Early Learning Challenge Collaborative

In May, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced a new $500 million state-level grant competition, the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge that seeks “to encourage states to develop bold and comprehensive plans for raising the quality of early learning programs across America.”

BUILD, the leading early childhood systems building organization, and the First Five Years Fund, whose federal advocacy and education frame has strengthened the connection between early childhood and the K-12 community, propose to seize this opportunity and form the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative (ELCC), a partnership supported by private foundation dollars, to work with and support states as they plan, apply for, and implement the Early Learning Challenge Grants.

Specifically, the ELCC will: 

1. Cultivate a pool of outstanding state applications.
2. Support states with sophisticated, relevant and individualizedtechnical assistance, consultation service and information, with a further emphasis on creating a learning community among participant states.
3. Promote quality and tee development of a robust cross-sector early childhood systems
4. Develop a coordinated federal policy and advocacy strategy to sustain funding and inform federal policy in this area, both short and long-term.

BUILD and the First Five Years Fund will collaborate with other organizations and experts to achieve the goals of this initiative.

Read more on the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative here.

Partnership Opportunities for States

The Collaborative will offer assistance to all interested states throughpolicy materials and calls with national experts.  The Collaborative will also work more intensively with selected states that share its vision for state early learning systems, show a strong leadership commitment to early learning reform, and can most effectively embrace the technical assistance opportunity.  

The Collaborative holds distinct values that shape its vision for states’ comprehensive early childhood systems:

• presence of assertive leadership
• coherent organizational structure
• entrepreneurial commitment to high quality
• intentional focus on high-needs children
• commitment to systems that provide high-quality programs and services

Read more on the partnership opportunities for states here.

For more information about the technical assistance and learning community activities, please contact Kathy Glazer, BUILD State Services Director, at kglazer@buildinitiative.org or 804-350-3782.  For more information about the federal policy and advocacy effort, please contact the First Five Years Fund, Harriet Dichter, National Director, hdichter@ffyf.org or 202-248-5075.

Webinar Recordings Available

Developing a Coherent Framework for ELC Planning and Application - August 16, 2011

Ann Reale, former Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and currently Vice President of ICF International, and Elliot Regenstein, former Director of Education Reform for the State of Illinois, and currently a Partner in EducationCounsel.

The purpose of this webinar was to assist states in planning for their application for the Challenge. Participants received guidance and engaged in a discussion including: the process and timeline to approach planning for the Early Learning Challenge, based on the draft guidance provided by the US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services; the governance requirements and potential approaches to the required governmental agreements (MOUs); making the most of the strategic vision of the Challenge, as currently outlined by the US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and the opportunities and focus it can provide for systemic change in early learning opportunities for at-risk children.

View webinar here

From Data to Information to Action: Lessons Learned from State Early Childhood Data Development Efforts - August 24, 2011

Jill Reynolds, Public Consulting Group, a private consulting firm serving local and state health and human services agencies, and Janice Gruendel

This webinar was an "on the ground" look at developing early childhood data systems for the purpose of informing policy and action and is targeted specifically for state leaders applying for the Early Learning Challenge grant. Experts shared lessons they have learned across multiple state data system development and planning efforts, drawing real world examples of “do’s” and “don’ts” from their experiences in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

View webinar here