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Part 3: Mixed Approach Programs
Early Head Start Program Profile
Early Education Services Early Head Start
Battleboro, Vermont
September 16 - 18, 1997
The Brattleboro, Vermont, school district's Early Education Services office operates an Early Head Start program for 75 families in rural Windham County, Vermont. The Early Head Start program builds on the school district's experience operating a variety of programs for low-income parents with young children. The program serves primarily white families, half of whom include two parents. The program provides child and family development services primarily in home visits, but also provides center-based child development services for a small number of families and brokers child care for 17 children in family child care homes and center-based settings in the community. The program also organizes play groups and monthly parent-child group activities. Teams of staff members work with families to build on their strengths and achieve their personal and family goals, and they link families with needed services in the community. Child development services are designed to promote strong parent-child relationships and positive interactions.
OVERVIEW
The Brattleboro, Vermont, school district's Early Education Services (EES) office operates the Early Head Start (EHS) program. EES previously operated a Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP) and an Even Start Literacy Program, and it receives funding from numerous private, local, state, and federal sources for a variety of services. The agency serves 140 families through the various funding sources. These funding sources include Brattleboro Township, the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Reach Up (the state's welfare program), the U.S. Department of Education, and others. EES also operates the Healthy Babies program and a Vermont Parent Child Center. The agency's CCDP program demonstrated positive effects on children's cognitive development, families' employment and income, and parenting attitudes.
Community Context. The EES EHS program serves families who live throughout Windham County, a primarily rural area in the southeastern corner of Vermont. Brattleboro, the county's largest town, has a population of approximately 12,000 people. The majority of county residents live in outlying areas of the county.
Community involvement among residents of the county is high. Many people are involved in human services organizations, churches, the arts, and environmental groups; a high proportion of Brattleboro residents participate in town meetings. Community service providers collaborate closely to serve families and share resources.
Program Model. The EES EHS program is a mixed model--it is a home-based program that also provides center-based child development services for a small number of families. Parent/child educators provide child development, parent education, and case management services to EHS families during weekly home visits. Program staff members also encourage families to participate in a broad range of educational programs, workshops, play groups, and social events offered by the program. In addition, the program operates two child care centers, one at the EES center, and one at Brattleboro Union High School.
Families. Most of the families served by the EES EHS program are white, but a few belong to other racial and ethnic groups. Approximately half of the enrolled families are two-parent families. About 13 percent of mothers were pregnant when they enrolled in the program. One-third of the families were receiving welfare cash assistance when they enrolled.
Staffing. Ten parent/child educators receive support from a multidisciplinary management team of specialists. Three management team members--the home-based program coordinator, the nurse/health educator, and the early childhood educator--supervise the parent/child educators, coordinate parent education workshops and other group events for families, conduct staff training, and coordinate services with community partners. Other members of the management team include a parent/community coordinator, who manages parent involvement and policy council activities and works on building community partnerships; an adult services coordinator, who oversees family development services and supervises two employment and training specialists, a literacy tutor, and a men's program coordinator; and a child care coordinator, who works with families to arrange good-quality child care arrangements and supervises the program's two child care centers. The program also employs a data manager and a data entry clerk to maintain the program's management information system. The program director provides overall leadership to the management team, works to enhance collaboration and coordination among community service providers, and plays a leadership role in raising community awareness about the needs of families with young children.
RECRUITMENT AND ENROLLMENT
Program Eligibility. To be eligible for the EES EHS program, families must have incomes at or below the poverty level, have a child younger than 1 year, and live in Windham County.
Recruiting Strategies. The EES EHS program recruits families through referrals from other agencies and programs, advisory board members, high school counselors, area psychologists who work with families, and other community members. Information about the program also spreads by word of mouth. For example, enrolled families recommend the program to their neighbors and relatives. Other families learn about the program through participation in community play groups organized by EES. The health department refers families to EES EHS when they sign up for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services. EES EHS also recruits families who are participating in the Healthy Babies program and families referred by Reach Up, Vermont's welfare reform program.
Enrollment. The EES EHS program has the capacity to serve 75 families, and
staff members expected at least 65 families to participate in the EHS evaluation research. At
the time of the site visit, the program was fully enrolled. Several factors prevent all families
from participating in the research. EES transitioned a number of CCDP families (who are not eligible
for the research sample) into EHS. Because EES did not shut down enrollment during the transition
from CCDP to EHS, other families were enrolled before random assignment began. Finally, EES has
a contract with Reach UP, Vermont's welfare reform program, which requires the agency to provide
services to all teenage parents. Because teenage parents enrolled in EHS cannot be assigned to
the comparison group, they cannot participate in the research.
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Windham County is a primarily rural area located in the southeastern corner of Vermont. Brattleboro, the county's largest town, has a population of approximately 12,000 people. An additional 28,000 people live in outlying areas of the county. A significant strength of the community is the level of community involvement. Many residents participate in town meetings, the United Way, churches, and town fairs. Others are involved in human services organizations, the arts, and environmental projects. The economy in Windham County is relatively strong, the unemployment rate is low, and jobs are available in the service and tourist industries. EHS families typically work in service industry jobs. Although the county is characterized by a strong community spirit, families living in outlying areas face social isolation, especially during the winter months. As a rural community, Windham County lacks some services that low-income families need, including transportation services and an adequate supply of affordable housing. The county also lacks sufficient numbers of child care slots for infants and mental health services for families and young children. The level of collaboration among service providers is high, and agencies work closely around the needs of individual families. Health services are readily available in the area, and most primary care is provided by private physicians. Most physicians accept patients covered by the state's health insurance program for poor children and pregnant women. Service and resource gaps exist, however, in several areas, including housing subsidies and affordable housing; supervised housing for teen parents; transportation, especially for families living in outlying areas; quality child care for infants; adult education and training; affordable mental health services for young children and families; and vocational rehabilitation, adult assessment, and supported employment. |
Enrolled families bring a number of strengths to the program. More than half are two-parent families with fathers who are involved with their children. Many families have strong ties to the community, and most stick with the program. Parents are motivated to learn more about their children's development and to improve their economic situations through education and employment. At the same time, EHS families face significant challenges. Almost all families have incomes below the poverty level, and many lack the education necessary to obtain jobs that provide adequate income to support their families. Families who live in rural areas face social isolation, especially during the winter months. Some families have mental health needs.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
The EES EHS program provides child development services to all families during home visits and to some families in its child care centers or other contracted child care arrangements. The program also encourages families to participate in a variety of group activities, such as play groups, family outings, parent support group meetings, and parent education seminars.
Home Visits. The program assigns one parent/child educator to each family. This person meets with families weekly for 60 to 90 minutes to work on child and family development. At the time of the site visit, parent/child educators were able to complete about 80 percent of scheduled home visits. Cancellations by families and transportation problems prevented parent/child educators from completing some home visits.
Because the parent/child educators are trained as generalists (the minimum requirement
for the job is a two-year associate's degree), they consult with a multidisciplinary team of specialists
about more complex or difficult issues, such as issues of substance abuse or domestic violence.
However, parent/child educators are the families' main contact with the program, and they continue
to coordinate EHS activities with the parents.
| The program strives to provide regular, age-appropriate child development activities to all children that are consistent with child development goals set by parents and with needs identified through regular screenings and assessments in which parents participate. Activities are designed to promote strong parent-child relationships and positive interactions. |
The early childhood coordinator and the parent/child educators draw on a variety of resources to plan child development and parent education activities for each home visit. Examples of curricula and other resources they draw from include the HELP . . . at Home (Hawaii Early Learning Profile) curriculum, T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints, The Emotional Life of the Toddler, and the Parents as Teachers curriculum. EES has also developed a set of best practice standards for the child development and parent education services provided during home visits.
Typically, time during a home visit is split equally between parent education, facilitation of parent-child activities, and family development issues. The parent/child educator talks with the parent about the child's developmental stage or other issues related to the child's development and provides written information, videos, activities, and other materials related to that topic. Parent/child educators also facilitate an activity with the parent and child during each visit that reinforces the discussion and models positive interaction. Parent/child educators often leave toys and other materials in the home and suggest activities that parents and children can do together during the week. However, home visits are individualized according to families' needs and interests, and parent/child educators modify planned activities when necessary to address issues that emerge during the visit.
Center-Based Child Development Services. EES operates two child care centers. One center, which began operating under the CCDP, serves teen parents at Brattleboro Union High School. It has eight full-time slots for a mixed-age group, and the maximum child-staff ratio is 8 to 3. Half of these slots are available for tuition-paying families, and half are reserved for teen parents enrolled in EHS. The second center, The Birge Nest, is housed on-site at the EES center and has six full-time slots for children of mixed ages from 6 weeks to 3 years. The maximum child-staff ratio at The Birge Nest is 3 to 1.
Although they draw on a broad range of resources, both centers use The Creative Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers, developed by Teaching Strategies, as their primary infant/toddler curriculum. Through a contract with Teaching Strategies, EES played a role in developing this curriculum.
The amount of time children attend the centers varies from three half days to five full days each week. In both centers, children are assigned to primary caregivers. EHS slots at both centers are available on a first-come, first-served basis to EHS families (teen parents at the high school center) who need child care so that parents can work or attend school and to parents who need respite or crisis care.
Group Child Development Activities. In addition to the parent education and parent-child activities provided during weekly home visits, the EES EHS program provides a variety of opportunities for families to participate in group activities. The agency has organized play groups at the center and in several outlying communities for EHS families and community members. A monthly Healthy Babies group for parents and children focuses on infant/toddler health issues and provides an opportunity for parents to socialize with one another. The EES EHS program organizes other parent education workshops and series on a variety of topics. A "Get Real" parent support group for men also meets monthly.
At the time of the site visit, the program had recently enrolled a large number of new families who were not yet fully involved in the program. As a result, only about 10 percent of all EHS families had participated in group events and activities.
Child Care Services. At the time of the site visit, approximately 30 percent of EHS children were in a full- or part-time child care arrangement. For families whose children are in child care, the EES EHS program ensures that families receive high-quality care in several ways. First, the child care coordinator and parent/child educators work together to identify centers or family child care homes that provide quality care and have openings that meet families' needs. An EHS staff member accompanies parents on visits to centers or family child care providers to gather information about potential child care arrangements. The staff member, typically the parent/child educator, helps the family ask the questions that will allow the family to make an informed decision about the quality of care.
When the family selects a child care provider, the Windham Child Care Association (WCCA), the local child care resource and referral agency, writes a contract between the provider and the EES EHS program and manages the contract. (However, beginning in October 1997, EES EHS was planning to manage these contracts directly.) The EES EHS program pays for the care of 17 children, either in part or in full.
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Approximately one-third of EHS families need child care. Some receive child care in the EHS centers, while others are cared for by community child care centers and family child care providers under contract to the EHS program. Program staff members describe the quality of child care in Windham County as ranging from mediocre to excellent. Not enough good-quality slots are available, especially for infants. Windham Child Care Association (WCCA) serves as the county's child care resource and referral service. WCCA works to identify new child care providers, encourage unregulated providers to become licensed or registered, provide training to child care providers, and refer families in need of child care to appropriate providers. Vermont recently increased the level of its child care subsidy, which has had a positive impact on the quantity of child care available in the county. Although good-quality child care is available, there are not enough good-quality slots for infants. Regulated child care for infants is not available at all in some outlying areas. In August 1997, not a single licensed or registered infant child care slot was open in Brattleboro. As more parents participate in Vermont's welfare reform program and enter the work force, regulated child care is becoming more difficult to obtain, especially for parents who work outside of the traditional 9-to-5 schedule. The EES EHS program is involved in several community efforts to improve the quality of child care. In addition to providing training and technical assistance to providers used by EHS families, the child care coordinator serves on WCCA's training advisory board and conducts periodic WCCA-sponsored training sessions for community child care providers. The coordinator is also a key organizer of Windham County's Starting Points Early Childhood Education Network. Vermont is one of six states taking part in the Starting Points Initiative funded by the Carnegie Foundation to develop early childhood education networks in an effort to improve child care quality. |
The EES child care coordinator makes periodic announced and unannounced monitoring visits to centers and family child care homes in which EHS children receive care, communicates regularly with child care providers by telephone, and provides training and technical assistance to providers who care for EHS children. Parent/child educators may also accompany parents on visits to child care providers to observe their children in care and, if needed, may visit children in child care to conduct child development activities.
Third, EES has a contract with WCCA to provide drop-in care for EHS families. When EES EHS is conducting parent group activities, the parents can call WCCA to make child care arrangements for their children. Care is usually provided on-site at the main office. The building houses both the child care center that can be used during off-hours for these meetings and a small drop-in child care area. WCCA provides staff members for child care during parent meetings.
EES is the payer of last resort for child care. Most families are eligible for a state child care subsidy, and that money is used first. EES supplements the subsidy to meet the provider's charges for child care, up to a maximum amount, for parents who need child care to work or attend school and for parents who need respite or crisis care. Some parents prefer to select child care on their own, and the EES EHS program will subsidize any child care parents select as long as the provider is licensed or registered and will permit EES staff to visit the family child care home or center and provide training and technical assistance.
Child Development Assessments. Parent/child educators conduct developmental screenings about every four months using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires developed at the University of Oregon. This tool was developed for use by parents, and the parent/child educators find that parents enjoy using it to track their children's development. The early childhood coordinator reviews the questionnaires for evidence of developmental delay and uses them to prepare an individualized child development plan to guide the parent/child educator and the parent in planning home visits and activities during the next four months.
Health Services. An EES nurse coordinates child health services and works closely with the Vermont Department of Health to ensure that each child has a medical home. Within about three months of enrollment, the nurse visits each family to conduct an initial health and nutritional assessment and to identify health needs. Many area pediatricians accept patients covered by Dr. Dynasaur, Vermont's health insurance program for poor children and pregnant women, so it is not difficult to find a physician for each child. Consequently, virtually all EHS children have a medical home and receive regular well-baby visits and appropriate immunizations. The nurse also coordinates the EES Community Health Advisory Committee.
Services for Children with Disabilities. At the time of the site visit, approximately 10 percent of the EHS families had children with disabilities. To serve these families, staff members work closely with the Family, Infant, and Toddler (FIT) program, the area's Part C provider. Program staff members usually identify children with suspected disabilities or delays based on observation during home visits or based on the results of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires.
If a parent/child educator or other staff member suspects a disability or delay, the early childhood educator contacts someone at the FIT program to request additional evaluation and observation. When the FIT program representative determines that a child is eligible for early intervention services, the two agencies hold an initial joint team meeting to plan services for families, and staff members communicate regularly to coordinate services, share information, and exchange referrals.
Transitions. Approximately six months before families must leave the EHS program, home visitors will initiate transition planning as part of their case management process. A team of staff will begin meeting with the family to develop goals and plans for the remaining months of program participation. These goals and plans will focus on how to meet immediate goals by the end of the program and on connecting the family with other resources for meeting long-term goals. This planning process will include planning for the child to enroll in a preschool program, usually Head Start or EES's preschool program, called Esteyville. For some children, the transition plan will call for the child to remain in his or her child care program.
FAMILY DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
Needs Assessment and Service Planning. Parent/child educators visit families weekly (as part of the home visit described under the child development cornerstone) to establish a trusting relationship, develop and review goals and plans, and help families obtain needed services. Within 90 to 120 days after enrollment, one of the program's two social workers (the adult services coordinator and the home-based program coordinator) visits each family to complete the Family Assessment Profile (FAP). Based on the results of the FAP and families' priorities and interests, parent/child educators work with families to establish goals, plans, and timelines. Goals are established for parents and children and are updated at least once every three months.
Case Management. EHS staff members conduct case management using a team approach. Every three months the agency holds "Family Updates in a Nutshell" (FUN) meetings to review the status of each family, review the family's goals, and plan services for the next three months. All staff members involved with the family attend FUN meetings. Staff members also call Coordination of Services (COS) meetings with the family's interdisciplinary team as needed to address crises and emerging issues. Families do not attend FUN meetings but sometimes attend COS meetings, as do community agency personnel when appropriate.
Parent/child educators have several specialists with whom they can confer about
a family. These specialists include the social worker who has been assigned to the family (the
two social workers are each assigned one-half of the caseload) and four specialists who work under
the supervision of the adult services coordinator (two employment and training specialists, a
literacy tutor, and a men's program coordinator). Parent/child educators may also consult with
the nurse/health educator, the early childhood coordinator, the parent involvement/ community
coordinator, and a mental health consultant.
| Program staff members believe that family development services should build on the strengths and competencies of families. They also believe that developing strong relationships with families that are based on mutual respect is a necessary foundation for their home-based component. |
Education and Employment Services. The two employment and training specialists work with parents to prepare them for employment. The specialists usually work one-on-one with parents to address a variety of job readiness issues, identify career goals, enroll them in appropriate training and education programs and obtain financial aid, and conduct job searches. Two small companies in the area regularly hire EES parents for part-time positions, providing parents with an opportunity to learn basic job skills and become familiar with the world of work. When parents are ready, the employment specialists may also refer family members to group programs, such as Job Clubs operated by Reach Up.
The literacy tutor works with about 8 to 10 parents at a time and visits these families about once a week. Some parents need only a few visits, and others receive literacy services for a year or more. The literacy tutor receives some referrals from the completed FAPs and relies on parent/child educators to ascertain families' literacy needs. For parents who need to work on basic literacy skills, the tutor uses children's books, the Mother Read curriculum from the Even Start program, and other resources. She works with other parents to prepare them for the General Educational Development (GED) examinations. EES's literacy tutor was originally funded by Even Start, but that funding ended in June 1996. Beginning in October 1997, the position was to be funded by EHS and some Goals 2000 funding from the state.
Financial Assistance. EES provides several avenues of financial support to EHS families. First, EES helps families who have special needs to apply to a local Realtor's Fund and other local funds for small monetary grants for one-time purchases.
Second, if other resources are not available, EES can provide small grants (usually $100 to $150) to families from a Family Assistance Fund. Typically, these grants go towards a security deposit or one-time purchase, such as a new bed for a 3-year-old child. EES staff members make sure that the money will really get the family through its crisis instead of perpetuating the family's need for assistance. When a family asks for financial assistance, social workers have an opportunity to work with the family on budgeting and financial management.
Third, EES maintains a loan fund to provide families with low-interest loans. A local bank contributed $5,000 as collateral for the loan fund and provides the loans to families at a 2 percent interest rate. Families applying for loans do not have to provide their own collateral. Typically, these loans help families with such expenses as repairing or buying a car, paying for car registration and insurance, putting up a security deposit, or covering legal fees. The adult services coordinator reviews the loan applications. This individual rejects about half of them after looking at the family's income and their expenses. The other half go to EES's loan committee for approval.
Health Services. EES has a nurse/health educator on staff who coordinates health care issues for EHS families. The nurse visits each family to conduct a family health assessment after the parent/child educator has developed a relationship with the family, usually within 90 days. This typically occurs about three months after the family's enrollment in the program and after the social worker has completed the FAP. The nurse also helps parent/child educators address health issues with families and locate physicians, dentists, and other health care providers. To educate parents about nutrition, the nurse/health educator organizes quarterly Food Fests for program families. The most recent Food Fest was a vegetable dinner. Families brought vegetable dishes to share, and the program published some of the recipes in its newsletter.
Other Services. EHS staff members work with many other community service providers to obtain and coordinate other services for families. A mental health consultant works with the staff to address mental health issues, to provide precounseling services to program families, and to assist the program personnel with locating appropriate mental health service providers. For families who receive welfare, the EES EHS program works closely with Reach Up to pool resources and coordinate services for specific families. The program also works closely with area child care providers and health care providers who serve EHS families. Staff members refer EHS families to Vermont Adult Learning, the Community College of Vermont, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, the Office of Employment and Training, the local consumer credit counseling service, Youth Services, and other service providers.
Father Involvement. EES has a men's program coordinator who plans activities for EHS fathers and other male members of the community. A men's support group meets once a month to provide a forum for men to talk and support each other in their roles as fathers. The men's program coordinator also conducts home visits to fathers to provide information about the program and to encourage their participation. In addition, the men's program sponsors group events for families, such as an annual Mother's Day breakfast and recreation outings. EES recently formed an advisory committee for the men's program to help the coordinator enhance program services to men. Finally, the men's program coordinator is leading an effort within EES to make programs more inclusive of men. For example, EES modified its enrollment forms and letter of commitment to provide space for two parents to sign.
Parent Involvement in the Program. The program worked hard during the year prior to the site visit to develop a strong policy council and to encourage parent involvement in the program and the community. The EHS policy council plans social activities for parents, and representatives participate in interviews with candidates for staff positions. A finance committee works with the program director to develop the annual budget and helps the director present the budget to the board of directors.
Parent involvement for many families is an evolutionary process. New families begin by developing a strong relationship with their parent/child educator and gradually begin to interact with other EES staff. Once they become more familiar with the program and have established trusting relationships with staff members, many parents become interested in participating in group activities, such as play groups, parent education workshops, the policy council, and social activities. As parents build their social skills and become more comfortable with group interaction, they begin to increase their involvement in the broader community. A parent involvement/ community coordinator works to get parents involved in group activities and to connect parents with community groups and events.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT CORNERSTONE
Training. An EES staff training committee developed the staff training plan for 1997 based on the results of a staff questionnaire about training needs. One Friday morning each month is reserved for staff training. Depending on the topic, the training session is conducted by either an EES staff member or someone brought in from the outside. Some recent training topics included substance abuse, human development, and family systems; infant nutrition; separation and divorce and their effects on children; trauma in families; language development; and body image. Although time for practicing new skills is not usually built into training sessions, it is encouraged during individual and group supervision meetings.
All EES staff members are encouraged to attend the monthly training sessions, and EES invites staff members from collaborating agencies in the community to participate as appropriate. For example, if training is planned about a health topic, EES will invite staff members from the health department.
EES staff members are also able to access money put aside by EES to further their education. Each EES staff member can access up to $200 per year to attend workshops and conferences. Staff members without a bachelor's degree can receive $300 per semester for college classes. Staff at all levels, including caregivers from the child care centers and parent/child educators, are encouraged to attend training sessions and conferences sponsored by other organizations. During the past year, staff members have attended training sessions on mental health issues, organizing parent groups, infant/toddler nutrition, caring for children with special needs, infant and toddler development, and many other topics. Staff members have received academic credits for attending some of these training sessions.
Supervision and Support. The home-based program coordinator, the early childhood coordinator, and the nurse/health educator meet individually with the parent/child educators under their supervision every week for 60 to 90 minutes. The supervisors also review the parent/child educators' contact sheets on a daily basis. In addition, supervisors hold a group supervision meeting with the parent/child educators once a month to discuss issues common to all families. These meetings provide staff members with an opportunity to share experiences, reflect on their work, and strategize about the issues they face.
The EES EHS program provides staff support to sustain motivation and prevent burnout in several ways. The entire staff participates in an annual meeting, called an "Advance," to reflect on program activities during the previous year and to plan activities for the coming year. Staff members form committees to work on specific issues of interest to them, such as involving volunteers, case management, and technology. EES also has a wellness committee that plans fun activities for the staff, such as picnics, games, and hikes. Peer support among the staff members is encouraged, and new staff members are assigned formal mentors.
Salaries of parent/child educators are slightly higher than salaries for comparable positions at other local agencies, and salaries of management team members are significantly higher than those of comparable positions in the community.
Staff Turnover. Because staff members receive adequate levels of support and compensation, staff attrition has been moderately low. In the year prior to the site visit, 3 of 35 staff members (two parent/ educators and 1 assistant bus driver) left the agency.
COMMUNITY BUILDING CORNERSTONE
Program Collaborations. EES has an active Community Advisory Board and six advisory committees that focus on specific service areas. These boards and committees involve 54 community members in the program and provide an opportunity for community members to interact with the program around issues of interest to them. In addition, EES has 14 formal collaborative agreements with service providers and other agencies in the county, including Brattleboro Child Development, Vermont Department of Health, Vermont Department of Employment and Training, Southeastern Vermont Career Education Center, 5-C Head Start, and Parks Place Community Center.
EES has worked to increase collaboration with other community service providers. For example, during the year prior to the site visit, EES enhanced its collaboration with 5-C Head Start in several ways. A 5-C Head Start staff member now has office space at the EES center and participates in staff training sessions and on committees. At the time of the site visit, Head Start was planning to place nine children in the Esteyville preschool program operated by EES. EES and Head Start were also cosponsoring a parent education series open to the entire community called "Parenting in the '90s."
Funded by the Vermont Success by Six program, EES's Newborn Visiting Program reaches out to the parents of every child born in the school district with a letter of welcome and an offer of a home visit. EES recruits, trains, and supervises volunteers from the community to conduct these home visits to families with newborns. When volunteer home visitors identify families who need additional services, EES staff members can make further referrals and enroll the family in EHS or another EES program as appropriate.
Interagency Collaborations. EES is also involved in several interagency collaborative groups in the community. The Alliance for Building Community is a coalition of agencies that coordinates human services and education services to families with children and promotes collaboration among agencies and providers. This organization is gradually evolving into a governance group of county service providers. As one of 16 Vermont Parent Child Centers, EES participates in an annual state advocacy event called the Doll's Campaign.
EES staff members serve on 38 community boards, task forces, and teams. Examples include the Domestic Violence Task Force, the Child Protection Team, the board of the Brattleboro Child Development Center, the Drug Free School Committee, and the Part C Advisory Team.
Finally, the EES center provides an important vehicle for community involvement and collaboration. WCCA is housed in the center, so that child care referral services and EES are co-located. The center also provides space for play groups open to the community, and many community groups use the center's large conference room for meetings and events.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND LOCAL RESEARCH
Early Program Support. During the year prior to the site visit, staff from Zero to Three visited the EES EHS program and provided technical assistance in the areas of continuous improvement and staff development. In addition, a Technical Assistance Support Center (TASC) consultant provided training for the EHS policy council when it was formed. The program also received key support from its federal project officer.
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Vermont has operated its welfare reform program, Reach Up, since July 1994 when a federal waiver was granted. Vermont's current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) plan incorporates all features of this waiver. The state requires single parents to obtain work or accept subsidized employment after 30 months, and adults in two-parent families are required to accept work or subsidized employment after 15 months. Parents of children under 18 months are exempt from the work requirement. Teen parents must live with parents or in another supervised living situation and must attend school. Parents who accept employment can keep more of their earnings before losing cash assistance, receive transitional Medicaid for up to 36 months, and receive the state child care subsidy based on a sliding scale as long as they remain eligible. Approximately one-third of EHS families were receiving cash assistance when they enrolled in the program. EES has two employment and training specialists who are partially funded by Reach Up. They encourage families to begin working with the Reach Up program as early as possible to identify career goals and plan for future employment. For the most part, EES has been successful in helping parents obtain employment before they reach their time limit. Program staff members feel that some aspects of welfare reform have had a positive effect on families. Through Reach Up, parents can receive more services, working parents can earn a higher level of income and continue to receive assistance, and parents can receive extended benefits after they begin working. However, in order to begin working, some parents need specific services, such as vocational rehabilitation, that are not available in the community. Welfare reform and the increased number of program mothers entering employment
have increased the challenge of completing weekly home visits. Parent/child educators try
to conduct visits in the evening but find that families are often tired and busy preparing
for the next day. When work prevents parents from completing weekly home visits, parent/child
educators sometimes visit children in child care once a month to perform a child development
activity rather than conducting a home visit. The parent/child educator then talks with
the parent by telephone or during the next home visit about the visit to the child care
center. |
Continuous Program Improvement. Continuous program improvement is primarily the responsibility of the EES management team, which uses data collected by the program to evaluate it and track what is happening to families and how they are moving along toward their goals.
Local Research. A team of researchers from Harvard's Graduate School of Education is serving as the program's local research partner. The local research team, headed by one of the nation's leading language researchers, is focusing on parent-child interactions as a context for language and literacy development and socioemotional development. The two key research questions are (1) How do families living in rural communities interact with children, linguistically and socially? and (2) Does EHS have an impact on patterns of family interaction? In addition to the data collected for the national EHS evaluation, local research staff members will interview and collect observational data on 130 families and follow 8 of these families more intensively in an ethnographic study.
During the summer, graduate students working with a Harvard research team piloted qualitative data collection for the proposed studies of EHS fathers. The team also received a small grant from the Harvard Project on Schooling and Children to do more in-depth interviews with some families about childrearing practices. The team will conduct a seminar this fall with the Harvard Law School in which 12 to 14 students will conduct these in-depth interviews using oral history methods. After the data are collected, the team will hold a conference at Harvard to present these case studies.
The local research team is also working with the home-based program coordinator and the early childhood coordinator to develop a detailed description of the program's home-based component. Local researchers from Harvard have conducted three training sessions for the EES staff during the past year. Two training meetings focused on completing and using the AIMS questionnaire, and a third one presented information about language development.
PROGRAM SUMMARY
The EES EHS program provides child and family development services primarily to rural white families in Vermont though home visits, center-based child development services, and group activities designed to promote strong parent-child relationships. Teams of staff members also work with families on their personal and family goals and link them with needed services in the community. The program is working with the welfare agency to encourage families to begin planning for future employment as early as possible, and program staff members are assisting families in finding employment before they reach the time limit on cash assistance.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Judith Jerald
Brattleboro Town School District
Early Education Services
30 Birge Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
LOCAL RESEARCHERS
Catherine Ayoub
Harvard Graduate School of Education
711 Larsen Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
Barbara Alexander Pan
Harvard Graduate School of Education
302 Larsen Hall, HGSE
Cambridge, MA 02138
Catherine Snow
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Larsen Hall, Room 313
Cambridge, MA 02138
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