7.2 Use of Quality Set-Aside Funds

Lead Agencies must use a portion of their CCDF expenditures for activities designed to improve the quality of child care services and to increase parental options for and access to high-quality child care. They must use the quality set-aside funds on at least one of 10 activities described in CCDF and the quality activities must be aligned with a Statewide or Territory-wide assessment of the State's or Territory’s need to carry out such services and care. 7.2.1 Quality improvement activities a. Describe how the Lead Agency will make its Quality Progress Report (ACF – 218) and expenditure reports, available to the public. Provide a link if available. The QPR Reports are available on the OEC Reports webpage. https://www.ctoec.org/agency-program- reports/ b. Identify Lead Agency plans, if any, to spend CCDF funds for each of the following quality improvement activities. If an activity is checked “yes”, describe the Lead Agency’s current and/or future plans for this activity. i. Supporting the training and professional development of the child care workforce, including birth to five and school-age providers. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Funds are utilized to provide training and technical assistance to early care and education providers and family childcare. Activities include supports for our trainers and coaches to be trained in content and coaching process, environmental rating scale use, standards, curriculum and assessment activities, homelessness and insecure housing awareness, accreditation supports, consultation support for programs that may have licensing compliance issues, staffed family child care networks, and funds to provide resources through a shared platform called CT Shares. Future investments may include building sustainable coaching and mentoring practices within programs. In addition, the Lab Schools Investments Initiative (LSII) is a partnership of the CT Office of Early Childhood (CT OEC) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) that uses ARPA funds, managed and monitored by CCDF, to sustain and support Connecticut’s lab schools, the ECE workforce pipeline, and high-quality early childhood programming statewide. The Lab Schools provide professional learning opportunities for the greater early childhood workforce and will continue through 2026. Future investments may include building sustainable coaching and mentoring practices within programs, and further collaboration with the Connecticut Network for Children and Youth to provide free and low-cost training specifically for school-age programs aligned to best practice for this age group. ii. Developing, maintaining, or implementing early learning and developmental guidelines. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Plans are underway to begin a review and update for the CT Early Learning and Development Standards (CT ELDS), with the involvement of a cross-sector advisory group including the Lab School Investments Initiative participants, child care providers, and technical assistance providers. It is anticipated that a full work plan and timeline for updates will be in place by 2025. iii. Developing, implementing, or enhancing a quality improvement system. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Elevate is the Office of Early Childhood’s (OEC) quality improvement system for licensed and many license-exempt child care programs in family, group, and center-based settings. Our system gives child care providers the tools and guidance they need to improve their programs over time at their own pace. Elevate builds on Connecticut’s licensing requirements and links to national accreditation standards, in fact, programs who are licensed are automatically in Elevate as a Member level of the System. This quality improvement system also brings together OEC’s existing technical assistance and professional development opportunities with exciting new resources. Service Navigators are experienced guides who can talk with program’s about their needs and direct them to resources for self-reflection and professional learning. Elevate offers members 3 levels of engagement: Member, Member+, and Member Accredited. Licensed and license-exempt child care providers start out as Members. The system relies heavily on providers planning their program’s needed improvements and implementing those plans with the OEC resources described. Providers demonstrate their commitment to continuous quality improvement by creating Elevate Program Plans in which they develop SMART Goals, actions steps and detail how they will reach their goals and continue their program quality over time. Service Navigators guide this process. In addition, Staffed Family child Care Network staff support family child care provider members in accessing Elevate resources and advancing Elevate levels. Achieving national accreditation places programs at the Member Accredited level. iv. Improving the supply and quality of child care services for infants and toddlers. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. OEC has added 1,300 new infant and toddler spaces to the state-funded system statewide. We offered professional development opportunities for infant/toddler providers to improve the quality of child care services. OEC offered two series of trainings focused on infant mental health (in English and Spanish) to newly funded infant and toddler providers. Participants in both series were offered the opportunity to engage in reflective supervision and apply for the national infant mental health endorsement. In addition, the OEC offered a 4-part series on the Program for Infant and Toddler Care (PITC) for technical assistance providers working across a range of activities . Participants will be provided further opportunities for learning and discussion focused on ensuring existing training and coaching (e.g., training on early learning standards, accreditation support) adequately address the needs of infant and toddler providers. v. Establishing or expanding a statewide system of CCR&R services. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. CCDF Funds are currently being used to expand the capacity and improve the services of our statewide CCRR. Funds were added to the UWC contract to increase the number of call center staff, for better, faster customer service. CCDF Funds were also used to increase the capacity and user-friendly features of the Child Care Data System used by UWC 211 and online child care look up tool. Our OEC CCDF and Quality Improvement teams have been working with our CCRR contractor to increase staff’s level of understanding of quality child care and how they can support families’ understanding of quality child care in order to more effectively support families in their search for child care that meets their needs. Consumer education materials and information available online through our CCRR have been aligned with OEC’s launch of the ELEVATE quality framework. System changes have been and will continue to be made to the child care online look up tool so families can readily see the ELEVATE level of the child care program. Future changes will include more accurate enrollment reports and quick identification of child care program funding options available per program. vi. Facilitating compliance with Lead Agency child care licensing, monitoring, inspection and health and safety standards. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x]Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Consultation Quality Improvement Support is a statewide activity that will provide and/or secure consulting support to early childhood providers serving young children engaging in continuous quality program improvement or whose compliance with licensing, accreditation, or other standards is determined to be non-compliant and places them at risk. This initiative augments other CT OEC initiatives such as AQIS and Elevate with an emphasis on system building and continuous quality improvement. Consultation support is tailored to each program’s unique needs, delivered by knowledgeable consultants, and utilizes the many OEC funded initiatives designed to support continuous quality. Currently, consulting support is available to programs with: licensing consent order; licensing negotiated corrective action plan; multiple/repeated licensing violations; and state-funded programs non-compliant with state-funded grant/contract requirements and/or Accreditation/Head Start Compliance. Within the next year, support will be available to any program statewide for the reason previously mentioned and for those seeking to engage in continuous quality improvement. vii. Evaluating and assessing the quality and effectiveness of child care services within the State/Territory. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. The OEC will continue to fund contracted Technical Assistant Providers to provide training and coaching to center and family child care providers on the CTELDS and DOTS. The OEC will continue to fund implementation of the Early Childhood Rating Scales for state- funded programs who are not currently accredited through NAEYC or NAFCC. viii. Accreditation support. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Accreditation Quality Improvement Support (AQIS) is a statewide initiative that provides center-based programs with access to a team of staff (facilitators) with expertise in continuous program improvement using the NAEYC standards and assessment items as the framework for growth. The CT AQIS is established under CT General Statutes to provide a "system of accreditation facilitation to assist early childhood education and child care programs￿ in achieving national standards and program improvement". The Office of Early Childhood establishes this system of support through contracts with agencies that hire staff to implement the CT AQIS model. AQIS supports are free and open to all child care providers engaged in quality improvement, even providers not actively pursuing or maintaining NAEYC Accreditation with the understanding that best practices are the foundation of quality. CT Staffed Family Child Care Networks are initiating support of NAFCC accreditation for member family providers by providing Communities of Practice on the topic of accreditation. OEC funds accreditation fees for NAEYC and NAFCC accreditation and provides bonus payments through the Care 4 Kids system to accredited providers. ix. Supporting State/Territory or local efforts to develop high-quality program standards relating to health, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, and physical development. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. Yes. the Office of Early Childhood defines high quality according to the standards of national organizations including Head Start, NAEYC and NAFCC. We invest funds in a partnership with NAEYC that informs our quality improvement system, Elevate. This partnership creates alignment between NAEYC standards, publications and products and providers’ needs and areas for program improvement. We also pay the cost of NAEYC Accreditation for programs. Through our SFCCN Hub, we are invested in NAFCC standards by supporting membership and accreditation costs for family child care providers. These two investments result in our system aligning with readiness and support for accreditation. x. Other activities determined by the Lead Agency to improve the quality of child care services and the measurement of outcomes related to improved provider preparedness, child safety, child well-being, or kindergarten entry. [ ] No plans to spend in this category of activities at this time. [x] Yes. If yes, describe current and future investments. The OEC outcomes working group is an internal working group to outline a vision for child outcomes associated with the work of the Office of Early Childhood (OEC). We view these outcomes as a result of our investments in Connecticut’s children and their families, rather than measures of a particular intervention or the final results of a specific activity. We anticipate these outcomes will align with overall child well- being as defined by OEC programs and services to support children and their families. Our Vision for Child Outcomes was not written to advance children's skills at kindergarten entry. The Vision for Desired Child Outcomes is being developed with two key themes: access, and positive learning experiences. Associated with each theme, we are identifying the desired outcome, available data, and data for which OEC must develop systems and collection strategies in order to be able to analyze and plan. Child outcomes are articulated for OEC programs and services that directly impact children from the prenatal period to age five, including: developmental screening; child care for families; and supports from Birth to Three or Home Visiting for eligible children and families. The OEC also leads initiatives to help the adults in children’s lives nurture their healthy development. Similarly, the OEC partners with other organizations to improve families’ access to resources. We will explore outcomes related to these adult- focused and partnership-based efforts at a future date. 8 Lead Agency Coordination and Partnerships to Support Service Delivery Coordination and partnerships help ensure that the Lead Agency’s efforts accomplish CCDF goals effectively, leverage other resources, and avoid duplication of effort. Such coordination and partnerships can help families better access child care, can assist in providing consumer education to parents, and can be used to improve child care quality and the stability of child care providers. Such coordination can also be particularly helpful in the aftermath of disasters when the provision of emergency child care services and the rebuilding and restoring of child care infrastructure are an essential part of ensuring the well-being of children and families in recovering communities. This section identifies who the Lead Agency collaborates with to implement services, how match and maintenance-of-effort (MOE) funds are used, coordination with child care resource and referral (CCR&R) systems, and efforts for disaster preparedness and response plans to support continuity of operations in response to emergencies.