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The Head Start Collaboration Project has worked with staff of the State Education Department and members of the Governor’s Children's Cabinet Advisory Board to develop and implement strategies for increasing the number of school districts participating in the UPK program while at the same time working to convince new and existing districts to partner with community-based programs such as Head Start.
In addition, staff have provided assistance to Head Start programs in meeting the requirements in the Head Start Reauthorization Act to develop MOUs with school districts on how they will collaborate to meet the needs of preschool-age children. Support will continue to be provided to those programs that have yet to complete their MOU.
Work will also continue to encourage districts to contract with Head Start and other Community Based Organizations for the provision of UPK.
The New York State Parenting Education Partnership (NYSPEP) was established in 2007. The major goals of the Parenting Education Partnership are normalizing participating in parenting education and making evidenced based parenting education more readily available. The membership of the partnership includes representatives of the:
The NYSPEP has recently reorganized its workgroups to focus on examining best practices in parenting education programs; designing methods of evaluating effectiveness in parenting education; developing methods to increase public understanding of positive parenting practices; and promoting professional development for parent educators. Work group activities include:
In 1986, the Council on Children and Families published the Family Resource Book as a tool to help parents gain the education and training they need to deal effectively with the many issues they face in raising children. Over the years, this has been the most highly requested of the wide range of publications produced by the Council.
Due to the success of this document, the Collaboration Project developed a family resource website, www.nysfamilyresources.org, where parents can easily access this information, including how to order or download related books and other publications. The website serves as a source of links to other websites helpful to parents and serves as a one-stop location for state agency publications for parents and other caregivers.
The State Education Department directed legislation to develop Prekindergarten Learning Standards, while at the same time, they are in the midst of revising the K-12 Learning Standards. As such, efforts are ongoing to ensure that both of these standards closely align.
The Head Start Collaboration Project in partnership with NYS Association for the Education of Young Children and the New York City Early Childhood Professional Development Institute has begun an effort to develop early learning standards for children birth through three years of age. In developing these standards, care has been taken to ensure clear alignment with the Prekindergarten standards.
With increasing numbers of infants and toddlers receiving care outside the home, there is considerable interest in New York State in ensuring that the care provided is of the highest quality possible. To encourage this process, Collaboration Project staff:
Additionally, a video conference was held in spring 2009 focusing on using data effectively to design, develop and evaluate services. This is proving to be a useful tool for guiding Early Head Start programs in completing the community needs assessments. A copy of the DVD and planning materials was sent to all Early Head Start programs in the state.