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The Early Learning Nation Collective is thrilled that you have decided to embark on a journey to become or grow an Early Learning Community.
Before you start, we recommend watching this informational video to help guide you as you use the Tool. You may also want to read through some key terms before you begin the Assessment.
Certain goals within building blocks 1 and 2 are marked with a bridge icon to indicate that they make up the “critical infrastructure” of an Early Learning Community. Special attention should be paid to these goals, particularly if you are having trouble advancing your early learning efforts or if you are ready to formalize your work for greater effectiveness.
Goal 2.6 Examples of Communities in Action
Onondaga County, NY
The Early Childhood Alliance (ECA) is a multi-sector community collaborative established in 2015 based on the Onondaga Citizens League’s recommendation. A study highlighted the county’s need for a strategic, systemic approach to early childhood issues and better coordination and collaborative goal-setting. ECA has implemented several initiatives to enhance the early childhood system, including the Onondaga County Data Dashboard, which provides insights into the well-being of children and families. The Alliance emphasizes that using data to inform discussions about program distribution and reach is crucial for creating a more equitable early childhood system.
Goal 2.6 Sample Action Steps
Level 1
- Explore potential frameworks to capture the outcomes all relevant systems can embrace and connect their work to—such as Strengthening Families, Developmental Assets, or the Healthy and Ready to Learn measure—and adopt the language of that framework across systems.
- Engage parents and other community residents in the process of arriving at shared language and common outcomes, and enlist their help in determining how to communicate that information to the community.
- Identify what data is available, whether it is of high quality (including whether it is disaggregated by race, income, and other relevant demographic characteristics), and what major gaps in data exist.
- Develop a data development agenda outlining the data you would like to have and who you would need to work with to obtain it.
- Determine what data can be used to track progress and evaluate community needs, including data from non-early childhood focused sources, such as the US Census, the health system, or criminal justice.
Level 2
- Develop Memoranda of Understanding to articulate data sharing agreements among agencies and across systems.
- Compile data from across systems and programs to identify disparate outcomes experienced by particular neighborhoods, racial groups, income levels, or other population groups, and adjust strategies accordingly.
- Formalize the adoption of a shared outcomes framework by having programs and agencies publicly sign on to it and identify how their work helps children and families meet the identified goals.
- Consider adopting a universal intake form for child- and family-serving programs and services to facilitate cross-referral, sharing of data, and tracking of shared outcomes along with outputs.
- Share outcomes and data with the community in an accessible, easy-to-understand format.
Level 3
- Implement a unique identifier, assigned to each child and used across systems, to facilitate data sharing and tracking between early care and education, home visiting, and health care. In this process, be sensitive to parents’ concerns about confidentiality and develop opt-out and/or data shielding strategies to address those concerns.
- Plan and carry out quality improvement efforts across systems with a focus on a particular outcome or indicator, including a focus on closing disparities among demographic groups.
- Develop a shared database for child and family service providers to contribute to and access, facilitating better cross-system coordination when families are involved with multiple systems.
- Engage community residents in analyzing and interpreting data and developing strategies to reach shared goals.
Levels
Level 1
Level 1 describes the starting point and is the first thing a community will want to establish on their path to reaching that goal. In many cases, the first level involves assessing the current situation in order to identify strengths and areas of need.
Level 2
Level 2 describes a community that is taking proactive steps and making some progress toward the goal. This may include communities where progress has been made in pockets, but those efforts are not benefiting the whole community yet.
Level 3
Finally, Level 3 indicates that a community has invested time, energy, and resources toward reaching this goal and is integrating its efforts across the early childhood system and with other sectors.
Not Started
If you or your organization have not begun assessing or considering a goal, please mark your level as “Not Started.”