Preschool Development Grant 2021: Family Voice
The Preschool Development Grant (PDG) Transitions Team has launched a series of conversations with families. Working in partnership with former Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP Parent Ambassadors, we aim to gather the stories of families reflecting on their transition experiences. These conversations will continue regularly in 2021 to guide and inform our exploration of best practices in transitions.
Through this partnership, the PDG team, which includes representation from departments across DCYF and OSPI, will engage families with a range of experiences and backgrounds especially those from historically underserved and culturally specific groups. The following prompts support families to share their stories.
- What are your hopes and dreams for your child as they go to preschool or kindergarten?
- What are your fears and challenges?
- What does success look like for your child?
We would love to hear from you about your ideas for engaging families in this important conversation. Email Mari Taylor with any questions or recommendations.
ELMS News: Early ECEAP
Please check the ELMS News page for more ELMS updates.
Early ECEAP Contractor Hiring
Join the Wellspring Family! Wellspring Family Services is currently recruiting for a Time-Limited Classroom Aide and Toddler Assistant Teacher. For more information, email careers@wellspringfs.org or visit their website.
ECEAP Contracts (2021-22) and Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) Measures
We greatly appreciate the feedback and recommendations received from ECEAP contractors in the PBC survey in April. We are also grateful to Inspire, ESD 123, South Bend SD, Voices of Tomorrow, Denise Louie, and PSESD for the assistance in connecting us with families. Attending the parent policy council meetings for these contractors gave us the opportunity to discuss and gather families’ thoughts on performance measures and meaningful priorities. This collective input was the primary driver for decision-making about performance measures in the coming year’s contract.
Based on these recommendations, the new family engagement performance outcome measure for the 2021-22 school year is family completion of the Mobility Mentoring® Family Pre-Assessment. The goal of the outcome measure is for families to experience ECEAP services as inclusive, collaborative, culturally relevant, strength-based, and meaningful. The 2021-22 contract will also retain the two performance measures in ECEAP’s current contract:
- Quality Performance Measure: Teaching Strategies GOLD® Interrater Reliability Certification for lead teachers.
- Outcome Performance Measure: ECEAP children’s vision and hearing screening status.
For more information or questions, contact us through your CQI Specialist or the ECEAP inbox.
Ongoing Opportunities to Connect
Below are options to gather with DCYF ECEAP and other ECEAP contractor staff to share updates, resources, challenges, and support:
Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP (WSA) Summer Institute
June 7-25: WSA is hosting its 31st Annual Summer Institute (virtual), providing intensive training for Pre-K teachers, supervisors, coaches, and family support staff. Each course will be a deep dive, including 10 hours of instruction with skilled instructors from around the country. Participants can register for individual classes or for a package. STARS credit and clock hours are offered for all classes. Limited scholarships are available.
Haring Center Individualization Internships for Coaches and Teachers
Haring Center Individualization Internships were extended to include teachers who have an Early Achievers Coach. The two-day virtual internship focuses on individualization and inclusion of children with different learning and behavioral needs into early learning and care settings. Explore strategies to deepen support of social-emotional learning and addressing challenging behavior for young children with disabilities and for those who learn differently.
Register for two-day internships on June 8-9, 15-16 (Spanish), and 22-23. The Haring Center also offers follow-up mini sessions for internship participants with additional content on behavior and building partnerships with families. Join the mini sessions on June 17 and 24. Email Phoebe Yeung for more information.
National Equity Project (NEP) Liberatory Design Trainings
June 9, 14, and 25: DCYF ECEAP is partnering with NEP to bring Liberatory Design training to ECEAP contractors through a series of webinars and Professional Learning Communities. Liberatory Design is an approach to addressing equity challenges and change efforts in complex systems with equity leadership habits that can be practiced in our work daily.
Mobility Mentoring Updates
June 10: As a result of feedback gathered from you, your staff, and the families you serve, we plan to launch an updated version of the Mobility Mentoring® family assessment and companion resources. The new version incorporates feedback from two years of equity workgroup meetings and pilot participants. The launch of the updated assessment and Mobility Mentoring® Bridge will be released at our June Mobility Mentoring® webinar. Register here.
Muckleshoot Tribal College Effective Teaching Institute
June 21-23: In-person but subject to change. This teaching institute will share cultural insights, examples, models, and hands-on experiences for those looking to strengthen ways to work with Native students. This institute is geared to teachers, professors, and administrators who are looking for culturally relevant ways to work with Native students. Workshops include cultural arts, traditional ecological knowledge, cultural wellness, traditional plant medicine, and more.
Coaching the Pyramid Webinar Series
Thursdays, Through June 24: DCYF and the University of Washington Cultivate Learning partnered to offer a six-week webinar series for coaches to provide an overview to the Pyramid Model. This series is designed to be implemented during the regular coach supports meeting time. Webinars are held Thursdays through June 24, from 2-3:30 p.m. with time from 3:30-4 p.m. to meet in community of practice groups. STARS hours offered for this series. Join here. Meeting ID: 959 7529 6612 | Passcode: 645910.
Washington State Farm to School & Scratch Cooking Institute
August 19-20: This is a professional development opportunity for child nutrition program food service staff. Participating teams will develop Farm to School Action Plans for their program at the intensive two-day training. Teams then receive coaching and participate in regular cohort check-ins in the months after the training to get support with their next steps, and for teams to learn from one another. The institute is focused specifically on traditional and native foods, particularly for tribal schools and child care centers. For more information, email Chris Iberle.
Early Achievers Coach Supports
Early Achievers is partnering with the University of Washington Cultivate Learning and Child Care Aware of WA to offer weekly webinars for coaches. Learn how to navigate the Early Achievers Revisions as we move to the early adopter phase in the spring. Webinars are recorded and posted in Coaching Companion. Weekly webinar links are emailed to coaches. Email ECEAP@dcyf.wa.gov to be added to the mailing list.
Teaching Strategies GOLD®
GOLD® Support Webinars for Back-to-School: When teachers return to school, Teaching Strategies will be there to offer support. Plan ahead and register now for support webinars in July and August.
Teaching Strategies GOLD® Technical Assistance:
- Call the dedicated ECEAP GOLD line at 844-854-4653 for issues like logging in and general teacher questions.
- For significant technical issues, submit a case form to the Teaching Strategies Support Portal.
- Email del.wa@teachingstrategies.com with GOLD issues or requests for additional portfolios. Include details such as ELMS child IDs, teacher names, and class names. You can include elms@dcyf.wa.gov as an email recipient for additional support.
Equity
Early Childhood Education
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Raising Our Collective Cultural Competence: Nicol Russell, Ed.D., Vice President, Implementation Research at Teaching Strategies shares her story of teaching about the richness of her Pacific Islander heritage to discuss raising our collective cultural competence.
Early Math and Numeracy
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