Learning the ABC's of Language Development & Early Childhood Education

The years before a child reaches kindergarten are among the most critical in influencing learning. What better way to delve deeper into this important development stage than to take a site visit with other funders and learn more about effective early childhood education programs and efforts going on in our own backyard!

Based on a high level of interest from CTEF membership, CTEF coordinated its first-ever group site visit focused on learning more about best practices in early childhood education, specifically the critical components of language development. Hats off to CTEF program co-chairs, Jessica D’Arcy of Webber Family Foundation and Ellen Ray of Still Water Foundation, for their work in coordinating such a stellar and lively morning!

We began the site visit on the second floor of the M Station Meredith Learning Center. Julian Huerta of Foundation Communities and Will Meredith of Meredith Family Interests (new CTEF member!) opened the gathering with a brief historical overview on how Chestnut Plaza and the M Station community went from vision to realization.

"The approach is pulling together all these great assets and creating a real vibrant hub of education, the environment, economics and basic family services."

- Will Meredith, who is spearheading the project for the Meredith family.

Meredith spoke about the nonprofits that have already relocated to Chestnut Plaza, as well as plans for a healthcare facility and other community spaces such as an amphitheater. Located directly across the street from Chestnut Plaza, Foundation Communities’ M Station currently reflects the most robust and innovative community development the organization has ever undertaken. Participants learned that M Station, a 150-unit affordable multifamily community located in the MLK transit-oriented district (TOD), is a project of many “firsts" as proclaimed by AIA Austin. M Station is the first affordable housing built in one of Austin's new TODs, the first LEED for Homes multifamily project in Austin, the first family LEED for Homes Platinum community in Texas, and the first project in Austin to pursue three green-building ratings: LEED for Homes Platinum, Austin Energy Green Building 5-Star, Enterprise Green Communities (and the Sustainable Sites Initiative Pilot Project). In addition, Julian talked about the ways Foundation Communities addresses the other large economic burdens for low-income working families: utility costs, transportation cost and childcare costs.

The site visit continued with insightful presentations by early childhood experts and practitioners including key remarks by the directors of UT’s Priscilla Pond Flawn Child & Family Laboratory, United Way Capital Area's Success By 6 Initiative, Mainspring Schools and Open Door Preschools. Open Door just opened its third site at M Station, on the ground floor of the Meredith Learning Center, providing quality early education and care on-site for working families living in and around M Station.

Key points included the importance of play-based and hands-on, discovery-oriented programs designed to meet the individual needs of children and reflect their emerging interests while supporting their mastery of new abilities. Children develop self-esteem, self-control and the skills to become effective problem-solvers through developmentally appropriate activities designed to enhance the basic processes necessary for learning. Director Rhonda Hauser of UT Laboratory School explained critical components of language development, from the pre-linguistic and telegraphic stages to the development of syntax and sentence structure.

"In general, by age 9, children develop receptive skills and vocabulary is pretty much intact; however, much of a child’s language threshold is developed well before age 3.”

-Rhonda Hauser, Director of University of Texas Priscilla Pond  Flawn Child and Family Laboratory

The convening concluded with CTEF members taking interactive program tours of Open Door Preschool at M Station and UT Lab School, via the delightful Austin Trolley Company, utilizing the below Observation Guide provided by Dr. Leah N. Meunier, program manager of Success by 6. This mini-guide of developmentally appropriate practices in language development in early education centers is a helpful resource to not only early childhood education funders, practitioners, but yes, even, parents/caregivers as it is grounded on both research on child development and learning and the knowledge base regarding educational effectiveness. On behalf of CTEF and all the presenters who shared their knowledge, we hope you find the Observation Guide helpful in your pursuit to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.

Language Development in Early Care and Education Centers

Observation Guide

(Courtesy of Success by 6 Initiative)

What do you see?

• Are there words on the walls?

o How are they used (e.g., to describe class projects; label children’s art; state class rules)?

o Are words at eye-level so that children can see them clearly?

• Are words used as labels?

o On classroom objects (e.g., doors; chairs; art materials)?

o To differentiate classroom centers (e.g., dramatic play; blocks; puzzles)?

• What languages are used?

o Are both English and Spanish used?

o Are words presented in any other languages?

o How are children’s differing home languages supported in the classroom?

• What books and other printed materials are available for the children?

o Can the children easily reach them?

o Is there a comfortable spot where they can read?

o Are the books neatly organized?

o Is there a station where they can listen to audio books?

o Do you recognize any of the books on display?

What do you hear?

• Do teachers respond warmly and consistently to the children?

o Do they verbally acknowledge what children have said or done (e.g., You used a red crayon to draw a round circle)?

o Do they expand upon the children’s verbalizations?

 For example:

• Child – Big truck

• Teacher – Yes, that is a big red fire truck. What sound do you think it makes?

• Do teachers kneel, squat, or sit so that they are eye-to-eye with children when they communicate with them?

• Do teachers use sign language or other nonverbal cues to reinforce their verbal message?

• Are questions asked in an open-ended way to encourage sustained conversation?

• What is the ratio of teachers to children in the classroom? How does that affect teacher-child dialogues (e.g., are they longer or more frequent)?

• How do the children communicate with their peers?

• When conflicts arise (e.g., two children want to play with the same toy), how do the teachers use language to resolve the conflict? For example, do they provide words so that each child can express his or her thoughts and feelings?

Food for Thought

• You can focus a site visit on many other areas (it's not all about language development)! For example, you could assess the physical set-up of the classroom, lesson plans, teacher credentials, safety, nutrition, fine and gross motor activities, social-emotional learning opportunities, or STEM skills. In fact, many of the activities you will see were designed to encourage development in multiple domains.

• STEM skills are developed early in life and can be encouraged through play-based learning. You can look for examples in blocks (counting, addition/subtraction, principles of physics), sensory bins (measurement, principles of a solid vs. a liquid, Piaget’s conservation tasks); science area (life cycles, weather, geology, plant growth).

Is CTEF adding value to YOUR education grantmaking?...Key findings of Membership Survey

Earlier this summer, CTEF Steering Committee launched a member survey to learn more deeply on why funders engage in CTEF, ranging from event attendance, service on subcommittees and utilization of CTEF tools and communications. Twenty-five of CTEF's over sixty grantmaking entities completed the survey.

Survey results are in, and we want to share them with you!

Below are a snapshot of the survey findings. These results are important as they give a sneak peek into how CTEF is using this data to guide the direction of its year-round programming, outreach efforts, key initiatives, such as the Common Application, Indicators & Report, and offerings on CTEF Website!

Taking it to the Courts - A Mission for Fairness

The blog entry below is authored by September guest speaker on school finance, Lauren Cook, Director of Communications at Equity Center, a non-profit advocacy and research organization founded 30 years ago to represent school districts that are chronically underfunded by the Texas school finance system. As a product of Texas public schools from kindergarten through her undergraduate (English) and master's degree (Spanish) from UT Austin, she is a passionate supporter of public education.  

Like most people, school district administrators don't enjoy going to court. It's time-consuming, expensive, and stressful. But public schools in Texas have been backed into a corner and have no other option for seeking fair funding for their students and taxpayers. For that reason, groups of districts are currently organizing to sue the state based on the grounds that our current school finance system does not meet the requirements for public education established by the Texas Constitution.

Why do we have a system that treats Texas children and taxpayers so unfairly? Especially considering the fact that since 2000, the 181 members of our state legislature have met in 11 sessions in which public school finance was either a primary focus (six regular sessions) or the sole reason the session was called (five special sessions), one would think that we would finally have a system that is efficient, rational, and fair.

But we don't.

The current system is none of those things, and districts will file a lawsuit to claim that it is inequitable (both for students and taxpayers), inefficient, inadequate, and lacking in meaningful discretion for local district tax rates.

In other words, it's not fair. For example, the current system allows districts like Alamo Heights ISD to spend more than $1,000 more per weighted student than San Antonio ISD has access to (at the same tax rate!). It forces districts like Ysleta ISD to tax at the maximum rate allowable by law ($1.17 per $100 value), only to receive $500 less per student than what is spent in Frisco ISD at $1.04 tax rate. 

These inequities can't continue. Not only do they affect the educational opportunities available to students across the state, but they perpetuate an unfair system of taxation for residential and business property owners.

So what outcome are these soon-to-be plaintiff districts seeking? They are calling for a school finance system that is fair for all Texas taxpayers and students, and one that allows all children to have access to world class educational opportunities.

The legislature has had more than its fair share of opportunities to restructure our school funding system and address these critical flaws. During this past legislative session, instead of making the system more rational and fair,  members chose to cut public education spending by over $5 billion, and they chose to cut those districts that were already funded at the very bottom by approximately $300/student for the current school year.

By reducing overall funding to public education and by cutting those districts that didn't have any funds to spare, the legislature sent a clear message that it does not have the political will to make the hard choices and clean up the system.

So it's time for districts to seek a remedy from the other governmental body that is supposed to protect the constitutional rights of all Texans. Because that's really what the courts are for --checks and balances. Well we think it's high time for the legislature's inaction to be "checked" and for our school finance system to finally be "balanced."

Our Texas school children and taxpayers simply can't wait.

CTEF Member Spotlight: San Antonio Area Funders build the capacity of nonprofit sector

Late last week, San Antonio unveiled its inaugural "Capacity Camp" for its nonprofit community - education, health and human service and arts programs. Below is a guest blog from CTEF members, Francesca Rattray, VP of Center for Nonprofit Support and Sandie Palomo-Gonzalez, PhD, Asst. VP of Grants and Programs, San Antonio Area Foundation.

The San Antonio Area Foundation has taken exciting steps in the area of building nonprofit excellence. First, in 2010, the Area Foundation established the Center for Nonprofit Support, which offers workshops, customized training and technical assistance to help nonprofits get the tools they need to achieve their missions more efficiently in the community. 

Then, after engaging in conversations with community leaders and conducting best practices research to determine how best to use our discretaionary dollars to maximize impact in the community, the Area Foundation announced a new multi-year grantmaking initiative to strengthen nonprofits and help agencies better fulfill their missions in 2011. 

The application process has two phases.  First, nonprofits submit an application for funding to take the Core Capacity Assessment Tool or CCAT, a tool that helps agencies identify strengths as well as areas for organizational improvement.  The Organizational Assessment grant provides agencies with a unique opportunity to engage in an assessment process, use the CCAT as a springboard for strategic conversations between board, leadership and staff, and then create a plan for strengthening the organizational based on the assessment results. 

Nonprofits can then apply for funding for a project that will strengthen their agency -- so long as the project aligns with a  need identified in the CCAT.  In this second phase, nonprofits can request funding for outside support from consultants, trainers, or organizational coaches or for professional development or training workshops to build their capacity.

While the CCAT helps take the guesswork out of identifying training or consulting needs, finding “capacity building” services and the providers offering them in the marketplace can be challenging. 

To make the process easier, the Area Foundation hosted its first “Capacity Camp,” on September 14.  The Camp featured a presentation by the TCC Group, the organization that administers the CCAT, followed by a “capacity fair,” which gave nonprofits the opportunity to “shop” for capacity building services and learn firsthand about the services provided by some of the consultants, trainers and coaches in the community – including the Area Foundation’s Center for Nonprofit Support. 

The presentation and fair, attended by more than 100 nonprofits and 15 “capacity-builders,” demonstrated the range and diversity of services that nonprofits can utilize to take their organizations to the next level.

October 17 is the next deadline to submit an application for the Area Foundation’s Strengthening Nonprofit grantmaking initiative.  Visit www.saafdn.org for more information.   

Education Issues from the 82nd Legislative Session

Even before it began, it wasn’t hard to recognize that the 82nd legislative session was going to be unlike any other in history. It was a historic moment in terms of the budget deficit and the groundswell of Texans keeping a watchful eye on the future of public education. CTEF and guest speaker, Jason Sabo of Frontera Strategy, held an informative session on July 25, 2011, to learn about the pertinent happenings, pieces of education legislation passed, and the next steps to continue influencing education as a priority during the interim period leading up to the 2013 Texas Legislature.

The webinar recording is now available at http://tgslc.adobeconnect.com/p17a2g2krt9/.

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Adopt CTEF's Common Indicators

We are excited to have learned that in developing their new data driven Ed-Fi Program, The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation heavily reverenced and incorporated Central Texas Educations Funders' College Readiness & Access Common Indicators. We are proud and gratified that such a distinguished member of CTEF is using and validating our work to provide grantmakers and grantseekers with tools and language to speak the same language when talking evaluation. Metrics are increasingly important in the non-profit sector and its important that we work together to define the parameters of the discussion. 

Thank you Michael & Susan Dell Foundation!

For more information on the Common Indicators Project visit that section of our website.

Collective Impact

"Collaboration is messy and time-consuming, but it is the students that truly benefit from a collective model." -- Dr. Hannah Gourgey, E3 Alliance


Today we gathered at the Austin Community Foundation to hear from the experts at E3 Alliance,  about the concept of Collective Impact - a model that is actually at the very core of Central Texas Education Funders.


Collective Impact models look for better ways to leverage limited investment dollars for greater impact. Doesn't that sound a lot like what we are trying to do with CTEF? E3 had been employing this philosophy for years without giving it a particular name. According to Susan Dawson, President & Executive Director of  E3 Alliance, a collective impact model "aligns goals, measures progress, and changes the student experience." It seems to me that through our Common Grant Application, Common Grant Report, and the growing list of Common Indicators, CTEF is addressing goals and measurements with the desired result being an improved student experience.   

BUILDING BLOCKS OF COLLABORATION

Adapted from concepts from "Collective Impact" by J. Kania & M. Kramer 

It sounds like we may be on the Collective Impact track, but first let's take a closer look at how E3 defines this model. Moving away from traditional philanthropy models that have great intentions but only an isolated impact, collective impact has a broader vision. It is a strategy to address complex social issues through focused collaboration. It is a data driven model that drives a common agenda to measure progress, and it is a community solution to impact policy and practice.


So how can funders implement this philosophy into their grantmaking? One way is to align your mission and funding priorities around a common agenda that embraces collaboration. For example, you can prioritize proposals that indicate they are part of a collective impact model. Perhaps you could even make that a criteria of receiving a grant -  hold out finds unless the grantee has joined a group that is working towards collective impact.


After hearing all this from Susan and Hannah, CTEF members had a chance to brainstorm about how to grow this movement in central Texas. Luckily, many of these ideas are things that we're working on or already exists in the area!

• Common Indicators -- even if they are not required, the suggestion is very helpful and influential
• Mapping of what programs are running where - Youth Service Mapping does this!
• A willingness to fund evaluation and research
• Frequent gatherings to help build partnerships through making connections
• Broadening reporting deadlines to allow for collaborations to work
• Consider a flexible grant writing option that would allow for a quick application deadlines
• Foster understanding about the power of collaborative funding to our boards through events that bring us all together

One powerful suggestion that is timely due to the decreased budgets that schools are working with, is to make school attendance a priority in your next grant cycle. The more kids that are in the classroom, the more funding eligibility for the school. Simply by stressing attendance in the grants that we write, we can help ensure that more funding dollars are directed to our partners. 

All in all, this was an incredibly inspiring event that reminded me of the potential power in our CTEF work. Just by being involved in this organization you are fostering the communication and collaboration necessary to bring change to the education sector. Please continue to support this mission by being an active member! 

In that spirit, we are working to make our event accessible to our members around the state! At this event we experimented with streaming live on the web. Unfortunately, it wasn't as seamless as we had hoped, but we will keep trying to find ways to improve the experience for our out-of-Austin members. The recording from that meeting is still online though, so please go and check that out!


For further information on Collective Impact please see the abstract and article on which much of this presentation was based.

Work/Career Awareness & Training Indicators

Have you heard about our Common Indicators Project? It is part of our larger Common AIR Project which includes a Common Grant Application and Report. 

The Common Indicators are being created to provide guidance and context to help non-profits, funders and the community align their efforts to achieve the best possible educational outcomes for Central Texans. While these indicators are not mandatory or indicated to compare programs across the board, we hope to:

• Support non-profits to become more efficient and effective in their programming and assessment of key education goals and metrics 

• Encourage a consensus on best practices among funders

• Educate community stakeholders about common education indicators through outreach and advocacy, with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement in Central Texas

The indicators for College Access & Readiness have been completed and available on our website for quite awhile now, but we are excited to announce that indicators for Work/Career Awareness & Training are now posted as well! Please go check those out and implement them into your programs as appropriate! Up next we are working out bringing you Arts Education, Early Childhood Education and Charter Schools. Which indicators are you anxious to see? -- Kate Stark, CTEF Graduate Intern 

A Conversation with Chris Busse of the Texas Charter School Association

"We need a lot of different types of schools to serve all the different types of kids."
- Chris Busse

Yesterday Central Texas Education Funders met at The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for a presentation by the Texas Charter Schools Association. When originally scheduled this event was meant to be something of a recap from this year's legislative session and an update on where things are for charter schools now. Of course, as we all know, session isn't over yet (soon! soon we all hope!), so instead Chris Busse, VP of TCSA walked us through what has happened to date in session, what might happen in the coming days, and finally gave us an overview of some of the exciting work and products that TCSA has been developing.

First, a couple of facts that jumped out at me:

• If charter schools were grouped they would make up the 3rd largest school district in Texas
• Charter schools currently serve approximately 120,000 kids
• TCSA represents 90% of charter schools in the state

TCSA has been a very active voice during this legislative session, hosting two rallies, over 80 office visits, and facilitating numerous school visits that put change-makers in the classrooms to see charter schools at work. It seems that a big effort is being made to really educate people as to what a charter school really is, dispelled some myths that are still in the community.

The most exciting information that Chris shared was about the tools that are available through TCSA. "Operations tend to trip you up before academic achievement can," says Mr. Busse explaining the drive behind their Model Board Policy Series, which gives charter schools templates to work from to establish a strong operational foundation on which to build their institution. Along with that series, TCSA has developed a Quality Framework Assessment that charter schools can complete to get an idea of how they measure up on all areas from Academics to Fiscal Management.

At CTEF we are excited to partner with TCSA to learn about the indicators they have established and then to make that knowledge the base for our Common Indicator in the Charter Schools funding area. So look out for that in the future!

All in all a great afternoon. Thank you to Chris for an engaging and informative presentation and to the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for being great hosts!

--Kate Stark, CTEF Intern

Innovation+

Yesterday CTEF members sat down with Dennis Cavner and Suzi Sosa to learn about an "innovative" new organization called Innovation+. A special project under Austin Community Foundation, the impetus for Innovation+  was identifying the three things that a NPO really needs to grow and thinking about how those can be provided.

Innovation+ says that non-profits need:

1. Growth capital (because currently most of the capital in non-profits is project-based)
2. A mind-share of smart, creative people
3. Human capital to move things forward.

Taking cures from the venture capital work, Innovation+ looks for programs that are on the cusp of transforming from a small non-profit to a larger-scale organization and have high growth potential. They look for organizations that are doing a innovative service, that have proven success, and have the potential to grow given the necessary monetary and human capital.

Even though they are not exclusively considering education non-profits, they have chosen College Forward as their first partner. By doing the due-diligence that is required whenever a grant or a donation is made to an organization, Innovation+ has vetted the organization's model. They have identified College Forward as a viable investment and will proceed to work as something of an agent of their behalf. The idea behind Innovation+ isn't to provide scale funding themselves, it is to help their partner non-profits to find this funding. Through existing connection and extensive networking, Innovation+ intends to become champions for the partners, shopping the idea to people and companies that can provide human and/or monetary capital.

There are other models for this kind of thing. Social Venture Partners is an example that existed in Austin in the 1990s. Under that model, a group of organizations would donate to a communal pot and then distribute the funds to promote growth. Unlike that model, Innovation+ intents to be the link that connects motivated, well organized, strategically versed non-profits with folks that want to help, but maybe don't have the resources to do the research and find a group to support. 

One of their great hopes is that by helping non-profits to grow and scale their work (College Forward has expanded into Houston and plans to continue bringing their model to more cities in the near future) that they can transform the non-profit world from fragmented to united. 

"Non-profits don't have to be little local things where the wheel has to be recreated in every city."  - Susi Sosa, RGK Center/Innovation+

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Organizations like CTEF Members can play a special role in helping Innovation+ succeed. One of the reasons this model holds promise is because unlike an organization asking for donations themselves, they can present a complete package or investment deal that has been thoroughly researched and reviewed and is considered to be a good investment. As area funders, we have worked with and written grants to many potential Innovation+ Partners. By providing testimonials for those non-profits we lend credibility to the deal and that helps to attract investors. Contact us at info@centraltexasedfunders.org if you'd like to get involved and we can connect you with Innovation+.

-- Kate Stark, CTEF Graduate Intern

(For more information about Innovation+ check them out in the Austin Business Journal)

Find us on Facebook!

Central Texas Education Funders is now on Facebook. Please go and "like" our page so that our message of improving education in Central Texas through smarter grantmaking grows!