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 diverse range of parents and providers were consulted, and how their views are incorporated: With its Preschool Development Grant ￿ Birth through Age Five (PDG B-5) grant, Rhode Island (RI) is executed a variety of activities, including several focused needs assessments, and developing a data-informed comprehensive plan of action for achieving the state’s vision: that all children prenatal through age five (B-5) have access to quality services and programs that sets them on the path for long-term success to inform the state’s Early Childhood Care and Education Strategic Plan. We have conducted a number of needs assessments, including workforce, family, and overall program - the cadence of these needs assessments run about every three years, with strategic planning sessions based on the assessments on a quarterly cadence. The Family Needs Assessment was designed to provide a better understanding of the needs of families with young children and the extent to which families know about, access, and experience different B-5 services and programs. B5 services explored in the needs assessment included Early Intervention services, Family Home Visiting, Early Head Start, Head Start, child care and State Pre-K. The assessment updated and filled in gaps from prior needs assessments and shed light on the current and future challenges and opportunities faced by families of young children and the B-5 system. To address the findings of the Needs Assessment the Lead conducted several activities to ensure a systemic approach to meeting the ECCE strategic plans five core objectives to ensure that all children are on a path to reading proficiently in third grade. Objective 1: Rhode Island’s early childhood programs meet high-quality standards for care and education as defined by our Quality Rating and Improvement System Objective 2: Children and families can equitably access and participate in the early childhood care, services, and supports that will help them reach their potential and enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Objective 3: All four-year olds in Rhode Island have access to high-quality Pre-K, inclusive of parental choice and student needs. Objective 4: Secure the quality and delivery of ECCE through increased and sustainable funding and operational improvements. Objective 5: Expand the depth and quality of family and child- level data accessible to and used by agencies, programs, and partners to drive decisions. The Lead Agency is responsible for Objective 1 and has been great progress in strategies identified through our needs assessment towards it. We are slated to conduct a new needs assessment at the end of 2024, beginning of 2025 to inform future CCDF spending, particularly as we look to the SFY26 budget as well as the official end of all liquidation of COVID relief funding. 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: Key findings of the PDG funded Family Needs Assessment included: The highest priority for families was access to affordable child care and child care close to home are the top needs identified by families, regardless of age of child, vulnerability or geography. The next most common need is information about available programs for families and children. The ways that Rhode Island families learn about available services and supports vary for different subgroups of families. Non-English- speaking families and low-income families are more likely to rely ￿only on family and friends￿ to get information. They are also less likely to use the Internet as a source of information on programs. Non-English-speaking families have lower participation rates in family visiting, Early Head Start, and Early Intervention services, compared to other vulnerable groups. This gap in access among non-English-speaking families is especially prevalent among families with infants and toddlers. Vulnerable families are nearly twice as likely as less-vulnerable families to report one or more barriers to accessing services and nearly three times as likely to report multiple barriers. Families who are non-English- speaking, as well as families with special needs children or foster children, cite cultural barriers in accessing services. More than half of families report that their participation in early childhood programs provides ￿a lot￿ of benefits related to child development, parenting skills, and parent self-confidence. Families of children with special needs are less likely to indicate ￿a lot￿ of benefit to their program participation. Non-English- speaking families and families of 3- to 5-year-olds are the subgroups that are most likely to report ￿a lot￿ of benefit to their program participation, across all three types of benefits. Among families with preschool children in care, 70% use center-based care. The pattern is reversed for children 0 -3, where the majority of children in care (57%) are in home-based care. There appears to be a strong preference among families with preschool children for center care: 70% of preschool children in care are in centers, and parents care most about kindergarten readiness and full day care. Affordability and convenience are also important to them. Among families with children ages 0-3, the most preferred features for child care are warmth and that the provider shares the family’s values. However, most families who are currently using home-based care for their child under age 3 report that they use it because there are no slots available in centers or no centers close by (60% of families) or because it is less expensive (55% of families). Half of vulnerable families using child care say that it was hard or very hard for them to find, with the primary reasons being there were no available slots in programs they liked or could afford. Half of the parents of preschoolers also said that accessibility was a barrier. Among preschool children, all of the subgroups of vulnerable families had difficulty finding child care, but more than 75% of families of foster children and non-English-speaking families said it was hard or very hard to find care. Families with children ages 3-5, just over half (56%) of vulnerable families say they have heard of the State pre-K lottery; highest among children with special needs (74%) and those in foster care (69%). Among vulnerable families, just over half who are aware of the lottery applied for a slot; 70% of these were offered a slot and just over half accepted a slot. Relatively few of the less-vulnerable families applied for the program, only one (14%) was offered a slot and that family accepted. To address the needs and build on the identified state action steps, the state enhanced the kids.ri.gov webpage to ensure it included a comprehensive overview of services available to children and families. Other work informed by family needed completed by the Lead Agency included: Progress meeting the equal access standard for CCAP rates, with increasing CCAP rates to the 50th percentile of the market rate for 1 star programs and up to the 85th percentile for 5 star programs; Expansion of CCAP eligibility to families up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level and to income-eligible full time students at public higher education institutions; Implementation of the $15M Early Childhood Care and Education Facilities Bond, passed in 2021, to expand and improve quality early learning spaces across the state; Implementation the Family Child Care start-up grants to support increased capacity in an important part of the mixed-delivery system. In addition, the lead agency used this information for the expansion of career pathways supports and pipelines for early educators, including funding to double the number of TEACH Scholarships; Implementation of the Pandemic Retention Bonus program to address compensation and support retention in the field during the pandemic. The results of the findings created the strategic plan and a team to help create and implement a systemic approach to meeting the ECCE strategic plans five core objectives, which otherwise help define our overarching goals for quality improvements within the system. Objective 1: Rhode Island’s early childhood programs meet high-quality standards for care and education as defined by our Quality Rating and Improvement System Objective 2: Children and families can equitably access and participate in the early childhood care, services, and supports that will help them reach their potential and enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Objective 3: All four-year olds in Rhode Island have access to high-quality Pre-K, inclusive of parental choice and student needs. Objective 4: Secure the quality and delivery of ECCE through increased and sustainable funding and operational improvements. Objective 5: Expand the depth and quality of family and child- level data accessible to and used by agencies, programs, and partners to drive decisions.