Resilient communities, statewide attention.

Resilient communities, statewide attention

Each Starting Smart and Strong community built out the components of a robust early childhood system: committed local leadership, community-designed training models and community capacity to use data toward lasting change.

While each locale defined success in different ways, each has scaled their programs and practices over time. Some projects expanded to reach neighboring schools or child care centers, while others are advising California’s leaders in adopting effective approaches for statewide reform.

The ability of the Packard Foundation’s philanthropic strategy to evolve as well was another critical success ingredient. The Foundation adapted its approach as the initiative progressed—moving from a leadership role to an advisory role and finally, in the initiative’s final years, to the role of witness. This ability to pivot enabled communities to develop locally-owned and effective solutions to complex problems.

Communities have attracted additional resources that allow pieces of this work to continue to grow over time – support has come in from state and local governments, school district general funds, and private foundations. 

Improvements in the design and delivery of professional development led to improvements in classroom level settings and student outcomes. While evaluations are ongoing, early data show that children whose teachers have received coaching or professional development interventions are performing better on assessments of learning and development.

Training model adopted by the state of California

Sixty percent of California’s children are multilingual learners, most of whom speak a language other than English in their home. As the state shifted policy to view multilingualism as an asset, they were looking for models of training adults that had been successful in local California communities. They found one in Fresno’s Language Learning Project with its focus on developing practices for adults to use to ensure young multilingual children can thrive in school. Funding from the state helped the project to grow and expand. They developed a train-the-trainer model and toolkit that educators around the state are using to strengthen their practice, and which are also used to develop resources and models for family friend and neighbor child care providers. Elements of the model have been codified in California’s policy and administrative guidance, such as guidance the California Department of Education issues to educators working with dual language learners in the California State Preschool Program.

Resiliency in a crisis

Communities built and strengthened networks of support for children and families. These networks proved foundational for crisis management when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In East San Jose, Franklin-McKinley School District has a partnership with Catholic Charities and Educare California at Silicon Valley that helped them deepen their engagement with local families. During the pandemic, the school district relied on these relationships to provide training for multilingual families held in Vietnamese and Spanish and services to help families survive like food and diapers. These relationships have continued in the years following, making sure families see schools not just as places for their children, but as centers of the community set up to support families. 

Lifting up local knowledge, skills

In Oakland, new approaches to working with the city’s diverse population of young children have gained momentum. One example is a locally-developed action toolkit that includes 10 promising practices in early learning for Black boys.

Developed by local mental health experts, educators and parents, the toolkit is based on local expertise about what Oakland’s children need to thrive. Preschool, Head Start and family child care teachers participate in regular communities of practice based on this toolkit. Participants work together to learn about culturally relevant curriculum and instruction, family engagement, teacher anti-racist self-reflection and systems equity. 

A separate ongoing program supports teachers with classroom-based trauma-responsive practices. In partnership with the City of Oakland Head Start, New Teacher Center, and others, Oakland Starting Smart and Strong along with the school district hosts training, professional learning communities, and classroom coaching designed to build teachers’ knowledge and skills to help children who have experienced trauma. The program also supports educators in coping with their own traumatic experiences and teaches self-care strategies.

Our data

Communities developed the capacity to use data to assess needs, try new solutions, evaluate what’s working and adapt their programming. In addition to helping them understand and strengthen their own work, community members are using data to make the case to policy makers and funders about the need to support early care and education. In Oakland, a local parent advocacy group, Parent Voices, led a research study in deep East Oakland surveying families on their use of informal caregivers. In San Jose, preschool teachers collect classroom level data daily on an app that helps them make decisions about what needs adjustment in their classrooms. In Fresno, the school district put data-sharing agreements into place with key partners like Head Start to better understand children’s progress. The Franklin-McKinley School District recently held a community meeting to review data from the Early Development Instrument to plan for the future. Oakland’s Family Child Care Policy Program used data to advocate with the local school board and to educate them on how child care providers are community-based early educators.