Hello, Early Learning Leaders!

Early this month we had the chance to participate in the Improving Data, Improving Outcomes Conference (IDIO), sponsored by several of OSEP’s technical assistance (TA) centers. IDIO brought together over 500 early intervention and early childhood staff, data managers, and families. We encourage you to explore materials from the conference's plentiful and extremely useful workshops and sessions, now available online. 

As part of IDIO, states celebrated 15 years of collecting child and family outcome data for early childhood programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). States' IDEA Part C and Part B, Section 619 (preschool) programs have led the way in figuring out how to appropriately collect, report, and use meaningful outcome data on young children and families receiving services under IDEA. Be sure to check out the newly released outcome data highlights in Resources for You, below.

Clatsop County, Oregon, was one of eight awardees of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Preschool Pay for Success (PFS) Feasibility Study grants. The county is exploring the implementation of PFS as a viable and appropriate strategy to expand preschool programs that are high in quality and yield meaningful results. PFS is a financing tool for which a government entity partners with an investor. The investor finances the up-front costs of implementing interventions designed to improve specific and measurable outcomes for a target population. If the project achieves its intended outcomes, the government entity repays the investor for the cost of the services and pays an additional amount as a return on their investment.

Clatsop County pulled together a local team to lead their project in addition to engaging partners throughout the region. They also partnered with Social Finance for their feasibility assessment, and the Sorenson Impact Center to lead data aggregation and analysis for the project. The team and its partners conducted an evidence and literature review, assessed local needs and baselines, selected and valued outcomes, conducted a cost-benefit analysis, designed a model program, and identified strategic next steps for scaling high-quality preschool services in the region. In the process, the team engaged over 100 local, state, and national stakeholders; conducted the first large-scale preschool provider survey for the region; and gathered data from all eight of Clatsop and neighboring Tillamook counties’ school districts to assess outcome baselines and customize cost-benefit modeling.

Check out our latest Voices From the Field interview below to read more about the project and project lead, Dan Gaffney. 

OSEP recently announced funding opportunities for state TA projects and a national TA center to support these projects in improving services and results for children who are deaf-blind. Read more about this opportunity to establish and support institutions and initiatives that serve this diverse group of children with complex needs in the Federal Register. Applications are due Sept. 20, 2018.

The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) recently launched a new webpage to share resources, encourage conversation, and share TA opportunities among states and lead agencies that can enhance an office of early learning’s effectiveness. The site, Building Highly Effective State Offices of Early Learning, features a new vision paper, Defining Highly Effective Offices of Early Learning in State Education, along with a set of presentations from state early education leaders that shares best practices, identify solutions to challenges they face, and explore ways to work more effectively together on behalf of young children and families.

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Planning Research and Evaluation presents findings from studies on the psychological well-being of early childhood education (ECE) workers and data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education that was gathered in 2012. The report finds that less than 10 percent of center-based ECE workers experience moderate psychological stress. It also found that teachers with low household incomes experienced greater psychological distress than those with higher incomes. The report further explores the implications of psychological stress for ECE teachers and its potential impact on the quality of ECE and child development. Data tables, recommendations, and references for further research are also included in the report.

This month, we interviewed Dan Gaffney from Clatsop County, Oregon. Dan is a former elementary school principal and special education administrator who is currently leading creative and innovative efforts in northwest Oregon to promote and expand high-quality early learning programs for his community’s most vulnerable young learners. His project is featured in our Grantee Spotlight above. We invite you to read the full interview on the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) Blog.

OSERS is on Twitter with the latest tweets from special education and early intervention advocates, educators, families, and students. Be sure to follow @Ed_Sped_Rehab and tell your friends. OSERS Assistant Secretary Johnny Collett has joined the conversation, too! Follow him today @JCollettOSERS. We'll see you in the Twittersphere!