Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
03/31/2017 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Early Education | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
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+ teleconferenced
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 31, 2017
8:05 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Harriet Drummond, Chair
Representative Justin Parish, Vice Chair
Representative Zach Fansler
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative David Talerico
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Lora Reinbold (alternate)
Representative Geran Tarr (alternate)
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Tom Begich
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): EARLY EDUCATION
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
DEBI BALDWIN, Director
Child Development Division
Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "House Education Committee and Early Childhood," dated
3/31/17; provided a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Parents
as Teachers"; answered questions.
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director
Best Beginnings
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "House Education Committee and Early Childhood," dated
3/31/17; provided a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Best
Beginnings Alaska's Early Childhood Investment," dated 3/31/17;
answered questions.
LISA MORENO, Director
Strategic Initiatives; Program Director
Anchorage Realizing Indigenous Student Excellence
Cook Inlet Tribal Council
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Anchorage Realizing Indigenous Student Excellence
(ARISE) Kindergarten Preparedness in Anchorage," dated 3/31/17.
DIRK SHUMAKER, Executive Director
Kids Corps, Incorporated; Representative
Alaska Head Start Association
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Head Start and Early Head Start in Alaska," dated
3/31/17.
STEPHANIE BERGLUND, CEO
thread
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "thread," dated 3/31/17, and answered questions.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:05:36 AM
CHAIR HARRIET DRUMMOND called the House Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. Representatives
Drummond, Parish, Johnston, Kopp, and Talerico were present at
the call to order. Representative Fansler arrived as the
meeting was in progress. Also present was Senator Begich.
^PRESENTATION(S): Early Education
PRESENTATION(S): Early Education
8:06:22 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the order of business would be
several presentations on early education.
8:07:22 AM
DEBI BALDWIN, Director, Child Development Division, Rural Alaska
Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP), informed the
committee healthy and strong children are necessary for a strong
and prosperous Alaska, and a dialogue to address this issue will
ensure an early care and learning system is available in the
state.
8:08:29 AM
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director, Best Beginnings, stated
exuberant families are the goal of the work discussed today.
MS. BALDWIN introduced the programs that would be presented and
directed attention to a document provided in the committee
packet entitled, "House Education Committee, March 31, 2017
Early Childhood Programs with DEED Investment," which contained
the attributes of each program. Also provided in the committee
packet was a document entitled, "Alaska Early Childhood
Coordination Council Statewide Strategic Report," dated November
2012. Ms. Baldwin stated the full report is available upon
request of the committee.
MS. HENSLEY said the following presentation would include
information on how reduced funding may impact the aforementioned
programs. As an introduction to the programs, she advised there
are 63,943 Alaskan children under the age of six, and provided
the numbers of children in various childcare programs as
follows: licensed childcare, 13,650; Head Start (three to five
years of age), 3,293; Early Head Start (birth to three years of
age), 853; Alaska state Pre-K, 289; school district pre-
elementary programs, 2,477; Early Intervention, 2,000; Parents
as Teachers, over 550; Imagination Library, 19,156.
8:12:35 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if these are state and federally
funded programs.
MS. BALDWIN responded some of the programs receive federal and
state support.
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP asked whether any of the numbers are
duplicative between programs, or if each program represents
individual pre-kindergarten students.
MS. HENSLEY explained a child enrolled in a Head Start program
may also attend a licensed day care, and a child receiving a
book from the Imagination Library may be enrolled in other
programs.
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked whether all Head Start programs are
federally funded.
MS. BALDWIN said yes, with some state match. She added that the
foregoing is an array of programs, some that target a goal such
as promoting early literacy, and some are highly comprehensive,
such as Head Start. She cautioned that the numbers of children
participating in programs do not indicate that a majority of the
children in Alaska are benefiting from an "early childhood
experience."
8:16:12 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND questioned which age group is targeted for early
intervention.
MS. BALDWIN said early intervention is at ages zero to three,
and special education is at ages three to five. In further
response to Chair Drummond, she said school district Pre-K is
for ages three to four, and state Pre-K is for age four only.
8:16:48 AM
MS. HENSLEY added some school district programs vary.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO asked for clarification on the number of
children served by Parents as Teachers.
MS. BALDWIN explained 200 children are sponsored through the
state and over 300 children receive funding through the U.S.
Department of Education, targeted to support Alaska Native
children.
MS. BALDWIN pointed out there are over 60,000 children age six
and under in the state, and about 10,000 children per age range,
which is helpful for education planning.
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked for the source of the total number of
63,943.
MS. BALDWIN said the number is based on information from the
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and census data.
MS. HENSLEY returned attention to the Alaska Early Childhood
Coordinating Council (AECCC) which was created in response to a
requirement by Head Start that each state have an advisory
council to report on early childhood systems. [AECCC] is tasked
to promote the positive development, improved health outcomes,
and school readiness for children prenatal through eight years
of age. Also, AECCC supports the creation of a sustainable,
comprehensive system of early care, health, education, and
family support, and facilitates the integration and alignment of
early childhood services, planning, policy, resources, and
funding. Additionally, AECCC serves to establish connections
between health, mental health, education and family support
systems, and public and private sectors.
8:21:30 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked for the membership of the council.
MS. HENSLEY noted the membership is available online; the
council is divided between members from the private sector and
members from government, including: Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Hensley,
Ms. Berglund, public members, and representatives from the
Department of Education and Early Development (EED), DHSS, and
the Department of Corrections (DOC). [AECCC] is intended to
look at the broad spectrum of what is available and what is
needed for young children. Ms. Hensley continued, dividing the
Alaska early care and learning system in the terms of main
categories and individual programs. Within the category of
coordination and advocacy are AECCC, the early childhood
comprehensive systems framework, and the Head Start
collaboration office. Within the category of policy frameworks
are the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines, Alaska SEED Core
Knowledge and Competencies, Pyramid Foundation, Strengthening
Families, and the Alaska State Standards for Literacy and Math.
Within the category of program improvement is Learn and Grow:
Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS). Within the
category of educator professional development are SEED, school
district-based professional learning, Head Start training and
technical assistance, and the Alaska Parents as Teachers state
office. Within the category of childcare infrastructure is
licensing, and within the category of pre-elementary
infrastructure is pre-elementary approval.
8:26:50 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
8:28:05 AM
LISA MORENO, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Cook Inlet Tribal
Council, said she has also been the program director for
Anchorage Realizing Indigenous Student Excellence (ARISE) for
almost four years. Ms. Moreno informed the committee ARISE is a
community partnership - not a program - but a collaborative
strategy consisting of 15 organizations in Anchorage with the
goal to ensure every Alaska Native child in Anchorage leads a
healthy and empowered life with access to unlimited
opportunities, successful academic transitions, social,
emotional, and physical wellbeing, and knows his/her heritage,
culture, and role in the community (slide 2). Ms. Moreno said
ARISE originated after a report found there was little
coordination between the Anchorage School District (ASD) and
organizations dedicated to Alaska Native student success. She
noted Best Beginnings, thread, and Cook Inlet Tribal Council
(CTIC) were early partners in ARISE that identified eight
measurable outcomes sought for Alaska Native students and
children in Anchorage, including improvements to academic and
social and emotional wellbeing outcomes. To achieve this goal,
in 2014, ARISE turned its focus to early care and learning for
the purpose of preparing Alaska Native children for
kindergarten. Ms. Moreno advised there is a known achievement
gap between Alaska Native students and non-Native students
beginning at the kindergarten level in Anchorage (slide 3).
CHAIR DRUMMOND expressed concern about the low percentages of
students prepared for kindergarten.
MS. MORENO further explained ARISE is currently engaging parents
and others in the lives of Alaska Native children and leveraging
partnerships to assess challenges using data, communications,
and community organizations to identify challenges and to
develop effective methods for change. ARISE receives no state
funding but asks of the state: What's the system? What are the
unmet needs for services? What are the strengths and deficits
of families? What is meant by "prepared for kindergarten" and
how can that be measured? Why are some children prepared and
others are not, and why? Ms. Moreno pointed out data compiled
on minority populations tends to be limited and biased without
consideration of family and community aspects. Further,
gathering information on children is difficult until they enter
the school system, and it is important that data on children
includes their living experiences. ARISE spent two years to
determine what it means to be prepared for kindergarten and how
preparedness is measured. In that process, ARISE developed an
image of an Alaska Native child who is prepared for kindergarten
by access to certain resources, and identified the factors that
support and challenge kindergarten preparedness (slides 4-5).
Ms. Moreno cautioned there is no perfect method by which to
measure kindergarten preparedness; however, the indicator chosen
was a score of 20 or more on the Alaska Developmental Profile
(ADP) [Department of Education and Early Development (EED)]
(slide 3).
8:34:33 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND inquired as to the source of ADP and how it is
used in schools.
MS. MORENO explained ADP is an observational assessment used by
kindergarten teachers for 4-6 weeks at the beginning of the
kindergarten year to record data on each child; subsequently,
the assessment is sent to EED. Ms. Moreno then related
children's brains develop based on attachment relationships with
their caregivers. Without an accurate way to track children
before school age, ARISE, through community organizing, engaged
a group of thirty families with children under the age of five.
From that group, dedicated families spent one summer looking
closely at issues around early care and learning. The group of
families - with support from thread, Best Beginnings, and RurAL
CAP - held meetings, researched data, and developed skills,
confidence, and community. Afterward, the families told ARISE
what needed to change: families need to be provided with
information about early learning and child development; there is
a disconnect between what families need and what is easily
accessible; medical providers need to communicate in a better
manner.
8:37:39 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND recalled years ago hospitals provided a
significant amount of information to families of newborns.
MS. MORENO clarified ARISE families said the manner in which the
information is shared is not useful. The parents decided to
work with Best Beginnings, thread, RurAL CAP, the Parents as
Teachers program, ASD, CITC, and Southcentral Foundation to
develop an action plan. The action plan requested ASD to
provide training for all kindergarten teachers in how to
implement ADP, and in Alaska Native and American Indian cultures
in the state. The plan also included a design for a
collaborative communications campaign around early learning,
child developmental issues, and parental resources. [ARISE]
compiled over 45 pages of data on Alaska Native children in
Anchorage related to population, housing, childcare providers,
Head Start programs, school boundaries, and pre-elementary
programs; in addition, ARISE invested in a survey to look at the
availability and usage of childcare in Anchorage. The data
revealed: 5,000 Alaska Native children under the age of six in
Anchorage; parents are unaware of kindergarten assessments, and
assessments vary; Alaska Native and American Indian families use
childcare at the same rate as non-Native families; all families
face difficulties finding and affording childcare in Anchorage;
there is no way to assess the quality of childcare. In response
to Chair Drummond, she confirmed ARISE's statistics are based on
Alaska Native children in Anchorage.
8:41:09 AM
MS. MORENO continued that ARISE found Alaska Native children
have the highest rates of ear infections in the U.S., and only
Head Start programs routinely test hearing in Alaska between
birth and kindergarten. In response to Representative Fansler,
she said "public health" reports environmental factors are why
Alaska Native children have the highest rates of ear infections,
and surgeons have pointed to the shape of their Eustachian
tubes; however, the reason is not as important as establishing a
protocol for hearing testing, which could easily be accomplished
at every well-baby check (slide 6). In response to the data
compiled by ARISE, CITC established the Clare Swan Early Head
Start Child Care Center which will provide all day, year around
care for seventy Alaska Native children between the ages of zero
and three years. The center will also host two Yup'ik immersion
classrooms, and will add a federally funded Maternal, Infant and
Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) program. Also in
response, ASD has trained all kindergarten teachers in Alaska
Native and American Indian cultures in Alaska, and in the
implementation of ADP. Finally, ARISE partners created a social
media campaign to contact families and provide information on
topics including large motor skills, self-regulation, expressive
and receptive language, curiosity learning, and persistence
(slides 6B and 7). Ms. Moreno concluded ARISE is possible
because of its partners that receive EED funding, and EED
funding has contributed to CITC's new role supporting early
childhood care and learning; however, there remains an unmet
need in the community of Anchorage.
8:47:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON disclosed that she was involved in this
effort/process from the beginning, until last year. She
observed one aspect missing from the project was involvement by
health and social services and asked whether ARISE was
interested in collaboration with Southcentral Foundation, the
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and DHSS.
MS. MORENO said ARISE welcomes any collaborators who will work
with the community and improve resources with a focus on
children; in fact, Southcentral Foundation and other medical
providers seek to incorporate routine hearing tests into well-
baby and pediatric checkups.
8:49:17 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
8:50:02 AM
DIRK SHUMAKER, Executive Director, Kids Corps, Incorporated, and
representing the Alaska Head Start Association, informed the
committee Kids Corps, Incorporated (KCI) provides Head Start and
Early Head Start in Anchorage. He said his experience with Head
Start programs has been in urban Alaska, and Ms. Baldwin would
provide further information on Head Start and Early Head Start
in rural Alaska. As has been previously discussed, young
children are a vulnerable population and comprehensive child
services look at children and their families to support school
readiness. Families may be struggling with issues, but they
remain the primary nurturers and problem-solvers and need to be
strengthened. Further, it is important to have a systems
approach. Mr. Shumaker said 17 grantees across the state
provide Head Start and/or Early Head Start together to provide
programs from birth to five years. During the early years
development takes place that contributes to school readiness,
which is the goal of Head Start: that children will be
successful in kindergarten and later in school. The programs
are a comprehensive model to address all obstacles to a child's
growth and development, whether it is economics or other issues.
In addition, Head Start takes a two-generation approach in its
efforts to provide services to a child and to strengthen his/her
family and parents. He advised Head Start services can be
center- or home-based, ranging from a minimum level of services.
Center-based services provide a minimum of 3.5 hours per day and
there is a goal of 1,080 hours per year for Early Head Start,
with an emphasis on intensity and duration. Home-based services
provide a minimum of 46 home visits utilizing a research-based
curriculum which is reviewed and evaluated. Assessments occur
at least three times per year using a valid and reliable
assessment tool to measure progress, which in Alaska is the My
Teaching Strategies, LLC., Gold assessment. In response to
Chair Drummond, he clarified the home-based program requires 46
home visits per family, not per child.
8:56:02 AM
MR. SHUMAKER continued to explain comprehensive service also
includes screenings to identify health and mental health needs,
and to set a 45-day timeline for remediation, if needed. At
center-based programs only, there are minimums for nutritious
daily meals. Returning to the family component, he restated
parental involvement as volunteers at the centers is encouraged
so that children and parents benefit from education to
strengthen self-sufficiency. He provided a slide entitled, "Who
Head Start & Early Head Start Serves" which listed Region 10
Head Start and Early Head Start programs and Region 11 American
Indian Alaska Native Early Head Start grantees; also indicated
on the slide was in 2016 there were 2,047 children enrolled in
Head Start and 858 enrolled in Early Head Start, of which about
two-thirds were home-based. Mr. Shumaker advised center-based
programs are especially for families with teen parents or
parents who are working.
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked whether the enrollments shown were
statewide or for Anchorage.
MR. SHUMAKER said statewide. He turned attention to a slide
entitled, "Who Head Start & Early Head Start serve (total
enrollment=3,779)," and pointed out about two-thirds of the
children are enrolled because they met federal poverty
guidelines; however, other reasons for enrollment were foster
care, referrals by the Office of Children's Services, DHSS, and
homelessness, thus the primary focus of Head Start programs is
to serve children who are most needy. He provided a slide
subtitled, "Prevention and Early Intervention," and stressed the
importance of mental health consultation to the social and
emotional development of children and to address trauma
experienced due to adverse childhood experiences; mental health
consultations are a way to prevent children from coming to
kindergarten with challenging behaviors. Continuing to the
slide subtitled, "School Readiness" he said every program in the
state uses observation-based assessments of children which are
reported to the state three times per year to reveal the
progress children are making in early learning settings; in
fact, significant growth is being recorded from fall to spring
in school readiness. Further, families receive emergency
services and other services.
9:02:04 AM
MR. SHUMAKER explained Head Start is mostly a federally funded
program along with a required 20 percent match from local and
state funds; he cautioned a reduction in state funding would
result in a loss of federal funds that are currently leveraged.
In addition, in a comprehensive program, there is a limited
amount of flexibility to reduce the cost of certain services,
such as screenings or meals.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON surmised intervention is primarily for
health and mental health, and asked how the care is delivered.
MR. SHUMAKER responded that care is provided in partnership with
community-based services, so after a need is identified, Head
Start would seek to refer the family to an appropriate provider.
MS. BALDWIN added that in rural Alaska, Head Start and Early
Head Start programs hold memorandums of understanding and
memorandums of agreement with Indian Health Service providers
such as the Norton South Health Corporation, but there are not
enough providers to complete health and mental health screening;
in fact, funds from RurAL CAP have been used to create contracts
and fly private providers to rural areas to conduct health
screenings. In addition, RurAL CAP is bringing students and
supervisors from the University of Alaska Anchorage nursing
program to provide screenings in rural areas. Ms. Baldwin
stressed providing care is a huge issue in rural Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked whether the aforementioned care is
Medicaid reimbursable.
MS. BALDWIN offered to provide further information in this
regard.
MR. SHUMAKER reviewed the unique aspects of Head Start and Early
Head Start, which include: provides comprehensive services -
not duplicative; provides statewide valid and reliable child
outcomes assessment system through My Teaching Strategies Gold;
provides professional support for children through mental health
consultation; does not expel or suspend children with
challenging behaviors.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if My Teaching Strategies Gold is
a national assessment tool.
MR. SHUMAKER replied the assessment was developed for programs
nationwide in an opt-in or opt-out capacity; however, it is used
by every program in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON questioned the cultural and or
subjective aspects of the assessment.
MR. SHUMAKER explained the assessment tool is based on
observation, which can and should take into consideration the
evidence presented by the family - and other sources - as well
as what is observed in the classroom. To form a rating, the
teacher offers many observations and accounts from the child's
family, to justify the rating. In further response to
Representative Johnston, he said My Teaching Strategies Gold
provides a framework, dimensions, indicators, and definitions of
skill levels on a scale of 1-9.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said she was interested in whether the
assessment reflects a child's progress and a measurement of
resiliency.
9:09:48 AM
MS. BALDWIN pointed out an assessment differs from a screening
in that a screening results in a "yes or no" on whether a
certain skillset has been attained. An assessment is a tool to
understand "learning gains" and growth in a child's stage of
development over time.
MR. SHUMAKER, returning to the unique qualities of Head Start
and Early Head Start programs, said there is a high level of
accountability at federal and local levels. Finally, he noted
some of the collaborations are mandated, but the goal is to
provide services in every local community.
9:11:35 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
9:13:10 AM
MS. BALDWIN directed attention to a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Parents as Teachers," and said RurAL CAP and Kids
Corps Inc. provide Head Start and Early Head Start services and
receive funding for the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program from
the state. RurAL CAP has been providing Head Start services
throughout the state for over 50 years. Through a talented
staff at each center and at its central office, RurAL CAP
documented that children in rural areas are entering Head Start
at least 16-18 months developmentally behind. In response,
RurAL CAP adopted Early Head Start in a home-based model to
engage parents in their children's education. At this time
there are six Early Head Start programs, and in areas where
Early Head Start is not available, RurAL CAP introduced PAT.
Ms. Baldwin said gains have been seen in the developmental
levels of children transitioning into Head Start at three years
of age.
9:15:21 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked Ms. Baldwin to repeat her statement related
to children's level of development.
MS. BALDWIN reviewed her statement and stressed that Early Head
Start was not expanded due to its higher cost, so Parents as
Teachers was instigated, and major improvements were soon
evident. She paraphrased from a prepared statement, which read
[original punctuation provided]:
The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, is an
evidenced-based parent education and home visiting
model that serves families from pregnancy until their
child enters their next educational setting. Parents
as Teachers, PAT, provides a two-generation approach
to services. Grounded in the most recent research, the
program aims to support families through direct
interaction with children and parents in the most
intimate of settings: their home.
Parents as Teachers has four main goals; increase
parent knowledge of early childhood development and
improve parenting practices; provide early detection
of developmental delays and health issues, prevent
child abuse and neglect and increase school readiness
and school success.
During the 2015-16 program year, the Alaska Department
of Education and Early Development provided funding to
four grantees. 206 children and 167 families were
served, with a vast majority of the children being
between ages 0 to 3.
Services were provided in five communities, expanding
to nine communities in 2016-17. 24 children were
identified with potential delays or concerns; 56
percent of families had one or more high needs
characteristics, and 78% of families set individual
goals for their family. The average cost of providing
PAT services per child is $3,012.
The PAT program model is comprised of five main
components: Personal home visits Individualized
strength-based visits are provided an average of twice
a month. The number of monthly visits can also be
determined by the high needs characteristics of the
family.
Parent educators focus on child development, promoting
positive parent-child interactions, school readiness
and family well-being. Parent educators help parents
to develop confidence - or a sense of self-efficacy -
in their efforts with their newborns and young
children, promoting the parent as the child's first
and best teacher.
Hearing, vision, and developmental screenings
Children's overall development, health, hearing, and
vision are all assessed to ensure children are
thriving. Screening provides regular information about
each child's health and developmental progress,
increases parents' understanding of their child's
development, and identifies strengths and abilities,
as well as areas of potential concern.
Group connections:
Group connections are designed so that families build
social connections with each other, engage in parent-
child interaction, and increase their knowledge of
ways to support children's development. Group
connections are staffed by at least one certified
parent educator or supervisor and are focused on the
major areas of the PAT model and on parents needs.
Resource referrals:
Each PAT program assists families in connecting to
needed resources, strengthening protective factors and
fostering positive change. Each program takes an
active role in the community, establishing
relationships with other programs and organizations
that serve families. Research shows that parents and
caregivers who have support are more likely to provide
safe and healthy homes for children (Child Welfare
Information Gateway, 2013).
Family Assessments are used to identify and reflect on
family competencies and other factors affecting family
dynamics. Helping parents to identify their strengths
and stressors helps families understand how those
factors may influence their parenting. Building
resiliency and protective factors are program goals
along with providing support for individual goals that
each family selects.
Through PAT program self evaluations and third party
external evaluations, Parents enrolled in the PAT
program exhibit one or more of the following outcomes:
improved parenting practices, increased knowledge and
practice of positive discipline techniques, more
realistic expectations of age-appropriate
developmental milestones, a home environment conducive
to healthy child development, increased parent-child
attachment, reduction of stress, fulfillment of basic
needs, opportunities to interact with other parents,
and increased awareness and access to sources of
information and support.
Moreover, research suggests that prevention programs
are shown to be more effective when they involve
parents as partners (Child Welfare Information
Gateway, 2013). When parents are involved, they are
then more likely to make lasting changes as they are
empowered to identify solutions. The Parents as
Teachers program provides this much needed, deeper
approach to building strong families. Ultimately this
will result in strong communities, healthy families,
and children who are healthy, safe, and ready to
learn.
The Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development requires PAT programs maintain Affiliate
status to receive funding. Affiliate status means that
the program has implemented the 17 Essential
Requirements of the PAT Model including Quality
Standards related to Organizational Supports and
Quality Improvement, Staff Competencies and the
primary components of Parents as Teachers services. A
Quality Assurance Blueprint is used to measure
fidelity to the model.
Any reduction in Parents as Teachers state funding
will result in several impacts to children and
families. Loss of services, loss of educator jobs in
under-employed communities, children arriving in the
formal school environment with undetected
developmental delays, fragile families at higher risk
for entering state intervention, limited longitudinal
data regarding the impact of early childhood,
inequities in access to quality programs, parents
feeling less confident about leading their child's
education in the K-12 system, reduction in the state's
well child completion rates and the higher costs of
starting up and ramping down programs continually.
9:27:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON directed attention to the handout page
titled "Parents as Teachers 2015-2016 Alaska Performance Report"
and asked if Parents as Teachers (PAT) is a grant program.
MS. BALDWIN said correct.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON questioned why the communities being
served are primarily in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska. She
then asked whether the qualifying criteria for the children
served is universal for each community.
MS. BALDWIN answered the communities served are strategic in
that RurAL CAP, as one of four grantees, also has a federal
three-year project demonstration grant that provides services
only to Alaska Native children. Although RurAL CAP provides
other PAT programs in rural Alaska, state funds are all RurAL
CAP can use to provide PAT services to families regardless of
ethnicity or race. To Representative Johnston's second
question, she said the original PAT model was meant for all
parents, however, due to a shortage of funding, RurAL CAP must
direct services to families with high-risk characteristics such
as teen pregnancy, low income, or medical factors.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked how families are located.
MS. BALDWIN described referral processes and RurAL CAP's active
recruitment plan through organizations, such as the Cook Inlet
Housing Authority, and RurAL CAP's known presence in rural
areas. In further response to Representative Johnston, she
explained there is no dedicated federal funding or grant source
for PAT; however, RurAL CAP aggressively seeks funds to provide
PAT to rural areas as part of its mission.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON inquired as to state funding to meet the
need identified by RurAL CAP for ages zero to three.
MS. BALDWIN said the model can serve ages zero to five, but
RurAL CAP has prioritized the need is greatest for ages zero to
three.
9:33:27 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
9:35:07 AM
MS. HENSLEY directed attention to a PowerPoint presentation
entitled, "Best Beginnings Alaska's Early Childhood Investment."
She said Best Beginnings is a public-private partnership
mobilizing people and resources to ensure all Alaska children
begin school ready to succeed by implementing the core values of
collaboration, strategic thinking, innovation, and
sustainability (slide 2). Since Best Beginnings began in 2006,
it partnered with EED to develop the Alaska State Literacy
Blueprint. Best Beginnings provides early literacy information
through public services announcements (PSAs) in movie theatres
and supports Pre-elementary grants (slide 3). Slide 4 was a map
of the locations of Imagination Libraries throughout the state.
Imagination Library provides age-appropriate, new, quality books
to children from birth to age five. In April 2009, there were
3,673 children who benefited, but by May 2015, a high of 23,789
was attained. Due to funding cuts in fiscal year 2017 (FY 17),
books are now provided to 19,156 children at a cost of $30.00
per year per child. In addition to providing books, all the
libraries engage in family activities (slide 5). Slide 6 listed
how books impact a child's academic achievement. In Alaska,
research in 2009 and 2011 has shown parents reported their
children were more prepared for kindergarten and in Juneau,
children scored higher on the ADP literacy and language
development goal (slides 7-8).
9:41:51 AM
MS. HENSLEY said based on a December 2016, family engagement
survey, the Imagination Library impact in Anchorage reported 92
percent of parents increased their knowledge of parenting and 84
percent increased their reading time with their child (slide 9).
A similar survey was conducted among Alaska Native parents in
January 2017, that garnered positive comments from parents
(slide 10). Best Beginnings resources and outreach efforts
include radio and TV PSAs, and she stressed the importance of
the communications aspect, noting that Best Beginnings provides
activity guides and cards in Spanish and Yu'pik (slide 11). The
Words Count activity is designed to close the "30 million-word
gap" (slide 12). StoryTRACKS is another activity project (slide
13). Ms. Hensley provided a list of collaboration and
networking in place and said Best Beginnings has a leadership
role in the ARISE collective impact initiative, and the 90
percent by 2020 collective impact initiative (slide 14).
Turning to the topic of reductions in state funds, she advised
state funding provided about one-half of Best Beginnings' budget
in FY 16. When funding was reduced from $937,500 to $320,000 in
FY 15, the following occurred: 4,633 fewer children received
early literacy services; no funding and technical assistance for
six community partnerships across Alaska was available, reducing
family support activities; staff was dramatically reduced and
reorganized; less capacity to support statewide early childhood
education and outreach (slide 15). Ms. Hensley said Best
Beginnings continued with its services after the funding
reduction to $320,000; however, additional cuts cannot be made
up by community fundraising. Furthermore, Best Beginnings is an
efficient and effective steward of both state and private funds
(slide 16).
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON disclosed that her daughter-in-law
serves on the Best Beginnings' board of directors.
9:47:30 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
9:47:51 AM
STEPHANIE BERGLUND, CEO, thread, provided an overview of her
organization, paraphrasing from a prepared statement, which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Hello, I'm Stephanie Berglund, CEO of thread, Alaska's
Child Care Resource & Referral Network. Thank you to
the chair and members of the committee for the
opportunity to join in this hearing today and to
participate by phone. I appreciate your focus and
interest to learn more about the specifics of early
learning.
thread is a private non-profit and has been working
for 30 years to increase access to affordable and
quality early care and learning. thread delivers
services through the thread Network- a unique business
partnership between three sister organizations. We
provide direct services to families, early educators,
early care and learning programs and communities.
For families, thread specializes in providing tips and
tools for finding and selecting high quality early
learning programs including free referrals. These
services result in more families being informed
consumers and selecting high quality early learning
services that meet their needs. This results in more
families able to participate in the workforce and a
greater likelihood of having continuity of services
for their young children. thread also provides
training, technical assistance and professional
coaching to early childhood teachers and early care
and learning programs and classrooms. These services
advance early childhood teachers' skills and knowledge
and support stronger teacher/child interactions- these
teacher supports have proven results in more positive
outcomes for young children. Also, thread provides
services to communities to help address needed early
learning services. Lastly, thread provides leadership
and partnership to help advance the larger early care
and learning system. We are a committed partner in
working toward more efficient and effective systems to
help families and young children thrive.
thread partners with the Department of Education and
Early Development deliver and support Professional
Learning.
• We are currently working with the 14 Pre
elementary School District grantees, Head Start
grantees and community partnership leadership
• thread provides training, technical assistance
and professional coaching to these early childhood
teachers and district principals
• This professional learning is delivered with
focus on increasing quality interactions between
teachers and children and uses national best practices
to most effectively impact school readiness and more
positive child outcomes.
Specifically, thread uses the CLASS (Classroom
Assessment Scoring System) to train and professionally
coach teachers. CLASS is a research-based approach for
improving teaching so children can learn and achieve
more. CLASS helps teachers improve what matters most
in the classroom-the quality interactions that drive
learning and development.
In addition to CLASS, thread's professional
development services include providing training on the
Strengthening Families protective factors and the
Pyramid Model Foundations.
• Strengthening Families is a proven, cost-
effective approach to building Protective Factors
around children by supporting family strengths and
resiliency. Research shows when Protective Factors are
well established in a family, the likelihood of child
abuse and neglect diminishes and families are
supported in preventing ACES (Adverse Childhood
Experiences).
• The training introduces the 5 protective factors
every family needs along with strategies to build
relationships between the family and the early
childhood teacher to improve communication and
decrease conflicts.
• The trainings help teachers understand how
building relationships with families can prevent child
abuse and neglect and provide for optimal child
development; recognize the importance of building
relationships with families; understand family support
principles and protective factors and how to implement
these into their program/classroom; and become aware
of their own beliefs and values that may help or
inhibit relationship building with families.
• The Pyramid Model is national best practice
framework focused on supporting the Social Emotional
Competence of Young Children. The Pyramid training
offered is aimed at helping teachers promote the
social emotional competence in early childhood.
Teachers learn how a well-established foundation is
necessary for developing nurturing relationships,
supportive environments, strong knowledge in
developmentally appropriate practices, and positive
guidance strategies which allow early childhood
teachers to resolve challenging behaviors.
• Objectives of the training are: understand the
elements of early childhood social emotional
development; understand how to implement the PM into
the classroom setting; identify how understanding the
needs of young children relates to building positive
relationships; identify communicative behaviors in
young children; and describe the form, function,
intensity, frequency, and duration of behavior.
These professional learning supports strengthen
teacher's quality interactions with young children to
positively affect children's success in school and
beyond. Without partnership with the Department of
Education and Early Development, thread would not be
able to support these quality teacher education and
supports.
thread also partners with the Department of Education
and Early Development in the policy framework and
quality improvement system areas referenced in the
earlier Early Care and Learning System graphic,to
support and grow early learning services.
We support the Pre elementary grantees with alignment
to this larger early care and learning system and with
connecting to broader program quality standards and
teacher professional development systems in the state.
This alignment is important as our state needs more
quality early care and learning programs for families
and young children. Families and communities are
wanting and needing more options for affordable and
quality early learning programs. Our current supply of
licensed and regulated programs is only meeting 50% of
the demand of working families. This need for more
access to quality learning includes our goals to
expand PreK, Head Start/Early Head Start, and Child
Care in addition to the family supports and home
visiting programs you heard about earlier.
Thank you again for your interest in thread's
partnership with DEED. I encourage the committee to
continue to look at ways to strengthen the early
education piece of the department.
9:54:43 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON inquired as to all the sources of
thread's funding.
MS. BERGLUND explained part of thread's funding is federal pass-
through from the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act to
support quality childcare. The state administers the grant and
matching funds from the state are required. The focus of the
funds must be on supporting families' access to quality early
care and learning. In addition, thread receives about $250,000
from EED for professional learning for teachers. In further
response to Representative Johnston, she said the federal block
grant funds are managed and delivered through DHSS and the Child
Care Program Office, Division of Public Assistance, DHSS, thus
the grant supports three aspects of childcare in Alaska:
licensing and regulation of childcare; access to childcare
services; support for quality childcare.
9:57:16 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 9:57 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| AlaskaStrategicReport.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Investing in Young Children 2017 Priorities FINAL .pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education Best Beginnings.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education Headstart.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education Parents As Teachers.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Parents as Teachers Graph.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| PreK Policy Fact Sheet 2017.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education thread.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education ARISE.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Education Intro 3.31.17.pdf |
HEDC 3/31/2017 8:00:00 AM |