March 2012 - WV HeadStart

WEST VIRGINIA HEAD START ASSOCIATION
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WVHSA
Head Start State Collaboration Office Updates
By Traci Dalton, WV Head Start Collaboration Director
Volume 14, Issue 2
The Collaboration Office would like to take this opportunity to share information with you
regarding state level work related to a variety of issues of interest to Head Start and Early Head
Start.
CHIP and Health Check have begun looking at developmental screening and have engaged a
group of stakeholders, including Head Start, to begin analyzing this issue. This work is only
beginning but at its conclusion it is the hope of the stakeholders that we have data on the usage
valid, reliable development screening instruments by physicians. This data will be used to set
future policies, procedures, and recommendations on developmental screening. Data
collection has begun and will continue throughout the spring and early summer.
The WVDHHR and WVDE “Out of Home Care” leadership group have chosen to adopt a
“Blueprint for Change” related to services and improved outcomes for children in the foster care
system. This Blueprint for Change includes goals and outcomes specifically addressing
children ages’ birth to five. This work will strengthen communication and referrals between the
foster care system and early childhood programs. In addition, new training and procedures are
being considered for foster care staff and foster care parents to ensure knowledge of best
practices related to young children within the foster care system and referrals to early childhood
programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start. This very important work began in
December and will continue throughout the remainder of this year.
The WVDE Office of School Readiness has convened a large stakeholder group, including
Head Start representation, to make significant revisions to WVBE Policy 2525. These revisions
will occur this spring and hope to be completed and approved by the WV State Board of
Education to take effect in July 2012. A minimum of a 30 day public comment period will occur
and this comment period may be as long as 60 days due to the amount of proposed revisions to
the policy. Once a draft revision is available for comment it will be located on the WVDE
website. Please stay in touch with the Collaboration Office, the WVDE Office of School
Readiness, or the WV Head Start Association to inquire about the status of these revisions or to
learn how to access the website to make comments once it is available.
The Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) is contracting
with the Collaboration Office to conduct this year’s annual Collaboration Needs Assessment.
This year’s assessment will be conducted through focus groups held online. This format will
allow the assessment to be very targeted around specific areas of school readiness,
professional development, transition, and others. We hope this format provides every program
an opportunity to participate and voice their collaborative strengths and needs related to these
topics. Announcements on dates and how to access the focus groups will be announced via
the WV Head Start Association.
For more information contact Traci Dalton, Head Start Collaboration Director,
Traci.L.Dalton@wv.gov 304-356-4604
March 2012
Inside this issue:
News from
Northern
Panhandle Head
Start
2
Case Head Start
3
Pre K Child
Assessment
System
4
Pre K Assessment
and Improvement
5
Schedule of
Association and
Board of Directors
meetings
6
TID BITS
Email Address
wvhsa@comcast.net
website
wvheadstart.org
Become a
Member of the
West Virginia
Head Start
Association
For more information
contact Becky GoochErbacher, Executive
Director at (304) 2334450.
News from Northern Panhandle Head Start Inc.
By Cher A. McKeever, Admin Operations Coordinator
On February 7, 2012 the
North Park 4 Head Start
Center celebrated their
1st Annual Family
Daddy, Uncle and Pap
Luncheon. It was truly an
awesome sight to see as
15 men came strolling
through the classroom
door to spend the day
with their child. The
invitations were sent out
weeks ahead of time
so family members could
adjust their schedules to
attend. The children were so excited to show off their learning environment and how they spend
their day in school. We had a lunch fit for a king with spaghetti and meatballs, Italian bread,
oranges and salad.
Of course, after lunch we
brushed our teeth to Choosy ( dads
included) and danced to several
songs while the tables were being
prepared to build our bird houses
and paint them.
Generational pictures were taken for
fond memories with their loved
ones. “Everyone had a wonderful
time getting together with old friends
and meeting new ones. It was a
warm, beautiful, loving day for
all,” Miss Val, teacher.
For details about the event, contact
Miss Val, teacher via email,
northpark4@npheadstart.org or by
calling 304.232.4590.
To visit NPHS website; http://
www.npheadstart.org/news
Special Comment: “No wonder you always want to get on that bus,
it's fun in here!"– Grandfather
Summers County Classroom 1 & 2
By Missy Richmond, Family & Community Partnership Specialist
.
Have you seen the teachers from Classroom 1 & 2?
They seemed to have been Seussed by the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 & 2, the Grinch and Cindy Lou
Hoo!!!
Each classroom has been busy enjoying learning many new things this month. They have learned
about being friends with others, weather, groundhogs, shadows, bugs and Dr. Seuss.
They enjoyed having Janna Brown from WVVA come and teach about weather and do silly
weather songs with them.
They will continue March with learning about birthdays, circus, fairy tales, St. Patrick’s Day, and
the ocean.
They would also like to thank all of the parents for coming to their Friendship Celebrations and the
Dr. Seuss Celebration.
Informing teaching and assessment for educators, families, and administrators: A look at
the WV Pre-K Child Assessment System
By Monica Harless, WVDE Office of School Readiness,
Coordinator for Early Childhood Assessment and School Readiness
The West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School Readiness and state partners
have expanded a commitment to ensuring the appropriateness and usefulness of assessment
processes for WV pre-k programs through the development of the WV Pre-K Child Assessment
System. This authentic assessment is designed to help ensure the interactions, competencies,
experiences, and skills of children participating in WV’s Pre-K programs are assessed using appropriate measures. Moreover, the multi-collaboration design of the System assists with meeting
reporting needs for programs and families. The following groups have worked together to develop this system: WVDE Office of School Readiness; Head Start State Collaboration Office; WV
Department of Health and Human Resources; WVDE Office of Special Programs; WVDE Office
of Information Systems; WVDE Office of Research; WVDE Office of Title III; WVDE Office of
Healthy Schools; Early Learning Scale 2011 Trainer Cadres; and the WV Pre-K Continuous
Quality Improvement Advisory Council.
The WV Pre-K Child Assessment System is comprised of multiple areas which provide a holistic
picture of children’s development over time. A primary component of this system is the National
Institute for Early Education Research’s (NIEER) Early Learning Scale. A formative, on-going,
performance-based assessment tool for the classroom, the Early Learning Scale provides teachers the opportunity to observe children’s development over time (Riley-Ayers & Frede, 2010).
This process, coupled with information regarding children’s development across all domains of
the WV Pre-K Early Learning Standards Framework, health information, English Language
Learner progress, and special education progress, completes the WV Pre-K Child Assessment
System. The comprehensiveness of this system allows families, educators, and administrators to
view the “whole child” across multiple learning domains as he/she progresses developmentally.
Daily, WV Pre-K educators will collect evidence based on all domains of the WV Early Learning
Standards Framework so they can make educated, informed decisions regarding children’s
placement on the Early Learning Scale three times per year.
Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, all WV pre-k programs, stand-alone 3 year old Head
Start Programs, and home-based Head Start Programs will utilize the WV Pre-K Child Assessment System to ensure ongoing, authentic child assessment. This system includes a rigorous
professional development model for all pre-k educators in WV. The training is comprised of up to
18 hours of professional development specific to the Early Learning Scale and early childhood
assessment.
Early childhood assessment is currently undergoing a positive transformation throughout the WV
Pre-K System. Using focused evidence to guide educators’ intentional planning, classroom practices, and interactions with both individual and small groups of children are goals of the WV PreK Child Assessment System. For additional information about WV Pre-K’s implementation of the
WV Pre-K Child Assessment System, contact Monica DellaMea Harless, Coordinator, Early
Childhood Assessment and School Readiness, at mdharless@access.k12.wv.us or (304) 5585325.
A Look at the West Virginia Pre-K Program Assessment and Improvement
By Janet Bock, WVDE Office of School Readiness,
Coordinator for Early Childhood Program Assessment and Improvement
Leading organizations in the early childhood field note three key facets of high-quality programs. Those
are standards-based assessment, sound early childhood curriculum, and ongoing program assessment.
The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised, or ECERS-R, was previously required annually
as a program assessment tool to evaluate program success in meeting the needs of the children.
Continuous quality improvement was the intent behind utilizing ECERS-R in WV Pre-K; however, previous processes and practices led to inefficiency, lack of use in data, and continued capacity issues with
highly qualified trainers. In early 2010, The WV Pre-K Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Advisory
Council established a Program Assessment and Improvement Work Group. The work group was comprised of experts in child care, Head Start, and local education agencies to develop guidance for counties
on an ongoing program assessment and improvement system. They originally focused on three main
goals:
•
Develop a WV Pre-K Program Assessment and Improvement Procedures Manual to provide
guidance on the completion and use of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Revised
(ECERS-R) in classrooms;
•
Develop a database to house and aggregate county ECERS-R information to support continuous
quality improvement; and
•
Develop a refresher course for Module III observers to ensure reliability of data.
The goals evolved and resulted in WV Policy 2525 changes that reframed the program assessment process. WVBE Policy 2525 was revised to include the ECERS-R as one requirement in a more comprehensive Pre-K Program Assessment and Improvement process. WVBE Policy 2525 requires the ECERS-R
to be completed a minimum of one time within a three year period in each WV Pre-K classroom beginning
with the 2011-2012 school year. The policy also requires county collaborative early childhood teams to
develop an ongoing monitoring system to ensure annual observational measurements are utilized, along
with the ECERS-R. WVBE Policy 2525 now requires that pre-k teams determine recommendations for
the county’s Board of Education strategic planning team.
The CQI Program Assessment and Improvement work group developed the West Virginia Universal Pre-K
Program Assessment and Improvement Guidance Manual to assist counties in facilitating ongoing program assessment process. It includes purpose, policy, and use of the ECERS-R in program assessment.
The guidance manual assists counties in developing an ongoing monitoring system that includes policy
requirements, while considering the uniqueness of each pre-k program. The guidance manual maps out a
process of continuous quality improvement through development of a Continuous Quality Improvement
Plan (CQI Plan). The CQI Plan includes the following steps in program assessment:
1. Data Sources and Review;
2. County Collaborative Early Childhood Team Recommendations; and
3. County Strategic Plan Recommendation Summary- Continuous Quality Improvement Report.
For more information on West Virginia Pre-K Program Assessment and Improvement, please contact Janet Bock by phone at (304) 558-5325 or e-mail jbock@access.k12.wv.us.
To download a copy of The WV Pre-K Program Assessment and Improvement Guidance Manual, please
go to https://sites.google.com/a/wvde.k12.wv.us/wvde-prek-cqi-advisory-council/home/programassessment-and-school-improvement.
Your West Virginia Head Start Association
2011-12 Board of Directors
President: Susan Stafford
Vice-President: Marlene Midget
Treasurer: Dawn Wagner
Secretary: Janice Jackson
Parliamentarian: Tracy Cox
Directors: Jeana Comer-Carr, Darlene Martin, Marlene Midget, Susan Stafford, Pam Waddell, Brenda Yohn
Staff: Tracy Cox, Trella Cuppole, Janice Jackson, Patty Fussell, Yvonne Quinn, Dawn Wagner
Parents: Rachel Shannon, Regina Goodman
Friends: Edith Redd, Tim Salmons, Terri Wontrobski
MISSION
STATEMENT
***********“
UP & COMING
2012 WVHS Association Meeting Dates
3/21 & 3/22/12
Charleston, WV
6/13 & 6/14/12
Charleston, WV
2012 WVHSA Board of Directors Meeting Dates
2/09/12
Conference call
4/12/12
Conference call
5/10/12
The West Virginia Head Start
Association’s Mission Statement for
2010-2011
Speaking with one voice for West
Virginia’s young children and families
by:

involving parents as decision
makers,
Conference call

advocating for high quality services,
8/09/12
Conference call

9/13/12
Conference call
strengthening partnerships on the
local and state level,

providing statewide training for
early childhood programs, and

circulating key information to local
Head Start programs.
10/11/12
TBA