Statewide kindergartner assessment process changes
Alaska should have a better sense of where our children are in their development as they enter kindergarten, thanks to a revised assessment process implemented this past year by the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED). After observing students over the first four weeks of kindergarten, teachers complete the developmental profiles online. The profiles are compiled by DEED and district-by-district results produced. For a description of the new profile, the process, and Alaska's 2009-2010 results, click here.
The Alaska Early Care and Education Public Policy Priorities for 2010 are recommendations to assist public policy leaders in developing a system of early care and education to promote school readiness, strong families, and a strong
workforce. These are advanced by a coalition of early care and education advocates working together to increase the accessibility and quality of early learning for young children and to strengthen families. In addition to Best Beginnings, the coalition includes the Alaska Child
Care Resource and Referral Network (thread), the Alaska Association for the Education of Young Children, the Alaska Head Start Association, and the Alaska Infant Learning Program Association.
Engage, convene, mobilize. Many entities in Alaska are engaged in early learning and literacy efforts in myriad ways, but there has been little coordination and communication.
To help with this, Best Beginnings helps organize formal conferences, such as the 2009 Alaska Business Summit and the 2007 Governor’s Summit on Early Learning, as well as impromptu, informal meetings of groups with related interests.
Best Beginnings views this role of bringing people, groups, and organizations together as one of its most important functions. Government, private, and nonprofit sectors must be partners and speak with one voice to bring resources to early learning efforts.
Preschool pilot grants announced
Early 2009, the state legislature appropriated $2 million to fund the Alaska Pilot Pre-Kindergarten Project. This an important step forward in the effort to ensure young children receive quality early childhood education in Alaska, which is one of only 12 states that don’t have state-sponsored preschool. Find out how funds will be allocated >>
Best Beginnings in Juneau Abbe
Hensley (left), Best Beginnings executive director; Senator Bettye Davis;
Melinda Myers, Best Beginnings senior manager; and Sue Hull, Fairbanks North
Star Borough School Board Member.
At the invitation of Senator Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage, Best Beginnings made a presentation to the Senate Health, Education, and Social Services Committee on March 7, 2008. Best Beginnings staff Melinda Myers and Abbe Hensley updated the members on progress made since meeting with the committee during the 2007 legislative session. Best Beginnings received $150,000 in FY08 through the Department of Education and Early Development's Early Learning Programs as the State's contribution to this public-private partnership.
Committee members were briefed on the recently completed plan for Alaska's voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), an organized method of assessing, improving, and communicating the quality of early care and education programs. A two-year field test was discussed as the next step to getting this framework in place in the state.
Best Beginnings invited other partners with special expertise to participate in the presentation on other issues of concern. Sue Hull, a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board and a Best Beginnings Early Learning Council member, spoke on the need to raise child care assistance rates for families. Mark Lackey, executive director of CCS Early Learning (Head Start), provided information about his program and Head Start programs around the state and the funding needed to ensure their viability. Finally, Carol Prentice, program manager of the System for Early Education Development (SEED), highlighted how investments in professional development have resulted in increased education levels of Head Start teachers in Alaska.
Senator Davis continues to be an enthusiastic advocate for young children in Alaska. Her support for the Best Beginnings public-private partnership and its goals demonstrates her strong commitment to the future economic vitality of Alaska.
As a result of the collaboration among the early learning community and the advocacy of Best Beginnings’ supporters around the state, the FY09 State budget includes:
an additional $600,000 to enroll more children in Head Start programs, helping to whittle long wait lists.
$307,100 for Early Learning Programs in the Department of Education and Early Development, including support for Best Beginnings.
funding to increase child care reimbursement rates from 25% to 50% of the market rate, making child care more affordable for working families.
