What is the need?
Nationally, it has been estimated that 25-40% of children are not ready to be successful in school.
In Virginia, a number of critical challenges exist for families:
31% percent of births in Virginia are to single mothers
17 of every 1000 births are to mothers between the ages of 15-17
13% of children in Virginia live in poverty
0.2% of total general fund expenditures are allocated for early learning
Annual per child state & federal investment for Birth-5 years is $1,068, compared to the annual per child state & federal investment for school age is $7,654
68% of women (253,000) and 85% of men (241,000) with children under age 6 are employed
Today’s economy demands that children be prepared for their own futures through quality early care and education experiences. Assuring that children experience an environment, which fosters their early development, requires strong parental involvement and support from the community.
Why is this important?
There are factors that support families and predict child success in school. These support factors include parent’s role in promoting early learning, quality early care and education experiences, parent-child attachment, prenatal and post-natal health, family economic security, and family psychosocial factors (depression, domestic violence). The support of families in their role as parents requires collaboration among state agencies and their local extensions in planning for the development of integrated systems for providing early childhood services to children and their families.
A coordinated early childhood system is designed to encourage the delivery of connected and accessible services to families. Community-level decision-making is promoted through the creation and support of state and local partnerships. This system functions to support parents in their efforts to raise healthy and successful children.
DATA
Environmental Scan and Assessment
As part of the Virginia Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (VECCS) grant, an environmental scan was conducted to identify the most pressing gaps and strengths in Virginia's early childhood system. In order to gather pertinent information, data was analyzed from existing needs assessments, including the internal Title V Needs Assessment, facilitated workgroup discussions regarding specific gaps in each of the five core component areas (medical home, behavioral health and social-emotional development, early care and education, parent education and family support), and from a survey distributed to state agencies, non-profit organizations and faith based organizations, advocacy groups and private organizations.
The purpose of the environmental scan was to identify the areas in need of the most improvement in order to foster a successful early childhood system in Virginia. The data collected from the scan aligned with the main outcome areas of the statewide strategic plan, and demonstrated the need in each of those areas with quantitative and qualitative data.
What Was Learned From the Scan/Assessment?
Strengths
During completion of the scan, several strengths were found in Virginia's early childhood system:
The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the non-profit organization Medical Home Plus, Inc. has elevated awareness of the medical home concept and has championed the effort to promote the medical home.
An aggressive education and enrollment campaign increased enrollment in the state FAMIS and Medicaid program.
Virginia completed the first comprehensive assessment of school readiness and plans to track progress over time.
The Governor's New Parent Tool Kit initiative reached new parents in Virginia and will be continued and expanded.
Opportunities
The environmental scan findings were analyzed and displayed based on the themes that emerged from the state strategic planning meetings. The main gaps found within each theme were:
Infrastructure
The availability of behavioral health prevention and intervention services
The availability of home visitation and parent education programs
The development of state policies that support an early childhood system
Integrated Systems of Care
Barriers to accessing services (financial and non-financial)
A knowledge deficit about the range of existing services by providers
Family and Public Engagement
Awareness and knowledge about the importance of early childhood health issues among families and caregivers
Raising awareness of early childhood issues among legislators and decision-makers
Evaluation and Finance
The lack of comparable, quality data regarding programs and service system outcomes
Insufficient funding of early childhood programs
Data Matrix
The data matrix is a table of all outcome indicators selected by the five workgroups. The matrix lists all outcome indicators to track progress of an early childhood health system. Indicators were included in the matrix based on the following criteria: data are available at state and county level , data are consistently tracked over time, data are available in a timely manner, data are accurate and verified, data are free or affordable, data are easy to interpret, and there is an identifiable target level for the indicator. The data are tracked from baselines taken in 2002 and will be updated as data become available. In some cases, primary data collection needs to be completed before data are available. In these cases, primary data collection is listed as an activity in the state strategic plan. Data Matrix
Data and Evaluation Work group
VECCS participates in the Virginia Department of Health's data workgroup within the Office of Family Health Services. The purpose of the workgroup is twofold:
To communicate across OFHS division and other state agencies to share data and information, standardize data collection and usage, and coordinate surveillance efforts.
To provide a forum to discuss general data issues and collaborate with other individuals working with data.
EVALUATION- Tracking Progress
Process Evaluation of the State Plan
The implementation of the state plan is continually measured by tracking the status of implementation and the dates on which specific milestones were achieved and activities were conducted. The state plan was written with the tracking tool purposefully included into the format of the plan. While all movement toward successful plan achievement is tracked, emphasis is placed on those strategies and activities which were ranked as highest priorities by VECCS partners.
Performance Measures
National Performance Measures
For the purposes of the grant, there are 8 performance measures that are being tracked nationally. These performance measures measure the degree to which the State plan includes the following elements for building early childhood service systems that address the critical components of access to medical homes, social-emotional development of young children, early care and education, parenting education, and family support:
State plan supported the capacity of pediatric care providers to better identify, treat and refer children with developmental delays.
State plan provided for the education of front line providers (teachers, health care workers, school counselors and coaches, faith-based workers, and clinicians of all disciplines) to recognize mental health issues in mothers, infants and young children and to identify and disseminate quality measurement and improvement tools that can be utilized by health and early childhood development professionals to identify issues in social-emotional development in infants and young children.
State plan provides for collaboration between the State Maternal and Child Health program and the Child Care office addressing the sustainability of the plan.
State plan addresses strengthening of the quality of child care by widely disseminating and providing technical consultation support for the adoption of child care health and safety standards from the 2nd edition of Caring for Our Children.
State plan provides for the development of affordable, high quality parenting education programs that prepare parents to promote optimal physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development in their children.
State plan provides for the development of family support services that address the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture and support the healthy development of their children.
State plan provides for the refinement of current home visiting programs in keeping with the science-based findings from recent home visiting program evaluations.
State plan provides for the support and encouragement of greater involvement of home visiting resources in the context of one-stop-shopping family resource centers.
The national performance measures will be available on the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's website sometime in 2006.
State Performance Measures
Data Matrix
The data matrix is a table of all outcome indicators selected by the five workgroups. The matrix lists all outcome indicators to track progress of an early childhood health system. Indicators were included in the matrix based on the following criteria: data are available at state and county level , data are consistently tracked over time, data are available in a timely manner, data are accurate and verified, data are free or affordable, data are easy to interpret, and there is an identifiable target level for the indicator. The data are tracked from baselines taken in 2002 and will be updated as data become available. In some cases, primary data collection needs to be completed before data are available. In these cases, primary data collection is listed as an activity in the state strategic plan.
As part of the Virginia Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (VECCS) grant, an environmental scan was conducted to identify the most pressing gaps and strengths in Virginia's early childhood system. In order to gather pertinent information, data was analyzed from existing needs assessments, including the internal Title V Needs Assessment, facilitated workgroup discussions regarding specific gaps in each of the five core component areas (medical home, behavioral health and social-emotional development, early care and education, parent education and family support), and from a survey distributed to state agencies, non-profit organizations and faith based organizations, advocacy groups and private organizations.
The purpose of the environmental scan was to identify the areas in need of the most improvement in order to foster a successful early childhood system in Virginia. The data collected from the scan aligned with the main outcome areas of the statewide strategic plan, and demonstrated the need in each of those areas with quantitative and qualitative data.
During completion of the scan, several strengths were found in Virginia's early childhood system:
The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the non-profit organization Medical Home Plus, Inc. has elevated awareness of the medical home concept and has championed the effort to promote the medical home.
An aggressive education and enrollment campaign increased enrollment in the state FAMIS and Medicaid program.
Virginia completed the first comprehensive assessment of school readiness and plans to track progress over time.
The Governor's New Parent Tool Kit initiative reached new parents in Virginia and will be continued and expanded.
Opportunities
The environmental scan findings were analyzed and displayed based on the themes that emerged from the state strategic planning meetings. The main gaps found within each theme were:
Infrastructure
The availability of behavioral health prevention and intervention services
The availability of home visitation and parent education programs
The development of state policies that support an early childhood system
Integrated Systems of Care
Barriers to accessing services (financial and non-financial)
A knowledge deficit about the range of existing services by providers
Family and Public Engagement
Awareness and knowledge about the importance of early childhood health issues among families and caregivers
Raising awareness of early childhood issues among legislators and decision-makers
Evaluation and Finance
The lack of comparable, quality data regarding programs and service system outcomes
Insufficient funding of early childhood programs
Data and Evaluation Work group
VECCS participates in the Virginia Department of Health's data workgroup within the Office of Family Health Services. The purpose of the workgroup is twofold:
To communicate across OFHS division and other state agencies to share data and information, standardize data collection and usage, and coordinate surveillance efforts.
To provide a forum to discuss general data issues and collaborate with other individuals working with data.
EVALUATION
Performance Measures
National Performance Measures
For the purposes of the grant, there are 8 performance measures that are being tracked nationally. These performance measures measure the degree to which the State plan includes the following elements for building early childhood service systems that address the critical components of access to medical homes, social-emotional development of young children, early care and education, parenting education, and family support:
State plan supported the capacity of pediatric care providers to better identify, treat and refer children with developmental delays.
State plan provided for the education of front line providers (teachers, health care workers, school counselors and coaches, faith-based workers, and clinicians of all disciplines) to recognize mental health issues in mothers, infants and young children and to identify and disseminate quality measurement and improvement tools that can be utilized by health and early childhood development professionals to identify issues in social-emotional development in infants and young children.
State plan provides for collaboration between the State Maternal and Child Health program and the Child Care office addressing the sustainability of the plan.
State plan addresses strengthening of the quality of child care by widely disseminating and providing technical consultation support for the adoption of child care health and safety standards from the 2nd edition of Caring for Our Children.
State plan provides for the development of affordable, high quality parenting education programs that prepare parents to promote optimal physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development in their children.
State plan provides for the development of family support services that address the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture and support the healthy development of their children.
State plan provides for the refinement of current home visiting programs in keeping with the science-based findings from recent home visiting program evaluations.
State plan provides for the support and encouragement of greater involvement of home visiting resources in the context of one-stop-shopping family resource centers.
The national performance measures will be available on the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's website sometime in 2006.
State Performance Measures
Data Matrix
The data matrix is a table of all outcome indicators selected by the five workgroups. The matrix lists all outcome indicators to track progress of an early childhood health system. Indicators were included in the matrix based on the following criteria: data are available at state and county level , data are consistently tracked over time, data are available in a timely manner, data are accurate and verified, data are free or affordable, data are easy to interpret, and there is an identifiable target level for the indicator. The data are tracked from baselines taken in 2002 and will be updated as data become available. In some cases, primary data collection needs to be completed before data are available. In these cases, primary data collection is listed as an activity in the state strategic plan.
What is the need?
Nationally, it has been estimated that 25-40% of children are not ready to be successful in school. In Virginia, a number of critical challenges exist for families:
32% of births in Virginia are to single mothers (2005 statistic)
24 of every 1000 births are to mothers between the ages of 15-17 (2.4%) (2005 statistic)
12 % of Virginia children live at or below 100% poverty; 16% live at or below 125% poverty (2005 statistic)
0.2% of total general fund expenditures are allocated for early learning
Annual per child state & federal investment for Birth-5 years is $1,068, compared to the annual per child state & federal investment for school age is $7,654
68% of women (253,000) and 85% of men (241,000) with children under age 6 are employed
Today’s economy demands that children be prepared for their own futures through quality early care and education experiences. Assuring that children experience an environment, which fosters their early development, requires strong parental involvement and support from the community.
Why is this important?
There are factors that support families and predict child success in school. These support factors include parent’s role in promoting early learning, quality early care and education experiences, parent-child attachment, prenatal and post-natal health, family economic security, and family psychosocial factors (depression, domestic violence). The support of families in their role as parents requires collaboration among state agencies and their local extensions in planning for the development of integrated systems for providing early childhood services to children and their families.
A coordinated early childhood system is designed to encourage the delivery of connected and accessible services to families. Community-level decision-making is promoted through the creation and support of state and local partnerships. This system functions to support parents in their efforts to raise healthy and successful children.
Healthy Childcare Virginia
Promoting the healthy development and a safe environment for all children in childcare
Child Care Health Consultants (CCHC)
Assisting child care providers and families
Health Training
Child Care Provider Health Trainers
