Early Learning Insights
Newsletter of the Illinois Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development
In This Issue
About OECD
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.
Upcoming Events
7/14/2016 Home Visiting Task Force Executive Committee Meeting

7/20/2016 HVTF's Home Visiting-Child Welfare Subcommittee Meeting

7/21/2016 Data, Research, and Evaluation Committee Meeting

7/26/2016 Home Visiting Task Force Full Meeting

8/4/2016 All Families Served Subcommittee Meeting

8/9/2016 Systems Integration and Alignment Committee (SIAC) Meeting

8/9/2016 Executive Committee Meeting

9/28/2016 Principles and Practices Subcommittee Meeting

9/28/16 Family and Community Engagement

10/4/2016 Home Visiting Task Force Executive Committee Meeting
New Resources
CDC Child Obesity Fact Sheet 
Infant Immunizations
OECD Initiatives

Additional Resources
Contact OECD
Stay Connected
June 30, 2016
Kelley Washington,
 Executive Director
 

Greetings!
 
As we kick off the warmer weather, please take some time to read updates from our early learning community.  This is an important time to recognize what we've accomplished the last fiscal year and align on key priorities for the new fiscal year ahead.  Have safe summer travels and enjoy the read!
 
Best,
 
Kelley Washington

Top Stories
Innovation Zone Spotlight: Pilsen - Little Village

Funded through the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant and supported by Illinois Action for Children, early childhood collaborators in eleven Innovation Zones in Illinois are building local systems towards the goal of equal access to early learning opportunities that will ultimately lead to improved child outcomes.  In this Innovation Zone Spotlight, we will focus on the strategies and successes of the Pilsen-Little Village Innovation Zone (PLVIZ).  Challenges facing Pilsen-Little Village (PLV), a predominantly Hispanic community, include a high poverty level, especially among the families with undocumented parents, language barriers contributing to the isolation of families, and ignorance among many immigrant families of early childhood programs available to them.  Despite these challenges, the PLV Innovation Zone has been able to positively impact the community through creative outreach methods tailored to the neighborhood.
 
To share information and create pathways for access to early 
learning opportunities, the Pilsen and Little Village InnovationZone is leveraging leaders who are recognized as influential in the community. Recently, the PLVIZ began working with the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago through their program "Ventanillas de Oportunidades Educativas" (Educational Opportunities Booth).
 
As patrons wait for their documents from the consulate, the PLVIZ "mother ambassadors" engage with parents to talk about the importance of attending early learning programs. Since April, they have spoken to around 164 parents. The PLVIZ mother ambassadors raise awareness about the under-representation of young Latino children in early learning programs, while emphasizing the benefits of this opportunity, especially for dual language learners. The mother ambassadors also offer on-site assistance with finding and applying for early learning programs in Chicago that meet the needs of the family. If parents agree to share their contact information, the PLVIZ team follows-up to ensure a seamless pathway from engagement to enrollment. As an example, the follow-up supported one mother's visit to a local library and the completion of an early bird application for enrollment.
 
The Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago is a true champion in the efforts to increase enrollment of immigrant Latino families living in poverty in early learning and development programs.  This partnership helps to alleviate fear and anxiety experienced by many immigrant families-often unfamiliar with these opportunities-while respecting and supporting the cultural customs of the Latino community. 
   
MIECHV Releases Infographics

The Illinois Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) published ten infographics in May illustrating their main data highlights and progress throughout the state.  These infographics  include an overview of the MIECHV program since its inception in 2012 (view here), as well as the services and major highlights from 2015 for the six original community areas served ( Cicero, Elgin, Englewood, Macon, Rockford, and Vermilion).  See the profound impact and successes MIECHV has had in Illinois, by viewing all the infographics here.

Lead Prevention in Illinois
 
Lead poisoning is the number one environmental illness in children, affecting every system in the body, including a young child's developing brain.  While Illinois has made great progress in recent years, we maintain one of the highest rates in the nation for the number of children with elevated blood lead levels.  While the water crisis in Flint, Michigan has spurred new interest in ensuring safety in drinking water, it's important to know that the most common exposure to lead by children is through the ingestion of paint chips and contaminated dust from deteriorated or disturbed lead-based paint in homes built before 1978. 
 
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) leads Illinois' lead prevention efforts and is exploring opportunities to partner with the early care and education system to make sure parents and caretakers of children are aware and up to date with testing and other prevention initiatives to reduce the overall risk of lead exposure to children throughout Illinois. 
 
Visit the Illinois Lead Program webpage and its FAQ sheet to learn more about state regulations and efforts to reduce childhood lead poisoning.

OECD Attends the CEELO Conference
 
Representatives from OECD and ISBE participated in a national roundtable sponsored by the Center for Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE), which is held annually. This year's roundtable in Baltimore focused on "Mobilizing an Exceptional Early Childhood Workforce," with a goal of supporting states in establishing effective systems for early childhood workforce preparation and professional development. Presentations by leaders in early childhood research, including Steven Barnett, Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) and Marcy Whitebrook, Director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, highlighted the need for comprehensive strategies to pursue compensation parity for early education professionals and the impact of workforce policies on the development of a diverse and well-prepared workforce. In addition, the Illinois team shared best practices from our state in infusing early childhood content knowledge and practical experience into principal preparation, an area in which Illinois has been a leader.   CEELO has posted reading materials and presentations here.

EHS-CC Partnership Funding Opportunity
 
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announces approximately $135 million in funding available to expand access to high-quality, comprehensive services for low-income infants and toddlers and their families.  This funding will support the creation of Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnerships and expansion of Early Head Start (EHS) services to children and families.  ACF solicits applications from public entities, including states, or private non-profit organizations, including community-based or faith-based organizations, or for-profit agencies that meet eligibility for applying as stated in section 645A of the Head Start Act.

This funding opportunity can be found here
Policy Corner
DCFS Releases 2016-2021 Child Welfare Strategic Plan Draft
  
A draft of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' (IDCFS) 2016-2021 Illinois Child Welfare Strategic Plan was released last month.  The strategic plan brings stakeholders together to renew the focus on child well-being while guiding prevention and improvements within the child welfare system.  The six main goals, or areas of focus, of the strategic plan are outlined below:
 

          1.    Education and self-sufficiency

          2.    Moving from institutional to community based                                care

          3.    Paying for value, quality, and outcomes

          4.    Prevention and population health

          5.    Data integration and predicative analytics

          6.    Building relationships and effective      

                 communications streams internally and     

                 externally by engaging youth and their   

                 families


 
The draft is currently open for feedback and will be finalized in time for a Summit in the Fall of this year. IDCFS Director, George Sheldon, encourages participation in finalizing the Illinois plan and states in the draft, "We want people from throughout our system - from investigators and case managers to leaders of provider agencies, from lawyers to judges, from foster parents, birth parents and guardians to youth - to come together and talk about where we want to go and how we are going to get there".  To get involved, provide comments, and ask questions concerning the Strategic Plan, contact dcfs.strategicplan@illinois.gov.  Additionally, you can view a recording of Director Sheldon's May 12, 2016 Live Stream providing an update on the DCFS Strategic Plan, here.  

 

Illinois HHS Transformation Initiative Launched

The State of Illinois has recently launched an effort to better serve citizens/customers of health, human services, and education services.  Referred to as "HHS Transformation", this initiative is bringing together leadership from 13 government entities.  The immediate priority is designing a behavioral health strategy that maximizes federal funding opportunities; OECD is actively engaged in this working team. Please visit the website to learn more.  

In the News
Joint Statement on Dual Language Learners

At a White House regional summit in Miami in June, the U.S Departments of Education and Health and Human Services released a joint federal policy statement with recommendations for early childhood programs and states to support the learning and development of children who are dual language learners. 
"Knowing more than one language is a good thing, not just for [the children's] own future, but for our collective future as a country," White House Deputy Assistant for Education, Roberto Rodriguez, said.  Read the full policy statement here.
 
Additionally, our federal partners have also developed a toolkit of electronic resources to support young children who are learning both their home languages and English which can be  accessed with this link.  
To Help Kids Thrive, Coach Their Parents

playful-family-portrait.jpg   Author, Paul Tough, recently had an opinion article published in the New York Times based on his new book, Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why .  In this essay, Tough advocates for the importance of parent coaching, especially in families with high needs.  Positive engagement of children at a young age from adults is shown to improve general non-cognitive skills such as behavior, self-control, stress management, and memory retention, resulting in better overall academics.  Tough states, "When parents get the support they need to create a warm, stable, nurturing environment at home, their children's stress levels often go down while their emotional stability and psychological resilience improve".  
 
For more information, read the full article here and see a recent NPR interview with Paul Tough discussing Helping Children Succeed here.

Fast Fact of the Month
Birth through Third Grade Continuity Program FAQ Released

The Illinois Birth through Third Grade (B-3) Continuity Program strives to foster a high-quality, aligned birth to third grade education system to ensure the greatest support and outcomes for young children in Illinois through work in state and local systems.  Led by a team of community stakeholders, the Birth through Third Grade Program strengthens Preschool Expansion Communities and facilitates quality and uniform impact across all service sectors. 
 
To learn more about the B-3 Continuity Program, see the FAQ sheet released last month, or check out the webpage here
Illinois Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development | | Penny.Segura@illinois.gov | earlychildhood.illinois.gov
160 N. LaSalle St. Suite N-100
Chicago, IL 60601
312-814-6379