Merced County: Collaborate to Create

1
Merced County Collaborate to Create!

• Spring Cluster Meeting on
• Head Start State Collaboration
• Merced, California
• May 23, 2007

2
Presenter

• Gaye Riggs
• Assistant Superintendent
• Early Care and Education Department
• Merced County Office of Education

3
Collaboration Wisdom 1

• If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it.
• Jonathan Winters

4
Collaboration Wisdom 2

• Teamwork is essential. It allows you to blame
  someone else.
• Proverb

5
Collaboration Wisdom 3

• The nice thing about teamwork is that you always
  have others on your side. Margaret Carty

6
Collaboration Wisdom 4

• None of us is as smart as all of us.
• Ken Blanchard

7
Collaboration Wisdom 5

• First it is necessary to stand on your own two
  feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that
  position, the next thing he should do is reach
  out his arms.
• Kristin Hunter, O Magazine, November 2003

8
Head Start First 5 Partnerships

• Power of Preschool - PoP
• Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational
  Standards - CARES
• Special Needs Project FACES
• School Readiness

9
First 5 California Power of PreschoolThe
Mission

• To demonstrate results (impact on student
  achievement) of improved access to high-quality
  preschool programs including child care settings
• To learn how to do the work by studying
  results of implementation across different models

10
Merced County Power of Preschool

• Part of a 10 year plan to make voluntary
  preschool a reality for all Merced Countys
  children.
• Voluntary, free preschool available to more than
  5,300 4 year olds within 5 years including all
  children in 6 district catchment areas.
• Emphasis on full inclusion classrooms in multiple
  settings and configurations.

11
Merced County Power of Preschool

• Program delivery in 6 of 18 elementary district
  catchment areas.
• District commitments of between 5 16 of their
  Title I and other discretionary dollars toward
  preschool services -- 3.9 million new dollars
  during first 5 years.
• Governance transition from First 5 to Merced COE.
• Built upon and coordinated with Special Needs
  Project, Constructing Connections, School
  Readiness, CARES, Packard Technical Assistance
  Grant.

12
Merced County Power of Preschool

• First 5 Merced committing 12 million for PoP.
• First 5 California committing 2.5 million for
  PoP in Merced County.
• Built on a mosaic of programs including State
  Preschool, Head Start, Migrant Head Start, Child
  Development, and other private centers and family
  child care homes that meet PoP standards.

13
Merced County Power of Preschool

• Current of 4 year olds served in formal ECE
  programs in the six districts ranges from
  4 to 81.
• Goal Advance to 75 83 of 4 year olds served
  by 2010.
• More than 4,500 will receive improved preschool
  services and nearly 850 4 year olds will
  receive new preschool services.
• Programs reimbursed at varying rates for
  upgrading and adding new spaces.

14
Merced County Power of Preschool

• ECERS-R (Early Childhood Environmental Rating
  Scale-Revised) or FDCRS (Family Day Care Rating
  Scale) score of 4, 4.5 or 5.
• 3 hours/day for 175 days of programming
  (or 525 hours within school
  year.)
• Desired Results used in all settings.
• Prescribed Classroom Staffing Qualifications.

15
Merced County Power of Preschool

• Entry Master Teacher Permit
• 2nd teacher with Assistant Teacher Permit
• Advancing Master Teacher with AA and 24 units of
  ECE
• 2nd Teacher with at least 12 units of ECE
• Full PFA Master Teacher with BA, 24 units and
  plan for
• earning multi-subject or
  ECE credential by 2015
• 2nd Teacher with AA and 24 ECE units or is
• bilingual with 24 units of
  ECE/CD units

16
Merced County Power of Preschool

• Compensation Goals
• Teachers at full PFA level would be compensated
  at same level as K/elementary teachers.
• 2nd teacher would receive compensation at 80 of
  BA level teacher.
• Stipends used a mechanism for compensation.

17
PoP - The Emerging Issues

• Navigating teacher compensation parity across
  
• districts and union contracts
• Developing collaborative recruitment and
• enrollment models to maintain full
  enrollment
• Developing participation system for
  county-wide
• programs such as those operated by COEs
• Developing participation systems for
  non-profits, for
• profit and family child care programs

18
PoP - The Emerging Issues

• ECERS/FDCRS score of 5 very difficult to
  achieve
• and improvement takes time and much TA.
• Neutral, well-trained and consistently
  retrained
• ECERS/FDCRS assessment teams scarce in some
• areas.
• Including Family Child Care expensive and
  requires
• innovation to achieve.
• Planning never stops cast a wide net for
  participants.

19
PoP - The Emerging Issues

• Confusing for families when not all classrooms
  at a site
• are PoP providers.
• Site selection is sensitive, complex and
  political and an
• improvement plan process must be in place.
• Work is harder and takes longer to implement
  than
• originally thought.
• Sustainability is jeopardized by failure of
  Proposition 82
• passage.

20
State-Local Partnerships

• Centralized Eligibility List - CEL
• Local Child Care Planning and Development
  Council
• California Preschool Instructional Network
• Instructional School Gardens
• All Dads Matter Human Services Agency

21
Other Opportunities

• Packard Foundation
• Constructing Connections
• P-16 Business Alliance

22
Collaborate to Create

• Questions ?