Title: Promoting School Readiness and Early Grade Success in Neighborhoods: Findings from Nine Cities
1Promoting School Readiness and Early Grade
Success in Neighborhoods Findings from Nine
Cities
- Leah Hendey
- G. Thomas Kingsley
- The Urban Institute
- Urban Affairs Association Chicago, IL
- March 6, 2009
2Overview
- Introduction to the National Neighborhood
Indicators Partnership (NNIP) - NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success
Cross-site Initiative - Objectives
- Phase I Findings
- Phase II Plans
3National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
(NNIP)
- Started in 1996 as a partnership of local data
intermediaries, coordinated by the Urban
Institute. - Defining Functions
- Building and operating information systems with
integrated and recurrently updated data on
neighborhood conditions. - Facilitating and promoting the direct practical
use of data by community and city leaders in
community building and local policy making. - Emphasizing the use of information to build the
capacities of institutions and residents in
distressed neighborhoods. - 2009 Partners in 31 cities around the country
4NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success
Cross-site Initiative
- Competitive proposal process among partners
- Atlanta, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Denver,
Indianapolis, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee and
Providence were selected. - Goals
- Develop thorough understanding of school
readiness and early grade success system as a
whole. - Use data collected to promote collaboration and
coherence on policy advocacy in this area. - Ready Child Equation
- Ready Families Ready Communities Ready
Services Ready Schools Ready Children
5NNIP School Readiness and Early Grade Success
Cross-site Initiative
- Phase I (Oct. 07-May 08)
- Scan local early childhood support system
- Involve other local organizations
- Complete school readiness and success brief
- Phase II (June 08-May 09)
- Plan for future activity to address local
priorities - Conduct a Community Childrens Policy Forum
- Participate in cross-city research and advocacy
6Phase I Findings (System Scan)
- The state of school readiness systems varied
considerably across sites, with sites typically
having a high level of fragmentation. - Ranged from Miami and Cleveland (more of a system
approach still requires some integration) to
Milwaukee and Indianapolis (little or no local
engagement on the issue).
7Phase I Findings (System Scan)
- System scan covered 9 domains
- Availability of data varies by site and domain.
- Least amount of data and integration with system
Home Visits and Family Support domain - Concerns about Head Start or the school district
operating in silos. - Unresolved issues on obtaining data related to
restrictions on confidentiality and HIPAA.
8Phase I Findings (System Scan)
- Several sites have a county-level group or
collaboration on early childhood and families. - United Way is involved in almost all sites.
- Many sites have programs that operate in cities
across the nation. - SPARK, Smart Start, Parents as First Teachers,
HIPPY, Nurse-Family Partnerships
9Phase I Findings (System Scan)
- Many sites have a quality rating and improvement
systems for child care settings or are working to
implement them. - Almost all sites (except Milwaukee) have some
type of Kindergarten Assessment tool, though the
utility and reliability of tool vary.
10Phase I Findings (System Scan)
- The scan attempted to lay out the elements of the
school readiness system but did not evaluate the
adequacy of the system. - Especially
- Home Visits/Parental Support, services ages 0-3
generally - IDEA services
- Child Care Subsidies
11Phase I Findings(School Readiness Briefs)
- There are clear disparities between neighborhoods
on risk factors for not being ready for school. - Almost all sites developed a risk or
vulnerability index to map where the most at-risk
children live. - Most indices included some data on birth outcomes
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14Phase I Findings (School Readiness Briefs)
- In many cities there have been demographic shifts
in the neighborhoods over time. - The most at-risk children are typically in high
poverty/high minority neighborhoods that are
often not located near good schools or services.
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18Phase I Cross-site Conclusions
- Initiative brought people together across the
early childhood system to create forward momentum
for a more coherent system supported by data. - Promising Practices An integrated agency or
organization that engages stakeholders, promotes
system integration and uses data to support early
childhood policy. - Invest In Children Cuyahoga County, OH
- This work needs to be continued there is more
to be done on developing a comprehensive and
seamless approach to early childhood policy,
programming and advocacy. - Special attention needs to be paid to transitions
between periods, from 0-3 services to 3-5
services to services for school-aged children.
19Phase I Cross-site Conclusions
- Neighborhood-based data system on school
readiness indicators. - Considerable lack of evaluation of early
childhood programs. Performance management
measures are needed. - Gaps in outreach and public education on services.
20Phase II Future Plans
- Partners working on memos detailing their future
efforts on school readiness and success. - Examples from those already submitted
- Assemble and monitor data on school readiness
over time - Collaborate with local agencies to address data
gaps and use data to raise awareness of school
readiness - Make sure local voices have a role in state
policy discussions. - Mobilize or strengthen neighborhood-based
strategies in support of children and families. - Create/identify instrument to assess school
readiness
21Phase II Community Forums
- One partner (Denver) has already conducted their
forum - Forum participants interacted and engaged with
maps and report really made clear that services
are not located where vulnerable children are
living. - Planned Forums Capturing opportunities
- Milwaukee - Engaging business leaders by framing
school readiness as economic development driver. - Chattanooga - Working with local funders, their
advisory committee and timing the forum to
coincide with the legislative session. - Miami - Working to get all stakeholders on
message with one agenda before holding their
forum to reach out to neighborhoods and
grassroots organizations.
22Questions?
- Leah Hendey
- Research Associate
- The Urban Institute
- Washington, DC
- lhendey_at_urban.org
- http//www2.urban.org/nnip/