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Preschool Development Grants
Development Grants
Technical Review Form for HawaiiReviewer 1
A. Executive Summary
Available / Score(A)(1) The State’s progress to date
(A)(2) Provide High-Quality Preschool Programs in one or more High-Need Communities
(A)(3) Increase the number and percentage of Eligible Children served in High-Quality Preschool Programs
(A)(4) Characteristics of High-Quality Preschool Programs
(A)(5) Set expectations for school readiness
(A)(6) Supported by a broad group of stakeholders
(A)(7) Allocate funds between–
(a) Activities to build or enhance infrastructure using no more than 35% of funds; and
(b) Subgrants using at least 65% of funds / 10 / 9
(A) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
Hawaii provides information in its application on all seven items listed in the Executive Summary guidelines. Its application is ambitious. For example, the grant guidelines state that an applicant needs to provide preschool programs for eligible children through subgrants to each Subgrantee in one or more high-need communities. Hawaii is proposing to serve 18 high-need communities with 18 different charter preschools (plus the University of Hawaii). This is well above the minimum number of one Subgrantee.
Weaknesses:
Although the plan is ambitious, achievability concerns exist. Hawaii will undoubtedly face implementation challenges, especially around ensuring the plan's many activities get accomplished. Opening four new classrooms in the first year will likely be a challenge plus there might also be issues in developing oversight (control) mechanisms to ensure implementation in other areas. Hawaii mentions (see E (2)) that the lead agency for the grant, the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission (Commission), has the capacity and infrastructure to ensure that the charter schools implement their self-developed preschool plans. This is helpful information, but additional data is needed about the Commission's experiences in managing and controlling large (ambitious) start-up ventures.
Another concern is its school readiness expectation for children attending the preschool programs. Hawaii expects that 90% of the children entering kindergarten will meet or exceed the developmental level in five domains of child development for their age group. This is an overly ambitious target for children from low income households and for a population that includes children with disabilities.
B. Commitment to High-Quality Preschool Programs
Available / Score(B)(1) Early Learning and Development Standards / 2 / 2
(B)(1) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
The state released its Early Learning Standards in 2011 and they were revised in 2012. These standards cover all five areas of child development which is desirable and span five age groups from birth to kindergarten entry. These standards are research based, are aligned with the Common Core Standards and have been endorsed by key stakeholders.
Weaknesses:
Standards have only recently been developed and they will need several years of implementation before determining their effectiveness. This is a minor weakness but worth noting.
Available / Score
(B)(2) State’s financial investment / 6 / 4
(B)(2) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
Hawaii’s 2014 Legislature passed a supplemental budget providing $3,000,000 to fund the Governor’s proposal for prekindergarten programs in fiscal year 2015. Families can enroll their four-year-old children at one of 18 public elementary schools across the state. The program intends to serve 420 children who qualify based on income and age requirements. Further, in Table B, state-wide information is presented for the years 2011 through 2014 concerning: the number of four-year-old children, the number of four-year-old children at or below the 200% FPL, and the number (plus percentage) of four-year-old children served in the state preschool program. Given that roughly 40% of the four-year-old children were at or below the 200% federal poverty line for each year, indicates a high need exists for prekindergarten services.
Weaknesses:
Hawaii's financial investment in state funded preschools is just getting started with its 2014 budgeted funds and it will begin serving children in 2015. Data presented in Table B, show no four-year olds were served in state preschool programs during the 2011 through 2014 year.
Available / Score
(B)(3) Enacted and pending legislation, policies, and/or practices / 4 / 4
(B)(3) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
The state is steadily moving forward with legislation to support services to young children. For example, in 2002 the Hawaii Legislature led the nation by statutorily defining “school readiness.” In 2008 the state established a state early learning system and dollars have been allocated for 2015 for services within 18 elementary school campuses. A proposed amendment to the Hawaii State Constitution covering the use of public funds to support private early childhood education programs is on the ballot for November 2014.
Weaknesses:
None.
Available / Score
(B)(4) Quality of existing early learning programs / 4 / 2
(B)(4) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
The state meets the National Association for the education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines for teacher child ratios and maintaining 20 children to a classroom. They are committed to hiring teachers with early childhood experience. In addition, the state provides dollars to fund substitutes to enable teachers to pursue ongoing professional development. The grant includes reference to state of the art assessments to measure teacher skills such as: the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), and the established system Teaching Strategies GOLD (TS GOLD) for gathering child outcome data on an ongoing basis. The state has also adopted some innovative approaches to serving children who are at risk. They have: established wellness guidelines, adopted the Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for early Learning (CSEFEL) curriculum to promote social development, and have implemented statewide developmental screenings. They are now requiring a pre-K health record be completed by a physician.
Weaknesses:
Regarding teacher requirements, the applicant states teachers need only early childhood experiences, not a BA degree in early childhood education. However, other references are made to the requirement of a BA degree for charter school teachers (see Appendix 1 and C (1)(e)). Hence, inconsistencies exist in the grant regarding teacher requirements. The reference to a salary being comparable to salaries of K-12 staff is not evident. Program evaluation seems to be limited. It emphasizes ECERS-R and had a score attached under which a corrective action plan would be developed, but this is the only monitoring tool that seems to have "teeth." Additionally, even with this tool, the classrooms will only be observed annually and will be given a year to improve before action is taken (see Section E (4)).
Available / Score
(B)(5) Coordination of preschool programs and services / 2 / 1
(B)(5) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
The Early Learning Advisory Board (ELAB) advises the Executive Office of Early Learning (EOEL) and represents a variety of key state agencies such as VII-B of McKinney –Vento Act, Part C, Child Care, and Part B of IDEA, which is desirable. They also include the university system which has the potential of increasing coordination between the state and teacher training efforts. Additional collaborators include Head Start, cultural entities such as HI Language Medium Early Learning Providers, and pediatricians. The large number of collaborators is a strength for Hawaii.
Weaknesses:
Although the ELAB is made up of representatives from many state and community organizations that will coordinate with preschool programs, the applicant does not discuss how coordination will work, i.e., the coordination process.
Available / Score
(B)(6) Role in promoting coordination of preschool programs with other sectors / 2 / 1
(B)(6) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
EOEL is committed to creating a comprehensive system that includes health, safety, development and learning. Over 100 professionals met to develop an Action Strategy that is comprehensive in nature. It includes focus areas that stretch from birth to third grade and emphasize health and education. The document, called Family Partnership Guidelines and contained in the appendix, discusses key principles and indicators of success that include: family and community driven factors with a focus on welcoming families; advocacy through speaking up; and partnering to support learning at home and school.
Weaknesses:
There is a lack of reference to adult education and training, and mental health.
C. Ensuring Quality in Preschool Programs
Available / Score(C)(1) Use no more than 35% of funds for infrastructure and quality improvements / 8 / 8
(C)(1) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
Only 29% of the requested funds will be used to develop the infrastructure for the selected charter preschools. This is lower than the 35% upper limit in this completion to support teachers employed in charter preschools. The infrastructure will be created through a series of teacher training opportunities that cover topics including screenings and curricula. The use of formative assessments and Family Partnership Guidelines is consistent with high quality services as defined by NAEYC.
C (1) (a) The Early Learning Standards are being expanded to include a Hawaiian Language Development domain and becoming more responsive to the needs of children who typically are served by charter schools in the state. Charter school teachers will also be offered a training module on aligning their curriculum to Hawaii Early Learning Development Standards (HELDS).
C (1) (b) In 2013 Hawaii developed a Family Partnership Guidelines document to assist early childhood practitioners in creating and /or enhancing relationships with families. The guidelines are researched based and include strategies to more effectively engage families.
C (1) (c) A workshop is planned to assist preschool teachers in serving young children with disabilities. Further, a P3 Learning Lab is purposed to assist administrators who, in turn, will support teachers.
C (1) (d) Needs assessment is planned and a committee has been formed to oversee this effort.
C (1) (f) The use of mentoring coaching model to enhance professional development is a well-respected strategy for improving quality. There will be a coach specifically assigned to the charter schools targeted in this proposal. The system is delivered at multiple times and sites, allowing for adequate time with teachers at each phase. Coaching allows for individualization of the professional development activities.
C (1) (g) The state is clear that there is much work to do in this area of linking preschool and K-12 data. They intend to do development work in this area under the preschool development grant. They have identified key areas of work and plan to develop a series of agreements to allow the data sharing to move forward and to develop a template that will enhance implementation.
C (1) (h) The state has identified a series of research based tools as part of their assessment system which are linked to high quality preschool education. The measures include child assessment, environmental assessments and teacher/child interaction tools. Also, low classroom scores on the ECERS-R will lead to corrective action plan. C (1) (i) The commitment of funds to family engagement is worthy and the fact that they are allowing programs to individualize based on community needs is positive.
C (1) (j) The family engagement plan provides funds to support families with accessing at least two state and community resources, including child health, mental health and child welfare.
Weaknesses:
None.
Available / Score
(C)(2) Implement a system for monitoring / 10 / 7
(C)(2) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
C (2) (a) The state is using a variety of assessment tools to determine progress, CLASS, TS GOLD and quality ECERS-R, which is desirable.
C (2) (b) Data sharing systems are beginning to be developed among key units.
C (2) (c) The state is very ambitious in setting the goal under school readiness for at least 90% of all children meeting or exceeding widely held expectations. They also refer to the additional support that will be offered to children with disabilities or at risk.
Weaknesses:
C (2) (a) There may be a weakness in the state’s use of evaluation tools to ensure continuous improvement due to the lack of strong monitoring efforts. While the specialist and coach are being asked to develop a corrective action plan if evidence arises for such a plan, it is still within the discretion of the principal as to whether or not this plan will be developed. (E.4). The ECERS-R assessment is the only tool that results in a corrective plan. Low CLASS scores or a lack of teacher reliability in his/her use of the TS GOLD assessment does not require a corrective plan and yet a lack of reliability in entering TS Gold scores would create significant issues in assessing progress and ultimately the outcomes of the project.
C (2) (b) This area is a work in progress. The state is working on development of longitudinal systems. Refer to C.1. g. Some action is occurring in this area but this is not a strength at this time.
C (2) (c) The disadvantaged children (low income, poverty, homelessness) who are enrolled in the Charter Preschools may have difficulty reaching this ambitious at least 90% goal. The state may need to reflect on this expectation if a high number of children in the targeted preschools are identified with learning difficulties or disabilities.
Available / Score
(C)(3) Measure the outcomes of participating children / 12 / 10
(C)(3) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
State has selected a valid and reliable assessment tool (TS GOLD) for use in their pilot kindergarten entry assessment project. One reason TS GOLD was selected is that it is linked to the Common Core Standards. Further, all five of the essential domains are included in TS GOLD.
Weaknesses:
The state has not determined which of the many elements included in the TS GOLD would constitute school readiness for kindergarten. This tool appears to be very comprehensive for the purpose of determining Kindergarten Readiness and the requirement for assessing all children in all 36 areas of TS GOLD within four weeks is ambitions. Selection of particular items that match school readiness goals and Kindergarten readiness will probably need to be identified.
D. Expanding High-Quality Preschool Programs in Each High-Need Community
Available / Score(D)(1) How the State—
(a) Has selected each High-Need Community
(b) Will select each High-Need Community
Note: Applicants should address either (D)(1)(a) or (D)(1)(b). Applicants will receive up to 8 points for addressing (D)(1)(a) or up to 4 points for addressing (D)(1)(b). / 4 or 8 / 7
(D)(1) Reviewer Comments:
Strengths:
The state has selected 18 charter programs, which will serve as subgrantees, and has completed a description of each regarding demographics (i.e., school focus) and the number of children accessing free and reduced lunches. Regarding geographic diversity, many programs are rural. Four of the 18 charter schools provided a letter of support plus the University of Hawaii, another subgrantee.