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The Child Care Partnership Project Massachusetts Community Partnerships for Children |
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Description Worried about finding a quality preschool program for your toddler? In Massachusetts, public schools, Head Start, and child care programs are partnering with other community stakeholders to coordinate preschool services for 3- and 4-year olds. Through Community Partnerships for Children (CPC), the state Department of Education distributes flexible grant funds to communities to coordinate preschool services across programs and raise the quality of and accessibility to services so that all children enter school eager to learn. There are currently 313 cities and towns participating in CPC across the state, serving a total of 18,500 children. Over half of the children receiving services under CPC-funded programs are from families with earnings below 50 percent of the state median income.
The long history of CPC includes many changes along the way. It originated in 1985 as a program serving young children with disabilities or who were at risk of developmental delays. Local advisory councils of early care and education providers, parents, and representatives of child care resource and referral agencies oversaw early childhood initiatives for these children in communities across the state. In the early 1990s, economic recession caused steep cuts in funding for early childhood programs, and administrators from Head Start, the child care subsidy program, and local school districts became engaged in cross-purpose advocacy efforts over the limited funding sources. In an effort to address these cross-purpose activities and rethink approaches to early childhood education in Massachusetts, a Statewide Advisory Council of representatives from eight city government councils conducted a review of programs. They involved parents, teachers, school boards, Head Start, child care providers, and other community participants in this process. The Statewide Advisory Council proposed a collaborative system for early childhood education, but strongly recommended that any new strategic plan should include a high degree of local flexibility. In 1993, the state legislature accepted this proposal and provided funds for a new Community Partnerships for Children program. The program priorities expanded beyond children with disabilities to include all preschool-age children, and provided limited subsidies to those in families earning less than 100 percent of the state median income. The next major change occurred in 1996, when State Senator Thomas Birmingham of the Senate Ways and Means Committee conducted site visits to several local early childhood programs. Based on his assessment, Senator Birmingham led a successful effort to amend the legislation to increase emphasis on collaboration, focus on working families, and require one-third of the children to be in full-day, full-year programs. The amendments also required the use of a sliding fee scale for tuition and subsidy payments. As a result, preschool programs receiving CPC grants must now incorporate five objectives:
Current Activities CPC grants provide incentive funds to communities to develop a coordinated strategy among existing preschool programs and services to provide a single comprehensive system of care and education for 3- and 4-year-olds. The grants help increase the affordability and accessibility of these programs for children of low-income families by providing funds for tuition subsidies and collaboration efforts among private child care, family child care, Head Start programs, and public pre-school programs. Children of working families earning under 100 percent of the state median income are eligible to receive subsidies. Parents are given a choice in the placement of their children in any of the public or privately run programs, and pay a set fee based on a statewide income-based sliding fee scale. Some communities offer scholarships and other means to support children who are not eligible for subsidies. To receive CPC funds, a community must conduct a needs assessment and design an allocation plan based on the objectives of the community. A Community Partnership Council consisting of parents, program providers, and other community members is responsible for developing this plan and overseeing its implementation. Within a community, the public school district, Head Start, or a licensed child care agency serves as the lead agency to administer the fiscal and programmatic details of the local CPC program, with oversight from the Community Partnership Council. The lead agency must follow its own program processes and rules (i.e., for negotiating contracts, accounting, allocation), but can sub-contract to one of the partners if those programs have more flexible or appropriate rules for a particular activity or service. Public and private pre-school and child care programs must meet their own standards and requirements. Private programs must be licensed by the state Office of Child Care Services; Head Start must meet the performance standards set by the federal Head Start Bureau; and public school programs must meet state Department of Education Preschool Standards. Center-based programs serving children with CPC funds must seek accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Family child care providers must seek a CDA credential, and accreditation for their homes through the National Association of Family Child Care, or have an Associates or Bachelors degree in early childhood. CPC grant funds may be used for accreditation fees, materials and supplies, and professional development activities that are needed for a participating program to attain accreditation. Massachusetts now has the highest percentage of nationally accredited programs of any state (20 percent). The state Department of Education provides technical assistance for accounting procedures, contract negotiations, and other best-practices areas. The department has published a technical assistance guide that provides history and background on the program, includes guidance on needs assessments, and will soon include standardized procedures for program evaluations and data collection activities. The degree of private-sector involvement varies by partnership. The business community in Everett, Massachusetts, participates through a business education cooperative, contributing grants to public school teachers to develop new techniques and innovative learning exercises. The cooperative has also established grants for mentors and professional development, and coordinates volunteers from the business community wishing to get involved in early childhood initiatives. In the town of Gardner, a partnership between the CPC council and Wal-Mart arose when an individual who was a parent, a CPC council member, and a Wal-Mart employee identified a fit between the early childhood initiative and Wal-Mart's community outreach efforts. The company now provides matching grants for early childhood projects, has funded initiatives for new pre-K equipment in centers, and helps coordinate community-wide programs such as a children's fair, the Giving Tree Christmas gift-giving program, and holiday food baskets that are donated by the community to low-income families with young children.
Public funding for CPC grants has increased dramatically over the past five years, from $12.9 million in fiscal 1995 to $78.6 million in fiscal 1999. The grants were competitive prior to fiscal 2000, but due to strong public and political support, there is now sufficient funding to support all viable grant applications. Many partnerships have also raised their own additional funds from local businesses, parents, and community organizations to supplement the state grant.
The number of children attending high-quality early care and education programs has steadily increased since CPC's inception. Enrollment grew from 4,000 children in fiscal 1995 to 18,500 children in fiscal 1999. The number of communities participating in 1999 reached 313 of the state's 351 cities and towns. A 1998 accreditation study found that of the 963 programs participating at that time, 323 programs were accredited and 494 were involved in the accreditation process. Moreover, the quality improvements from strict accreditation requirements and the provision of comprehensive services extended the benefits of CPC to an additional 49,500 children who were not directly subsidized by CPC but were attending those centers. A 1995-1996 evaluation by Tufts University found that CPC had substantially increased collaboration among early care and education programs. Collaboration among the partner programs increased the ability to leverage funding from a variety of sources, and in-kind contributions from the partnerships reached an estimated $0.45 for every dollar from the state grant. The study also found that the program had provided significant increases in the availability of early care and education to children and families, along with an increase in the equity among providers of care, and improved quality, affordability, and comprehensiveness of services.
The state is beginning a cross-program quality study of the entire system of care and education in Massachusetts. The study will be conducted over four years, each year focusing on one of four areas: center-based care for pre-K, center-based care for infants and toddlers, family-based care, and public school pre-schools. The program has sustained a rapid growth rate since its inception. Public funding nearly doubled between 1995 and 1996, and did so again between 1997 and 1998. CPC has gained widespread popularity across the state by involving legislators and community partners who are committed to replicating the partnerships. The program has been successful because it connects communities and state government and legislators, provides a visible positive service, and continues to gain local energy and excitement. Equity among partners has also been critical to building the relationships and trust among formerly competing programs. Other states looking to implement a similar program may benefit from the fiscal guidance and needs assessment tools that the state has developed in order to avoid confusion, mistrust, and delay in setting up community partnerships.
Be flexible and be comfortable with growing complexities and learning by trying. The Department of Education was willing to shape the program as it evolved, rather than impose a single model or strict set of guidelines from the beginning. The evolution of CPC included a steep learning curve. Be prepared to handle a lot of questions without answers when establishing a new partnership initiative. Provide structure in key areas. Standardized procedures and tools for administering and evaluating community programs will reduce confusion, mistrust, and delay in setting up community partnerships. Build a communication system. Establish a good mechanism for communication and joint decision-making between state agencies and local partnerships, and among participants in each local partnership. \ Promote awareness of differences. Require collaboration and encourage understanding of the differences in managerial cultures and rules among the programs. Educate partners about differing fiscal procedures to alleviate mistrust and anxiety among different participants from the private sector, non-profit organizations, and public agencies. Use the differences to find ways to maximize efficiency in implementing local initiatives. Keep the focus on collaboration. Early in the legislative process, Head
Start administrators successfully lobbied to be eligible for lead agency status,
along with school districts and local child care agencies. This ultimately contributed
to the success of CPC, because all partners have equal potential in the collaborative
effort, and are therefore equally motivated to participate. Contact Information Elisabeth Schaefer |
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