Missouri School Readiness

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Missouri School Readiness

• Jody Bradshaw Denson
• Policy Analyst
• Metropolitan Council on Early Learning

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Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood
(CBEC)

• The CBEC was established by statute in 2005.
• The CBEC has been charged to serve as the
  public/private entity for coordinating a cohesive
  system of early childhood programs and services
  that will result in the healthy development of,
  and high quality education for, all Missouri
  children from birth through age five.

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Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood
(CBEC)

• CBEC powers include actions to identify and
  recommend initiatives to improve services for
  children from birth through age five.
• The CBECs mission is to help ensure Missouri has
  a coordinated approach to serving Missouris
  youngest children.

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CBEC Members
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Board Members
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Board Members
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CBEC 2009/FY10 Legislative/Budget Interests

• Establish and maintain a Missouri Quality Rating
  System
• Allocate sufficient funds to maintain the
  increased levels of child care subsidy support
  achieved last year AND begin effort to increase
  support on an annual basis with goal of making
  child care subsidy levels equivalent to those
  used in other Missouri family support programs by
  FY16.

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CBEC 2009/FY10 Legislative/Budget Interests

• Increase state funding for Missouris Early Head
  Start program to add new slots and to increase
  the funding for existing slots
• Allow the CBEC to become a member of the P-20
  Council.

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CBEC Child Care Subsidy Recommendations
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Missouri Pre-K Panel

• In Spring 2008, the CBEC convened a statewide
  panel to inform its efforts to develop a system
  of high quality, publicly funded
  pre-kindergarten.
• Four meeting held in 2008. The 33 members
  convened by the CBEC represent a cross section of
  the state in terms of geographical
  representation, engagement with early care and
  education, and variety of viewpoints.

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Panel to make recommendations regarding six
questions

• Purpose for the States publicly funded pre-k?
• Who should be served with public funds? Should
  States publicly funded pre-k programs target 3
  and 4-year olds or only 4-year olds?
• Should publicly funded pre-k serve only children
  at-risk for school success or should it be
  universally available to families on voluntary
  basis?
• Should all publicly funded pre-k programs be
  required to meet similar standards? Areas to be
  addressed by these standards?
• Which programs serving preschoolers should be
  qualified to offer publicly funded pre-k?
• Structure of oversight to ensure accountability
  for States investments?

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November 2008 Pre-K Panel Recommendations

• By end of the 2011 legislative session, statutory
  authority should be established for publicly
  funded pre-k in Missouri. A financial structure
  should be in place ensuring enrollment is
  accessible and affordable to all age-eligible
  children.
• Center or family-based programs that meet
  established standards should be able to
  participate and receive public funds.
• Enrollment in publicly funded pre-k should be
  voluntary.
• By fall 2012, enrollment should be available to
  children for two years prior to their entry into
  kindergarten.
• All programs should be held accountable for
  meeting identified, research-based program
  standards established by the State and required
  of programs at the time of programs initiation.

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Recommendations Continued

• All programs should be required to use a uniform,
  standardized child assessment process for
  tracking childrens progress and informing the
  instructional process.
• By fall 2012, the DESEs data tracking system
  (MOSIS) should be used to establish a uniform,
  child-specific longitudinal measure of outcomes
  for children participating in the States pre-k
  program.
• At the state level, a system of oversight should
  be established.
• The system of oversight should identify a local
  or regional entity to facilitate design of a
  mixed delivery system responsive to community
  needs and resources.

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Missouri Coalition for School Readiness

• The Missouri Coalition for School Readiness is in
  the planning and development stage.
• Coalition will be a partnership of early learning
  advocates and practitioners, business leaders,
  parents, law enforcement, and other interested
  Missourians.
• Goal is to build bi-partisan political support of
  voluntary high-quality early learning in key
  areas of the state.

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Coalition Future

• Part of the coalitions goal is to not only
  increase state funding for early learning, but to
  bring together advocacy agencies and civic and
  business leaders to raise private sector funds.
  This combining of funding streams can complement
  the state's investment in early learning
  education, creating a true public/private
  partnership.
• The coalition hopes to expand funding to allow
  more children to have access to high quality
  early learning opportunities.

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Future

• State partners will work to develop a framework
  for the coalition.
• The Kansas Coalition on School Readiness model
  will be used to inform the development of the
  Missouri Coalition.