2011-2014 Agency Strategic Plan

Kids Potential, Our Purpose

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For additional copies of this report, please visit www.del.wa.gov.

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Table of Contents Directors Letter..4 Vision, Mission, Strategic Goals...5 The Early Learning Plan..6 Agency Overview...8 Challenges.13

Achieving Results for Children and Families Performance Management..14 Strategic Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Measurements...16 Statutory-Authority References....27

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October 2010 Message from the Director

I am pleased to present our updated agency strategic plan, which will guide our work for 20112014. Since the Department of Early Learning (DEL) submitted its first strategic plan in 2009, much has happened within our agency, around the state and nationwide. Washington is poised to build a statewide early learning system second to none. The reasons for this are many, including:

The continued support of Governor Chris Gregoire and the Washington State Legislature in prioritizing our states youngest learners. The creation of a state Early Learning Plan, a roadmap for all entities that work with families in ensuring every child grows up healthy, capable, and ready for school and life. A growing public awareness of research supporting the incredible importance of a childs first years. A strong, action-oriented early learning partnership between DEL, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Thrive by Five Washington.

DEL is one of many entities that will be responsible for implementing the statewide Early Learning Plan. Our strategic plan lays out how we will help build a statewide, child-focused early learning system that supports school readiness. Our four priority strategic goals will focus our work and ensure we build the early learning system children need.

1. Provide high-quality, safe, and healthy early care and education opportunities for all children.

2. Partner with and inform parents, families and communities about early learning. 3. Support early learning professionals with professional development and

technical assistance. 4. Promote excellence and hold the system accountable for results.

Particularly in these economic times, our agency will focus on actions that are bold, strategic and cost-effective, and that, above all, improve outcomes for children.

Bette Hyde, Director

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The Washington State Department of Early Learning Vision Our State offers world-class, developmentally

and culturally appropriate early learning

opportunities for all of Washingtons

youngest learners, so each child enters

kindergarten with a solid foundation for

success in school and life.

Mission Statement

The Department of Early Learning develops,

implements and coordinates system oversight

to early learning policy and programs that

create safe, healthy, nurturing learning

experiences for all Washington children.

Strategic Goals

GOAL ONE

Provide high-quality, safe, and healthy early care and education opportunities for all children

GOAL TWO

Partner with and inform parents, families and communities about early learning

GOAL THREE

Support early learning professionals with professional development and technical assistance

GOAL FOUR

Promote excellence and hold the system accountable for results

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Ready and Successful Children

+ Ready and Successful Parents, Families and Caregivers + Ready and Successful Early Learning Professionals + Ready and Successful Schools + Ready and Successful Systems and Communities = A Ready and Successful State

The Washington State Early Learning Plan

After more than a year of working with hundreds of Washington residents, the Washington

State Early Learning Plan was finalized on September 1, 2010. We are proud of this effort.

This 10-year plan is the roadmap to build an early learning system in Washington that ensures

all children in our state begin with a solid foundation for success in school and in life. The plan

will guide early learning policy and funding decisions during the next decade, with the goal of

building a statewide system that supports school readiness for children in Washington.

This plan is organized not by a childs age, funding sources or child development domains.

Rather, the plan creates a framework for a comprehensive system of care, education, pro-

grams and services for children and families and is organized based on who and what needs to

occur to make that happen: Families and caregivers, children, communities, schools, educa-

tors, and systems.

The result is the following early learning equation:

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The Need for an Early Learning System

What is it?

An early learning system brings together the independent services and programs for:

Prenatal care;

Child care and preschool;

Kindergarten through third grade;

Health and nutrition;

Social-emotional development and mental

health;

Parent and community partnerships;

Parenting education and resources;

Higher education in child development and early

childhood education; and

Professional development for early learning

professionals.

An early learning system coordinates people and resources

toward a common goal of supporting and assisting

children. The system includes various policies, programs

and services for young children and the adults who care for

and teach them. When these elements are aligned

effectively, children have the best opportunity to reach

their full potential.

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Who is DEL? Emergent brain research and economic studies have shown that investing in early childhood

education promotes the best outcomes for children, families and the economy. As the first

Cabinet-level agency solely focused on early learning, DEL brought visibility, focus, and results

to the issue of our youngest children, placing Washington at the forefront of the nation and

positioning our state to become a model for how to support school readiness. Our programs

contribute to Washingtons continuing socio-economic success by partnering with parents,

supporting early learning professionals and providing each child a solid foundation from birth

to age 5 and beyond. We take great pride in helping create the next generation of Washington

leaders.

DEL was created in 2006 (House Bill 2964) as part of the recommendations of Washington

Learns, an effort led by Governor Chris Gregoire to build a world-class, learner-focused,

seamless education system in Washington. Since that time, our department has been hard at

work building an early learning system. Supporting children and families starts with providing

parents with information and resources. Our department also supports quality, healthy and

safe child care environments by providing professional development opportunities and

licensing and monitoring more than 7,500 child care facilities. Finally, DEL supports early

literacy programs, and oversees high-quality preschool for at-risk children, and early interven-

tion services for children birth to 3 who have disabilities and/or developmental delays.

At DEL, we envision an early learning system in which parents have the necessary resources,

early learning professionals are skilled and supported to prepare children, early learning

environments are healthy, safe, and high-quality, and children arrive at kindergarten ready to

thrive in school and life.

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Department Structure Operational Support

Direct-service operations are supported by a number of specialized units, including informa-

tion technology, human resources, facilities, financial management, policy/legislation and

communications. Support operations are critical to DELs success, as they collect and analyze

important data, maximize efficiency, and communicate information to parents, providers and

state leaders.

DEL is implementing a professional registry system, the Managed Education Registry

and Information Tool (MERIT) online training database for early learning professionals.

MERIT is a voluntary, statewide program that documents and recognizes the professional

achievements of people who work in the childhood care and education profession. This

work will ensure that providers, licensors and state leaders have access to consistent,

verified professional development data.

DEL is transitioning to electronic licensing forms (ELF) with tablet PCs to allow for

electronic collection of licensing data in order to increase mobility, consistency, data

quality, and responsiveness to parents and child care providers.

Service Areas Southwest, Northwest, and Eastern Washington

Our states three Service Areas implement child

care licensing rules and policy for Washington's

more than 7,600 licensed child care settings in

family homes, child care centers and school-age

programs. These businesses serve about 180,000

children. Our licensing professionals around the

state support child care business owners and their

staff in meeting the state's rules for safety and

health, and take action if settings are believed to

be unsafe for children.

Am

on

g o

ur

key

init

iati

ves:

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Department Structure (continued) Partnerships & Collaboration Division

Partnerships and Collaboration ensures that DEL offers programs and services that support

healthy child development in all settings. The Partnership and Collaboration Division includes

our Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), the Head Start State Collabo-

ration Office (HSSCO), our Parent Advisory Group, the Early Support for Infant and Toddlers

program (ESIT), and the Home Visitation Program.

We coordinate early intervention services for children birth to 3 who have disabilities

and/or developmental delays through the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT)

program. These services may include specialized instruction, speech therapy, occupa-

tional therapy, or physical therapy that can help young children. The program also

supports parents as the most critical influence on their childs early learning and

development.

We provide funding and oversight to the Early Childhood Education and Assistance

Program (ECEAP), which currently serves more than 8,000 low-income three- and four-

year-olds each school year. ECEAP offers preschool education, family support, parent

involvement, and health and nutrition services that involve the whole family and helps

prepare children for success in school and life.

Am

on

g o

ur

key

init

iati

ves:

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Department Structure (continued)

Outcomes & Accountability Division

Outcomes and Accountability ensures that our programs and investments positively impact

school readiness for children, families, providers, schools and communitiesand that we have

the outcome data to prove it. The Outcomes and Accountability Division includes the

Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS), Seeds to Success,

professional development programs such as Washington Scholarships, performance-based

accountability initiatives including GMAP, and implementation of the Early Learning Plan.

DEL and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), in consultation with

Thrive by Five Washington, have implemented the Washington Kindergarten Inventory

of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) pilot. WaKIDS is a kindergarten readiness transition

process being piloted in school year 2010-2011. The pilot design is uniqueit incorpo-

rates families and early learning providers in addition to a child readiness inventory to

better support smooth transitions into kindergarten.

DEL and Thrive are implementing Seeds to Success, Washingtons voluntary quality

rating and improvement system. It is designed to support licensed child care providers in

improving the quality of child care and to offer information regarding quality to families.

Seeds to Success is currently serving 100 licensed child care centers and family homes in

five communities (White Center, Spokane County, Clark County, East Yakima, and Kitsap

County).

Am

on

g o

ur

key

init

iati

ves:

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Department Structure (continued) Licensing Oversight Division

The Licensing Oversight Division promotes quality, healthy and safe child care opportunities

by ensuring that all aspects of child care licensing policy are aligned. This includes licensing

policy and procedure, negotiated rule making, subsidy policy, collective bargaining agree-

ments between the state and licensed family home child care providers, and administration of

the federal Child Care Development Fund grant.

The Licensing Oversight division sets the rules for child care subsidies for families who

are homeless or employed as seasonal agricultural workers, and for Working

Connections Child Care (WCCC), a subsidy program that provides funding to child care

businesses and license-exempt caregivers who care for children while parents work.

WCCC provides parents with child care services while they are in school, working or

seeking work. We partner with the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), the

state agency that determines who is eligible to receive WCCC and distributes payments

to child care providers.

DEL Director Bette Hyde spent the first year of her tenure at DEL traveling around the

state meeting with DEL licensing staff and licensed providers to learn what is working

and what should be improved. The Licensing Oversight Division has taken this informa-

tion and launched a Licensing Reboot Initiative. This work will build upon successful

licensing regulatory practices to increase transparency and consistency, and support

child care licensor and provider collaboration focused on quality care for children.

A

mo

ng

ou

r ke

y in

itia

tive

s:

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Challenges Moving forward despite funding challenges

DEL is poised to move forward and help

implement the Early Learning Plan despite

difficult economic conditions. More than

70 percent of the departments funding

comes from the federal government. For the

past four years, our list of new initiatives has

increased, yet our funding sources have

diminished.

DEL must continue to find innovative ways to

achieve our goals with limited resources.

FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011

Federal $112,100 $142,603 $122,702

State $72,707 $60,400 $59,906

Non-Approp $1,525 $5 $0

Private/Loc $3 $120 $380

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$ in

th

ou

san

ds

PRE-DEL

Early Learning Programs

POST-DEL CREATION

Early Learning Programs & Activities

ECEAP (Department of Community Trade

and Economic Development (now Com-

merce))

Child care licensing (DSHS)

Subsidy policy (DSHS)

Reading Readiness Initiative

(OSPI funding cut in FY 2009)

ECEAP

Child care licensing

Subsidy policy

Kindergarten readiness assessment

(WaKIDS)

Parent support and information

Seeds to Success (QRIS)

Early Learning Advisory Council and Early

Learning Plan

Thrive by Five WA partnership

Child Care Check

Family home labor agreement

Longitudinal data system

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Performance Management

As part of the establishment of DEL in 2006, HB 2964 requires

the agency to promote a more cohesive and integrated

voluntary early learning system for Washington. How will DEL

know whether its achieving this result? And perhaps more

importantly, how will the Legislature and the public know?

DEL is transitioning to an outcomes-based accountability

system that uses data-driven decision-making to promote

excellence. It will provide performance information to decision

-makers who need to understand how DEL is meeting its

mandate. This work will link the Early Learning Plan roadmap

with our departments outcomes, strategic goals and perform-

ance measurements.

Next, we will be using performance management as the lever

to accelerate our organization along its strategic path,

examining all programs and initiatives from the perspective of

maximizing programmatic effects and increasing our ability to

achieve the outcomes and strategic goals identified in this

document.

Measureable Outcomes

DEL identified nine agency-level outcomes (see right) as an

initial foundation for our outcomes-based performance

management system. Collectively, the outcomes tell a story

about DELs role in developing and sustaining a system of early

care and education in Washington.

Ultimately, DELs priority outcome is a child outcome:

Washingtons children should be more successful in school and

life. Each of DELs outcomes contributes to the achievement of

that vision.

Agency-Level Outcomes

Washington has a sufficient

supply of licensed early care

and education opportunities.

Washington children spend

time in quality environments

that are safe and healthy.

Families understand the steps

to make informed choices

about early care and

education.

Providers are supported with

resources and information.

Providers maintain and

improve the quality of their

early care and education

services.

Children are able to learn and

grow.

Children are ready for

kindergarten.

Students maintain

developmental gains.

Students meet learning

standards across domains by

third grade.

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Performance Management (continued) Priorities of Government

DELs outcome-based accountability system will allow us to stay focused on how the

departments activities affect the Governors Priorities of Government and contribute

to making Washington the best-managed state in the country. DEL actively participates

in the Governors Government Management Accountability and Performance (GMAP)

forums on education and vulnerable children and adults and contributes to five of the

Governors six priorities of government.

D

EL S

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s

Priorities of Government

Stu

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Vu

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Safe

ty

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D

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vern

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Provide High Quality, Safe and Healthy Early Care & Education Opportunities for All Children

Partner with and Inform Parents, Families and Communities about Early Learning

Promote Excellence and Hold System Accountable for Results

Support Early Learning Professionals with Professional Development and Technical Assistance

EFFECT: Direct Secondary

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Strategic Goal #1 Provide high-quality, safe, and

healthy early care and education opportunities for all children

Objectives and Strategies Objective 1: Enhance licensing requirements and expand quality learning

Key Strategies:

Explore voluntary preschool certification.

Develop recommendations and implement changes to improve licensing. Recommendations

will specify resources necessary for improvements such as continuing licenses, technology,

weighted regulations, and evidence-based rule making.

Work with stakeholders to develop a strategy to align licensing requirements with Seeds to

Success, Washingtons quality rating and improvement system.

Objective 2: Build continuum of supports and services for infants, toddlers and their families

Key Strategies:

Develop and implement a joint state policy that better integrates programs consistent with

the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) Part C with other early learning programs so

services and funding are better coordinated and more streamlined for children and families.

Objective 3: Make home visiting available to at-risk families

Key Strategies:

Build a coordinated, culturally responsive home visiting system with evaluation, accountabil-

ity, quality support and technical assistance.

Leverage federal, state and private home visiting dollars in strategic direction that benefits

children and families.

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Objective 4: Increase use of early literacy services and programs

Key Strategies:

Sustain and expand evidence-based early literacy programs

like Reach Out and Read and Dialogic Reading.

Expand funding to school districts and early learning partners

to align early literacy standards, curricula and evaluation for

young children.

Objective 5: Expand and enhance ECEAP

Key Strategies:

Establish preschool entitlement program in 2011 and fund all

eligible children by 2018 (HB2731).

Create a technical work group with options for having a

program as part of basic education or as an entitlement. Work

group must recommend program standards, eligibility,

funding, and implementation schedule to the Quality

Education Council by November 2011 (SB6759).

Objective 6: Align prekindergarten and K-3 instructional and

programmatic practices

Key Strategies:

Provide support and resources to school districts in continuing

to develop preK-third grade models in communities.

Embed preK-third grade research and practices into both early

learning and K-3 programs and initiatives.

Align early learning guidelines with K-3 learning standards.

Measurements

Percent of children

demonstrating kindergarten

readiness on WaKIDS

disaggregated by race,

ethnicity and income .

Number of teachers who

meet ECEAP professional

development requirements.

Percent of students meeting

or exceeding third grade

reading and math standard,

disaggregated by race,

ethnicity and income.

Percent of eligible children

ages 3-5 enrolled in pre-K,

including ECEAP and Head

Start.

Timely monitoring visits of

licensed facilities.

Timely licensing complaint

inspections.

Response time to licensing

complaint/abuse inspections .

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Objectives and Strategies Objective 1: Implement Seeds to Success, our states quality rating and improvement system

Key Strategies:

Articulate and begin implementation of the five-year vision for advancing statewide.

Publish ratings and increase parent outreach statewide to build public awareness and un-

derstanding of Seeds to Success.

Directly link the QRIS model design and strategies to positive outcomes for children and

families.

Validate the full set of quality standards for QRIS in field test sites through rating.

Align current professional development and technical assistance with Seeds to Success

coaching and evaluation.

Objective 2: Provide more parenting learning opportunities

Key Strategies:

Support Thrive by Five Washington in implementation of statewide parent outreach and

engagement campaign.

Work with Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network (CCR&R Network),

OSPI, Thrive by Five Washington, Office of the Education Ombudsman, and others to ex-

pand parent outreach.

Strategic Goal #2 Partner with and inform parents,

families and communities about early learning

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Objective 3: Support family, friends and neighbor care (FFN)

Key Strategies:

Support continued development of the FFN system

through the CCR&R Network.

Support inclusion of FFN providers in the state profes-

sional development registry.

Objective 4: Strengthen public awareness and commitment

Key Strategies:

Develop clear and consistent statewide messages around

the importance of early learning and school readiness.

Continue media and community-based strategies to build

public awareness

Collaborate and partner with stakeholders to advance

early learning priorities.

Measurements

Number and/or percent

of licensed child care

slots available in levels

1-5 of Seeds to Success

centers and homes.

Number and/or percent

of child care slots in

centers receiving three

seeds on family and

community partnerships.

Whether parents can

find child care in their

community that: is

affordable, is clean and

safe, respects each

familys culture, and

helps children be ready

for school.

Percent of families who

report reading stories to

their children every day.

Cost of child care as a

percent of median

income.

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Strategic Goal #3 Support early learning professionals with professional development and

technical assistance

Objectives and Strategies Objective 1: Implement comprehensive professional development and compensation

system

Key Strategies:

Develop and disseminate Core Competencies for Early Care and Education Professionals for

early learning professionals.

Develop recommendations and implementation plan for a comprehensive professional

development system, building on recommendations from the Professional Development

Consortium.

Develop and implement statewide training on new core competencies and incentivize

professionals to attend training.

Objective 2: Expand registry for early learning professionals

Key Strategies:

Build a high-quality and accessible state early learning professional development registry

to promote a well-trained and educated, supported, and better compensated early

childhood and school-age work force that includes:

A registry database platform for early learning (Managed Education Registry

Information Tool, or MERIT).

A system of coordinated, consistent, and verifiable processes, procedures, and

protocols for the registry database.

Partner with the CCR&R Network, OSPI, educational service districts and other stake-

holders to expand collaboration opportunities to support MERIT.

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Objective 3: Provide health, mental health and social-

emotional consultation in early learning settings

Key Strategies:

Develop DEL regional system of interdisciplinary consulta-

tion services for improving the quality of care for infants

and toddlers, led by 10 regional hubs.

Measurements

Number of early

learning providers

enrolled in DELs

Washington

Scholarship program.

Percentage of early

learning providers

enrolled in Washing-

ton Scholarship

program who receive

degree or credential.

Provider education

level (less than HS,

HS/GED, CDA, AA in

ECE, AA other, BA in

ECE, BA other, MA in

ECE, MA in other).

Average subsidy

rate.

Percent of providers

and licensors using

MERIT.

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Strategic Goal #4 Promote excellence and hold

the system accountable for results

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1: Ensure DEL employees have training, technology and tools necessary to effectively manage programs Key Strategies:

Implement Electronic Licensing Form project for all licensing staff.

Train all DEL staff about Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Create online licensing training modules for new licensors.

Implement training for DEL licensing staff in new family home rules once finalized.

Objective 2: Improve Subsidy Policies

Key Strategies:

Streamline the child care eligibility process for families enrolled in ECEAP, Head Start and

Early Head Start by implementing a 12-month reauthorization period that increases

continuity of care (HB3141).

In concert with DSHS, review and improve subsidy policies and procedures.

Objective 3: Promote the use of and embed Washingtons early learning guidelines (the

Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks) in early learning system

Key Strategies:

Develop and implement a collaborative multi-cultural process to review, update, and

align the Benchmarks and K-3 learning standards.

Develop curriculum/training on the Benchmarks and incentivize early learning

professionals to attend training.

Ensure Core Competencies and Benchmarks are embedded in work related to profes-

sional development.

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Objective 4: Implement kindergarten assessment

Key Strategies:

Pilot Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills

(WaKIDS) in 2010-2011 school year to 3,000 students

statewide.

Adopt WaKIDS as first critical step in WA Education Reform

Plan and secure funding to expand WaKIDS Pilot in 2011-

2012, beginning with highest poverty schools with state-

funded full-day kindergarten.

Objective 5: Build statewide infrastructure for partnerships and

mobilization

Key Strategies:

Develop 10 regional hubs to lead improving the quality of

care for infants and toddlers.

Expand accountability system, including: program evaluation,

child and teacher/provider assessment (where possible),

data collection and reporting framework.

Develop a sustainable long-term governance system by

building capacity and integrating parent voice.

Objective 6: Expand P-20 longitudinal data system

Key Strategies:

Implement three-year plan outlined in the federal Education

Data System grant application (approved May 2010).

Establish DEL Data Governance Plan to identify and prioritize data indicators and analyses,

in partnership with OSPI and the Education Data Research Center.

Objective 7: Strive for organizational excellence

Key Strategies:

Review internal system processes for efficiency.

Begin self-reflection and application process for the Baldrige Award.

Achieve designation as Washington Wellness Worksite.

Measurements

% of schools and

children that have

access to WaKIDS

kindergarten

readiness

assessment.

Percentage of

children on WCCC

subsidy program who

receive 12 months of

care without

interruption.

Percentage of

licensed providers

who use the

Benchmarks.

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Appendix A: DEL Statutory Authority The Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) was established on July 1, 2006, under House Bill 2964. Our establishing legislation states: a more cohesive and integrated voluntary early learning system would result in greater efficiencies for the state, increased partnership between the state and the private sector, improved access to high-quality early learning services, and better employment and early learning outcomes for families and all children. DELs authority for setting guidelines, using funds and evaluating programs includes: Primary Duties (RCW 43.215.020) DELs primary duties are to implement state early learning policy and to coordinate, consoli-date, and integrate child care and early learning programs to administer programs and funding as efficiently as possible. DELs duties include, but are not limited to: (a) Supporting both public and private sectors toward a comprehensive and collaborative system of early learning that serves parents, children, and providers and to encourage best practices in child care and early learning programs; (b) Making early learning resources available to parents and caregivers; (c) Carrying out activities, including providing clear and easily accessible information about

quality and improving the quality of early learning opportunities for young children, in cooperation with the nongovernmental private-public partnership;

(d) Administering child care and early learning programs; (e) Standardizing internal financial audits, oversight visits, performance benchmarks, and licensing criteria, so that programs can function in an integrated fashion; (f) Supporting the implementation of the nongovernmental private-public partnership and cooperate with that partnership in pursuing its goals including providing data and support necessary for the successful work of the partnership; (g) Working cooperatively and in coordination with the Early Learning Advisory Council; (h) Collaborating with the K-12 school system at the state and local levels to ensure appropri-ate connections and smooth transitions between early learning and K-12 programs; and (i) Upon the development of an early learning information system, making available to parents timely inspection and licensing action information through the Internet and other means. Child Care Development Fund (Code of Federal Regulations Chapter 45, Parts 98 and 99) Washingtons major investment directed toward early learning is the federal Child Care Development Fund (CCDF). DEL uses this federal funding for child care licensing, and related quality activities and child care subsidies in the state of Washington.

25

Child Care Licensing (RCW 43.215.200 43.215.370) DEL is responsible for licensing child care settings: family homes, centers and school-age programs. Licensing regulations are focused on minimum safety and health requirements that serve as the foundation from which quality learning opportunities can be built. Certain types of child care arrangements, such as child care by specified relatives, are exempt from licensing (RCW 43.215.010). Background Checks (RCW 43.215.215 and 43.43.832) DEL has authority to conduct background checks on licensed child care providers working in or having unsupervised access to children in a licensed or regulated child care facility, as well as unlicensed providers who care for children whose parents receive financial support from DEL child care subsidy programs. DEL also is required to disclose, via website or in an easily accessible physical location, the receipt, general nature, and resolution or current status of all complaints on record with the department after July 24, 2005, against a child care center or family child care provider that result in an enforcement action. (RCW 43.215.525) Child Care Subsidies (RCW 43.215.135) DEL sets the policy that guides use of the child care subsidy funds in the Working Connections Child Care program. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), determines and authorizes eligibility and makes payments to eligible child caregivers. DEL also administers the seasonal and homeless child care subsidy programs. State-Funded Preschool (RCW 43.215.400 43.215.450) The state-funded preschool program, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), is a comprehensive, child-focused program that includes education, health, social, nutritional, cultural and family support services to eligible children and their families. DEL has authority to award funds to approved contractors, adopt rules for use of those funds, and evaluate and report on the effectiveness of the programs. An advisory group to DEL is required by law. Voluntary Early Learning Program (RCW 43.215.141 43.215.143) Beginning September 1, 2011, DEL will oversee an early learning program to provide voluntary preschool opportunities for 3- and 4-year-olds that will be implemented according to the funding and implementation plan in RCW 43.215.142. The program must be a comprehensive program providing early childhood education, developmental screening and family support. Participation in the program is voluntary. On a space available basis, the program may allow enrollment of children who are not otherwise eligible by assessing a fee.

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Head Start (RCW 43.06.110 and Public Law 110-134) Head Start is a federal program serving children ages birth to 5 that promotes school readiness by providing educational, health, nutrition, social and other services to enrolled children and families. The federal government awards grants directly to grantees within the state. DELs Head Start State Collaboration Office, authorized through the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, requires DEL to collaborate with the Head Start grantees to develop partnerships that benefit low-income families and children in healthy family develop-ment. Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) program (RCW 43.215.020, 70.198.020) DEL is the state lead agency for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C, which offers early intervention services for children birth to 3 with disabilities and/or developmental delays. Home Visitation Programs (RCW 43.215.145 43.215.147) DEL is working with the Department of Social and Health Services, Department of Health, and Council for Children and Families to create a plan to coordinate or consolidate home visitation services in our state. The purpose of the program is to help ensure that children and families have access to voluntary home visitation services as an early intervention strategy to alleviate the effect on child development of factors such as poverty, single parenthood, parental unemployment or underemployment, parental disability, or parental lack of a high school diploma. Research shows these are risk factors for child abuse and neglect and poor educa-tional outcomes. DEL also uses funds from the Home Visiting Services Account to contract with Thrive by Five Washington to administer some home visiting services. Longitudinal Study (RCW 43.215.080) Two years after the implementation of the department's early learning program, and every two years thereafter by July 1, DEL must submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature measuring the effectiveness of its programs in improving early childhood education. The first report shall include program objectives and identified valid performance measures for evaluating progress toward achieving the objectives, as well as a plan for commissioning a longitudinal study comparing the kindergarten readiness of children participating in DEL's programs with the readiness of other children, using nationally accepted testing and assess-ment methods. Such comparison shall include, but not be limited to, achievement as children of both groups progress through the K-12 system and identify year-to-year changes in achievement, if any, in later years of elementary, middle school and high school education.

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