7.1 Quality Activities Needs Assessment

7.1.1 Needs assessment process and findings a. Describe the Lead Agency needs assessment process for expending CCDF funds on activities to improve the quality of child care, including the frequency of assessment, how a range of parents and providers were consulted, and how their views are incorporated: Following the passage of Act 3 in 2012, a law intended to create and maintain a statewide, integrated early childhood care and education network and establish uniform standards for quality early child education and of readiness for Kindergarten, the Lead Agency conducted a series of statewide road shows and feedback opportunities to determine how quality would be assessed in Louisiana; a diverse range of hundreds of providers, parents, advocates, and other stakeholders were consulted through those opportunities and gave feedback that was incorporated into the design of the present QRIS. In that QRIS, to assess quality, every classroom in publicly-funded sites is observed at least twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. The two observations of each classroom are used to calculate a Performance Score and Rating for each site in Louisiana. These Performance Profiles include two key components: a rating based on scores from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS￿) and information on classroom best practices. Annually the Lead Agency uses data-driven determinations from Performance Scores to determine high-priority active coaching sites and training needs. Sites identified as high-priority receive ongoing quality improvement support, which includes individual or small group training and coaching to improve teacher-child interactions and high-quality experiences as well as program leaders’ abilities to support quality. More recently, to support the distribution of ARPA funds, the Lead Agency held many stakeholder focus groups and opened a statewide survey (participated in by hundreds of stakeholders) that included questions about any additional needed quality supports and activities. The Lead Agency also conducts ongoing needs assessment as part of its Preschool Development Grant work and ongoing collaboration with community networks, ongoing collaboration with provider groups, and ongoing reporting to the state Advisory Council. b. Describe the findings of the assessment, including any findings related to needs of different populations and types of providers, and if any overarching goals for quality improvement were identified: Scores from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS￿) provide information on the quality of child-teacher interactions in each infant, toddler, and pre-K classroom. Infant classrooms are assessed on the relational climate, teacher sensitivity, facilitated exploration, and early language support dimensions. Toddler classrooms are assessed on the positive climate, negative climate, regard for child's perspectives, behavior guidance, teacher sensitivity, facilitation of learning & development, quality of feedback, and language modeling dimensions. Pre-K classrooms are assessed on the positive climate, negative climate, teacher sensitivity, regard for child perspectives, behavior management, productivity, instructional learning formats, concept development, quality of feedback, and language modeling dimensions. Each year the Lead Agency uses data-driven planning, based on these composite CLASS® scores, to assess all sites and develop high-priority coaching and technical support caseloads for each Child Care Resource & Referral agency. The Lead Agency provides each CCR&R a toolkit that includes relative data to support the determination of the dosage and frequency of each provider site’s intervention plan, including an assessment of the needs of each early learning site. Although the ￿Negative Climate￿ dimension score is not included in the Performance Score for sites, the Lead Agency takes action when observations indicate a high Negative Climate score. Other selected high-priority sites include both Site Improvement Planning (SIP) sites and sites flagged based on the key quality indicators. The SIP process was developed by the Department in 2017-2018 for publicly-funded sites rated below 3.75 for the previous academic year, to support against further decline in quality. Sites participating in the SIP process are assigned a Lead Agency field support consultant who assists in creating an improvement plan based on individualized site needs and self-assessment results. These sites receive prioritized resources that are included as part of improvement plans (e.g., CLASS®-based coaching, curriculum support, mental health consultation, and professional development). Since Performance Ratings were first issued in 2016-2017, the number of sites rated ￿Unsatisfactory￿ and ￿Approaching Proficient￿ has declined, with no sites rated as ￿Unsatisfactory￿ in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Furthermore, the number of sites rated as ￿High Proficient￿ and ￿Excellent￿ has increased significantly, with more than 65% of sites earning this rating. Only 10 sites scored below 3.75 and were mandated to participate in the Site Improvement Planning (SIP) process for the 2022-2023 academic year based on their CLASS® observation results in 2021-2022.