Questions Stemming from Higher Education,
Early Learning and Child Care Programs, and
Community-Based Partnerships Working to Implement
Innovative and Sustained Pathways Designed
Specifically to Meet the Needs of Pennsylvania's
Current Early Childhood Workforce
1. Do institutions of higher education (IHEs) need to be registered to be eligible for T.E.A.C.H. financial aid prior to submitting an application?
Answer: Yes. If all partner IHEs are not eligible for T.E.A.C.H. financial aid, there would be sufficient grounds for a proposal to be rejected. Item #2 in Part II reference the “Certification that Each IHE is Authorized to Participate in T.E.A.C.H. Financial Assistance.” Additionally, Part III assigns 10 points to submission of the “Certification that Each IHE is Authorized to Participate in T.E.A.C.H. Financial Assistance.”
2. Is course development an allowable expense under the guidelines?
Answer: Yes, the guidelines are created as a planning grant to provide partnerships an opportunity to collaborate and work together to design innovative pathways. Implementation with early learning and child care workforce participants will not occur until after the grant expires.
3. Guidelines mention that selection will be based on overall strength; detailed descriptions provided, and responsiveness to the guidelines. Please explain what is meant by “responsiveness to the guidelines.”
Answer: Part II of the guidelines outlines exactly what forms (items 1 through 7 on page 19) must accompany an application. Additionally, each section of the proposal narrative is to address certain mandatory items labeled (a), (b), (c), etc. For an application to be “responsive to the guidelines” it must address each and every mandatory item listed under each section of the proposal narrative in Part II. Reviewers will be assigning point values based on the written responses presented in the proposal narrative.
4. Will the webinar’s PowerPoint slides be emailed to participants?
Answer: No, the slides are part of the webinar recording, plus the PowerPoint will be housed on the same web site as the guidelines for anyone to download and/or print.
5. If a college/university awards both a 2 year ECE associate’s and a 4 year ECE bachelor’s degree, do they still need to partner with an additional 2 year IHE?
Answer: No, a separate IHE partner is not required. The intent of the partners is to create innovative pathways that enable current early childhood educators to earn industry-recognized credentials that begin with a CDA, advance to an associate’s degree, and then onto a bachelor’s degree. An IHE that offers both ECE associate and bachelor’s degrees must create an innovative pathway that encourages early childhood educators to complete an associate’s degree and then continue on to earn a bachelor’s degree.
6. If a 2-year higher education institution has an articulation agreement with a 4-year higher education institution for credits to be transferred, would this fulfill the requirement for a 4-year higher education institution partner?
Answer: Yes, having one two-year and one four-year higher education institution fulfills the requirement of a partnership under the grant guidelines. The existence of an articulation agreement between the two- and four-year institutions should simplify the planning and development of innovative pathways.
7. Since the money appears to need to be expended by December 31, 2017, if people are enrolled in a program prior to the end of the year, but do not complete the program until mid-2018, would this be appropriate for the proposed project?
Answer: Remember, the purpose of the funds is to enable partnerships to develop innovative pathways for current early childhood workforce to earn industry-recognized credentials. Implementation with early childhood workers is not to occur during the term of the grant. That is why each higher education partner must be eligible to participate in T.E.A.C.H. financial aid program. It is not intended that grantees will have enrollees attending courses under the term of the grant.
8. Page 4 of the guidelines indicates that funded partnerships MUST include one state-funded professional development organization. Pages 5 and 13 contradict this and suggest that funded partnerships MAY include state-funded professional development organizations. Are partnerships required to include a state-funded professional development organization? If so, can PDE provide a list of such organizations?
Answer: Partnerships are not required to include a state-funded professional development organization.
9. If all of the partner ECE Early Learning Programs participate in Keystone STARS, they have access to instructional coaching. They also are required to use curricula aligned with Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards and to have professional development on SAS. If the application includes information regarding the STARS level of each participating ECE early learning program, will these outcomes be achieved?
Answer: No, an applicant should not assume that by partnering with an early learning program that participates in Keystone STARTS that it need not implement additional strategies or ideas to enable all children to learn to higher standards.
10. If not, what activities does PDE expect early learning centers to conduct in these areas of SAS, curricula, and coaching?
Answer: Applicants are expected to conduct a local needs assessment to identify what is or is not being implemented at the partner early learning centers. When gaps exist, those would be the type of activities partnerships should integrate into their innovative pathways.
11. By what means does PDE expect centers to measure progress in these outcomes?
Answer: If gaps are identified in early learning centers, the expectation is that when early childhood educators are observed, they will be implementing newly learned concepts, strategies, and activities. Partnerships will develop appropriate evaluation instruments and tools.
12. How are early learning centers expected to measure teacher and director skill sets?
Answer: This can be done a number of ways: Surveys, questionnaires, and/or focus groups to identify skill sets at the outset and then implement the same types of methodologies throughout program implementation to determine if progress is occurring.
13. By what means are early learning centers expected to find a causal relationship between skill set level and retention in the field?
Answer: PDE is not expecting partnerships to implement an experimental design or a quasi-experimental design that draws a direct causal relationship between skill set level and retention in the field. Instead, partnerships are asked to think creatively as they formulate important questions about whether or not having certain skills and knowledge improve their overall performance in the classroom, and, thus, increase educators’ passion and desire to remain in the classroom. Evaluation methodologies and instruments will enable partnerships to identify whether or not the innovative pathway is influencing the early childhood educator decision to stay in the profession or to change their profession.
14. Page 14 indicates that awards issued will be valid through December 31, 2017. Page 16 indicates that contractors must have all funds committed and obligated by December 31, 2017. Are applicants expected to spend all grant funds awarded in a one-month period from December 1- December 31, 2017?
Answer: This would be the worst case scenario if the U.S. Department of Education does not grant a one-year no cost extension. Ways to commit and obligate funds include issuance of purchase orders or contracts, both of which allow work to continue beyond December 31, 2017.
15. Page 19 indicates that applicants must submit a two-year budget. What is the time period for that budget? December 1, 2017 – December 31, 2018 (if the one year no cost extension is granted)? This is a 13-month, not a 24-month period.
Answer: The time period for the two-year budget is December 1, 2017 (or earlier depending on when a binding contract is in place between PDE and lead IHE) through December 31, 2017 for the first year and January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.
16. Table 3. on page 12 indicates that early learning programs are expected to improve instruction by:
● Using resources available in SAS
● Ensuring curricula are aligned with PA Early Learning Standards
● Improving skill sets of teachers and directors to encourage them to stay in the profession
● Using instructional coaching for improving ECE professional practices of all staff
● Providing effective teaching and learning practices in one or more core academic subjects
What are some examples of core academic subjects that ECE Early Learning Programs teach? Most ECE learning programs use integrated curricula that develop word and math literacy, as well as social and emotional skill development, in age appropriate ways.
Answer: Literacy and mathematics would both fall into the core academic subjects that would give young children a leg up in their schooling.
17. Does a partnership need to include a two-year and four-year IHE? Or can it be one or the other?
Answer: To be eligible for funding, a partnership must include at least one two-year and one four-year IHEs.
18. What would a credit bearing proposal CDA look like? Course prep? Development?
Answer: The higher education partners would need to work with the CDA council to ensure that the credential meets industry requirements.
19. Does a regional key qualify as a funded organization?
Answer: It is not mandatory for a partnership to include a professional development organization; there was one place in the guidelines where this was not corrected.
20. Can two IHE's Collaborate?
Answer: Yes, that is one of the overall intents of requiring the mandatory partners.
21. When do the funds have to be expended? How do you get an extension? When can you apply for an extension?
Answer: December 31, 2017 is the date when all funds must be committed and obligated. However, if the US Department of Education approves a year-long, no cost extension, all funds must be committed and obligated by December 31, 2018. There will be no opportunity for grantees to request an extension regardless of when funds must be committed and obligated.
22. Definition of obligated? (Page 16 section 1.17).
Answer: Obligate is a term that means that grantee has issued a procurement document prior to the expiration of the grant that allows a portion of the work/activities to be delivered after the expiration date. Procurement documents that allow a grantee to obligate funds include a purchase order or a contract.
23. Can grantee offer technical assistance support to students?
Answer: The funds are intended to allow partners to convene meetings, designate representatives from each partner to (a) design courses or sequence of courses that can be recommended to the partners; (b) design ways to measure knowledge and skills of potential early childhood workforce educators; (c) determine where and when course work will be offered; (d) determine if all course work needs to be face-to-face or if it could be a combination of face-to-face and distance learning, etc.
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