Conference Call – 11/29/11

EDI Implementation in Wichita Falls – April Canetta, United Way

·         United Way Wichita Falls heard about EDI at a national conference

·         Wichita Falls ISD has implemented the program for 1½ years

·         UCLA provided webinars on the EDI and process

·         ISD was in transition of a Superintendent, key principals were approached for buy-in

·         Met with Kindergarten Teachers who then led community cafes to develop action plan

·         Population level assessment of school readiness – 5 domains

·         Aggregate data enables the community to identify areas that are more vulnerable, make strategic decisions

·         Kindergarten teachers do the assessment after getting to know the students well (Jan-April) Consent form was developed for every active family

·         Incentives were given to teachers and parents to complete the consent forms

·         Teachers completed assessment for each child in about 10-15 minutes

·         Substitutes provided

·         Kindergarten teachers very excited about the results of the project – when data came back they met with each teacher to share data

·         Districts upload data to UCLA, they issue a map report and school profile. The district then assess what needs to be done and community addresses how to strengthen 0-5 programs

·         Got buy-in from principals from the start, and shared data with them when it was received.  Schools felt very validated

·         Can scale up over a period of 3 years (according to UCLA) and this is still considered one data set

·         9 months – initial interest to the first assessment

·         80% of Kindergarten population was assessed in first year

·         Challenges: One  was to help teachers and principals understand that this was not just “another assessment for the child” -  it was a population level assessment to identify what issues children might have that would hinder their being ready for school

Another was that the district decided to get active consent, meaning that every parent would have to sign a consent form for their child rather than signing to opt out

·         Community can include every school or target some schools.  Wichita Falls has a population of about 100,000 and they chose to include all schools to give them a true map showing pockets of vulnerabilities.  Some surprises included low income neighborhoods that had strong readiness and pockets of vulnerability in higher income area.

·         Coalition receives the training and then trains the teachers

·         Staff development days used for training and EDI input (lunch was provided)

·         Community cafes being held now to mobilize residents around school readiness – one is being led by a Kindergarten teacher

Updates from Communities

Cherokee - Karen Pate

·                 They are applying for HIPPY & PAT

·                 They have an Advisory Council in place

·                 Working on getting everything completed

·                 Don’t have any HUB vendors in the county

·                 Have met with Superintendent of school district to generate interest

·                 Dr. Speck from Nacogdoches was involved at the beginning

·                 Program model representatives are available to help

·                 Blog has been helpful

Dallas - Talia Brinkman

·         Sent RFP out today to potential subcontractors

·         Requested job descriptions for home visitors

Ector – Joanne Mundy

·         Having a meeting on 12/6 to put information together for all projects

Nueces – Donna Hurley, Jackie Siller, Karen Turner

·         Working on the RFP

·         Having a meeting on 12/1 with partners to determine what areas to work in

·         Do not have Advisory Council in place, most likely after the first of the year, after the holidays

Questions

·         Laura – RFP is not out yet for NFP, hopefully it will be this week

·         Questions about whether a community must do all expected components or none need to be asked of the purchaser for clarification (not a program model question)

·         Early Head Start Questions – job descriptions.   LaShonda will get them to Carla to post on the blog under resources.

·         HIPPY questions job descriptions are found at the HUSA website, in the start-up manual link, on this webpage: http://www.hippyusa.org/the hippy model start a program.php

·         Kit Prince – Richardson ISD asked if there were training $$ for Program Manager & Home Visitor, Talia responded to write in the proposal and submit

·         PAT – job descriptions will go on the blog

National website www.parentsasteachers.org has information such as interactive budget tool

·         Getting organizational charts from subcontractors will have to be done by fiscal agents directly