Escambia County School Readiness Coalition

Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County Annual Report 2008-2009

The Escambia County School Readiness Coalition d/b/a The Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County oversees the School Readiness Childcare Subsidy Program and the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) services for young children and their families in Escambia County in Northwest Florida- the western gate to the Sunshine State.

The Coalition was the recipient of a work project from students at the University of West Florida. The project resulted in new branding tools and a new Coalition logo. Coalition documents and forms have been revised to reflect the new logo. The early learning community and our community partners have responded positively to the changes.

The Coalition worked with approximately 258 early education and care providers (centers and homes) during 2008-2009 to provide school readiness subsidy services to a monthly average of 3100 children in a variety of private and public settings. These services support the Coalition’s mission : To identify and meet the needs of children and families to lay the foundation for lifetime success by: maximizing each child’s potential, preparing children to enter school ready to learn, and helping families achieve economic self-sufficiency. Our private provider base includes, licensed child care centers, licensed family child care homes, registered family child care homes, school based services, charter schools and informal/relative care arrangements. Services are delivered in faith-based settings, licensed exempt settings and private child care settings to meet the family care needs of working families.

We continued our partnership with the local Head Start program to serve additional three and four year children in areas throughout the county. The Coalition’s VPK Support Coordinator is a member of the Head Start Policy Council and Head Start is represented on the Coalition Board. This partnership enables both agencies to work more efficiently on behalf of the 855 Head Start children to eliminate duplication of services.

The Coalition continues to experience exceptional success during year four of Florida’s Voluntary Pre- kindergarten program. We began the VPK year on August 18, 2008 with about 1446 children. We ended the year with 102 Providers, 172 Classrooms, and approximately 2373 children in the school year/summer programs.

Continuing our support for quality early learning programs, new providers were encouraged to achieve Gold Seal Accreditation, bringing our total to 38. In addition, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) have accredited all Escambia County School District Early Intervention/ Pre- kindergarten programs.

In addition to administrative oversight responsibilities, the Coalition is responsible for monthly school readiness and VPK provider reimbursement, child care subsidy eligibility/enrollment, VPK child enrollment, provider recruitment, Infant/Toddler support, coordination of professional development, Child Care Food Program for licensed family child care homes, and various quality initiatives. Some program services are contracted based on a Request for Proposals (RFP) or Intent to Negotiate (ITN) competitive procurement process. Our local services were provided under contracts with the Escambia County School

1 District, Pensacola Junior College, the Escambia County Health Department, and First Call For Help (United Way).

Our fiscal year began with Federal, State, and Local funding reductions; however, towards the latter end of the year those same funds were reallocated and increased with federal stimulus funding (American Recovery and Responsibility Act –ARRA). These dollars are a two-year stimulus with an end date of September 2011. The contract for Child Care Resource and Referral Services with Children’s Services Center was not renewed for the 08/09 fiscal year. Due to this non-renewal, the Coalition expanded the contract with First Call For Help (United Way) and Pensacola Junior College to include the traditional CCRR services, without interruption, to community members seeking information.

Coalition Program Committees The oversight of Coalition program components is performed through program committees made of Board members and community partners. The formalized process for Board recognition of procedures and community needs begins at the levels outlined below. Three main committees were implemented to ease the Boards oversight in order to more efficiently manage the Coalition‘s vision and mission for local children.

Eligibility and Provider Payments – This committee is responsible for the oversight of eligibility for subsidy assistance, Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten enrollment, EFS data input, provider payment processing, maintaining a wait list of services, and federal and state reporting.

The Eligibility Committee continues to review our payment practices for children with special needs or learning disabilities. The Coalition created a payment matrix that focuses on the level of early learning accommodation needed for the child rather that the specific disability. This has resulted in a more flexible and realistic payment model. An on-site visit by the Inclusion Specialist documents the level of care accommodation.

Through our service provider, the Coalition delivered services to a monthly average of 258 At-Risk children and 661 Wages Children(including TANF work-mandatory applicants). Priority for school readiness program participation also includes those At Risk children who fall under the Rilya Wilson Act. For Escambia County, the targeted utilization number for the 08-09 funding year was approximately 3100 children for school readiness services. This number is only an average as it varies depending on changing factors throughout the year. An average of 3,100 children were served per month by the ELCEC. The collaborative effort with the Families First Network ceased due to funding reductions. Providers now report all absences to our office for further referral to DCF staff.

Demographics on families/children served during 2008-2009 Monthly Funding Group Avg. Protective Services 258 TANF 126 Working Poor 1,949 Migrants 0 Teens 2 ARRA (Began in May) 104 WT Not Working 426 WT Working 109 Respite 13

2 Please note : When you start breaking the number down by funding it is no longer unduplicated as some children are paid in multiple fundings throughout the year. However, within each funding there is no duplication.

Avg. Number Enrolled 3269 Avg. Monthly # Billed 3177 Waiting List (Peak) 1052 Total Unduplicated SR Children 5117 Avg. Parent Co-Payments $161,309 Avg. Monthly Slot Cost $1,015,243

Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) is a comprehensive service offered to families that not only includes referrals for child care, but includes elements of community resources, agency referrals, parent/provider education and support. Child care referrals and related services were provided via both a hotline number available in all areas of Escambia County, on site at the PJC Eligibility office, as well as, First Call For Help (FCFH) and other off-site community events. During the 08-09 year, CCR&R interviews were provided to 1231 clients in Escambia County, an average of 102 families per month. In terms of staff, an Early Learning Resource and Referral Specialist and a Parent Provider Support Coordinator (both Level 2 certified) were dedicated to the provision of these services.

Parent and Child Services – This committee is responsible for the child developmental screening and assessments, referrals for developmental services, parent training and support, inclusion support, Imagination Library coordination, and infant/toddler community support services.

The Parent Provider Support Coordinator (PPSC) extended CCR&R services by attending community events and distributing information for quality child care, parenting materials, educational brochures and pamphlets. It is our belief that parents are a child’s first and most important teacher, and we want to ensure that parents are properly equipped with the tools and information necessary for them to succeed at that job. Our Parent Provider Support Coordinator (PPSC) and Early Learning Resource and Referral Specialist aided in these efforts by providing many tools to help emphasize our belief. This past year, the R&R Specialist provided 12 Parenting “Parenting Station” newsletters and monthly activity calendars to parents and early learning child care providers which educated on topics such as budgeting techniques, child tax credits, behavioral issues, and understanding child care curricula as well as giving them ideas for inexpensive activities to share and do with their children. The Child Care Resource Specialist spoke quarterly to graduates of the foster parent trainings instructing them on the procedures to follow for locating and affording child care. Another method of promoting CCR&R is gaining exposure through personal contact. This was done through participation in community events: Chamber, Workforce Escarosa and military events, Healthy Start Baby Showers, Baptist Healthcare Family Expo, Goombay Festival, Hurricane Expo, Annual Day at the Mall, Head Start Carnival and Women’s Expo, among others. Countless children, families, and providers were reached at these events and were provided with quality child care resource and referral material, which enabled them to make the best child care decisions possible.

The Coalition continues the excitement of aligning ourselves with a national organization focusing on Child Care Resource and Referral. Vicki Nall Pugh, Professional Development Coordinator, was one of four individuals selected to participate in the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies Leadership Development Program. Ms. Pugh’s appointment took place March, 2008 at the Symposium in Washington D.C. We are currently in the second year of this three year commitment which focuses on mentoring, internships, individualized community projects, and national presentations. Graduates of the program will ultimately help shape the future of child care resource and referral at the local, state, and national level – a great benefit to our community. 3 During the 2008-2009 year, the Child Assessment Screening & Evaluation (CASE) team (ECSD Contract) provided observation, screening, assessment and follow-up services for 2159 children (birth to age 5) with Ages & Stages Questionnaires resulting in referrals to internal staff and community partners:

Referral to Early Steps 54 Referral to Child Find 79 Referral to Other Agencies 44 Provider/Parent Contacts 2283 Provider Trainings (ASQ) 3 At Risk ASQ 256 Technical Assistance Behavior Specialist (Hrs) 87 Disabilities Inclusion Trainings 4

Within two days of receiving a referral, the Behavior Specialist responded to parents or caregivers to observe then assist parents and providers with strategies and techniques for working with children who exhibit behavior issues. By working on individual behavior management systems and daily communication suggestions a child’s potential for growth and development are improved.

The Inclusion Specialist verified that special accommodations are being made for children with special needs at eleven child care sites during the 2008-2009 year. Along with verifying accommodations, she met with family child care and center teachers to explain specific strategies for individual children to enhance their learning and early child hood experiences.

Provider Recruitment and Development – This committee is responsible for provider in-service training, support for accreditation, support for director credentials, training newsletter, nursing support services, support for state licensing, mini-grants for providers seeking to enhance program quality and an Early Education and Care Training Circle.

In partnership with the Quality Initiatives Committee, six (6) Coalition/subcontractor staffers were trained on ITERS and ECERS. These are rating scales used to determine effectiveness of child care centers within our community.

By partnering with the Escambia County School District, Head Start, and the Department of Health, the Coalition nurses delivered screening for Hearing, Vision, Height, Weight and BMI to 2809 unduplicated 3 & 4 year olds. The nurses taught 728 classes to 8039 children on Dental Care, Hand Washing, Safety and Nutrition. Other significant indicators supporting young children’s health are:

Vision Screenings .…. 3359 Height/Weights ……….. 2727 Vision Referrals …….. 171 Normal BMI ………….. 2021 Hearing Screenings…... 3853 At-risk ……………….…. 362 Hearing Referrals ……. 382 Overweight ……….….… 253 Underweight …………… 98

The Coalition maintains a five- year historical record of pre-school records of health issues including childhood obesity. The Coalition has classified our Nursing Support program as a direct service; however, the program could also be classified and funded as a Quality Iniative.

4 Quality Initiatives

The Coalition has a fourth and equally important component—Quality Initiatives. In addition to paying an enhanced rate for children in Gold Seal accredited facilities, the Coalition designated 1.3% of our annual budget to quality initiatives to support improvements in the early learning community. Additionally 4.8% of our annual budget was used for Gold Seal enhanced rate payments to support quality children’s programming. Combined 6.1% of budget is directly toward quality projects. These projects are the programs that make this Coalition unique and help us make a real difference in the lives of young children.

Partnering with Title I, the Coalition supported the Wee Read literacy training program. Wee Read uses a 3-prong approach targeting early education and care providers, parents and children to improve reading readiness. Wee Read targeted the 3 & 4 Year olds in order to prepare more children for VPK and other school readiness functions. An inventive Parent Involvement component is a unique trademark for the Wee Read program. Monthly parent nights sponsored by local businesses include dinner, “lap-sits” and books to take home. The 3 & 4 Year old’s Wee Read classroom teachers received training and technical assistance on improving language and communication skills in their classroom practice (a precursor for emerging literacy). A break down of services given is as follows:

SERVICES PROVIDED: YTD # 1. Emergent Literacy Training 21 2. Family Nights 6 3. Director's Trainings 8 4. Pre/Post literacy assessment 559 5. Pre/Post environmental rating scores 20 6. Number of books distributed 5247 7. Number of centers who participated 106 8. Number of Provider participants 303 9. Number of attendance on Family Nights 1070 10. Number of classroom visits 222 11. Number who attended optional day attendance 18

Community Partners funding from Quality dollars purchased equipment for nursing services, literacy building materials for nursing services and Wee Read initiatives. The coalition worked with other partner agencies to support ECARE ( Every Child A Reader in Escambia County), a VISTA collaborative to support families with young children, Unite Escambia’s poverty solutions team and the local Bridges to Circles program. The Coalition supported Unite Escambia’s Education Solutions team to create and implement a VPK data system to share information between VPK teachers and kindergarten teachers.

Quality Funds were used in the following manner: Providers  21 Scholarships to PJC and/or online CDA program  18 Directors’ Credentials (online re-credential only)  Provider Resource Room as part of Reading Treehouse:  Laminator, Ellyson machine and dye, 30 Teacher Resource Books(on curriculum enhancements, Dap Practices, Themes, etc)

 20 Listening Centers, 100 Big Book sets with manipulatives & Little Books for use with centers

 20 Math Kits

5  130 administrative mini-grants

 Train-the-Trainer for 24 peer to peer trainers (Trainers’ Cadre) & materials for 24 new trainings

 Subscription for ASQ3 web-based screening tools for providers

Parent & Child  Subscription for ASQ3 web-based screening tools for parents  Printed 3000 VPK Parent calendars  Printed 1000 Street Survival Guides (collaboration with United Way of Escambia County)  7 Community Partner Grants for Family Engagement  Nursing supports - books, training props & materials, recalibrate machines, purchase one new set of vision and hearing equipment  2000 Kindergarten to Go Bags  VPK Summer Camp support materials for 30 children - materials, books, technology Community Partnerships  Collaborated on two regional conferences: VPK with 236 attendees and TATS Summer Institute (Inclusion) with 358 attendees  Imagination Library Support - 2087 children enrolled ( over 14,000 books distributed)  23 NAEYC Conference Scholarships (reimbursement for registration)  1 VISTA Volunteer Initial Stipend Simplified Point of Entry and Resource and Referral

The Coalition uses the simplified point of entry ( SPE). Families can apply for services at a variety of locations. This Coalition continues to realize significant accomplishments in achieving a unified system for providers and parents to access services financed by public funds. Community partners such as Title I Pre-K and Head Start refer families to the SPE website for program information.

Locally the Workforce Services under the ESCAROSA Workforce Development Board, Job Services, Child Support Enforcement and Pensacola Junior College School Readiness Services are all located in the same building, centrally located in the County so that most of the services needed by our parents are bundled together to simplify their appointment schedules. The Coalition office is within walking distance to these services, as well as the Department of Health and the community public transportation hub. Due to funding and space requirements, as of July 1, 2008, our eligibility services relocated to another location, still within walking distance. That address is 3300 North Pace Blvd., Suite 285, Pensacola, FL 32505. At the end of the contract period our contractor decided they would not renew the contract due to financial constraints placed on them administratively by the state college system. The Coalition made the decision after this discovery to take over the direct oversight of the eligibility department of the child care subsidy program effective July 1, 2009.

6 The Coalition collects attendance sheets to process the subsidy payments at the beginning of each month on “Attendance Day” which has evolved into a single point of service for providers. The Coalition accepts other paperwork from school readiness at that time (and throughout the month) and delivers that paperwork to the appropriate service provider. While providers are delivering their attendance invoices, they can simultaneously learn of upcoming training opportunities, register for training events, access information on new Board policies, and receive attendance papers for the next month and copies of Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) for children to be screened during the next month. All Coalition staff are on hand to assist providers on Attendance Day. Another feature of Attendance Day is to have an agency/vendor showcase services important to providers or present “subject specific” community information.

The Escambia County Hurricane Expo also provided an ideal forum for the Coalition to introduce child- friendly activities geared toward preparing children mentally and physically for upcoming weather events. This has become an annual event for the Coalition, which has been favorably received by the community and state sponsors. Various media were in attendance which enabled the Coalition to reach even further into the community. Our child area was support by local community groups and our contractors. “Readmore” the Dolphin, the ECARE mascot, also made a guest appearance to entertain and engage the children and visitors.

Professional Development

The Coalition continues to be an IACET recognized agency to award Continuing Education Units (CEUs) A total of 32.8 CEUS or a total of 320 hours of training was awarded. Two (2) early learning programs received re-accredited and two (2) programs are newly accredited this year.

Trainers’ Circle met quarterly with the addition of a Trainers’ Cadre (26 peer trainers) all of whom have a CDA (minimum requirement). After completing a 10 hour Train-the-Trainer course, each trainee agreed to teach a minimum of 2 workshops for the Coalition during the 09-10 training year. A Coalition created training database has the past 3 years of training/workshops with 1254 practitioners and 400 providers entered. Coalition supported training, technical assistance, site visits and technical support are logged into this database. VPK Monitoring as well as Health & Safety monitoring for Registered Family Child Care Homes are also included in this comprehensive database.

The Coalition offered professional development opportunities through its annual training calendar (with monthly updates of additional opportunities). The annual training calendar offered 29 trainings with an addition of eight “All About Boys” (a behavior based training based on boys special needs) and nine (9) VPK Standards trainings. The VPK Math addendum was offered as a hybrid online and make & take to 80 lead teachers bringing the overall number of participants in Coalition sponsored workshops/trainings to 648. A VPK e-letter was emailed to the 80 sites monthly.

VPK Educational Standards training in Escambia County is a 15 hours with eight hours in the classroom and a seven hour work project that assesses teacher knowledge. This is a significant modification from the three hour training requirement set by the Florida Department of Education for VPK teachers.

Infant Toddler services were focused primarily on family child care homes with a nine-month quality project of 18 family child care homes studied the” Birth to 3” Standards to increase their skills. An FDCERS was assessed in every home in the Quality Project with an average increase of 1.57 point as an outcome. An Infant/ Toddler e-letter was mailed monthly to 93 providers.

7 The Professional Development Coordinator was certified as a “Bridges Out of Poverty” trainer and delivered a 15 week course to a cohort of 22 parents working on an 18 month self-improvement plan as part of United Escambia’s Poverty Solutions team.

The Coalition continues to offer early learning providers access to low-cost lamination, binding, and an Ellyson Machine continue to be made available, thus encouraging our Providers creativity for engaging the children in active learning. A free lending library for teacher resource material is also available at the Coalition and through its service provider.

Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten

This was the fourth program year for Voluntary Pre-kindergarten (VPK). Coalition staff worked with our local early learning providers to successfully implement this new program for four year olds. During fall and summer VPK programs we served 2373 children. A total of approximately 3000 VPK certificates of eligibility were issued. School year VPK was available in 102 provider locations in 172 classrooms. Summer VPK was offered at 6 locations in 7 classrooms.

Parents of VPK children began enjoying a new, dedicated space for registration in April of 2009. Locations changed in order to provide a more intimate setting for information gathering and exchange. Parents and children have embraced and appreciated the new space. The Coalition continues to offer VPK provider information, a distribution area for provider flyers and advertisements, and a map of the County showing VPK locations. Additionally, the VPK family calendars and ‘Parent and Child’ magazines are given to each family upon their departure. These promotional items assist families in understanding developmentally appropriate activities for their children. Over 2,500 calendars and 28,800 copies of “Parent and Child” magazines were distributed annually to VPK parents and providers.

All VPK classrooms were monitored for contract compliance twice during the year.

Overall Program Performance:

Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screening (FLKRS) scores are just one way the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County measures program performance.

Our internal market is the providers and parents. Internal program performance measures include: satisfaction scores (with service provider), fiscal audits, capacity inspections and desk audits for eligibility. 95% of school readiness parents are satisfied with services received from the service provider.

The external market adds children to the mix along with the state, the school district and other funders such as United Way and Escambia County. Currently, the primary external performance measures are Ages & Stages Questionnaire, Gold Seal programs, CDA and Director Credentials and environmental rating scales such as FDCRS, ECERS and ITERS. Other quantitative data includes the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screening (FLKRS).

8 FLKRS has three measurement components: ECHOS (an observational assessment), DIBELS (letter naming) and DIBELS (Initial Sound identification). For the ECHOS, Escambia County had 89% of children ready compared to 88% for the state (includes those that are “Demonstrating” and “Emerging/progressing”). For the DIBELS (letter naming), Escambia county had 89% ready compared to 89% for the state. For DIBELS (initial sounds), Escambia county had 83% ready compared to 85% for the state. DIBELS scoring includes scores listed as “Above Average”, “Low Risk”, and Moderate Risk”.

All center directors in Escambia County hold a Director’s Credential with over a quarter of those directors holding an A.A. degree or higher in early childhood education. Fifty-three (53) local early learning programs are accredited through NAEYC, APPLE or NAFCC.

The Coalition staff and/or its service provider participated in several county-wide events to reach our parents and families. Those events were in collaboration with Community Partners which continue to increase over the years. Some partners include Baptist Health Care, Sacred Heart Hospital, the Rotary Club, Healthy Kids, Healthy Start of Escambia County, ECARE, United Way, Barnes & Nobles, Wal- Mart, International Paper, WSRE, Kohl’s, Escambia County Landfill, YMCA, and the Escambia County Wildlife Association.

One item we are extremely proud of revolves around placing a book in every child’s hand age birth to 5. Joint efforts between ECARE, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and our Coalition continue to result in amazing success. During the 08/09 fiscal year we enrolled 2014 of children and ensured 12,987 number of books arrived annually to the doorsteps of local children. With the assistance of community sponsors, many children in Escambia County received one book a month for the year via the postal service. The Coalition pursued sponsorships to cover the cost of postage and handling in the amount of $30/year per child. We have secured several grants and are anticipating the receipt of several more. The Coalition Board adopted the Dolly Parton Imagination Library as a five year project to promote early literacy. Local rotary clubs have agreed to work to enroll children into the program. Coalition quality funding will be used to support a literacy educator and data specialist to further enhance this program.

Fall 2008 offered many challenges for our Coalition. The Child Care Food Program contract, previously serviced by Children’s Services Center (CSC), was up for adoption. This service has always been vital to our local child care homes for providing nutritious meals to children in need. The Coalition began the lengthy application in September 2008. This process culminated in contract execution and a program start date of November 2008. This program actually extends over three counties: Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa. A previous CSC employee, Rency Warren, was offered employment to continue her role for the daily programmatic oversight. We are pleased to say the nutritious needs of approximately 400+ local children are being met with great enthusiasm.

Fiscal Allocations and Budgets

The Early Learning Coalition School Readiness allocated budget for the year was $14,472,795. The VPK allocated budget was $5,271,176. A consolidated chart of the final budget and the corresponding percentage of overall contract dollars is presented below.

Final Expenditure % of Overall School Readiness Amount Contract Coalition Administration $359,737 2.54% Non-direct Services/Eligibility $1,564,694 11.06% Quality Coalition Administered $422,164 2.98% Infant/ Toddler $93,262 0.66% 9 Direct Services 11,704,705 82.75% Total SR funding Allocation $14,144,563 100.00%

Final Expenditure % of Overall VPK Funding Amount Contract Coalition Administration/Eligibility $243,055 4.61% Program Slot Cost $5,030,084 95.39% Total VPK Funding $5,273,139 100.00%

Summary of Successes:

Our Coalition Board’s mission is simple— to identify and meet the needs of children and families to lay the foundation for lifetime successes by: Maximizing each child’s potential, Preparing children to enter school ready to learn; and Helping families achieve economic self-sufficiency.

The Board members welcomed a new Board Chairman – Skip Housh. His community involvement and commitment will certainly encourage our members to continue with our mission and vision, while facing the many new challenges ahead. Our Board of Directors continue to be a very involved group of community leaders who help align our focus and commitment to young children in their educational and developmental needs. Through Board member involvement in bi-monthly Board meetings, committee meetings, workgroup meetings and special activities, our Coalition Board vision is helping to reshape our community.

The Coalition continues to collaborate with community partners thru the successful organization of Every Child A Reader in Escambia (ECARE). This organization was initially led by Judge John Parnham and has been instrumental in reshaping the communities focus to promote early literacy programs. John Hosman continues with exceptional leadership and direction. As this project grows, the Coalition Board, along with the ECARE Board, will continue the focus of serving all children in our community as they grow to become the leaders and workforce of our future.