First 5 Alameda County - Every Child Counts
2009-10 Annual Report
Highlights
Community-Based Support for ECE Providers
F5AC has invested in community-based training and consultation that supports providers to prepare children for kindergarten.
Why is this important?
To be well-prepared for kindergarten, children need to know much more than their ABCs. The National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) defined 5 dimensions of development and skills critical to school readiness:
- Physical well-being and motor development
- Social/emotional development
- Approaches to learning
- Communication and language usage
- Cognition and general knowledge
To enhance the professional development of ECE providers who might not have access to traditional educational resources, F5AC funds creative, community-based supports based on the NEGP dimensions of school readiness.
Result 1
Intensive, site-based support for ECE providers on children’s social-emotional development and challenging behavior
ECE providers learned to identify children with developmental and social-emotional concerns. Providers were also supported in communicating concerns to families and making appropriate referrals.
- Trainings on the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) and the ASQ: Social Emotional (ASQ:SE) were held for ECE providers from 5 preschool sites.
- Quality Counts (QC) is a 24-month coaching model that assisted center-based and family child care providers at 12 sites with improving the quality of their child care programs. Providers at one QC site requested training to help them identify children with possible delays who require additional support. A child development specialist and a mental health consultant provided on-site training for teachers on communicating with parents and screening children for developmental delays.
- Four agencies provided mental health consultation in ECE classrooms to improve staff’s ability to prevent behavioral problems by using classroom management strategies.
Detail 1: Developmental and Social-Emotional Screening at ECE Sites [more]
400 children in 22 classrooms were screened at 5 preschools using the ASQ and ASQ-SE
9% of children screened were referred to the Screening Assessment Referral and Treatment (SART) Linkage Line for additional support. This represents 15% of all calls made to SART during a 9 month period.
6 children were screened at a Quality Counts (QC) site; 5 were referred for additional follow-up
Detail 2: Decreased Behavioral Concerns Following Mental Health Consultations [more]
Following mental health consultation, providers were asked to respond to a vignette about how to manage a child with challenging behavior.
75% (n=100) demonstrated understanding of the multiple causes of a child’s behavior and willingness to consider alternative solutions to problems.
Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) results indicated that behavioral concerns in classrooms receiving consultation decreased from 16% to 7%.
Result 2
Mentoring for ECE Providers
Mentors, certified by the California Early Childhood Mentor Program (CEMP), provide community-based, culturally- and linguistically-specific workshops and one-on-one technical assistance.
Detail 1: Provider Workshops and TA by Mentors [more]
Mentors provided:
- 72 workshops in English for 860 providers
- 1 in Spanish for 9 providers
- 1 in Chinese for 23 providers
34 providers received intensive support. Providers were surveyed about their reasons for requesting a mentor and the changes they made as a result of the mentoring they received. Of providers responding to the survey (n=23):
- 52% reported making changes to the way they work with children
- 43% to the physical environment
- 39% to the way they work with staff
- 35% to the classroom curriculum
- 22% to policies and information given to parents
- 17% to the way they work with parents
Result 3
Community-based training and telephone support provided by three local Resource and Referral agencies (R&Rs)
1,135 ECE providers were trained in multiple languages on topics such as:
- Children’s social-emotional development and challenging behavior
- Speech and language development
- Incorporating learning opportunities into children’s play
- Circle time and transitions
- Nutrition
- Communicating about attachment concerns with parents
- Serving multi-racial families
Additional training and technical assistance were provided on serving children with special needs.
Detail 1: Better Ability to Work with Challenging Behavior in Classrooms and Children with Special Needs [more]
Following training on children’s challenging behavior, 58% of providers felt competent to design classroom environments, schedules and routines that help to prevent challenging behavior.
One participant attending a follow-up discussion group said she was better able to work with a child with challenging behavior:
"I was up against the wall and now I … talk to him before he gets to tantrum and before I’m stressed out. I talk to him all through the day. We have this relationship now. It’s much better in class…”
349 providers were trained on topics such as autism, asthma and the American with Disabilities Act
25 Spanish-speaking families of children with special needs and their providers attended training at Chabot College on children with special needs
Result 4
Expanded curricula on art, movement, literacy and science, and enhanced opportunities for parent engagement at early care and education sites
F5AC community grantees enhanced support opportunities for ECE sites, by providing additional, complementary services for children and families and supporting providers to integrate these activities into their ongoing programs. Enhancing services at ECE sites and building the capacity of providers through multi-agency collaborations helps to build a rich, supportive environment for children and families.
Detail 1: Increased Opportunities for Art, Science, Literacy, Parenting Ed Activities [more]
Six grantees provided art, movement or science activities
Ten grantees provided early literacy activities such as story time and family read nights. Over 80% (n= 232) of families reported reading, storytelling or singing to their children 3 or more times per week.
Six grantees provided parent education/support activities
“This program growth…has enabled…our ECE educators to see the direct impact parent education makes on the lives of young children…..
Planning, coordinating and analyzing parent evaluation has been a huge shift for [us]…and has encouraged us to create a Parent Education Director position to coordinate all our parent activities; and, to move our other…programs to provide parent workshops…”
ECE Program Director