Legislative Work GroupJuly 22, 2014

Participants: Candy Kragthorpe - MDH (by phone), Jean Breitenbucher, Donald Sysyn, Christine Fehst, Nancy Melquist, Peggy O’Toole-Martin, Betty Uehling, Mike Brown and Mary Owen

Goal of Meeting: Update on legislative changes impacting ECFE programs, specifically around conducting a community needs assessment

Questions and/or Concerns voiced by participants

Q: State Report: what will districts know ahead of time for state reporting so they can be collecting the correct data?

C: Home visitors in many programs do not have home visitors who are holdingparent educator licenses; suggestion to blend funds from early learning scholarships and coordinate with their parent educators. Home visits could also be coordinated with Head Start or MDH’s Family Home Visiting Program. (124D.13.,Subd. 4)

Q: Could culturally-specific staff be supervised by a parent educator to do home visits?

(124D.13.,Subd. 4)

C: MDE will need to define how a district has established a prekindergarten-grade three initiative in regards to 124D.13, Subd. 15.

Q: Can local health departments contact school districts with their data to help filter out health needs and/or parent risk indicators? This may be a great opportunity for ECFE to fill this “gap” for serving those families identified with identified parent risk factors.

Q: MDE needs to help programs with the following: What is the purpose of conducting a community needs assessment: 1) self assessment of their current program and 2) design program services to meet the needs of the newly discovered potential participants in their communities. (124D.13.,Subd. 2)

Resources from Candy Kragthorpe (MDH)

Contains some population assessment variables:

- Home Visiting Planning Tool

This is what is promoted by LPH:

Selecting a Community Needs Assessment

Criteria for selecting: consider the size of the community where the program resides and their capacity for conducting a needs assessment: what would be considered “basic” and what would be considered “preferred?”

Q: What elements should be included as “basic” and as “preferred?”

  • Child risk factors and Family risk factors should be identified
  • Sources for risk factors: ACES

Data Collection

Determine what data already exists

  • Internal Sources: ECFE/SR participant questionnaire and EE Student data.
  • External Sources: What information can be gathered from other community agencies in order to figure out the gaps.
  • Who else in your community is required to collect data and who are they currently serving?

Public Health

Census data comparisons

Adult Basic Education data

Church Refugee Sponsorships

New enrollment department – school districts

Early childhood screening programs

Social Service Section 8 Housing

MN Compass

Head Start

City governments

Identify Where the Parent Education Needs may exist in communities

Internal – What is currently being done in school districts:

  • Identify the top ten needs of families – ask parent educators to survey
  • Culturally-specific PTO – St. Paul Schools
  • Utilize each district’s cultural liaisons to collect this information
  • Track wait list to see where programming is wanted and for whom
  • ECSE – survey group of parents
  • Title I Families

External–

  • Childcare providers. Childcare licensors
  • Food banks
  • Advisory Councils: Head Start and other agencies (have them complete the parent education survey suggested above for their top ten needs)
  • Local clinics- ask pediatricians what questions parents are asking

Next Steps for this Work Group

  • Notes will be posted on a special page of the WIKI
  • Elements to include for selecting a community needs assessment: basic & preferred
  • Creating a Continuum for school districts: steps for selection of a needs assessment, working with community agencies and partners, collection of data, interpretation of data, implications for program changes
  • Timeline: what will be expected from school districts during the 2014-2015 school year in meeting the statutory requirements
  • Creating an FAQ
  • When to send out an update on the new legislation to ECFE programs

Superintendents Letter – August 1

  • Work Group update
  • Supervision Change: 124D.13.,Subd. 14