Systems Building Projects
Strategic Planning: Worcester Birth to Grade Three Strategic Planning Framework
Overview
To be truly great, cities must have healthy children, engaged families, and the highest standards in early care and education systems. ECA developed a Strategic Planning Framework to create a comprehensive system of care, early education, teacher supports, and family services.
A city’s diverse leaders and organizations embrace city officials, faith-based communities, law enforcement, businesses, institutions of higher education, health care, government agencies, cultural institutions, and the individuals that serve our youngest children and families. Each must collaborate to make a significant impact.
An early learning system organizes and integrates policies, and builds bridges between programs and services for young children alongside those for the adults who care for and teach them. When each element works well and aligns with other elements, children have the best opportunity to reach their full potential. Read more.
Preschool Development Grant- Birth to Five Strategic Plan.
Supported by the University of New Hampshire, ECA led stakeholder input from the state’s comprehensive needs assessment to generate the statewide early childhood birth-to-five strategic plan. Responsible for Planning and Communication to inform the overall design of the strategic planning process. We developed interactive and creative methods for gathering and incorporating stakeholder input; integrated data from the state’s needs assessment into the strategic plan; designed and facilitated statewide planning subcommittee meetings; generated strategic plan goals and outcomes; and developed strategies and metrics.
Study of Universal Preschool Models and Projection of School-Age Population
Funded by the city of Cambridge, MA, ECA studied the existing mixed service delivery system of preschool programs serving children in Cambridge; provided an analysis of the feasibility and implications of various options for expanding access to high-quality, affordable preschool. We prepared population and demographic estimates for school-age children to assess the impact on space needs for the Cambridge Public Schools (CPS). In collaboration with a ten-member Cambridge team, we fully developed two models for universal Pre-K for Cambridge.
Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative
Contracted by Somerville Public Schools, ECA supports Somerville in expanding access, aligning, and improving the quality of local early education systems serving three and 4-year-olds through partnerships between the local public school district and local EEC-licensed early education programs. ECA is responsible for:
Data management, analysis, and reporting: Manages data from CLASS and ECERS, Preschool Report Card, and KESI by 1. preparing and entering data into data analysis software; 2. synthesizing and creating data summaries; 3. communicating with appropriate personnel to ensure timely submission of data; 4. assisting with accessing resources and disseminating relevant reports.
Design and execute data plan: Develops, tests, and implements the data collection tools, including surveys for families and providers, coaching logs, and curriculum fidelity checklists.
Early Childhood Strategic Leadership Institute
Over 100 Early Education policy makers, leaders and educators came together in June 2018 to learn, share and problem solve effective leadership practices.
ECA, with its partners at Wellesley College’s Centers for Women, hosted the first statewide Institute on Early Childhood Strategic Leadership. The Institute attracted over 100 leaders in the Early Childhood Profession including center directors, administrators, principals, education coordinators, special education directors, and coaches and offered a unique opportunity for community based, private and public school program leaders to learn, share and problem solve effective leadership practices. The Institute featured 11 sessions targeting such topics as building instructional leadership capacity, exploring high quality practices, making inclusion work and the power of reflective practices. Read more.
Early Educators Leadership Institute
Supporting Birth Through Grade Three Alignment
The Leadership Institute supported a cohort of leaders from school districts, community-based organizations, and family childcare systems in building cross-cutting partnerships to improve school readiness, school success, and life-long opportunity for the children of Massachusetts. The Leadership Institute consisted of four day-long workshops featuring an engaging combination of presentation, case studies, interactive discussion and small group work.
The institute was supported by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) in collaboration with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Higher Education, the Readiness Centers Network, Strategies for Children, National Governors Association Early Learning Policy Academy, and other key stakeholders to develop and implement innovative new strategies across the state. Read More.