Early Achievers Celebrates Parent Recognition Month

New Early Achievers pages!

National Parent Recognition Month honors parents for the important roles they play in their homes and communities across the nation. Parent leaders may be a parent, grandparent, foster parent or any other care provider in a parenting role who share their perspective to effect change.

The Department of Early Learning (DEL) celebrates the contributions parents and families make to our society on a daily basis and recognizes that all parents have the potential to be great leaders. We are excited to announce a new online resource for parents and families to learn more about quality early learning in Washington through Early Achievers. Visit www.del.wa.gov/earlyachieversfamilies to learn more about:

• The importance of quality child care and early learning
• Early Achievers and how it is improving the quality of care in Washington
• Finding quality early learning and care in your community
• Additional resources and supports for families

The new pages also feature an expanded translated materials page for providers and all pages can be translated into multiple languages via the Google translate button at the top of each page.

For those who are interested in becoming leaders at the state level, the Early Achievers Review Subcommittee is currently accepting applications for members. This is a great opportunity to become involved in Early Achievers and its work to improve the quality of care for all children in Washington.

For more information, please visit: www.del.wa.gov/earlyachievers.

Becoming ECEAP: WA Seeks Pre-K Declarations of Interest

The Department of Early Learning (DEL) seeks to collect information from early learning settings that may want to provide Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) services. 

The surveys linked below are open to public and private organizations, including school districts, educational service districts, community and technical colleges, local governments, nonprofit organizations, child care centers, and family child care homes. This survey is the first step in completing the 2017 application for ECEAP slots. It serves as your letter of interest for that application, but does not obligate you to apply.

Please complete a survey by February 24 if you are interested in either:

• Becoming an ECEAP contractor and providing the full infrastructure necessary to meet all ECEAP contractual requirements, including the ECEAP Performance Standards.
• Providing a classroom experience for ECEAP children, under the direction of an ECEAP contractor.

Taken at Tacoma Day ECEAP site in Tacoma, WA.

The introduction to the survey contains important information, including information to learn more about ECEAP.  

Please select one:

• ECEAP Interest Declaration - any organization type

• ECEAP Interest Declaration – alternate version for family child care, English
• ECEAP Interest Declaration – alternate version for family child care, Spanish 

If you have questions, please email eceap@del.wa.gov. 

Comprehensive Pre-K Program Shows Positive Child Outcomes

Children enrolled in ECEAP (state-funded preschool) are assessed three times during the school year to track their social-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development and their early literacy and math skills. English language acquisition is tracked for children who speak a different language at home.

Photo taken at Tacoma Day (ECEAP site) 

in Tacoma, Washington.

How Washington measures kindergarten readiness

In Washington State, we rely on the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) for kindergarten readiness data.

WaKIDS is a process for:

• Welcoming students and their families to kindergarten.
• Assessing students’ strengths.
• Discussing the characteristics of children’s development and learning what will enable them to be successful in school.

In the 2015‒16 school year, WaKIDS reached approximately 59,000 kindergartners and determined their skill set development in the six areas highlighted below.

While we can see that few children start their Pre-K year in ECEAP with kindergarten entry skills, at the end of one year of ECEAP, the percentage of ECEAP children with kindergarten entry skills exceeds the rate for all WaKIDS children and for low-income WaKIDS children. For the 124 children with two years of ECEAP, the results are remarkably higher.

Our state’s most at-risk children made progress in all six areas of development.

The following percentages of ECEAP children moved from “below age level” to “at or above age level” during their time in the state-funded program.

• Social-emotional development – 41% 
• Meaning the child can regulate his or her own emotions, establish and sustain positive relationships, participate cooperatively and constructively in group situations.
• Physical development – 35% 
• Children are measured on traveling, balancing, motor manipulative skills (e.g. reach with your hands) and fine-motor strength and coordination.
• Language development – 35% 
• The child listens to and understands increasingly complex information, uses language to express thoughts and needs and uses appropriate conversational and communication skills.
• Cognitive development – 39%
• Children demonstrate positive approaches to learning and use classification skills and understand the use of symbols or images to represent something not present.
• Literacy development - 43%
• The child shows phonetical awareness, knowledge of the alphabet and print, and comprehends and responds to books and other texts. This category also measures the child’s ability to explore writing.
• Mathematics - 53%
• Children use number concepts and operations, explore spatial relationships and shapes, compare and measure and demonstrate knowledge of patterns.

Beyond the six areas of skill and development, ECEAP offers an integrated pre-K experience, including support with health care and family engagement.

Healthy children are learning children

ECEAP staff work closely with families to establish medical and dental coverage and care.and mental health consultation (if needed).

• At the time of enrollment only 56 percent of ECEAP children were up to date on their annual well-child medical exams. By the end of the year, 91 percent were on schedule.
• When they enrolled in fall 2015, only 39 percent of ECEAP children were up to date with dental screenings. For children who attended ECEAP all school year, 94 percent had dental screenings and necessary follow-up treatment. Dental cavities are the single most common disease of childhood.

ECEAP parent voice:

“One of my girls is a darling special needs kiddo and with that comes some big frustrations for me. One area that was difficult for years was brushing her teeth. When she started ECEAP, the teachers were focused on health and nutrition and made time every day to practice brushing teeth with all the kids. It did not take long before she was tolerating a brush in her mouth and now she actually enjoys having them brushed.”

Family first

Family engagement is an essential component of ECEAP comprehensive services. It includes individualized family support services: working with families to increase their economic security as well as providing referrals and community resources, opportunities to volunteer in the classroom, parent education, and parent leadership development activities.

One ECEAP site had a “Daddy and Me” event for the families. The Family Support Specialist recaps:

“I got home about a half hour ago from an amazing night. There were so many dads and papas who came with their kiddos. One teacher volunteered for the whole event. I asked boys to introduce me to their dads and gave them the words to say. Every dad who was introduced just beamed. Quite possibly the most heartwarming thing was that an elderly man came with the boy he’s been bringing to school every day. He brought the boy’s dad who is blind, and none of us were aware of this. They are friends from their church. The elderly man gently guided the dad in, helped the little boy with activities while dad was by his side, and brought the dad his dinner. ECEAP is truly a community program!”

In the 2015-16 school year, ECEAP implemented two new initiatives geared toward family support. Please look for more information about Families Moving Forward or check out the Family Support Pilot blogpost here: ECEAP Family Support Pilot.

To read the entire report, go here: 2015-16 ECEAP Outcomes Report. For more information about ECEAP, visit https://del.wa.gov/ECEAP.

State-funded PreK (ECEAP) Releases Eligibility Data

The Washington State Caseload Forecast Council (CFC) is required by RCW 43.88C to forecast the number of children who are eligible, as defined in RCW 43.215.405(5)(a), to participate in and the number of children actually served by the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) - Washington's State-funded preschool program.

By the 2020-21 school year, all eligible children shall be entitled to enroll in ECEAP, per RCW 43.215.456.

Because of this, the Legislature added 1,700 slots to ECEAP in the 2013-15 biennium and 1,600 in 2015-17. In the 2016-17 school year, ECEAP has 11,691 enrollment slots.

• There are 23,445 children eligible for ECEAP who are not served by ECEAP or Head Start. Based on the November 2016 CFC forecast, 6,314 of these would likely participate if space were available. 
• We are serving 50 percent of eligible children and 78 percent of children likely to participate.
• By the 2020-21 school year, an estimated 7,429 more children would participate if space is available.

ECEAP is Washington’s state-funded prekindergarten program that prepares some of the State’s most vulnerable 3- and 4-year-old children for success in school and in life. 

To be eligible for ECEAP, children must be 3 or 4 years old by August 31 of the school year, not simultaneously enrolled in Head Start, and meet one of these requirements:

• Qualified by their school district for special education services under RCW 28A.155.020.
• Receiving Child Protective Services under RCW 26.44.020(3) or Family Assessment Response Services under RCW 26.44.260. 
• From a family with income at or below 110 percent of the federal poverty guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2016, this is $26,730 for a family of four. This category includes all children in foster care and all families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash grants.
• From a family that exceeds income requirements, but is impacted by specific risk factors that are linked by research to school performance (for example, child has a parent who is incarcerated or impacted by substance abuse). No more than 10 percent of ECEAP children can be in this “over-income” category, and most children enrolled under this provision are from families under 130 percent of federal poverty guidelines. 

Once eligibility is established, children are prioritized for enrollment in the available ECEAP slots using a weighted statewide priority point system.

To read the entire caseload forecast, go here: ECEAP Caseload Forecast.

Caseload Estimates

DEL recommends a gradual ramp-up, as displayed in the table below, to support a solid foundation for program quality.

Recommended ramp-up of new ECEAP slots

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Estimated new enrollment slots needed		1,857	1,858	1,857	1,858
Total ECEAP slots	11,691	13,548	15,405	17,262	19,120

Projections, assuming ECEAP ramp-up

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Total ECEAP-eligible 3- and 4-year olds	47,014	47,110	47,368	47,760	48,213
Served by ECEAP1	11,691	13,548	15,405	17,262	19,120
Served by Head Start2	11,325	11,325	11,325	11,325	11,325
Total ECEAP-eligible served by ECEAP or Head Start	23,016	24,873	26,730	28,587	30,445
Percent of ECEAP-eligible served by ECEAP or Head Start	49%	53%	56%	60%	63%
Percent of ECEAP-eligible, likely to participate3, served by ECEAP or Head Start	77%	83%	89%	95%	100%
Unserved, ECEAP-eligible	23,998	22,237	20,638	19,173	17,768
Unserved, ECEAP-eligible, likely to participate3	6,703	4,933	3,185	1,613	0

¹ Based on proposed ECEAP slot ramp up.

² The Head Start count is updated annually as part of the February forecast.

³ Likely to participate is based on the CFC assumption that 51% of eligible 3-year-olds and 77% of eligible 4-year-olds will participate.  

 Parents may choose other early learning services or choose to keep children home with them. 

Support for WA Dual Language Learners to Grow

This month, the Department of Early Learning and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction convened nearly 30 dual language learning experts and advocates for a state-wide Brain Trust on Dual Language Learners (DLLs). 

The group included:

• educators, 
• parents, 
• administrators, 
• researchers, 
• academics, 
• state agency representatives, 
• representatives of the philanthropic community, and 
• early childhood advocates from some of Washington’s most diverse communities. 

The result was lively discussion about how best to recognize, support, and cultivate Washington’s rich language diversity in preschool through third grade settings.

Washington State is growing increasingly diverse: in May 2014, approximately 10.5% of children enrolled in Washington public schools were speaking English as a second language. By 2025, The National Education Association predicts that nearly one out of every four students will be an English language learner (OSPI, 2016).  

At DEL, we know that the brain science tells us that children learn language easily when they’re young, and dual language learners are an asset to our state. However, we recognize that our early learning system is not well equipped to support these young learners in the best way possible, and our early learning professionals don’t have the tools they need to ensure these children thrive.

The Brain Trust convening explored the need for a more culturally and linguistically responsive system at all levels, including family and community engagement, classroom practice, professional development, assessment, and administrative support. Joanne Knapp-Philo, Ph.D., the former director of the National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, facilitated the discussion and helped the group understand this work in the context of other promising efforts around the nation. This includes the recently released White House policy statement on Supporting Dual Language Learners in Early Learning Settings. We are excited to join the federal government in forging new ground to support all of our diverse students.

Attendees of the first DEL/OSPI-sponsored Brain Trust on Dual Language Learners pose together for a photo after two days of information sharing and deliberation.

While this meeting was a major step forward for prioritizing DLLs across our early childhood education systems we hope to continue getting input from the field before ultimately deciding on a shared vision for the state. We hope that, in gathering wisdom from such a wide range of stakeholders, we can honor the many complexities of this issue while promoting collaboration at every level.

As one of the most diverse states in the country, Washington is uniquely poised in the national movement in working to ensure the early childhood field has the resources and guidance they need to embrace the cultural and linguistic assets of this large and growing population of children. As we work to get 90% of kids ready for kindergarten by 2020 and eliminate race and income as a predictor of that success, celebrating and supporting the diverse linguistic talents among our children will be one of the keys to achieving that goal. 

Resources: 

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (2016). A call for equity and excellence for English language learners in Washington. Olympia, WA: OSPI Bilingual Education Advisory Committee. Retrieved from, http://www.k12.wa.us/MigrantBilingual/pubdocs/2016CallToActionPaper.pdf

ECEAP Pilots Best Way to Support Families

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ECEAP (Washington’s state-funded pre-kindergarten program) is designed to prepare 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income and at-risk families for success in school and in life. Its comprehensive approach includes: preschool education; family support; parent involvement; and, health and nutrition services.

The program is doing a two-year pilot to help learn what helps families most and what resources are needed. To get a full look at the year-one report, go here: http://bit.ly/2cYIREH.  

We Want to:

1. Learn about the best ways to help families advance their goals, well-being and self-reliance; 
2. Test a statewide Family Strengths and Needs Assessment. The assessment helps to see family strengths, needs, and goals and note the progress that families are making. 

What Did We Learn from Year One?
ECEAP contractors tested two family support models, EMPath Mobility Mentoring® and the Family Development Matrix model. These models were chosen because they helped families in other states improve their well-being and family goals.

EMPath’s Mobility Mentoring® Model. This approach, grounded in EMPath’s Bridge to Self-Sufficiency™, articulates a family’s transformative journey from poverty to economic self-sufficiency by optimizing the family’s life in five domains: family stability; well-being; financial management; education; and career management. ECEAP family support staff act as Mobility Mentoring® coaches who partner with families to help them acquire resources and skills, and sustain behavior changes. EMPath outcomes include dramatic increases in education and training participation (45%) and household savings (63%).

Family Development Matrix Model. The Family Development Matrix (FDM) model is a family decision-making and goal-setting model that uses an assessment tool and online database with indicators to measure family and program outcomes. A 2014 California evaluation showed increases of between 10.8 and 15.9 points in percentages of families at the safe/self-sufficient levels in areas such as: children’s social and emotional development, and parental resilience.

Who Participated? 

Fourteen ECEAP sites serving families in cities and towns across the State tested each model. 1,552 families of different races, ethnicities, and home languages participated for the complete year.

“The biggest thing . . .that family support helped my family with was teaching me how to be a productive father and family member.”

--Puget Sound ESD Parent Participant

What Were the Results? 

Families in both models made gains between the beginning and end of the year. ECEAP staff said they liked how the tools from these models helped them have deeper conversations with families, so they could make sure that services and resources fit each family’s needs. They also enjoyed seeing families meet their goals.

What is Happening in Year Two of the Pilot?

1. Based on the information gathered in year one, DEL decided that Mobility Mentoring® was the best model for ECEAP. Staff from 20 contractors attended the EMPath Mobility Mentoring® training in August, 2016. These staff will train the family advocates. Family support services will begin when ECEAP starts in September. DEL ECEAP will provide ongoing training and support to contractors who are using Mobility Mentoring®. 
2. Family support conversations will be guided by ECEAP Bridge to Child and Family Self-Reliance.
3. DEL will ask all ECEAP families to take a survey at the end of the year. This will help us learn what services helped most and what else we can do to improve services. 
4. DEL will review the data and results. We will use this to recommend the next steps for family support in ECEAP.

Uplifting ECEAP: Debi's Story and the Future of State-funded PreK

ECEAP is Washington’s state-funded prekindergarten program that prepares some of the state’s most vulnerable 3- and 4-year-old children for success in school and in life. DEL oversees the program which, since 1985, has focused on the well-being of the whole child by providing comprehensive nutrition, health, education and family support services to Washington’s most at-risk children. 

Debi, an ECEAP mom

To get an idea of the impact ECEAP has on families, experience Debi's story. 

During a time in Debi's life when money and stability were scarce, she found a state-funded program that helped her children thrive. 

Her son's experience in quality pre-K have started them on a positive trajectory that will hopefully lead to bright futures--and her boys have big plans!

See the full story here: Uplifting ECEAP. *Please note there is a transcript in the comments section of the YouTube video.

The future of ECEAP:

DEL recently released a new ECEAP caseload forecast that highlights the number of children who are eligible to participate in, and the number of children actually served by, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP).

This report is provided by the Department of Early Learning to describe the February 2016 ECEAP caseload forecast. 

By the 2020-21 school year, all eligible children shall be entitled to enroll in ECEAP, per Washington Legislature.

Added slots:

• 3,300 slots were added to ECEAP in the 2013-15 and 2015-17 bienniums. 
• For the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years, ECEAP has 11,691 enrollment slots. 

Eligible kids:

• In 2015-16, there are 11,955 children eligible for ECEAP who are not served by ECEAP or Head Start. 
• Based on the February 2016 CFC forecast, 6,260 of these would likely participate if space were available. 
• DEL serves 66 percent of eligible children and 79 percent of children likely to participate. 
• By the 2020-21 school year, an additional 7,377 would participate if space is available.

Check out the full report here: ECEAP Caseload Forecast.

WA Makes Gains in Pre-K Funding and Enrollment

Many 3- and 4-year olds across the nation still lack access to high-quality preschool education despite modest gains in enrollment, quality, and funding, according to an annual report by the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University.

In Washington, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) enrolled 10,091 children, up 1350 in 2014-2015, serving eight percent of the state’s 4-year-olds. Washington maintained consistent progress in terms of quality standards– meeting nine of NIEER’s minimum quality standards benchmarks. As of 2014-2015, ECEAP was required to participate in the state’ quality rating and improvement system, called Early Achievers. In 2014-2105, the state invested a total of $83 million in ECEAP, with approximately $76 million of these funds coming from state dollars from the state general fund and the “opportunity pathways account,” which is derived from lottery revenue.

“NIEER’s findings support our need for more high-quality programs and importantly, the inclusion of full-day models into our early learning settings,” said Department of Early Learning Director, Ross Hunter. “As we near our state’s milestone of making preschool an entitlement for low-income families, we need to ensure expansion of programs that prove success in child outcomes.”

More about ECEAP:

• 60% of ECEAP children are ready the spring before entering Kindergarten.
• There are 11,955 children eligible for ECEAP who are not served by ECEAP or Head Start. According to the February 2016 Caseload Forecast Council, 6,260 of these would likely participate if space were available. 
• By fall 2020’s entitlement milestone*, Washington will need 7,377 more slots for children than Washington currently has, based on the children likely to participate. 
• This requires adding 1,844 more slots each year for the next four years, beginning with the 2017-18 school years. 



Inside an ECEAP classroom.

• To add the 7,377 by fall 2020, Washington will need 266 more classrooms, 266 more trained lead teachers, and 266 more assistant teachers.

*The Legislature has made preschool a statutory entitlement for families with incomes at or below 110% of federal poverty level, or FPL, by fall 2020.

The State of Preschool report for the 2014-2015 school year, which includes objective state-by-state profiles and rankings, indicates that urgent action is needed from lawmakers at all levels of government to ensure that every child – particularly those from low-income families – have access to high-quality early education. For the first year, NIEER also analyzed states’ early education workforce and Dual Language Learner policies, which reveal that Washington is one of 14 states that can report the home language of every pre-K student. However, Washington does not require pre-K teachers to have a Bachelor’s degree, nor does it provide salary parity between pre-K and K-3 teachers.

The report finds that total state spending on pre-K programs for the nation as a whole increased by 10 percent, or $553 million, since the previous year, bringing state spending in 2014-2015 to over $6.2 billion. The number of children served by state-funded pre-K served increased by 37,167 in 2014-2015, bringing the total to almost 1.4 million children – the largest number of children ever served by state-funded pre-K. With an average rate of $4,489, states also made one of the most significant increases in spending per child in recent history.

For more information on The State of Preschool 2015 yearbook and detailed state-by-state breakdowns on quality benchmarks, enrollment, and funding, please click here.

More about DEL and NIEER:The Department of Early Learning was created in 2006 to help all Washington children reach their full potential. DEL oversees the state-funded preschool program, child care licensing and subsidies, early intervention services, and other initiatives and programs to support parents as children’s first and most important teachers. For more information, go to www.del.wa.gov.

The National Institute for Early Education Research (www.nieer.org) at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, supports early childhood education policy and practice through independent, objective research.