Legislature(2013 - 2014)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/18/2013 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation on Early Literacy: Best Beginnings and Alaska Parents as Teachers | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 18, 2013
8:00 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Mike Dunleavy, Vice Chair
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Berta Gardner
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION ON EARLY LITERACY: BEST BEGINNINGS AND ALASKA
PARENTS AS TEACHERS
- HEARD
WITNESS REGISTER
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director
Best Beginnings
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of the Best Beginnings
program.
ESTRELLA "STAR" LEE, State Coordinator
Parents as Teachers
Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of Parents as Teachers
(PAT).
KRISTIN RAMSTAD, Director
Parents as Teachers
Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on Parents as Teachers
(PAT).
JOY LYON, Executive Director
Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC)-Southeast
Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of AEYC.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:00:17 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Stedman and Dunleavy, and Chair Stevens.
^PRESENTATION ON EARLY LITERACY: Best Beginnings and Alaska
Parents as Teachers
PRESENTATION ON EARLY LITERACY: Best Beginnings and Alaska
Parents as Teachers
8:00:38 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced that the committee would hear a
presentation on early literacy in Alaska.
ABBE HENSLEY, Executive Director, Best Beginnings, provided an
overview of the Best Beginnings program. She stated that
progress has been made in the area of early literacy. She
reported that early literacy is a collaborative effort of many
organizations. She referred to a handout which highlights the
collaborative effort. She listed several of the group's goals
and compared its efforts to the wise planning and timing needed
to build a pipeline.
8:03:06 AM
MS. HENSLEY addressed "Alaska Facts" as follows: there are
53,996 children under the age of five and more than 10,000
entered kindergarten. She called attention to Alaska's early
childhood legislative priorities for 2013: Parents as Teachers,
Best Beginnings, the Quality, Rating and Improvement System, and
professional development for teachers.
MS. HENSLEY related that an increase for the programs was not
requested this year in the Governor's budget. Instead, the group
wanted to continue to build on what already being done. She
requested that funding for Best Beginnings and for Parents as
Teachers not be cut, as was done in the House.
She stressed the importance of the comprehensive "Early
Childhood System."
8:05:57 AM
ESTRELLA "STAR" LEE, State Coordinator, Parents as Teachers,
Rural Alaska Community Program (RurAL CAP), provided an overview
of Parents as Teachers (PAT). She explained that PAT is an
evidence-based model consisting of four components: personal
visits, screening, group connections, and resource referrals.
SENATOR HUGGINS joined the committee meeting.
8:07:45 AM
MS. LEE explained that group connections provides parents with
the opportunity to share experiences, discuss problems, learn
from other parents, and observe their child with other children.
She related that she recently attended Sprout group connection
meetings in Homer.
CHAIR STEVENS asked what "Sprout" is.
MS. LEE answered that it is an infant learning program in Homer.
She related her experience with the Sprout program.
8:09:07 AM
MS. LEE described resource referrals as a program that brings
community services and programs, as well as information, to
families.
MS. LEE highlighted the PAT model. It is a program where the
parent educator helps parents to understand the different stages
in their child's development. She shared the goals to increase
parent knowledge of early childhood development, to improve
parenting practices, to provide early detection of developmental
delays and health issues, prevent child abuse and neglect, and
increase school readiness and success.
CHAIR STEVENS asked how one knows if the program works.
MS. LEE said surveys of the parents provide some data. It is
also known that parents who invest in early childhood education
stay more invested in their child's whole education.
8:11:51 AM
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked what happens when a parent educator goes
to a house and finds something that they do not like.
MS. LEE answered by describing the PAT national model, which
uses the Life Skills Progression assessment to rate certain
categories. As a result, some families are referred to the
Office of Children's Services (OCS). The focus is on the
strengths of the families.
8:14:14 AM
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked if PAT is required by law to report
certain things.
MS. LEE said yes.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if PAT is ever invited into abusive
households.
KRISTIN RAMSTAD, Director, Parents as Teachers, Rural Alaska
Community Action Program (RurAL CAP), provided information on
Parents as Teachers (PAT). She explained that there have been
times when PAT has had to notify OCS. The best practice is to
ask the family to self-report to OCS.
8:16:00 AM
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked how many staff work with families.
MS. RAMSTAD reported that RurAL CAP has 20 staff throughout the
state and 39 parent educators going into homes.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked if staff are trained in tolerance for
varying child-rearing methods.
MS. RAMSTAD replied that staff attend five days of training,
which includes information about going into a home.
Additionally, training in child abuse and neglect reporting is
required.
MS. LEE added that quality reflective supervision is built into
the model in order to help keep communication channels open.
8:18:45 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked when the education system enters into
developing individual education plans (IEP's) for special needs
children.
MS. RAMSTAD responded that RurAL Cap deals with infant learning
programs through age 5 and helps with transition into the school
district.
8:20:01 AM
MS. RAMSTAD talked about PAT as Alaska's investment. She related
that PAT first came to Alaska in 1995 in Hoonah through federal
funding. In 1998 the Fairbanks Native Association received
federal funding to add PAT, and in 1999 RurAL CAP worked with
UAA to serve 27 families through a demonstration project. In
2012, 996 children in 38 communities were served by PAT.
She described PAT as an economically viable program. The average
cost is between $4,000 and $6,000 per family, depending on
location.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if that cost was per year.
MS. RAMSTAD responded that it was per year. She added that the
cost for most families is closer to $4,000.
She related that in 2010 the Alaska legislature put $300,000
into PAT, which served 92 children in four communities. Last
year that amount expanded to serve 271 families in 16
communities. She added that PAT is a model that works in both
rural and urban communities.
8:22:33 AM
MS. RAMSTAD said that PAT is now serving more military families,
teen parents, and children in shelters. She reported that PAT is
having an impact on multicultural and bi-lingual families and
families with developmental delays.
MS. RAMSTAD showed a map of communities PAT and RurAL CAP
serves. In Anchorage only 88 families are being served, however,
PAT is working to serve more families there.
8:26:19 AM
MS. RAMSTAD addressed PAT outcomes. She said that PAT parents
are more involved in their child's schooling, they report a
higher level of confidence and engagement in parenting, and they
engage in more language and literacy promoting activities with
their children. Some children have exited PAT before entering
public school.
MS. RAMSTAD discussed the evaluation system at RurAL CAP; it
conducts pre-parenting and exit surveys. Parents also complete
evaluations annually. There is also a preschool and kindergarten
readiness skills assessment and preschool and kindergarten
teachers are surveyed. Data from children in Head Start is
shared with RurAL CAP for comparison purposes.
8:28:15 AM
CHAIR STEVENS requested information about PAT's work with teen
parents.
MS. RAMSTAD related that all PAT programs serve teen parents.
She described an active teen parenting group in Anchorage.
SENATOR DUNLEAVY asked if PAT follows Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA) standards of reporting.
MS. RAMSTAD said no, but it does follow Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements
regarding confidentiality of reporting.
8:30:18 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if there was data on parent educational
levels of parents who are served by PAT.
MS. RAMSTAD said RurAL CAP collects that data. She said it
varies, but most parents do not have college degrees.
MS. HENSLEY addressed Best Beginnings. She said it is a private,
public partnership and is community-based, made up of volunteers
through Imagination Libraries. Best Beginnings also develops
early learning materials for parents, such as the "Babies on
Track" DVD and board books, and does research and advertising
campaigns.
She showed a map of 103 communities where Best Beginnings takes
place and shared examples of how communities such as Ketchikan,
Anchorage, and Mat-Su make use of the program.
8:35:28 AM
MS. HENSLEY referred to a handout that shows funding sources for
the partnership's work. Best Beginnings is state funded, along
with financial contributions from communities. Partnerships
require matching community funds.
CHAIR STEVENS asked how the program works in Old Harbor.
MS. HENSLEY said the volunteer program Imagination Library is in
Old Harbor. The community requested the program and RurAL CAP
made it happen.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if a group of people contacted RurAL CAP.
MS. HENSLEY said yes. Five people are needed to make a request.
8:37:56 AM
MS. HENSLEY gave examples of some of the books provided. She
shared how the monthly book program works. Books come in the
mail every month and cost about $30 per child per year. Often,
people come together to read and discuss books.
8:40:09 AM
MS. HENSLEY reported that in March of 2010, 32 communities
participated in Imagination Library; today, there are 103
communities that do so, and 20,384 children enrolled. She
related that children who have books in the home are better
prepared for kindergarten.
CHAIR STEVENS asked if family need or income is a consideration.
MS. HENSLEY said it is not; children are not singled out and any
child can be enrolled. She added that children who are enrolled
in the program and who are entering kindergarten have a common
context of understanding.
8:43:11 AM
MS. HENSLEY addressed what was happening with the Quality Rating
& Improvement Systems (QRIS) in Alaska. She said it is a rating
system designed to help parents make good choices and to assess
the quality of programs. She noted that many federal grants make
reference to the QRIS in the application process.
8:46:35 AM
JOY LYON, Executive Director, Association for the Education of
Young Children (AEYC)-Southeast, provided an overview of how all
programs work together. She expressed excitement about the
direction AEYC is headed with addressing long-term educational
outcomes.
SENATOR GARDNER joined the committee meeting.
MS. LYON stressed that the first thousand days of life are the
most important. She noted that PAT is one of the few programs
that addresses that age group. She showed an example of parental
guidelines and a tool kit for Child Abuse Prevention Month. She
shared activities and materials families would be seeing this
year.
8:51:18 AM
MS. HENSLEY summarized early childhood legislative priorities:
to encourage the Governor's budget numbers for PAT and Best
Beginnings. She thanked the committee for its support of past
funding.
CHAIR STEVENS thanked Ms. Hensley and requested statistical
information about the successes of the programs.
8:53:37 AM
MS. HENSLEY replied that long-term study information is
available regarding the positive benefits of early childhood
education.
SENATOR HUGGINS noted that Hoonah began early childhood programs
17 years ago. He asked if there was any data about the success
of that program.
MS. RAMSTAD offered to provide information about improved
graduation rates in Hoonah.
8:56:14 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked for any additional information about program
success.
MS. LYON noted that in Juneau, children were enrolled in the
Imagination Library at birth in 2006. After five years, those
children showed a dramatic increase in readiness for
kindergarten.
8:57:29 AM
There being no further business to come before the Senate
Education Standing Committee, Chair Stevens adjourned the
meeting at 8:57 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 03182013_2012 PAT Fact Sheet - Page 1.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_2013 Investing In Alaska's Young Children final.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_BestBeginnings_Presentation.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_Early Childhood Partnerships FY 2013.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_Early Childhood Partnerships graph.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_ECP and IL Map 3-5-13.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |
| 03182013_IL Enrollments 4-13.pdf |
SEDC 3/18/2013 8:00:00 AM |
Presentation: Best Beginnings |