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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Partner Plan Act Conference
Join with colleagues around the state for the 3rd annual "Partner Plan Act" Conference focused on supporting local early childhood collaboration as a means for sustainable system change that improve services and supports to children and families:
June 16, 2016
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, Illinois
10:00am to 3:00om
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6/2/2016 All Families Served Subcommittee Meeting
6/7/2016 All Families Served Subcommittee Meeting
6/8/2016 Family and Community Engagement Committee Meeting
6/8/2016 Principles and Practices Subcommittee Meeting
6/9/2016 Special Education Subcommittee Meeting
6/16/2016 Systems Integration and Alignment Committee Meeting
6/23/2016 HVTF's Home Visiting-Child Welfare Subcommittee Meeting
6/27/2016 Early Learning Council Meeting
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Kelley Washington,
Executive Director
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Greetings!
It's a great time of year as summer approaches and we take time to recognize and share best practices and learn new strategies to support our early childhood systems building initiatives. We encourage you to check out our recent Awards of Excellence winners, as well as take a deep dive into the resources provided around key state initiatives and our policy corner. Enjoy!
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Awards of Excellence Announced
The Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development is thrilled to announce the most recent round of programs that have achieved Awards of Excellence in ExceleRate® Illinois as part of Cohort 3. Awards of Excellence are the highest tier in Illinois' Quality Rating and Improvement System, and may be achieved by programs in the Gold Circle of Quality. The Awards of Excellence promote and recognize best practice achievements in research-based strategies supporting the highest quality services for Illinois' most high-need, at-risk children and families. They include Infant and Toddler Services, Preschool Teaching and Learning, Inclusion of Children with Special Needs, Family and Community Engagement, and Linguistically and Culturally Appropriate Practice. These awards and their accompanying standards are expected to inform practice and push forward quality improvement efforts in the other tiers, in order to support Illinois' larger goal of increasing the number of high-need children served in the State's highest quality early learning and development programs.
On May 12, 2016, the following 23 programs were recognized for achieving Awards of Excellence:
Family and Community Engagement
Concordia Place, Seeley Site
Stevenson School, DuPage District #45
Schafer School, DuPage District #45
Broadway Head Start Center, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet
Alexandria Early Childhood Center, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet
Felman Early Childhood Center, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet
Good Shephard Head Start Center, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet
St. John Head Start Center, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet
Inclusion of Children with Special Needs
Early Learning Center, Schaumburg District 54
Linguistically and Culturally Appropriate Practice
Ann Reid Early Learning Center, Naperville District 203
Preschool Teaching and Learning
Anne M. Jeans, Willowbrook, District 180
Velma Thomas, Chicago Public Schools
Stock School, Chicago Public Schools
Thomas Jefferson, Hoffman Estates/District 15/ECDEC
Central Road, Rolling Meadows/District 15/ECDEC
Poe School, Arlington Heights/District 21/ECDEC
Longfellow School, Buffalo Grove/ District 21/ECDEC
River Trails School, Mt. Prospect/ District 26/ECDEC
Timber Ridge School, Arlington Heights/District 57/ECDEC
Congratulations!
For more information about the Awards of Excellence and the contact information for each award, visit the ExceleRate® Illinois
website
.
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Early Childhood Block Grant Re-competition Webinar
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development held a webinar on May 10, 2016 to present plans for the FY 2018 re-competition of the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG). During this webinar, ISBE discussed the ECBG re-competition planning process and the recommendations for redesign that have been made to date through broad stakeholder input from the Early Learning Council. The webinar recording can be accessed with this
link
and the slides can be found
here.
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Second Annual Illinois Preschool Expansion Meeting Held
On April 7th, ISBE and OECD convened the second annual meeting of Illinois' Preschool Expansion programs at the Illinois State University campus in Bloomington Illinois. Program leaders from each of the State's grantees gathered to learn new strategies, share best practices and collaboratively problem-solve some of the challenges from the past year. Kelley Washington, Executive Director of OECD, and Cindy Zumwalt, Division Administrator for Early Childhood at ISBE, provided an overview of Illinois' early childhood vision and potential future opportunities for program expansion. Presentations on Illinois' Innovation Zones, services for families experiencing homelessness and the DCFS Office of School Readiness connected programs to resources for building strong systems for outreach and comprehensive services to at-risk children and families. Dr. Aisha Ray of Erikson Institute presented a keynote on the critical importance of engaging families in every aspect of early education.
Resources from the meeting are available on ISBE's Preschool Development Grant
website
.
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Early Childhood Career Pathways Draft Open for Review
On May 10, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft policy statement on recommendations for implementing and facilitating career pathways to support professional learning and practice of educators and directors in the early childhood development sector. HHS points to four recent developments that emphasize the need for focusing on the early childhood workforce:
You can access the draft policy
here
to learn more and send in comments by emailing
ECD@acf.hhs.gov
until May 20th.
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What is Systems Building?
Illinois' vision is for all children to be safe, healthy, happy, eager to learn and ready to succeed by the time they enter kindergarten. Achieving this vision requires collaboration across multiple sectors, including education, health, and family support services. Leaders at the local, state, and federal levels must be able to work together in a system to achieve greatest positive impact. In April 2016, the Stanford Social Innovation Review recently published an article about the critical need to develop "systems thinking" mindsets. Authors Susan Misra and Jamaica Maxwell describe systems thinking as, "understanding the web of interrelations that create complex problems and rethinking assumptions about how change happens."
The article lays out some essential elements for systems-level change:
1. Approaching challenges with a systems mindset allows for big picture thinking and enables different players to understand each other's point of view for consistent systems-level action and help define shared goals.
2. Choosing the right tool for the job is a hallmark of systems-change work. Some people, tools, and frameworks are applied more productively than others depending on the situation. A systems level approach helps to avoid wasted energy and resources and more effectively allocate the tools available.
3. Lastly, understanding human dynamics is key. Collective action requires collective trust and shared goals. This is important for defining boundaries, engaging beneficiaries, facing challenging conversations, and deepening systems capacity at every level of interaction.
Being able to understand systems and systems thinking leads to greater progress and empowerment for more individuals hoping to make a difference. For a deeper dive, read the whole SSI Review article on systems level change
here
.
Additionally, please see this great
video
produced by the
BUILD Initiative
to help put systems building into context for the early childhood development sector.
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Implementing the ABLe Change Framework Pilot in Illinois
The ABLe
(Above the Line, Below the Line) Change Framework was developed by Michigan State University Researchers, Drs. Pennie Foster and Erin Watson to improve community conditions guided by six "simple rules": 1) think systematically, 2) engage diverse perspectives, 3) incubate change, 4) implement change effectively, 5) adapt quickly, 6) pursue social justice.
In the summer of 2014, the Consortium for Community Systems Development (a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge initiative led by Illinois Action for Children) invited leaders of local and state system initiatives to learn more about the ABLe Change Framework and explore the possibility of adapting it to be a model for aligned training and technical assistance for community systems building in Illinois. The result was a collaborative agreement to pilot the ABLe Change Framework in Illinois. The pilot was launched in 2015 with seven local community collaborations, 18 coaches in training, and 16 non-implementing state leaders. In February 2016, ten local community collaborations joined the second cohort of trainings. The ten communities include: Adams County All Our Kids Early Childhood Network, Early Childhood Coalition of the Illinois Quad Cities, Greater Logan Square Early Childhood Coalition, McHenry County All our Kids Early Childhood Network, Greater East St. Louis Early Childhood Partnership/Innovation Zone, McLean County All Our Kids Early Childhood Network, North Lawndale Innovation Zone, Ready to Learn Kindergarten Readiness Initiative, Wheaton/Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative, and Will County All Our Kids Early Childhood Network.
We invite you to learn more about the ABLe Change framework's simple rules, tools, and processes by exploring their website.
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The Productive Pre-K Question?
U.S. News and World Report recently published an article taking on the issue of contradictory studies about the efficacy of preschool. Author Sara Mead argues that "asking whether 'pre-K works' is as pointless a question as asking whether fourth grade works". Variances in funding, program design and administration make for an uneven preschool landscape, which is reflected in research. The question, according to Mead, should not be about whether Pre-K works, but about what makes for quality Pre-K programs and how these proven successes can become more universal in programs. Check out the whole article here.
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World Bank and UNICEF Urge Greater Investment in Early Childhood Development
The World Bank Group and UNICEF are calling for an increase in global and international investment in early childhood development programs to promote equal opportunities for development and economic growth. The two organizations have established a new alliance to advocate for early childhood development as a policy and funding priority internationally in order to provide quality services for all young children. World Bank Group president, Jim Yong Kim, commented on the importance of early childhood development saying, "The time has come to treat childhood stunting as a development and an economic emergency... We can't promise to equalize development outcomes, but we can insist on equalizing opportunity".
To learn more about the World Bank and UNICEF early childhood initiatives, see this
press release
from the World Bank Group.
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Higher Education Resources Online
Have you heard of the Illinois Early Childhood Higher Education Resources Online (HERO) website? Produced by the Early Childhood Center of Professional Development and partially funded through the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development and the Illinois State Board of Education, HERO is a site where two and four-year Early Childhood teacher preparation programs can learn from and connect with peers from around the state. The website includes support resources in areas such as linguistic and cultural diversity, early math, and child assessments. Explore and connect with others in HERO by clicking here.
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