Welcome

Welcome Quality Counts Neighborhood Learning Network Orientation

Welcome to our QC-NLN Overview. The goal of this webinar is that each of you familiarize with the services we offer and you can identify the connections among the partners that are part of this initiative. 1Instructions to facilitate our WEBINAR PresentationPlease click to go to previous slide Please click to go to the next slidePlease click to go back to the beginning of the presentation

Please click back arrow to go to previous slide. Please, click forward arrow to go to next slide. Please click home button to go to beginning of presentation. 2

The Childrens Trust -Primary funder for the Quality Counts initiative, approximately $10 million -Provides professional development for Quality Counts field staff Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe -Administration of Quality Counts: new programs, renewals, assessments, support grant applications, communicationsUnited Way of Miami-Dade Center for Excellence in Early Education

-Communities of practice -Accreditation supports -School readiness enhancements Childrens Forum Quality Counts Career Center

-On-site Quality Improvement coaching with integrated technical assistance and career advising functions Citrus Health Network -Child mental health supports: behavior/mental health short term intervention

In this slide you can visualize the big picture regarding our Quality Counts Neighborhood Learning Network in which, the Children Trust is our Primary Founder, the ELCMDM are the one that administer the Program, United Way CFE work in partnership with The Childrens Forum and Citrus on delivering Communities of Practice and Accreditation Support. 3QC-NLN program partners and activities will support a regional network of ECE programs who advance and advocate for the healthy development of children and families.

The NLN will serve central Miami-Dade County, in areas three and four. The CFE, Forum QCCC offices, and Citrus Mental health offices are located in different sections within areas three and four. You can find additional information of the zip codes we served in our flyer.

NLN program partners and activities will support a regional network of ECE programs who advance and advocate for the healthy development of children and families. NLN components will prioritize quality standards, staff-identified interests and needs, student and teacher learning and socio-emotional well-being, and continuous improvement.4Intent: Uniquely leverage, coordinate, and deliver comprehensive supports and coherent services Promote and model continuous quality improvement Enhance the professional capacity of early care and education teachers, directors, and programs

Read slide.5Expectation: Ongoing communication, respectful relationships, and shared values for meaningful and continuous quality improvement among community and early care and education partners Effectively coordinated partnerships and comprehensive supports

Read Slide6Conceptual framework: inspired by Urie Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Theory, understanding children as existing within a multilayered context influenced by families, teachers, directors, ECE programs, community supports, and community partners.

The NLN conceptual framework is inspired by Urie Bronfenbrenners Bio ecological Theory (1979; 2009). Children exist within a multilayered context, with their families in the center. At the next layer, teachers are supported to improve practices that enhance child outcomes. Directors further influence childrens relationships and learning through extended communities of support . Teachers, Directors, and ECE programs simultaneously receive support through technical assistance, career advising, communities of practice (CoPs), mental health, and community supports. The Childrens Trust (TCT) and community partners are reflected in the outer circle as both resource providers and as responsible for accountability, performance, and outcomes.

Addressing the need for informed, effective, and coordinated systems represented by the outer layers of the ecological model, a NLN Advisory Council will be created and comprised of representatives from entities such as Miami-Dade College, Florida International University (FIU), Nova University, Miami Childrens Initiative (MCI), the Early Learning Coalition of Miami Dade-Monroe (ELC), CFE, Nest, Forum, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Transition to Kindergarten Ambassadors Project, University of Florida, and TCT. This council will facilitate connections between formal education content, community-based training, and observed needs in centers and classrooms. The goal is to ensure formal and informal instruction prepares teachers to be effective in the classroom and that support is accessible. Data, research and evaluation are central to monitoring progress and aligning improvement strategies.

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In this slide you can find the contact information from The Quality Improvement Specialists from the Childrens Forum team. ( You have met them as QISs)8Childrens Forum The Forum has an organizational history that is grounded in the development of principles, programs and policies that continue to serve early childhood development and education in Florida since 1989.Create and sustain quality particularly for most vulnerable childrenEfficiently maximize resources, data, research, advocacy, direct service and training

The Forum has been supporting our community since 1989 by efficiently maximize resources, data, research, advocacy, direct service and training

9Program Activities Snapshot

On-site Coaching: Quality Improvement Specialists (QIS) and directors co-create quality improvement plans (QIPs). Coaching is guided by the learning environment level and observations performed by QIS for teachers not formally assessed by Devereux QISs create individual career development plans (CDP) for eligible practitioners

Read from slide. 10Principles and FocusIndividualized Attention & ResourcesProfessional Development opportunitiesOngoing support for Director and StaffFocus on evidence-based practices in ECESuccessful partnership and collaborationProgram successWe are here to serve

The Childrens Forum focuses on ongoing support to teaching staff and Directors, as well as the success of them through professional development opportunities and working in partnership with other organizations to meet this purpose. 11

In this slide, you can find United Way members from the QC-NLN Program. 12United Way of Miami-Dade (UWMD)UWMD has provided services to the MDC community for over 90 years including effective oversight of programs serving over 150,000 individuals annually. UWMDs Center for Excellence in Early Education is dedicated to elevating the quality of early care and education in Miami-Dade and beyond. Since 2006 the Center has administered over 11 complex, large-scale, multi-site interventions to improve the quality of ECE. The scope of these programs ranges up to 39 sites and up to 4,000 participants served annually.

Example CFE programs: Early Reading First, Early Head Start, Head Start, Community wide training, Early Childhood Program Administrators Institute (ECPAI), Mentoring All Educators, Supporting Teachers, Raising Outcomes (MAESTRO), recently awarded 4.5 million annually for its Early Head Start- Child Care Partnership work 13Program Activities Snapshot

Communities of Practice (CoP): Center director CoPs and family child care home CoPs. Content includes leading purposeful change and supporting classroom teaching and learning. Practitioner CoPs for teaching, learning, and assessment are offered to practitioners in programs with learning environment levels three, four and five.

FCCH and Center Director CoPs will cultivate strategic focus on childrens educational outcomes and concurrent support systems building. ECE leaders will engage as peers while learning about inclusive, facilitative leadership that builds trust and inquiry-based problem-solving with staff and promotes improved instruction by teachers and achievement of high-needs children (Ounce of Prevention, i3). CoPs will be grouped by program type (Center Based and FCCH cohorts). CoP cohorts will consist of six two-hour meetings approximately every six weeks over nine months.

Communities of Practice (CoP) for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment will promote intentional use of learning standards and curriculum goals to design instruction; use child and classroom data to inform decision-making; and engage children in learning opportunities through emotionally supportive, organized and instructionally challenging interactions. Mitigating isolation and increasing opportunities for teachers to see and analyze effective practices will deepen levels of reflection while making learning and improving together a culture and standard professional practice essential to the sustainability of effective instruction

While CoP topics and groups will be designed collaboratively with partners and respond to identified needs, the CFE will offer infant/toddler and preschool options focused on use of assessments to track progress and inform instructional decisions. Video-based observation and reflection will expose practitioners to multiple examples, and varying analyses, of practice. Teachers will also engage in lesson study in which they compare and contrast their instruction and gain trust in their peers as a continuously improving reflective learning community. CoP cohorts will consist of six two-hour meetings approximately every six weeks over nine months.

14Program Activities Snapshot

Accreditation Supports: Facilitation supports to any program pursuing accreditation from a Florida Gold Seal approved accrediting agencyAccreditation specialist serves as an information resource for program staff and allows programs to take the lead while guiding them through a structured process. Accreditation supports include on-site meetings, document review, classroom observations, assessment of the program administration and mock assessments.

NLN program partners and activities will support a regional network of ECE programs who advance and advocate for the healthy development of children and families. NLN components will prioritize quality standards, staff-identified interests and needs, student and teacher learning and socio-emotional well-being, and continuous improvement.15Program Activities Snapshot

School Readiness Enhancements: Will be offered to programs with learning environment levels of four and fiveMulti-session professional development series will be customized to program needs and interests

School Readiness Enhancement Supports will be offered to programs with learning environment ratings of four and above because they have exceeded basic quality standards. Based on extensive PD experience, the CFE will offer PD on: reflective practice and supervision, visible thinking, the project approach, and documentation. These learning opportunities will encourage teachers to build classroom cultures in which powerful learning moments are regularly experienced by teachers, students, and families (Ritchhart, 2011). This work is rooted in practices developed by Harvards Project Zero

The CFE will also build upon its Pathways to Quality PD programming (Attachment xx), which has provided quality enhancement supports for high achieving program participants (Attachment xx). Multi-session, CEU bearing PD series will be customized to program needs and interests and may address: family support and inclusion, curriculum, technology to enhance learning, early literacy, intentional interactions, and dual language learning.

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Meet the Citrus Team 17Citrus Health Network, Inc. Citrus Health Network, Inc. (CHN) is a Community Based Federally Qualified Health Center with more than 35 years of experience.

Our programs are County-wide and include more than just behavioral health such as: Primary Care, Pediatrics, Gynecology, Specialized Foster Care for children, Housing Programs for individuals with disabilities, and persons who are homeless Psychiatric Services, Assessment & Crisis Stabilization Units, Case Management, School Health, Adult Senior Day Treatment, Outreach for Homeless Mentally Ill, Early Childhood Development Interventions and Infant Mental Health.

Remember: We are also the Screening Follow Up and Early Intervention Program funded by the ELC to serve all school readiness children county-wide so NO child is left without services at your center!

Here you can find a summarized description about what Citrus have done within the past 35 years and their work within our Community. 18What is Infant Mental Health & Why is It Important? The first years of life provide the basis for children's mental health and social emotional development. Infant mental health focuses on a childs healthy social and emotional development from birth through age five. A childs world depends on the love and care they receive from those around them and therefore, it is essential that first relationships are trusting and caring, as they provide an important foundation for later mental health development.

Read from the slide19Behavior/Mental Health Short Term Interventions:

Child centered Short-term interventions are provided based on need using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional (ASQ:SE) Screening. To be completed by teachers with parental consent.Services include: Parent/caregiver and child sessions focusing on child-family-school relationships and behavioral managementAdditional assessments and evaluationsInformation, referral and care coordinationSessions take place in the early learning center or in our officesReferrals made via ELC WARM LINE (786-433-3095) or our offices directly (305-424-3043)

The intention from Citrus is to offered Mental Health Short Term Intervention to all children (subsidized and non-subsidized), that will include 2-4 times per month, with an intensity of 30-60 minutes, with a total of up to 16 sessions offered for both families and their children. 20Envisioning our collaborative work Above and Beyond: Education for the 21st Centuryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KMM387HNQk

21Thank You !

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. Helen Keller