Featured Comment
“Race to the Top is a wonderful opportunity to help Minnesota bring to fruition the incredible work of early childhood advocates to insure that all our at-risk children have access to high- quality early childhood education. I am confident that with the support of our Governor we will make this happen.
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Art Rolnick, University of MN
Art Rolnick, University of MN
Minnesota Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Conversation
Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Education and Health and Human Services posted a draft executive summary of the draft requirements, priorities, selection criteria, and definitions for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant competition (RTT-ELC). Please review the RTT-ELC Executive Summary and post your opinions, ideas, comments, and suggestions for a Minnesota RTT-ELC application here. Being concise, clear, and specific will ensure that your input adds the most value possible. Click here to download the Early Learning Quick Facts PDF.
The Minnesota Community Education Association (MCEA) extends its support of Minnesota’s application for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. In school districts across the state of Minnesota, Community Education is the statewide delivery system for high quality early childhood education through its School Readiness, Early Childhood Family Education, Family Literacy, and Preschool Screening Programs. We will share our expertise in promoting school readiness for children with high needs, especially young English language learners and children with special needs as demonstrated through Community Education’s strong collaborations with Adult Basic Education and Early Childhood Special Education. One component of Early Childhood Family Education is a home visiting program, which addresses the needs of hard to reach families. Because Community Education is part of the school district, our early childhood programs are initiating the alignment of pre-K through grade 3 curriculum. In addition, many of these early childhood programs have training, assessment, curriculum and data collection systems that could be models for replication across the state. Parent education and involvement are the cornerstone of all school-based early childhood programs. Currently, community educators provide the bridge between and among community resources, social services, health care, adult learning and our youngest learners. MCEA is poised to partner with state and local educators and child care providers to better serve Minnesota’s birth-age 5 children and families, and prepare every child for success in school and in life.
Specifically, through MCEA’s membership of 1300 community educators:
• We will develop QRIS for non-childcare settings.
• We will create appropriate and accessible partnerships.
• We will provide professional development opportunities, trainings, and the coordination of family, friend and neighbor child care providers and private preschool centers in order to meet the needs of the families and caregivers.
• We will work in partnership with grant partners to create a data collection model.
MCEA is committed to supporting a system that increases the quality of early learning and development programs for children with high needs through Early Childhood Family Education and School Readiness programs, as defined in state statutes, so they enter kindergarten prepared for school success.
Race to the Top provides an excellent opportunity for the state to expand the early learning opportunities for all children. Our five county rural collaboartive has learned over the last decade about the importance and benefit of early intervention. We have also learned about the importance of agencies and schools working together to benefit children, especially those facing greater life challenges. I would encouge this application to support screening for social emotional issues through all available resources, and for those resources to work together to create both effective and lasting networks to benefit kids. We have seen very positive results from social services, public health, the medical community, education and mental health partnering together to help get kids ready not only for school, but to be better equipped for what life has to offer them.
(B)2 – Support for effective uses of Comprehensive Assessment Systems — must address ease of access for high-need poorly engaged parents. Screenings are more successful when performed in a familiar setting supported by trusted known staff. Consider a pilot to redesign access, process and payment. Could incentives be used to encourage school districts and primary health care providers within the same county to work collaboratively to embrace the same screening tools, offer create settings, year round calendars, couped with targeted outreach and purposeful timely referral/services?
(B) 4 – Consider incentive for evidence-based targeted home visiting programs (many of which are receiving MIECHV federal funds)to enhance efforts to identify and address the health, behavioral and developmental needs of high-need children. A recent Wilder Study found that depressed moms are more likely to stay engaged in home visiting services (than non-depressed moms) — we need to leverage the home visitor’s parent relationship to assure connection of the infant/child to more timely, intensive brain wiring activities/services, while assuring support and linkage to mental health services for the parent.
B (5) – Engaging and supporting families — Working regionally, across jurisdictions is an effective way to conduct outreach and engage families because the most high-need families MOVE frequently — many don’t seek health care in the counties/school districts in which they live. Consider incentives for existing systems to think and work creatively to find, engage and retain families through age 3. The ability and incentive for doing so would be greatly enhanced by issuing the MARS number via home visiting programs. Every program that touches that child needs to be on the hook for the outcomes.
I echo Gay’s comments above. Evidence shows that home visiting is a an effective strategy to engage parents and help children grow up healthy, safe and ready to learn.
Offering voluntary, quality evidence-based home visits and parent education to every first time parent is supported by many Minnesotans. It is promoted in the Minnesota’s Future Agenda developed by an alliance of early childhood organizations that includes: Child Care WORKS, Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children/ Minnesota School Age Care Alliance, Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education, Minnesota, Child Care Association, Minnesota Child Care Resource & Referral Network, Minnesota Coalition for Targeted Home Visiting, Minnesota, Community Education Association, Minnesota Head Start Association, and Ready 4 K and is also supported by 52 organizations around the state.
http://www.ready4k.org/index.asp?SEC={47B99380-F71F-4911-9515-3715E94EB39C}&Type=B_BASIC
Through this process, I am wondering if the grant and statewide systems could think about ways to offer scholarships for early childhood classroom opportunities for children who are being parented by parents struggling with serious mental illness who do not qualify for child care subsidy. We have a number of families receiving child only MFIP grants who do not qualify for childcare subsidies.
Our infant and toddler programming for children with disabiities and families experiencing severe poverty are all home-based for the most part. Many families who have significant mental health concerns would benefit from classroom based options for their young children.
Also, if this was a possibility to have systems navigators for families with serious mental illness who are embedded in agencies that address the parents’ mental health conditions would be extremely important.
In Minnesota staff as part of the PART C are working on creating “Center’s of Excellence”. Their focus has been on TACSEI and Curltural training. In previous years we had CCR&R doing Infant and Toddler and Cultural training. How might this be a part of the increasing quality as part of the Race to the Top? How do we ensure trainings are meeting the needs of all early childhood staff without repeating investing in individual programs creation? Could Center’s of Excellence be inclusive of CCR&R Training Staff and ensure quality through the Minnesota Training Registry? How might technology provide a venue for reaching EC professionals more locally with quality research based training with support of the Center’s of Excellence or CCR&R with coordination?
Hi Barbara,
I just saw the announcement that the Minnesota Department of Education will be focusing on Literacy and Early Learning at the State Fair in their booth.Is there a way to provide this website to ask for input on the Race to the Top?
Nationally, 47% of children experiencing homelessness are under the age of six. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, children experiencing homelessness are four times more likely to show delayed development. They also have twice the rate of learning disabilities as non-homeless children. The report states that although 42% of children and youth experiencing homelessness are below the age of five, they are significantly underrepresented in pre-school programs.
Giving attention to the development and education of children who have experienced the trauma of homelessness is an unmet need.
Simpson Housing Services provides housing and support for families who have experienced homelessness. Simpson Housing’s Family Advocates develop trust with the parents and children in our 132 supportive housing apartment units, and once housing is stabilized, have the opportunity to work with parents and children on developmental and educational goals. Parents trust that advocates have their children’s best interests at heart. The strong relationship between the parent and advocate has paved the way for effective childhood interventions. Since 1999, our innovative model of service has included specific advocacy and support for elementary age children’s academic success. Our outcomes point to the effectiveness of the model.
Simpson Housing’s early childhood pilot project was initiated in January of 2011, already the results are promising. The three goals of the program are: 1) to detect developmental delays in young children and make referrals when the delays are identified; 2) to encourage and support parents’ effective engagement in their child’s development; and 3) to ensure 90% of parents of 4 and 5 year olds will be actively involved in choosing and registering their children for High Five and Kindergarten.
There is huge potential to build effective partnerships between family supportive housing and early learning experts as MN Races to the Top!
The background on Simpson Housing Services and opportunity to forge relationships on behalf of families in need of supportive housing is compelling. Thank you for posting this information in our forum!
The RTT-ELCF offers a great opportunity to develop and test new, innovative policy and practice — most especially in relation to Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. A small group of national experts recently came together to explore alternative policy options and draft a new policy framework for ECE which you might find helpful. To view a copy of the draft, click the link: http://www.earlychildhoodfinance.org/downloads/2011/BetterPolicy2011.pdf
Louise, thanks for sharing the draft policy document with the group.
It is my understanding that “awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive early learning education reform.” In Minnesota we have already made great strides in this area and should be able to tell a compelling story of why we should be a recipient of these precious dollars.
By maintaining our focus on the elements best known for producing sustained outcomes for children and most necessary for system-building (e.g., evidence-based systems of professional development, aligned standards for early learning and development, age and developmentally appropriate curriculum and assessment systems, family engagement, a focus on health and safety, and a system of screening and referrals), we can position Minnesota early childhood education while acknowledging that the task of government is to provide not simply for programs, but for their quality and equitable distribution across populations.
Race to the Top is a wonderful opportunity to help Minnesota bring to fruition the incredible work of early childhood advocates to insure that all our at-risk children have access to high- quality early childhood education. I am confident that with the support of our Governor we will make this happen.
Thanks to GTC United Way for promoting this dialogue. Minnesota absolutely has to push through this and get the grant. We’ve been leaders in this area and we need to to take our great learnings to the next level. My only potential concern is getting all the stakeholders to work together and put aside their (sometimes)competitive interests.
We’re excited about what winning an RTT-ELC grant would mean for Minnesota. We should take advantage of every opportunity to move toward an early childhood development system that is focused first on children and families. Not surprisingly, I think that the reforms proposed by MELF in this past legislative session, statewide expansion of Parent Aware and early childhood scholarships, offer a great foundation for a Minnesota application. Hopefully we won’t miss this opportunity.
Supporting a “Great Early Childhood Education Workforce” will require the same system’s change innovations we are working to implement within the early childhood education system itself. There remain too many barriers to accessible, high quality training and knowledge development for early childhood educators, caregivers and other professionals serving young children and families. Minnesota has the unique opportunity to also demonostrate leadership in this critical area.
Glad state government is up and running so we can get to work exploring this unprecedented opportunity. MDE is tuned in and thanks United Way for creating this unique way for us to hear from stakeholders. We’ll be watching this site closely and will use it to post developments as we move along. We are very interested in hearing people’s ideas about the strengths that Minnesota has in this arena and how they might fit into an application.
I am also glad to see that part of the development of the Race to the Top will be from the stakeholders. I have worked in the field of early childhood in many arenas for over twenty years. I have been excited to see the focus in the last several years in Minnesota in reference to early childhood geared at increasing quality. I have seen it from Head Start and their quality assessment group in working with MDE and the University of Minnesota to increase the validity and reliability of authentic assessment in Minnesota.
I have also seen it as the meetings between providers and CCRR with family and center childcare that have been occuring and addressing increased quality through mentoring.
In Minnesota there is a focus on improving the quality of teachers by mentoring new teachers. The same programs are needed in early childhood with funding to support their ongoing use.
Programs such as the Word’s Work and new Math Early childhood being led by the St. Paul Foundation need continual funding so that we can evaluate the long term outcomes.
Programs of Higher Learning with a focus on early childhood need to develop a plan to ensure that graduates are ready to meet the needs of the programs they will serve. Many graduates in early childhood have never used suthentic assessment as part of student teaching.
Funding needs to be provided in Minnesota to support research in early childhood so that we not only are doing the minimum but can be seen as leaders. In Minnesota we have a growing diverse population including in early childhood and every effort needs to be made to meet the needs of the the children and families we serve. Early Childhood is a place to address the achievement gap but only with adequate support both financially and politically.
Finally I want to say that I believe that there are leaders in the early childhood field in Minnesota. It is time with the help of Race to the Top that we ensure that all children and families receive a quality early learning experience.
Great comments–Thanks Brenda and Karen!
Wondering where there might be resistence or barriers moving forward?
The RTT-ELCF is a great opportunity for Minnesota and one that we cannot pass up. There has been much good work that can help us craft a spectacular proposal, especially by the committees of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (now the Early Learning Council). In particular, it’s important to include the work on the draft Comprehensive Plan that was created by an ECAC taskforce that included many partners from both within and outside state government. The costing model that the Access & Finance Committee developed, and which is currently being implemented, is another important piece.
Minnesota’s application can succeed if we all get behind the plan. Working with the advocates in the Minnesota’s Future alliance as well as with the Funders Coalition and other leaders is crucial.
Access to quality early care and education for children from low-income families is a best practice and the best investment a community can make for the youngest citizens to prevent the achievement gap. In addition to the above, it’s the right thing to do.
It is vital for MN to reclaim its leadership in the early childhood arena…..I believe The Race to the Top provides this opportunity.
After one of the most contentious and divisive “seasons,” this is a great opportunity for Minnesota to come together to support our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
Thanks, for your post, Molly. The funding has been a contentious issue in our community. What do you think is the best way for Minnesota to move forward with the second round of potential funding?
Welcome to the MN Race to the Top conversation! We’re glad you’re here and really want to hear from you.
We’re wondering what your initial thoughts are about the grant?