Alignment. Quality. Access.
OECD leads the state's initiatives to create an integrated system of quality, early learning and development programs to help give all Illinois children a strong educational foundation before they begin kindergarten.
Learn more.
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Family and Community Engagement Meeting
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3/16/2016
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Principles and Practices Subcommittee Meeting (3/16/2016)
Systems Integration and Alignment Committee Meeting (3/17/2016)
HVTF's Home Visiting-Child Welfare Subcommittee Meeting (3/22/2016)
Early Learning Council Meeting (3/28/2016)
Executive Committee Meeting (4/4/2016)
All Families Served Subcommittee (4/5/2016)
Home Visiting Task Force Executive Committee Meeting (4/13/2016)
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Kelley Washington,
Executive Director
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This month the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development (OECD) is excited to highlight a new Federal grant opportunity and wealth of new resources to support our Early Childhood professionals across the system. This past month, Governor Rauner presented his proposal to increase the early childhood education budget in his 2017 budget address, and President Obama released a budget that reinforces early learning initiatives. We look forward to seeing how these efforts will impact the children and families of Illinois. Read on to learn more!
Best Regards,
Kelley
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MIECHV Launches New Website
The Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development is happy to announce the launch of the new Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) website,
igrow
. igrow houses information on best practices, professional development, and quality evidence-based home visiting services for expectant parents and families with new babies in Illinois. The website serves as a resource for Illinois parents and for all home visiting programs regardless of funding stream or model.
Additionally, for the first time ever, igrow Illinois has provided a comprehensive map of all home visiting programs across the state.
Click
here
and use the map to find your program.
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News From the Preschool Expansion Program
 Illinois' Preschool Expansion Program is off to a promising start since fully launching in Fall 2015. As of December, 3,110 children with multiple risk factors had been served by 25 grantee districts and organizations in 19 high-needs communities across the state. In late February, Illinois submitted our first annual performance report for our Preschool Development Grant to the U.S. Department of Education, sharing the story of our successful first year of implementation. Illinois is implementing systems and supports to meet all twelve of the federally-defined elements of a High Quality Preschool Program in each of our grantee sites, including strong instructional leadership and comprehensive services to support families in overcoming barriers and achieving ambitious goals. The Preschool Development Grant is also acting as a catalyst for creative collaboration in several communities, such as Decatur which developed an innovative partnership with a regional healthcare organization to ensure access to medical services, mental health support and parenting support groups and workshops for the benefit of their families. OECD and ISBE are excited to continue building on this success in year two.
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Illinois Teams Up with the National Research Council
Illinois received some positive press in a recent release from the National Research Council. In February, five state teams, including Illinois, met for the first time to discuss the
Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: Implementation Planning report from 2015. This "blueprint for action" for the early childhood workforce is directed towards stakeholders at local, state, and national levels. Over the next six months, the teams will continue to meet to develop state-specific plans. See the
link for more information or connect with Christi Chadwick, Workforce Development Policy Director at OECD, at
Christi.Chadwick@illinois.gov.
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Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant Focuses on System-Building, Developmental Outcomes
 Illinois partners are working together to submit a grant application to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, for the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Impact grant . The primary aim of this competitive Federal grant is to improve developmental outcomes among 3 year olds in participating communities over five years. This work will be accomplished through community teams supported by national CoIINs (Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Networks). Participating Illinois communities will be selected through an open application process that will conclude this week. Illinois' approach to this grant is being developed through discussion with representatives from the City of Chicago, Consortium for Community Systems Development, DHS AOK Networks, DHS Early Intervention, IDPH, IL Head Start Association, INCCRRA, ISBE Early Childhood, Innovation Zones, MIECHV, SGA, and OECD. We view this as an excellent opportunity to strengthen communities as well as continue progress towards a coherent system of state supports for community systems. Joanna Su is the Community Systems Development Policy Director at OECD and may be reached at
Joanna.su@illinois.gov.
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Early Childhood Center of Professional Development Produces IELDS Tool Kit for Teachers
The Early Childhood Center of Professional Development has developed the
Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards (IELDS) Tools for Teachers Kit - a collection of resources and materials to support practitioners in implementing the revised standards and communicating these standards to families. The resources include crosswalks of the IELDS with the Illinois Early Learning (Birth - Age 3) Guidelines, the Head Start Framework, and Kindergarten Standards. The kit also includes posters of the IELDS highlighting the Preschool Benchmarks and examples of these Benchmarks. Booklets titled "Standards Start at Home" (in English and Spanish) are included as a family's guide to early learning. The kits have been distributed to teachers in various program settings, Early Childhood professional development providers, and Early Childhood Education faculty. Recipients have provided positive feedback on the effectiveness of the tools for integrating the IELDS in their work. All the materials in the
IELDS Tools for Teachers Kit are available for download at the
Illinois Early Learning Project website.
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BUILD QRIS Conference Provides Discount for Illinois Participants
The BUILD Initiative and the QRIS National Learning Network will be hosting the
2016 National QRIS Meeting from July 12-14, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The meeting will share the latest research, effective practices, innovations and big ideas in the development, implementation and revision of quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) and approaches to enhancing the quality of early care and education at the local, regional and state levels.
Illinois participants are being offered a discounted early bird registration fee of $250/person ($100 discount) when you enter BUILD10 in the coupon box if registered before March 31st.
Click
here to see the program and resources from last year's meeting and use this
link to register for the conference.
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Illinois Early Learning Project Website
The Illinois Early Learning (IEL) Project website is a source of evidence-based, reliable information on early care and education for families, caregivers, and teachers of young children, ages birth to five years old. The website, available in both English and Spanish, includes resources aligned to the Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards (IELDS), the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines for Children Ages Birth to Three (IELG), Tip Sheets, and examples of the Project Approach (
ILPIP). For more information about resources and materials available through the IEL Project visit the website
illinoisearlylearning.org , join the
listserv , or call the toll free phone number (877-275-3227).
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BUILD Releases New E-Book on Early Childhood Policy
The BUILD Initiative has recently released a new e-book titled,
Rising to the Challenge: Building Effective Systems for Young Children and Families. The work analyzes state systems while discussing significant investments and lessons learned in a review of Federal childhood policy from 2000-2015. The topics addressed include Data Strategies, Governance, and Workforce Development. See the entire e-book
here.
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President Obama's 2017 Fiscal Budget Demonstrates Continued Commitment to Early Learning Initiatives
The Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Release on February 9
th displayed "the administration's continued efforts to invest in education, from high-quality learning through college" according to Acting Education Secretary, John B. King Jr. The budget release includes funding for universal preschool for four year olds from all low and moderate income families, increases to Head Start and Early Head Start/Child Care Partnerships, as well as increases to the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The budget proposal also includes a fourth year of continuation grants for the 18 states with Preschool Development Grants (including Illinois).
More information on the early learning initiatives and the Department of Education budget can be accessed
here. If you're interested in receiving further updates, join the U.S. Department of Education listserv at
www.ed.gov/early-learning.
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Bullying Prevention Course Available
The Health Resources and Services Administration has continued in its bullying prevention initiatives by expanding upon the original Bullying Prevention Training Module from 2012 and releasing a Bullying Prevention Continuing Education Course in February 2016. These anti-bullying resources provide best practices and continuing education credits for those who complete training. Click
here to explore stopbullying.gov and learn more about the bullying prevention training.
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