RD305 - The Commonwealth of Virginia's Preschool Pilot Initiative: An Interim Report Prepared on Behalf of the Virginia Department of Education


Executive Summary:
The Virginia Preschool Pilot Initiative was launched in August 2007 to increase access to high-quality preschool for more at-risk children by using diverse delivery strategies, as recommended by the Governor's Start Strong Council. The Council encouraged local coalitions consisting of school division personnel, city or county administrators, and others to propose innovative methods to build preschool networks and capacity, including the use of public-private preschool delivery. This report describes the initial phase of the pilot program, preliminary results, and benchmarks that will be used to evaluate the program. Major preliminary findings are:

• Ten of 12 eligible localities/school divisions are participating in the pilot initiative.

• As of October 26, 2007, 265 at-risk children are being served through the pilot initiative. This figure adds to the approximately 13,000 children currently being served through non-pilot Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) funding.

• Pilot children are receiving services in 55 different classrooms or child-care settings. Most pilot children attend preschools run by nonprofit centers (61%). Thirteen percent attend for-profit centers, while another 10 percent are in public school classrooms. Other center placements include Department of Defense (6%) and faith-based settings (5%). Five percent receive services through family child care providers. Three programs blend pilot children with those from Head Start.

• Local planning councils (“collaboratives”) are using several key strategies to increase access to quality preschool instruction, including:

• Braiding funding sources by using monies from state education, local social services, federal, county or city, scholarship, foundation, parent copayments and other sources. Beyond the local match requirement for pilot
funding, nine collaboratives are braiding funding streams.

• Blending classrooms and expanding preschool delivery options by partnering with private and federally funded programs. Six collaboratives partner exclusively with private preschool providers; two partner exclusively with other publicly funded programs; and two use a combination of both public and private providers. Nine collaboratives are blending classrooms.

• Using a single point of entry to enroll children in preschool. Four collaboratives use this mechanism.

• Emphasizing preschool staff professional development.

• Preliminary results indicate that collaboratives have increased preschool network capacity through partnering with 23 new private providers and/or strengthening ties between school divisions and preschool providers.

• Currently, all pilot programs meet five of the eight program-based standards set by the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) for pre-K quality.

• Planning at least 15 hours in-service training this school year;

• Maximum class size of 20;

• Staff-to-child ratios of 1:10 or better;

• Ensuring that children eat at least one meal per day; and

• Ensuring provision of health care, screenings and family support services.

Most pilot programs meet the remaining NIEER program-based benchmarks. Specifically:

• Teachers hold a BA or higher degree. Sixty-seven percent of lead pilot preschool service providers hold at least a four-year college degree. Seventy-six percent of lead classroom preschool teachers, including all six
teaching in public schools, hold at least a BA/BS. Thirty-three percent of family care providers hold a BA/BS.

• Teacher specialization in pre-kindergarten. Sixty-six percent of all lead pilot preschool service providers have pre-K specialization. Seventy-four percent of lead classroom teachers -- including all six public school teachers -- have pre-K specialization, while 12 percent of all preschool providers have specialization in elementary education or a related field.

• Assistant teachers hold a minimum of a CDA or equivalent. Forty-two percent of assistant teachers hold at least a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential or its equivalent.

• Benchmarks to evaluate the pilot program will focus on the collaborative, or managerial level, the program level, and the child and family level.

• Collaborative-level benchmarks, which include measures of group cohesion, leadership, communication, commitment and shared vision, will be used to track progress towards increased access to preschool for at-risk children, network capacity-building, and sustainability.

• Program-level benchmarks will be used to track implementation of services, including high-quality preschool and support services. Measures of preschool quality include the NIEER Quality Standards and research-validated classroom observation systems compatible with the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS).

• Child/family-level benchmarks include measures of ongoing attendance, kindergarten readiness skills (pre-literacy, early numeracy, social selfregulation skills, health and learning engagement), and parent satisfaction.

• Early indicators appear encouraging. Challenges identified so far include (1) the current local match requirement constitutes a barrier to increased capacity for virtually all pilot localities at this point in time; and (2) the relatively quick startup of the pilot initiative and newness of the program constrained some programs' ability to enroll often hard-to-reach or transient populations or provide spaces in high-quality private preschools.