Goals and Objectives

Preamble

Mission

• Guiding collaborative efforts and making recommendations to coordinate, improve and expand upon existing early childhood programs and services, and
• Engaging in planning, coordination and linkages across programs, divisions and agencies at the state level as well as making use of existing reports, research, and planning efforts.

On February 13, 2007, the Illinois Early Learning Council approved priorities to guide the work of the Council over the next two-four years to accomplish its priority goals. The priorities and new committee structure for achieving them are based on recommendations that resulted from the Governor’s Summit on Early Childhood, and reflect the continuation of the Council’s previous work on any outstanding activities. Although the Council’s scope encompasses all aspects of a state early childhood development system, the Council will continue its focus on Preschool for All funding and program implementation issues.

The goals and objectives of the Early Learning Council are delineated below:

Infants and Toddlers

GOALS:

• Expand access to high quality early childhood development programs for all at-risk children under three years of age.
• Improve the quality of infant toddler child care, programs, and services
• Improve coordination across infant toddler programs and services at the state and local levels.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify and make recommendations regarding opportunities to expand funding for infant and toddler programs and services, including increasing the Infant Toddler set-aside of the Early Childhood Block Grant.
2. Make recommendations for a system of capacity building and resource development to ensure that infant and toddler programs are aware of funding opportunities and are prepared to apply for and implement high quality infant toddler services.
3. Develop a system of Infant Toddler specialists to serve as consultants to child care providers, perhaps modeled after Infant Toddler specialists in other states.
4. Review licensing requirements for center-based infant and toddler care and consider recommendations to improve quality.
5. Develop recommendations regarding the creation of an outreach system for all new parents to provide basic information and support, and to identify and connect families who need more intensive services to appropriate programs and services.
6. Make recommendations to improve coordination of program model specific monitoring and technical assistance across government agencies and other entities.
7. Create recommendations for a process to approve comprehensive, intensive, research-based models to be funded through the Prevention Initiative, as required by statute.

Linguistic and Cultural Diversity

GOAL:

• Develop strategies for meeting the varied needs of culturally and linguistically diverse families and young children to ensure that they are well-prepared for school.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Research and make recommendations regarding best instructional practices that will include the areas of Assessment and Instruction and will cover theories of bilingualism, second language acquisition, and social cultural aspects.
2. Create recommendations for additional training offerings so that early childhood practitioners become more familiar with bilingual children and families.
3. Research ways to increase the capacity of current workforce to work with English language learners and bilingual children.
4. Work to develop policies to increase the pool of certified bilingual early childhood teachers.
5. Research current law as it relates to K-12 bilingual educations and analyze for policies appropriate to incorporate into early childhood policies.

Oversight and Coordination Committee

GOALS:

• Provide advice to the Early Learning Council to help ensure the effective implementation of all Preschool for All birth to five services and program quality components and Early Learning Council recommendations.
• Recommend systems focusing on standards, assessments, systems-level program evaluation, and quality assurance that support both individual children's learning and development and programs' continuous improvement.
• Recommend strategies to improve coordination and integration across early childhood programs and systems to address the comprehensive nature of children’s healthy development and readiness for school.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Support a diverse delivery system of early childhood services in Illinois by addressing Preschool for All Implementation challenges in child care, Head Start, and other community settings.
2. Support the evaluation of Preschool for All by acting as an advisory group to ISBE and the entity chosen to conduct the evaluation.
3. Develop strategies and recommendations to guide the development of community collaboration and planning systems in support of Preschool for All.

Public Awareness

GOAL:

• Increase participation in high quality early learning programs by providing consistent, high-quality information, outreach and technical assistance to families, early childhood providers, and other stakeholders.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Develop and implement 18 month marketing plan to include targeted communications with providers (mailings, meetings, and trainings).
2. Create web-based and printed materials (brochures, posters etc.) for providers with specific information for decision-makers, teachers, caregivers and parents, with brand focus.

Space Capacity

GOAL:

• Increase the space capacity in communities to serve children in high quality classrooms, infant-toddler care, and education settings, especially in areas of greatest need.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Provide recommendations to ISBE, Capital Development Board, IDHS, and other entities concerning early childhood facilities.
2. Provide recommendations to ISBE, Capital Development Board, IDHS, and other entities concerning planning for early childhood facilities for applicants that do not have space or funding for capital investment, including renovations.
3. Provide ISBE and school districts with training opportunities, boilerplate guidelines and reference material concerning best practices in the planning and development of high quality, licensable early childhood facilities.
4. Provide recommendations to the Early Learning Council, state agencies and community-level providers and stakeholders on areas of greatest need for capital projects and financing.
5. Advocate for the establishment of a dedicated statewide funding stream for early childhood capital projects and other facilities development policies.

Special Populations

GOAL:

• Expand access to high quality early learning programs to children who face the greatest challenges, such as children with disabilities, children who are homeless, children involved in the child welfare system, children in domestic violence shelters, etc.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Define special populations and come to a common understanding of the services available to them and the challenges they face in preschool.
2. Based on the above definition of special populations, populate the committee.
3. Develop recommendations for systems supports to expand access to high quality learning experiences to children in special populations. Make recommendations to ensure that every child in Preschool for All is served in the context of his or her family and community and that every family receives the services needed to promote children’s educational success
4. Determine the mechanisms and processes for interacting with other committees to advance special populations work.
5. Develop recommendations to guide parental engagement in early childhood, particularly for the families of children in special populations.

Workforce Development

GOAL:

• Ensure an adequate and stable supply of diverse, well-prepared early childhood professionals by focusing on a wide range of professional development needs.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Advance a professional development system, including supporting the work of the Gateways to Opportunity Professional Development Advisory Council, to support the education and training of early childhood practitioners.
2. Advocate among leadership within higher education institutions for increased resources for early childhood programs and departments.
3. Develop strategies for increasing the number of bilingual early childhood practitioners and create models for cultural and linguistic competence training to support staffs who are working in diverse communities.

For more information, contact the Governor's office at (217) 782-0244 or Ounce of Prevention Fund at earlylearningcouncil@ounceofprevention.org