofit Finance Fund, Front Line Service and several local and national partners will provide comprehensive services to reduce the length of stay in out-of-home foster care placement for children whose families are homeless.  More information about the program may be found here: http://www.thirdsectorcap.org/our-work/cuyahoga-county-pfs/

At the end of September, President Obama announced a goal to enroll 6 million children in high-quality preschool programs. However, says EdCentral blog author Clare McCann, the way in which we can accomplish that goal is still unclear. Pre-K classrooms will have to grow by about 50%, says McCann, assuming both public and private programs are part of the plan. (If the President was referring to public programs only, those will have to double.) In addition, Mr. Obama’s call specifically for high-quality pre-K, a hurdle for many existing programs, and the question of half-day versus full-day programs as new pre-K seats are created. But perhaps the most pressing question is that of federal and state investment. While the President’s proposal includes helping states expand and improve their pre-K programs, Congress must approve such an expenditure. However, McCann points to a recent poll in which 64 percent of Americans said “it’s time for the federal government to do more to help ensure kindergarten readiness.” Who knows, maybe the President’s ambitious goal might become reality.

ACS client First Things First of AZ is given credit for helping the state capture $20 million in federal funds to support high quality preschool. Funds will support First Things First’s flagship program, Quality First, the state’s Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), and help grow partnerships with institutions of higher education to increase the number of high-quality early childhood professionals.

Staff in ADE’s Early Childhood Education unit finalized the grant application earlier this year with support from the Governor’s Office, First Things First, and other early learning stakeholders.

We are delighted to share the news that ACS client Anthony Trotman, Director of the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services, has been named the 2015 Champion of Children by the United Way of Central Ohio. It’s a well-deserved honor. Mr. Trotman oversees a budget of more than $72 million and a team of 630 people to fund high-quality childcare, engage and support more than 6,000 youth in meaningful afterschool and summer programs, and provide Medicaid coverage for more than 145,000 kids. He also helped create “More Than My Brother’s Keeper” — a place-based, collective impact model that helps boys ages 10 to 14 stay on track for success in both post-secondary and career settings. And as if that’s not enough, Mr. Trotman serves as a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer mentor to a young man in the community. We love our clients, and we’re ecstatic when other people love them, too! Congratulations, Mr. Trotman!

Seven academic centers at major universities have produced a Collective Policy Statement that includes recommendations to advance the success of men and boys of color in all levels of education, from Pre-K to post-graduate. These recommendations are of particular interest to ACS because of our work with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Forward Promise Initiative grantees. The Statement, Advancing the Success of Boys and Men of Color in Education: Recommendations for Policymakers, offers six policy recommendations specific to the preK-12 arena, four policy recommendations for the postsecondary environment, and five recommendations for the overall pre-K to doctoral education pipeline as a whole. Recommendations range from on-the-ground practice (such as increasing the presence of men of color among teachers, principals and counselors) to data collection (such as tracking and scorecards for schools with high suspension or special education placement rates, or creating a national dataset to track males of color from pre-K to postsecondary). Download the full report for free here.

The 2013 Census Report on poverty rates told us what we already knew: far too many Americans – particularly children and those of color – live in poverty. But recent Congressional actions could take small steps to help poor children, youth and families. Our friends at CLASP have done a great job of summarizing the needs and the Congressional actions in this blog post.

The first is the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA), passed this summer. It’s the first reauthorization of workforce training programs in 16 years and received bipartisan support. WIOA helps state and local workforce leaders heighten their focus on and services to those struggling in the workforce, such as those with limited skills or education, which often means those living in poverty. WIOA also helps make it easier for these workers to juggle the demands of ongoing education and jobs to improve their overall skills, employability and outlook.

Congress also has supported the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program which provides home visits to high-risk families to support infant development and parental skills. It also funded Early Head Start-child care partnerships to support high-quality pre-K programs. And the House has passed a reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) fro the first time in 18 years, with Senate action expected in November.  CCDBG funds help keep families stable by supporting work and childcare for low income families.

While MIECHV expires in April 2015 and will hopefully be extended, and funding levels for WIOA and CCDBG are not yet sufficient to meet these programs’ goals, the level of bipartisan agreement to support all of these programs is hopefully a signal of more poverty-focused policies to come.

 

During his visit to Cleveland on October 28, HUD Secretary Julian Castro praised the efforts of PRE4CLE to expand affordable, accessible pre-K programs throughout the city, saying “Cleveland gets it.” Securing a visit from Secretary Castro was especially relevant, since he led the charge for another highly-praised universal pre-K effort in San Antonio, Texas, when he served as mayor there.  Thanks to ACS, the event received coverage in the Plain Dealer and NPR ideastream, as well as an op-ed in the Plain Dealer by Paul Clark (the regional President of PNC Bank) that was picked up by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Our team coordinated all the event logistics, including security protocols. We also coordinated messaging between PRE4CLE and White House staff, and invited, prepped and followed up with local media before, during and after the event.