Georgia's early education empowerment zones quarterly evaluation report, 2016 March

GEORGIA'S EARLY EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT ZONES QUARTERLY EVALUATION REPORT
Prepared By: Nnenna Ogbu March 2016

E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Executive Summary
In September 2014, Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) announced the four sites selected to become the first Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RT3-ELC) grant Early Education Empowerment Zones (E3Zs). The sites each include one to five counties pre-identified into clusters. The zones are in North Georgia (Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, and Gilmer counties), Clarke County, Bibb County, and South Georgia (Colquitt, Cook, Brooks, Lowndes, and Echols counties).1 The purpose of the E3Zs is to increase the availability of high-quality early learning and development options and to integrate new or expanded services into high-quality child care programs focused on children with high needs, which includes children who are low-income, English learners, and children with disabilities or developmental delays.
The E3Zs were designed to include one community coordinator per zone. The role of the community coordinator is to develop, implement, and monitor community-based projects and programs related to the implementation of the E3Zs. The community coordinators perform this role under the direction of the E3Z Director, who is instrumental in coordinating services for the zones and coordinators, as well as liaising with other DECAL and state administrators.
This report is intended to be a quarterly summary of the RT3-ELC grant activities happening within each zone. The current iteration of this report includes information about the E3Z implementation between October 2015 and December 2015.2 The information contained in this report is derived from the community coordinators, whose testimonies supply much needed and sometimes nuanced local rationale for a community's response to its own perceived need. The RT3-ELC Strategies
The State is targeting specific strategies to increase the quality of and access to early learning and development options--especially for children with high needs. The State is also supporting local efforts within each E3Z to coordinate key programs and services that target children and families with high needs. The strategies include:
1. Supporting local Birth-to-Eight Teams 2. Expanding Quality Rated participation and access 3. Implementing the Great Start Georgia home visitation model in high-quality child care
programs 4. Enhancing professional development opportunities for early childhood workers 5. Decreasing family co-pays in high-quality child care programs
1 The E3Zs are listed in order of geography, from North Georgia to South Georgia. The counties within the E3Z North and South Georgia E3Z are presented in geographic order from west to east. 2 Reports on previous reporting cycles can be found on the GOSA website: https://gosa.georgia.gov/race-top-earlylearning-challenge-grant-evaluation.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
6. Increasing the availability of high-quality child care programs by using economic incentives for new businesses
7. Increasing subsidy rates in high-quality child care programs 8. Offering Summer Transition Programs in high-quality child care programs 9. Instituting comprehensive assessments and screenings 10. Offering targeted grants to increase family engagement
This report focuses on the strategies that have been implemented through December 31, 2015.3 These strategies include those related to the Birth-to-Eight Teams, Quality Rated and Tiered Family Co-Pays, Great Start Georgia, Enhanced Professional Development, Economic Development Incentives, and Family Engagement Opportunity Grants. The other strategies-- increased subsidy rates, Summer Transition Programs, and comprehensive assessments and screenings--are still being developed for local implementation.
Birth-to-Eight Teams
Each E3Z has a Birth-to-Eight Team that is responsible for working with the community coordinator to lead the implementation of RT3-ELC strategies throughout the zone. The Birth-toEight Team meetings are held in central, publicly-accessible facilities and occur about every other month. The work of the Birth-to-Eight Teams is facilitated by the community coordinator. The Teams include community stakeholders who represent organizations, such as public and private child care programs, local school systems, postsecondary institutions, for-profits and nonprofits, technical assistance providers, chambers of commerce, local library systems, public and private healthcare providers, state departments, elected officials from the General Assembly, and members of the general public.
Quality Rated & Tiered Family Co-Pays
Quality Rated is Georgia's voluntary tiered quality rating and improvement system. The statewide goal for Quality Rated participation in the RT3-ELC grant is 100%.4 Table 1 shows that the current participation rate for the state is 40%. This is a slight increase of one percentage point from the previous E3Z reporting quarter, which ended September 30, 2015. The E3Zs are intensifying efforts to increase participation in Quality Rated, which should also increase access to quality child care for all children. Part of the work of the Birth-to-Eight Teams is to reach all child care programs in their zone and help all child care programs improve the quality of care they provide to children. Currently, each of the E3Z's Quality Rated participation rates is equal to or greater than the participation rate statewide (see Table 1). Compared to the previous quarter, the participation rates of Bibb E3Z and South Georgia E3Z each increased by one percentage point. For the E3Z North, its participation rate increased by two percentage points, and the participation rate for Clarke E3Z remained the same.
3 Note that all data tables include data through January 5, 2016, in an effort to report the most recent data. 4 Child care programs are considered "participating" in Quality Rated when they complete a Quality Rated application.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

With the exception of Bibb E3Z, three out of four E3Zs continue to surpass the state's percentage of child care programs that are rated in Quality Rated.5 The state's percentage of rated child care programs is 14%, a one percentage point increase from last quarter. This quarter, however, the E3Zs have each seen larger growth, compared to the state, in their Quality Rated rates. The E3Z North (27%), Bibb E3Z (12%), and South Georgia E3Z (23%) each increased their rated rates by two percentage points. Clarke E3Z increased its rate by four percentage points, going from 16% to 20% since the last quarter.

Table 1: Total Child Care Program Quality Rated Participation and Rating Rates, Statewide & E3Z

Licensed QR

Participating Participating 1- 2- 3- Rated Rated

Child Care Eligible1 (No.)2

(%)

Star Star Star (No.)3 (%)

E3Z North 112

106

59

53%

8 11 11 30 27%

Clarke E3Z 61

55

24

39%

2 4 6 12 20%

Bibb E3Z

131

126

59

45%

3 9 4 16 12%

South

168

162

83

49%

17 16 6 39 23%

Georgia E3Z

Statewide 6,116

5,815 2,442

40%

300 416 167 883 14%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1To be eligible to be rated, a child care program must be compliant with licensing regulations. 2Any licensed program is allowed to fill out a Quality Rated application; however, only programs compliant with

licensing are eligible to be rated in Quality Rated. 3Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated

program.

Making quality child care more affordable is one way the state is increasing access to high-quality child care for children with high needs. The Tiered Family Co-Pay program is only available in the E3Zs and is offered through the Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, which subsidizes childcare for low-income families. Through the Tiered Family Co-Pay program, the family co-pay for CAPS-eligible children is decreased to $15 in 1-star Quality Rated programs, $10 in 2-star Quality Rated programs, and $5 in 3-star Quality Rated programs. The Tiered Family Co-Pay program went into effect on July 1, 2015.
Table 2 shows the enrollment rates for CAPS-eligible children in each of the E3Zs. To be eligible for a decreased family co-pay, a CAPS-eligible child must live in an E3Z county and be enrolled in a 1-, 2-, or 3-star Quality Rated child care program. One way to increase access to high-quality child care for children with high needs is to increase the number of high-quality child care programs available in the E3Zs. The initial focus has been on child care programs that enroll CAPS-eligible children but are only participating in Quality Rated and are not yet rated. In the Clarke E3Z, for example, this would mean that an additional 65% of CAPS-eligible children would benefit from decreased family co-pays if their child care programs become Quality Rated.

5 "Rated" in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

CAPS subsidies are provided on a weekly basis. Therefore, the CAPS data fluctuate on a weekly basis. This fluctuation makes comparisons over short time periods (e.g., less than three months) difficult. Still, it is useful to examine where the zones are seeing the most amount of movement. In the South Georgia E3Z, for example, 10% of CAPS-eligible children went from being enrolled in a child care program that was only participating in Quality Rated to being enrolled in a child care program that is rated in Quality Rated.

Table 2: Tiered Family Co-Pays within the E3Zs E3Z North
Number of CAPS-Eligible Children 421

Clarke E3Z Bibb E3Z South Georgia

E3Z

340

2,830

1,016

Proportion of CAPS-eligible children 9%

7%

61%

22%

throughout the E3Zs

Percentage of CAPS-eligible children in programs that are....

Rated in Quality Rated1

39%

18%

17%

51%

Participating in Quality Rated2

37%

65%

57%

34%

Neither Rated nor Participating 25%

17%

25%

15%

Source: CAPS Program, January 1, 2016 1Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the
Quality Rated program. 2Participating in Quality Rated means that a child care program has started the process to becoming
Quality Rated, but has not yet earned a rating of 1-, 2-, or 3-stars.

Enhanced Professional Development & Great Start Georgia
The E3Zs are designing enhanced and creative professional development opportunities for early childhood workers in their communities. Three out of four E3Zs, with the exception of Clarke E3Z, have a Directors' Network, which is a grassroots peer-support network designed to bring formalized training from certified instructors to child care center directors on a convenient and regular cycle, tied directly to the Birth-to-Eight Team. In the E3Zs, the community coordinators work with the regional Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies, local higher education institutions, and DECAL specialists to offer zone-specific trainings requested by the Directors' Networks.
Great Start Georgia (GSG) is Georgia's Maternal and Early Childhood System, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Human Services-Division of Family and Children Services and in partnership with the Department of Public Health. GSG operates the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, which prioritizes evidence-based home visiting (EBHV) models with proven outcomes.6 For the E3Zs, GSG is implementing one new or expanded EBHV program that will be based inside a child care center. Each child care center will house a First Steps Resource Coordinator whose job is to identify, recruit, and screen

6 For more information on Great Start Georgia, please visit its website: https://www.greatstartgeorgia.org/home.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
children and families--who attend and do not attend the child care center--and connect children and families to available resources. All four of the child care center-based EBHV programs in the E3Zs are operational, recruiting and screening families, and networking with other local family support services.
Economic Development Incentives
In partnership with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), DECAL is offering child care expansion grants to two- and three-star Quality Rated child care programs. The competitive Child Care Expansion Grants are aimed at increasing openings for infants and toddlers and will supply up to $100,000 to child care programs seeking to expand their current child care program or open a new child care program within an E3Z. Eligible projects must create new classrooms that will also create at least two new full-time jobs that serve at least ten additional infants and toddlers.
In November 2015, DECAL awarded one grant in round one to Angels in Motion in the Clarke E3Z. The program will receive over $80,000 to support equipment costs and salary subsidies. DCA and DECAL officials are currently examining the second round of child care expansion grant applications and are preparing to launch a third round later this spring.7
Family Engagement Opportunity Grants
DECAL defines family engagement as "the shared responsibility of families, schools, early education programs, and communities to actively promote, support, and sustain family wellbeing, healthy child development, strong family-child relationships, and lifelong learning for all children and families." Family Engagement Opportunity Grants are currently being offered within the E3Z counties and the ten Metro Atlanta counties.8 The purposes of the grants are: (1) to increase the availability and accessibility to quality family engagement programs, activities, and opportunities; (2) to provide supplemental educational outlets that promote, encourage, and support community awareness and advocacy; and (3) to provide access to free, ongoing parent leadership and child development resources.9
Next Steps for the E3Zs
The four E3Zs are each taking the strategies outlined in the RT3-ELC grant and implementing them in ways that address community needs. In many cases, the E3Zs are also working with local partners to create new and innovative initiatives in response to other areas of the community's need. Two areas of need, identified by all of the E3Zs, include helping more providers qualify for the economic development incentives and adapting the Great Start Georgia
7 To find out more about the E3Z Child Care Expansion Grant, please visit the DCA website: http://www.dca.ga.gov/communities/CommunityInitiatives/programs/E3Z.asp. 8 Metro Atlanta is defined as the 10-county area including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, as well as the City of Atlanta. 9 To find out more about the Family Engagement Opportunity Grants, please visit the DECAL website for funding opportunities: http://decal.ga.gov/QualityInitiatives/Grants.aspx.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
home visitation hub to cater to the specific needs of the community. Below is a summary of the difficulties and suggestions to address them.
Raising Quality to Qualify for Grant Opportunities
The DCA/DECAL child care expansion grant was written with strict criteria for higher child care quality standards. Applicants needed to be 2- or 3-star Quality Rated child care providers. Applicants also needed to ensure that any additional classrooms or programs created as a result of grant funds became 2- or 3-star Quality Rated within one year of receiving the award. The rigor of the grant helps to underscore the importance of high quality child care and connect that importance to economic benefits at the provider level.
In addition to the program in Clarke E3Z that was awarded during the first round, one provider in the E3Z North also met the rigorous standards during round one. Unfortunately, this child care provider declined the award because of sustainability issues. For this provider, securing the matching funds necessary to create two additional teaching positions became an insurmountable challenge. This challenge speaks to the overall context of the RT3-ELC grant, in general, in moving from development to implementation to sustainability. On the one hand, the grant encourages the development of higher quality child care for all children, especially children with high needs. On the other hand, the grant--and the E3Z initiative--wants to foster longstanding development and change. Being about halfway through the grant period, most stakeholders are starting to switch their focus from development and implementation to implementation and sustainability.
Supporting an Adaptive Resource Hub
For at least nine months now, Great Start Georgia has been operating a home visitation program located within a child care center in each of the E3Zs. The hub programs have all experienced similar issues with working from within a child care center. One such issue is the limited pool of eligible, and available, families to receive home visiting services. The limitations within the child care center have increased the need for the hub programs to connect to other community agencies, like the local Department of Health, local Head Start programs, regional hospitals, and local school systems.
Another issue for the hub programs is responding to community needs which may be outside of the scope of the grant. These additional community needs require the hubs to tailor their services. For example, the hub program in the Bibb E3Z offers counseling and career services, in addition to a parent store that rewards parents for being engaged (e.g., volunteering, attending special events, completing parent-teacher conferences, etc.). The hub program in the South Georgia E3Z continues to look for ways to provide services and resources outside of the scope of home visitation. For example, the hub helped secure housing for a homeless mother and her children, but the family also needed continued resources and support after housing was secured. The hub programs may not have initially forecasted the additional needs of individual families, but as the hub programs continue they are becoming more efficient in adapting to the needs of their specific communities.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... i Raising Quality to Qualify for Grant Opportunities .......................................................... vi Supporting an Adaptive Resource Hub.............................................................................. vi
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................... vii Table of Figures and Tables............................................................................................................. i Table of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... ii Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1 Evaluation ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Implementation Science...................................................................................................... 2 Local Capacity .................................................................................................................... 3 E3Z Strategies................................................................................................................................. 4 Birth-to-Eight Teams .......................................................................................................... 4 Quality Rated ...................................................................................................................... 4 Tiered Family Co-Pay Program .......................................................................................... 5 Great Start Georgia Home Visitation Model ...................................................................... 6 Enhanced Professional Development ................................................................................. 6 Economic Development Incentives .................................................................................... 6 Family Engagement Opportunity Grants ............................................................................ 7 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 7 E3Z North ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Clarke E3Z .................................................................................................................................... 14 Bibb E3Z....................................................................................................................................... 18 South Georgia E3Z ....................................................................................................................... 23 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 28 Raising Quality to Qualify for Grant Opportunities ......................................................... 28 Supporting an Adaptive Resource Hub............................................................................. 28 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................... 30
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Table of Figures and Tables
Table 1: Total Child Care Program Rates for Quality Rated Participation and Rating, Statewide 5 Table 2: Family Co-Pay Rate Chart (effective July 1, 2015) ......................................................... 6 Table 3: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, E3Z North ........................... 9 Table 4: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, E3Z North .................................... 10 Table 5: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, E3Z North . 11 Table 6: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, E3Z North............................... 11 Table 7: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, Clarke E3Z........................ 15 Table 8: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, Clarke E3Z ................................... 15 Table 9: Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Clarke E3Z ......... 16 Table 10: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Clarke E3Z ........................... 16 Table 11: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, Bibb E3Z......................... 19 Table 12: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, Bibb E3Z.................................... 19 Table 13: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Bibb E3Z 20 Table 14: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Bibb E3Z .............................. 20 Table 15: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, South Georgia E3Z ......... 24 Table 16: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, South Georgia E3Z .................... 25 Table 17: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, South
Georgia E3Z...................................................................................................................... 26 Table 18: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, South Georgia E3Z............... 26
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Table of Abbreviations

Abbreviation DECAL RT3-ELC E3Z GSG EBHV CAPS CCR&R DFCS WIC GELDS DCA

Definition Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Early Education Empowerment Zone Great Start Georgia Evidence Based Home Visitation Childcare and Parent Services Child Care Resource and Referral Agency Division of Family and Children Services The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards Department of Community Affairs

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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Introduction
In September 2014, Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) announced the four sites selected to become the first Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RT3-ELC) grant Early Education Empowerment Zones (E3Zs). The sites each include one to five counties pre-identified into clusters. The zones are in North Georgia (Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, and Gilmer counties), Clarke County, Bibb County, and South Georgia (Colquitt, Cook, Brooks, Lowndes, and Echols counties).10 The purpose of the E3Zs is to increase the availability of high-quality early learning and development options and to integrate new or expanded services into high-quality child care programs focused on children with high needs, which includes children who are low-income, English learners, and children with disabilities or developmental delays.
The E3Zs were designed to include one community coordinator per zone. The role of the community coordinator is to develop, implement, and monitor community-based projects and programs related to the implementation of the E3Zs. The community coordinators perform this role under the direction of the E3Z Director, who is instrumental in coordinating services for the zones and coordinators, as well as liaising with other DECAL and state administrators.
This report is intended to be a quarterly summary of the RT3-ELC grant activities happening within each zone. The current iteration of this report includes information about the E3Z implementation between October 2015 and December 2015.11 The information contained in this report is derived from the community coordinators, whose testimonies supply much needed and sometimes nuanced local rationale for a community's response to its own perceived need.
10 The E3Zs are listed in order of geography, from North Georgia to South Georgia. The counties within the E3Z North and South Georgia E3Z are presented in geographic order from west to east. 11 Reports on previous reporting cycles can be found on the GOSA website: https://gosa.georgia.gov/race-top-earlylearning-challenge-grant-evaluation.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Evaluation
Implementation Science The E3Zs are evaluated using an Implementation Science framework to identify drivers
for scale-up feasibility. Traditionally, implementation science is "the study of methods to promote the integration of research findings and evidence into... policy and practice."12
One of the strengths of implementation science is the way it separates program evaluation from implementation evaluation. For the E3Zs, implementation science is used to both organize the zone activity and evaluate the context and effectiveness of local implementation while also observing the measurable outcomes. The measurable outcomes are mainly the increase in quality of child care programs and access to high-quality child care for children with high needs throughout the E3Zs.
Specifically, the concepts of implementation stages and implementation drivers are being used to evaluate the E3Zs and research the local implementation activities within each zone. As defined by the National Implementation Research Network, 13 there are four stages of implementation:
Exploration -- identifying the need for change, learning about possible interventions that may provide solutions, learning about what it takes to implement the innovation effectively, developing stakeholders and champions, assessing and creating readiness for change, and deciding to proceed (or not)
Installation -- establishing the resources needed to use an innovation and the resources required to implement the innovation as intended
Initial Implementation -- the first use of an innovation by practitioners and others who have just learned how to use the innovation in local systems and are just learning how to support the new ways of work
Full Implementation -- the skillful use of an innovation that is well-integrated into the repertoire of practitioners, and routinely and effectively supported by systems leaders These four stages are used to identify how each strategy within the E3Zs is progressing
and what types of activities can be expected to follow. Each strategy will also have its own set of implementation drivers, which are interactive supports necessary to achieve active and successful implementation. Implementation drivers are organized into three broad categories: competency drivers (coaching, training, and selection), organization drivers (systems intervention, facilitative
12 Though healthcare is the context of the definition, implementation science can be used in nearly every social science setting. Definition courtesy of the National Institutes of Health: http://www.fic.nih.gov/researchtopics/pages/implementationscience.aspx 13 For more information on implementation science, please visit the National Implementation Research Network website: http://nirn.fpg.unc.edu/
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
administration, and decision support data system), and leadership drivers (technical and adaptive).
Finally, though this report evaluates the E3Z strategies and zone activities used to achieve the project goals, this evaluation does not expect implementation science to be appropriate for all contexts, especially policy changes that do not allow for local implementation. One example of this type of policy change is the strategy to decrease family co-pays in high-quality child care programs within the E3Zs. Any changes to family co-pays will be unilaterally made at the state level and, therefore, will not allow for local implementation. Still, this type of policy change should improve access to high-quality child care for families with high needs, which is a distinct, measureable goal of the E3Z project. Local Capacity
Local capacity is required to implement and maintain a local system of partnerships to support and improve early learning. The individuals and organizations that join the partnership share a common goal and are dedicated to the realization of that goal. The priorities of the RT3ELC grant help states build a stronger and more efficient system of early learning and development. Like many of Georgia's RT3-ELC projects, the E3Zs encompass the priorities of the grant by using the core areas and focused investment areas as an outline for design and implementation.14
When the eleven potential E3Z sites were identified, before the four finalists were selected, representatives from within each region were able to showcase local, ongoing initiatives that affect early care and education. After the final four E3Z sites were selected, four E3Z zone coordinators were hired to help lead the work of the Birth-to-Eight Teams in implementing the RT3-ELC strategies. The following profiles summarize the local capacity of each E3Z, as evidenced by its activities, to implement and maintain the RT3-ELC strategies between October 2015 and December 2015.
14 For an explanation of the RT3-ELC grant, please refer to the executive summary (2013) http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/2013-executive-summary.doc.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
E3Z Strategies
The State is targeting specific strategies to increase the quality of and access to early learning and development options--especially for children with high needs. The State is also supporting local efforts within each E3Z to coordinate key programs and services that target children and families with high needs. The strategies include:
1. Supporting local Birth-to-Eight Teams 2. Expanding Quality Rated participation and access 3. Implementing the Great Start Georgia home visitation model in high-quality child
care programs 4. Enhancing professional development opportunities for early childhood workers 5. Decreasing family co-pays in high-quality child care programs 6. Increasing the availability of high-quality child care programs by using economic
incentives for new businesses 7. Increasing subsidy rates in high-quality child care programs 8. Offering Summer Transition Programs in high-quality child care programs 9. Instituting comprehensive assessments and screenings 10. Offering targeted grants to increase family engagement
Birth-to-Eight Teams A Birth-to-Eight Team is a local collaboration of community stakeholders working to
create and sustain early learning and development gains for children from birth through age eight. The Birth-to-Eight Team meetings are held in central, publicly-accessible facilities and occur about every other month. The Teams include community stakeholders who represent organizations, such as public and private child care programs, local school systems, postsecondary institutions, for-profits and nonprofits, technical assistance providers, chambers of commerce, local library systems, public and private healthcare providers, state departments, elected officials from the General Assembly, and members of the general public. Participation in the Birth-to-Eight Team is completely voluntary. The Team is spearheaded by the efforts of the E3Z Community Coordinator, who works to assemble and convene the Team, as well as help the Team implement the ELC strategies.15
Quality Rated Quality Rated is Georgia's voluntary tiered quality rating and improvement system for
child care programs. The initiative begin in July 2012 and now includes nearly 900 rated and over 2,400 participating child care programs. By becoming Quality Rated, child care programs agree to meet standards that exceed the state's licensing requirements and demonstrate their commitment to improving the quality of care they provide to children. Quality Rated child care
15 For more information on specific Birth-to-Eight Team activities, or to get involved, please contact Laura Wagner, Early Education Empowerment Zone Director, at laura.wagner@decal.ga.gov.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

programs earn one-, two-, or three-stars depending on the number of points they are awarded through their program portfolio and classroom observations.16
The statewide goal for Quality Rated participation in the RT3-ELC grant is 100%. The current participation rate for the state is 40% (see Table 1), up one percentage point from the previous quarter. The E3Zs are intensifying efforts to increase participation in Quality Rated, which should also increase access to quality child care for all children. Part of the work of the Birth-to-Eight Teams is to reach all child care programs in their zone and help all child care programs improve the quality of care they provide to children.

Table 1: Total Child Care Program Rates for Quality Rated Participation and Rating, Statewide

Licensed QR

Participating Participating 1-Star 2-Star 3-Star Rated Rated

Child Care Eligible (No.)

(%)

(No.) (%)

6,116

5,815 2,442

40%

300 416 167 883 14%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016

Tiered Family Co-Pay Program17
Georgia's Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program provides subsidized child care to low-income families in all of Georgia's 159 counties.18 The CAPS subsidy reimburses authorized child care providers up to a certain amount. Families that qualify for the CAPS program can choose their own child care provider. Most eligible families share in the cost of care by paying a fee based on their household income, family size, and number of children receiving subsidies. This fee is paid directly to the child care provider, and the fee amount that a lowincome family must pay for child care varies across the state.
Within the E3Zs, families receiving CAPS and attending a Quality Rated child care center are seeing their family co-pay decrease depending on the provider's Quality Rated star level. Table 2 provides a breakdown. Eligible families attending a one-star Quality Rated center are paying a co-pay of $15 per week; eligible families attending a two-star Quality Rated center are paying a co-pay of $10 per week; and eligible families attending a three-star Quality Rated center are paying a co-pay of $5 per week.
CAPS-eligible families living within an E3Z and sending their children to a Quality Rated child care program within an E3Z do not need to take any extra action to receive this benefit. Child care providers, on the other hand, need to be Quality Rated, serve CAPS-eligible families, and be located in one of the twelve E3Z counties. The benefits began July 1, 2015, and will last for the duration of the RT3-ELC grant. Comparisons between the state and the zones, in

16 For more information on Quality Rated, or to find a Quality Rated child care program, please visit the Quality Rated program website: http://qualityrated.org/. 17 For more information on the CAPS Tiered Family Co-Pay Program in the E3Zs, please visit the DECAL website for Quality Initiatives: http://decal.ga.gov/QualityInitiatives/CAPS.aspx. 18 For more information about CAPS, including eligibility requirements, applications, initiatives, and contact information, please visit the CAPS website: http://caps.decal.ga.gov/en/.
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regards to the Tiered Family Co-Pay program, cannot be made because the strategy is only being applied within the E3Zs.

Table 2: Family Co-Pay Rate Chart (effective July 1, 2015)

Quality Rated

1-Star

2-Star

3-Star

Star Level

Provider

Provider

Provider

Family Co-Pay

$15

$10

$5

Source: CAPS Program webinar, June 2015

Great Start Georgia Home Visitation Model
Great Start Georgia (GSG) is Georgia's Maternal and Early Childhood System, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Human Services-Division of Family and Children Services and in partnership with the Department of Public Health. GSG operates the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program which prioritizes evidence-based home visiting (EBHV) models with proven outcomes.19 For the E3Zs, GSG is implementing one new or expanded EBHV program that is based inside of a child care center.
Grounding an EBHV program inside of a child care center is a new and novel approach. For this strategy, only two EBHV models were chosen for implementation within the E3Zs: Healthy Families Georgia and Parents as Teachers. Both of these models are designed to serve families with children from prenatal stages through age five. Each child care center houses a First Steps Resource Coordinator who identifies, screens, and recruits children and families-- who attend and do not attend the child care center--and connects children and families to available resources.
Enhanced Professional Development
One of the focused investment areas of Georgia's RT3-ELC grant is on its early education workforce. One method to ensuring that all children, especially those with high needs, have access to high-quality child care is to train early childhood and education workers to provide higher quality care. Within the E3Zs, local stakeholders from the preschool through higher education pipeline are working together to provide free, high-quality professional development opportunities to child care workers in their communities.
Economic Development Incentives
In partnership with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), DECAL is offering child care expansion grants to two- and three-star Quality Rated child care programs. The competitive Child Care Expansion Grants are aimed at increasing openings for infants and toddlers and will supply up to $100,000 to child care programs seeking to expand their current child care program or open a new child care program within an E3Z. Eligible projects must create new classrooms that will also create at least two new full-time jobs that serve at least ten additional infants and

19 For more information on Great Start Georgia, please visit its website: https://www.greatstartgeorgia.org/home.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
toddlers. DCA and DECAL officials are currently examining the second round of child care expansion grant applications, and are preparing to launch a third round later this spring.20 Family Engagement Opportunity Grants
DECAL defines family engagement as "the shared responsibility of families, schools, early education programs, and communities to actively promote, support, and sustain family wellbeing, healthy child development, strong family-child relationships, and lifelong learning for all children and families." Family Engagement Opportunity Grants are currently being offered within the E3Z counties and the ten Metro Atlanta counties.21 The purposes of the grants are: (1) to increase the availability and accessibility to quality family engagement programs, activities, and opportunities; (2) to provide supplemental educational outlets that promote, encourage, and support community awareness and advocacy; and (3) to provide access to free, ongoing parent leadership and child development resources.22 Summary
This report focuses on the strategies that have been implemented through December 31, 2015.23 These strategies include those related to the Birth-to-Eight Teams, Quality Rated and Tiered Family Co-Pays, Great Start Georgia, Enhanced Professional Development, Economic Development Incentives, and Family Engagement Opportunity Grants. The other strategies-- increased subsidy rates, Summer Transition Programs, and comprehensive assessments and screenings--are still being developed for local implementation. The sections that follow provide more detailed implementation information for each of the E3Zs.
20 To find out more about the E3Z Child Care Expansion Grant, please visit the DCA website: http://www.dca.ga.gov/communities/CommunityInitiatives/programs/E3Z.asp. 21 Metro Atlanta is defined as the 10-county area including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, as well as the City of Atlanta. 22 To find out more about the Family Engagement Opportunity Grants, please visit the DECAL website for funding opportunities: http://decal.ga.gov/QualityInitiatives/Grants.aspx. 23 Note that all data tables include data through January 5, 2016, in an effort to report the most recent data.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
E3Z North
The E3Z North consists of five counties, three of which make up part of the Georgia/Tennessee border: Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon, and Gilmer counties.
Birth-to-Eight Team
The E3Z North's Birth-to-Eight Team is in its initial implementation stage. The Team has over 60 members and meets every other month on the fourth Tuesday of the month in the North Georgia Regional Library. The Team is comprised of members from various organizations including: various nonprofit organizations, public and private child care providers, postsecondary institutions, community volunteers, public and private healthcare providers, regional Pre-K directors, private business and industry, the regional libraries, the local school systems, and representatives from state and local agencies.
The E3Z North Team has several priority areas, one of which is "dual-generation education." The Team strives to educate parents and families alongside educating children. This effort is shown in their recent $10,000 GOSA Innovation Fund Planning Grant, which is aimed at piloting literacy programs by integrating learning academies and power lunches for high need children and their families.24 This effort is also a focus for their family engagement activities as they work to secure a zone-wide Family Engagement Opportunity Grant.
Quality Rated & Tiered Family Co-Pays
Quality Rated is in initial implementation in the E3Z North. Most of the work for getting programs participating and rated through Quality Rated is done by the regional Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agency. The CCR&R works one-on-one with child care providers to offer technical assistance and professional development opportunities. The CCR&R is also part of the E3Z North Birth-to-Eight Team and provides updates on the status of Quality Rated in the zone during each of the Team meetings. Public awareness for quality child care is one mechanism used in the E3Z North to increase Quality Rated participation. At each of the local events, the public is reminded of the importance of quality child care and how to find quality child care.
The Birth-to-Eight Team works to support the CCR&R by finding ways to reach child care centers who are not participating in Quality Rated. Currently, 52% of the zone's licensed child care programs are participating in Quality Rated. This rate is higher than the statewide participation rate of 40% and one percentage point higher than the previous reporting cycle. Individually, each county within the zone is also surpassing the state's participation rates for Quality Rated (see Table 3). For the E3Z North, transportation is a regional challenge. The Team has identified the lack of transportation as one reason why families cannot access quality child care. As the zone continues to plan events and engage families, it incorporates transportation resources, where possible.
24 For more information regarding the Whitfield County Schools project, or for a full list of FY2016 Innovation Fund Grant award winners, please visit the GOSA Innovation Fund website: http://gosa.georgia.gov/awards-granted.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 3: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, E3Z North

Licensed Eligible for Participating

Child Quality

in QR2

Care

Rated1

(No.)

Participating in QR (%)

Oct 2015 Participation Rate (%)

Child Care Learning Centers 27

27

20

Catoosa County

Family Child Care Homes

1

1

0

Catoosa County Total

28

28

20

74%

74%

0%

0%

71%

71%

Child Care Learning Centers 35

34

15

Whitfield County

Family Child Care Homes

16

16

8

Whitfield County Total

51

50

23

43%

41%

50%

50%

45%

43%

Child Care Learning Centers 6

6

3

Murray County

Family Child Care Homes

2

2

1

Murray County Total

8

8

4

50%

50%

50%

50%

50%

50%

Child Care Learning Centers 15

13

7

Gordon County

Family Child Care Homes

6

6

2

Gordon County Total

21

19

9

47%

47%

33%

33%

43%

43%

Child Care Learning Centers 4

4

2

Gilmer County

Family Child Care Homes

0

0

0

Gilmer County Total

4

4

2

50%

50%

N/A

N/A

50%

50%

E3Z Total

112

109

58

52%

52%

Statewide Total

6,116 5,815

2,442

40%

40%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1To be eligible to be rated, a child care program must be compliant with licensing regulations. 2Any licensed program is allowed to fill out a Quality Rated application; however, only programs
compliant with licensing are eligible to be rated in Quality Rated.

Table 4 shows the distribution of rating levels within each county of the E3Z North. In Gordon County, one of the fifteen 15 licensed child care centers was recently rated, bringing the county's percentage of rated child care centers from 13% to 21% and the overall rated average (14%) in line with the state's rated average. Similar comparisons cannot be made between the state and zone for the RT3-ELC tiered family co-pay strategy because it is a strategy that is being applied within the E3Zs only. Table 5 shows participation and rated rates for the child care programs that currently serve children receiving CAPS subsidies.25 The rates for these programs

25 Note that Table 4 shows different total rated amounts than Table 5 because, though all licensed child care providers are eligible to receive CAPS, not every licensed child care provider currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies. Additionally, not every Quality Rated child care program currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies; therefore, the total numbers in Table 4 are smaller than Table 5.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

participating in Quality Rated and receiving a rating have stayed relatively stable since the previous reporting cycle. About 27% of these child care programs are Quality Rated, meaning they have earned 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program. Thirty-three percent are participating in Quality Rated; however, the majority of the programs (40%) are neither participating nor rated in Quality Rated.

Table 4: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, E3Z North

Licensed

Child 1-

Care

Star

Total Total Oct 2015 2- 3- Rated1 Rated Rated
Star Star (No.) (%) (%)

Catoosa County

Child Care Learning Centers 27

Family Child Care Homes 1

Catoosa County Total

28

3

3 5 11

41% 41%

0

00 0

0% 0%

3

3 5 11

39% 39%

Child Care Learning Centers 35

Whitfield County

Family Child Care Homes

16

Whitfield County Total

51

1

34 8

23% 22%

2

21 5

31% 31%

3

5 5 13

25% 25%

Murray County

Child Care Learning Centers 6

Family Child Care Homes 2

Murray County Total

8

0

20 2

0

00 0

0

20 2

33% 33% 0% N/A 25% 25%

Gordon County

Child Care Learning Centers 15

Family Child Care Homes 6

Gordon County Total

21

2

10 3

0

00 0

2

10 3

20% 13% 0% 0% 14% 10%

Gilmer County

Child Care Learning Centers 4

Family Child Care Homes 0

Gilmer County Total

4

0

01 1

N/A N/A N/A N/A

0

01 1

25% 25% N/A N/A 25% 25%

E3Z Total

112

8

11 11 30

27% 25%

Statewide Total

6,116 300 416 167 883 14% 13%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated
program.

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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 5: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, E3Z North

E3Z E3Z Oct 2015

Catoosa Whitfield Murray Gordon Gilmer Total Total E3Z Total

(No.) (%)

(%)

Quality Rated1

5

5

1

2

0

13 27%

26%

QR Participating2

5

5

1

5

0

16 33%

36%

Not Quality Rated 0

9

3

6

1

19 40%

38%

Total

10

19

5

13

1

48 100% 100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016 1Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program. 2QR Participating means that a child care program has started the process to becoming Quality Rated, but has not yet earned a rating of 1-, 2-, or 3-stars.

In terms of the number of children who are affected by the program's participation in Quality Rated, Table 6 shows that 163 (39%) children are receiving a decreased family co-pay because they attend a Quality Rated child care program. Another 37% of children (154) could see their family co-pays decrease if the child care program they attend moves from participating to fully rated. Still, a quarter of all children receiving CAPS subsidies (104) are in programs that are not participating in Quality Rated. The overall percentages for the number of children receiving benefits in the decreased family copay program have gone up since the previous reporting cycle.

Table 6: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, E3Z North

E3Z Total E3Z Total Oct 2015 E3Z

(No.)

(%)

Total (%)

Quality Rated

163

39%

35%

QR Participating

154

37%

42%

Not Quality Rated

104

25%

23%

Total

421

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016

Previously, the E3Z North realized that there was a lack of local knowledge regarding the decreased family co-pay program, and this lack of local knowledge prevented families from receiving the benefits. The zone's Birth-to-Eight Team began a targeted strategy to dissect the "rhetoric" and bring knowledge about the initiative directly to child care providers. This started with the zone's community coordinator receiving extensive training with CAPS staff members. Then DECAL staff hosted a Q&A session with the Director's Network in the zone. By bringing in official, first-hand knowledge regarding the program, the Team and the Director's Network were able to comprehend the program more fully, how it works to increase quality, and what they need to do to help families obtain the benefits. The Team is currently working to facilitate similar learning sessions between DFCS directors, CAPS caseworkers, and DECAL representatives.

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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Great Start Georgia
Before the RT3-ELC, Whitfield County already had a Great Start Georgia (GSG) evidence-based home visiting program in place. As part of the ELC grant, Gordon County received a new home visiting program that is based out of a child care center. The home visiting initiative is in the initial implementation stage in the E3Z North. The Family Resource Center of Gordon County is serving as the fiscal agent for the grant, and Brighter Tomorrows Child Development Center in Calhoun is serving as the child care hub.
One challenge to the implementation of GSG in the E3Z North is the limited pool of eligible children in the child care hub. Every family within the child care hub may not qualify for home visiting services. Additionally, those who do qualify tend to be less available for home visits because they work outside of the home. The GSG team is working to recruit families and children from outside of the child care center. The First Steps Resource Coordinator, the resource personnel who is stationed within the child care center, and the home visiting team are reaching out to families with the help of the Gordon County and Calhoun City Pre-K Directors and Parent Engagement Coordinators. The Team is also trying setup networks with the Alatoona Head Start, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) office, local Health Departments, and pediatric offices.
Enhanced Professional Development
Enhanced professional development is in the installation stage of implementation in the E3Z North. One of the key goals of the Birth-to-Eight Team is to foster collaboration between school systems and higher education institutions to improve workforce development for early childhood professionals across the zone. The regional CCR&R provides monthly trainings for providers participating in Quality Rated. The CCR&R recently provided training for the ECERS3, one of the classroom observation tools used by Quality Rated to measure process quality in child care settings.
The zone is also implementing a Directors' Network, which includes approximately 25 child care and pre-k providers across the region. Partners in the E3Z North Directors' Network include the CCR&R, DECAL, Dalton State College, local school systems, the Chamber of Commerce Division of Workforce Development, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, and child care directors. The group meets every other month to plan for their needs and receive specialized professional development. The providers in the Directors' Network underscore the need for increased workforce development. For example, some Head Start and Early Head Start centers are using substitute teachers because they cannot find qualified teachers with the necessary, minimum Child Development Associate credential.
Child Care Expansion Grants
The child care expansion grants were designed to bring economic development incentives to the E3Zs. The E3Z North's community coordinator noted that sustainability needs to be addressed in order to implement the child care expansion grants in the zone successfully. One child care provider in the E3Z North was selected to receive a child care expansion grant during the first round of grants. Unfortunately, the provider ultimately declined the offer because she was unable to secure the matching funds required for the grant.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Family Engagement Opportunity Grants In mid-December 2015, grant writing training for the Family Engagement Opportunity
Grants was held in the E3Z North. The zone's community coordinator and Birth-to-Eight Team are working with interested child care providers, nonprofits, and local organizations to write family engagement grants. One challenge identified while writing these grants is the fact that many of the zone's local organizations serve multiple counties within the zone, but none of the zone's local organizations serve all five counties within the zone. Serving every county within the zone is not required to receive a family engagement grant, though the Team believes it will make for a stronger grant application and lead to a wider community impact. Challenges & Opportunities
One of the strengths of the E3Z North is its ability to identify its own challenges and work creatively to devise local solutions. One identified challenge this quarter is economic sustainability. As the zone continues to collaborate on grant funded opportunities, such as the $10,000 GOSA Innovation Fund Grant that Whitfield County Schools received last quarter, so does the importance of ongoing, continued financial support once the grant funds are finished. The zone is working to broadcast the message that early care and education is not only important to children and families, it is equally important the economic sustainability of businesses and labor markets throughout the region. What's Next
Workforce development continues to be a priority for the E3Z North. In the zone, child care providers are the first ones to feel the effect of a limited early care and education workforce. The providers in the Directors' Network help to bring the issue to light, and the Birth-to-Eight team makes workforce development a priority. Currently, the Team is working with the local school systems and colleges and universities to advocate for a more formalized path to employment for high school students who want to enter the early care and education workforce. Additionally, the zone continues to build relationships with the region's postsecondary institutions in an effort to extend high-quality, credentialed in-service training to early childhood education professionals.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Clarke E3Z
The Clarke E3Z consists of Athens-Clarke County in northeast Georgia. Birth-to-Eight Team
Athens-Clarke County has a longstanding partnership between Family Connections and Communities in Schools Athens. For over a decade, this partnership has continued through the work of six strategic action teams, one of which is devoted to early care and learning. When Athens-Clarke County was designated as an E3Z, the Early Care and Learning Strategic Action Team (ECL-SAT) took on the role of the Birth-to-Eight Team of the Clarke E3Z.
The ECL-SAT meets once per month in Athens. Much of the ECL-SAT agenda is already in place, due in part to a number of existing initiatives. Some of the represented organizations include: the local school system; faculty and staff from higher education institutions; technical assistance providers; child care providers; public early childhood education programs, such as Head Start and Georgia Pre-K; nonprofits and foundations; and parents.
Currently, the ECL-SAT is in the full implementation stage. The ECL-SAT uses data from the Family Connections community needs assessment to help understand community issues and set priorities. As the work moves forward, one of the priorities is to encourage participation on the team from private child care providers and the business community. The ECL-SAT is not only focused on E3Z strategies or DECAL initiatives but also with any program that might improve early childhood education in the region. Quality Rated & Tiered Family Co-Pays
Quality Rated is in the full implementation stage in the Clarke E3Z, and it is mostly implemented by the regional Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agency. The CCR&R provides technical assistance to child care programs as they become Quality Rated and works with other local stakeholders to encourage more child care programs to become Quality Rated. Over the past few months, the regional CCR&R has been working with a couple of local nonprofit organizations to increase the Quality Rated participation and rated rates within the zone. While the zone's participation rate of 39% has remained constant over the past couple of months, and is just one percentage point lower than the statewide participation rate of 40% (Table 7), the zone's rated rates have increase four percentage points (20%) since the previous quarter (Table 8). The zone continues to surpass the statewide average of 14% for the percentage of rated programs. Similar comparisons cannot be made for the RT3-ELC tiered family co-pay strategy because it is a strategy that is being applied within the E3Zs only.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 7: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, Clarke E3Z

Licensed Child Care

Eligible for
Quality Rated1

Participating Participating Oct 2015 in QR2 (No.) in QR (%) Participation
Rate (%)

Child Care Learning Centers

37

33

16

43%

43%

Family Child Care Homes

24

22

8

33%

33%

E3Z Total

61

55

24

39%

39%

Statewide Total

6,116

5,815

2,442

40%

39%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1To be eligible to be rated, a child care program must be compliant with licensing regulations. 2Any licensed program is allowed to fill out a Quality Rated application; however, only programs compliant with
licensing are eligible to be rated in Quality Rated.

Table 8: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, Clarke E3Z Licensed 1- 2- 3- Rated1 Rated Oct 2015

Child Care Star Star Star (No.) (%) Rated (%)

Child Care Learning Centers

37

2 3 4

9

24%

22%

Family Child Care Homes

24

0 1 2

3

8%

8%

E3Z Total

61

2 4 6

12 20%

16%

Statewide Total

6,116 300 416 167 883 14%

13%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program.

Table 9 reflects the number of child care programs in the Clarke E3Z that currently serve children who receive CAPS subsidies.26 Out of 29 total programs: 28% are Quality Rated (up seven percentage points from the last quarter); another 28% are participating in Quality Rated (down six percentage points); but the bulk (45%) continue to be neither rated nor participating in Quality Rated.

26 Note that Table 9 shows different total rated amounts than
Table 8 because, though all licensed child care providers are eligible to receive CAPS, not every licensed child care provider currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies. Additionally, not every Quality Rated child care program currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies; therefore, the total numbers in Table 9 are smaller than
Table 8.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 9: Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Clarke E3Z

No. of Percent of Oct 2015 Percent of

Providers Providers

Providers

Quality Rated1

8

28%

21%

QR Participating2

8

28%

34%

Not Quality Rated

13

45%

45%

Total

29

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016 1Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated
program. 2QR Participating means that a child care program has started the process to becoming Quality Rated,
but has not yet earned a rating of 1-, 2-, or 3-stars.

There is potential for child care programs that serve children receiving CAPS subsidies to extend the benefits of the tiered family co-pay to those children. Table 10 shows that only 61 (18%) children who receive subsidies attend a Quality Rated child care program. The family copays for these children have been dropped to $5, $10, or $15 depending on the child care program's rating level. However, 220 (65%) children who receive subsidies attend a child care program that is only participating in Quality Rated. This means that the child care program has not yet earned 1-, 2-, or 3-stars. If these eight programs (see Table 9) were to be rated, an additional 65% of Clarke E3Z's children receiving subsidies would see a decrease in their weekly family co-pay rates.

Table 10: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Clarke E3Z

No. of

Percent of CAPS-

Oct 2015 Percent of

Children

Eligible Children CAPS-Eligible Children

Quality Rated

61

18%

16%

QR Participating

220

65%

67%

Not Quality Rated

59

17%

17%

Total

340

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016

Great Start Georgia
Athens-Clarke County, even before becoming an E3Z, is home to two Great State Georgia evidence-based home visiting programs. The county has a program for the Early Head Start-Home Based Option, as well as Healthy Families Georgia. Since Athens-Clarke is already operating Healthy Families Georgia in the county, GSG designed the zone's RT3-ELC home visiting program as an extension to the existing Healthy Families Georgia. For the extension
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
grant, Prevent Child Abuse Athens is serving as the fiscal agent for the grant, and Little Angels Daycare is serving as the child care hub. The extension grant has been operational in the zone for about nine months.
The GSG strategy in the Clarke E3Z is experiencing one major challenge. Most of the families within the child care hub do not qualify for initial or extended home visitation services because the families in the child care hub do not exhibit certain risk factors. This means that the First Steps Resource Coordinator must work with contacts and resources outside of the child care hub to operate at projected capacity for the number of families receiving home visitation services. Economic Development Incentives & Family Engagement Opportunity Grants
In early 2016, the Clarke E3Z held information sessions for both the child care expansion grant and the family engagement opportunity grants. The community coordinator noted that interest in these two grant opportunities is high. The challenge, however, is finding programs that meet all of the requirements for the grants. For example, the child care expansion grant is only available to currently rated 2- or 3-star child care programs. There are currently 10 2- or 3-star rated programs, out of 55 eligible programs, in the Clarke E3Z. Any new or expanded program must be 3-star Quality Rated within one year of the grant award. Based on the amount of time it takes child care programs within the zone to become Quality Rated, becoming Quality Rated within one year is a real concern for any child care expansion grant recipient. Challenges and Opportunities
More child care programs in the Clarke E3Z are participating and becoming rated in Quality Rated. While the zone has maintained its participation rate since last quarter, its rated rates have increased more than any other zone. Again, this may be because many of those programs have been in the "pipeline" and have recently received a rating. The zone's hope is that this level of growth will continue.
The community coordinator expressed a need for getting licensed, noncompliant child care programs to participate in Quality Rated even though those programs cannot receive a rating until their compliance designations are renewed. Under the current system a licensed, noncompliant child care program is not eligible to receive a Quality Rated rating until the program's compliance is restored. What's Next
The Clarke E3Z is turning its focus to encourage parents and business leaders to take an interest in Quality Rated and the quality of early care and education in the zone. At this point, each and every one of the zone's licensed child care providers knows about Quality Rated. The Birth-to-Eight Team would like to use the power of consumer demand and economic investments to encourage programs to participate in and become Quality Rated.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Bibb E3Z
The Bibb E3Z consists of Bibb County in central Georgia. Birth-to-Eight Team
Community members and early childhood education partners in Bibb County have a history of working together to improve outcomes for the region's youngest children. Prior to being designated as an E3Z, the area was serviced through the United Way of Central Georgia's Early Learning Project. The United Way of Central Georgia includes fourteen central Georgia counties, one of which is Macon-Bibb County. The strategic focus of the project is to support comprehensive early childhood and grade-level reading.
When Bibb County, which includes the city of Macon, was selected as an E3Z, the zone already had a working team of partners dedicated to coordinating support services for young children. As such, the structure of the Birth-to-Eight Team was largely in place and the groundwork had already been set. The Bibb Birth-to-Eight Team is formally known as the Early Learning Network. Some of the represented organizations include: the local school system; state departments such as the Department of Health and the Department of Family and Children Services; postsecondary institutions; technical assistance providers; child care providers; faithbased organizations; public early childhood education programs, such as Head Start and Georgia Pre-K; and nonprofits and foundations, such as the United Way of Central Georgia and Family Connections.
Currently, the Early Learning Network is in the initial implementation stage. Due in large part to the United Way of Central Georgia's work, the Early Learning Network has a strong presence in the community. The Network focuses on four main initiatives: school readiness, school attendance, summer learning, and Quality Rated. Quality Rated & Tiered Family Co-Pays
Quality Rated is largely being implemented in the Bibb E3Z through the work of the regional Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agency. Members of the CCR&R sit on the Early Learning Network and provide updates to the group. The CCR&R holds a number of events around Quality Rated: informational classes for child care providers, specialized technical assistance, conference calls, and focus groups. The Georgia Program for Infant and Toddler Care offered specialized training for child care workers who serve children from birth to three years old. Licensing consultants from DECAL also provide specialized training in the region to help child care programs prepare for Quality Rated.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 11: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, Bibb E3Z

Licensed Child Care

Eligible for Participating

Quality

in QR2

Rated1

(No.)

Participating Oct 2015 in QR Participation (%) Rates (%)

Child Care Learning Centers

100

96

50

50%

49%

Family Child Care Homes

31

30

9

29%

28%

E3Z Total

131

126

59

45%

44%

Statewide Total

6,116

5,815

2,442

40%

39%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1To be eligible to be rated, a child care program must be compliant with licensing regulations. 2Any licensed program is allowed to fill out a Quality Rated application; however, only programs compliant with
licensing are eligible to be rated in Quality Rated.

Table 11 shows that the Bibb E3Z has 131 licensed child care programs, including both child care centers and family child care homes. About 45% of those licensed programs are currently participating in Quality Rated, which is an improvement from the last quarter. The zone is still about five percentage points higher than the state (40%) in terms of Quality Rated participation. The average participation rate is still higher for child care centers (50%) than it is for family child care homes (29%); however, the participation rates for both types of providers each increased over the last quarter. Similar comparisons cannot be made for the RT3-ELC tiered family co-pay strategy because it is a strategy that is being applied within the E3Zs only. Table 12 shows more detail about child care programs that are rated in Quality Rated. Of the 131 licensed child care programs, about 12% are rated, meaning they have earned 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program.

Table 12: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, Bibb E3Z

Licensed Child Care

1-Star

2-Star

3-Star

Rated1 (No.)

Rated (%)

Oct 2015 Rated (%)

Child Care Learning Centers

100

3

8

4

15

15%

13%

Family Child Care Homes

31

0

1

0

1

3%

3%

E3Z Total

131

3

9

4

16

12%

10%

Statewide Total

6,116

300 416 167 883

14%

13%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated program.

Table 13 describes the number of child care centers that currently serve children
receiving CAPS subsidies that are Quality Rated, participating in Quality Rated, and not participating in Quality Rated.27 Sixteen percent of these programs earned 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in

27 Note that Table 13 shows different total rated amounts than Table 12 because, though all licensed child care providers are eligible to receive CAPS, not every licensed child care provider currently serves or accepts children
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Quality Rated, a three percentage point increase from the previous quarter. Another 42% of these programs are participating in Quality Rated, which means they have not yet earned any stars. The final 42% of programs are neither participating nor rated in Quality Rated.

Table 13: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Bibb E3Z

No. of

Percent of Oct 2015 Percent

Providers

Providers

of Providers3

Quality Rated1

13

16%

13%

QR Participating2

35

42%

46%

Not Quality Rated

35

42%

41%

Total

83

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016 1Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality
Rated program. 2QR Participating means that a child care program has started the process to becoming Quality
Rated, but has not yet earned a rating of 1-, 2-, or 3-stars. 3The previous report overestimated the total number of Quality Rated child care programs that accepts CAPS-eligible children. The total number was 10, not 12, which changes the currently
published percentages from the last reporting cycle.

Table 14 shows the number of children who receive CAPS subsidies that are enrolled in Quality Rated child care programs, child care program participating in Quality Rated, and child care programs not participating in Quality Rated. Seventeen percent of children receiving CAPS subsidies in the Bibb E3Z are benefiting from decreased family co-pays of $5, $10, or $15, up from 12% last quarter.
About 57% of children receiving subsidies attend programs that are in the process of becoming Quality Rated. When these 35 programs (see Table 13) earn 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in Quality Rated, the children enrolled in these programs who receive subsidies can receive decreased family co-pays. Still, one-quarter of children who receive CAPS subsidies attend child care programs that are neither rated nor participating in Quality Rated.

Table 14: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, Bibb E3Z

No. of

Percent of CAPS-

Oct 2015 Percent of

Children

Eligible Children CAPS-Eligible Children

Quality Rated

495

17%

12%

QR Participating

1,620

57%

57%

Not Quality Rated

715

25%

32%

Total

2,830

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016

who receive subsidies. Additionally, not every Quality Rated child care program currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies; therefore, the total numbers in Table 13 are smaller than Table 12.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Great Start Georgia (GSG)
The implementation of the Great Start Georgia home visitation model is in the initial implementation stage in the Bibb E3Z. The United Way of Central Georgia is the fiscal agent for the grant, and Sandy's Sandbox Child Care Center serves as the hub of the program. Currently, the First Steps Resource Coordinator and the three certified Parents Educators are in place and have started reaching out to families within the child care center, as well as to referrals from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) office, Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), and the Department of Health. Since August 2015, 80 families have been screened and 33 families are receiving home visitation services.
The Bibb E3Z's iteration of the Great Start Georgia model includes services that were, initially, outside of the scope of home visiting services. The zone realized that the community needed additional services, such as career services, resume writing, and direct referrals to other service agencies. To adapt to the needs of the community, the home visiting hub now includes job fair resources, counseling for families, credit counseling, and a parent store. The parent store is supported by donations from the zone's Directors' Network, Early Learning Network and the United Way of Central Georgia. Parents who attend family engagement opportunities--like a seminar or parent-teacher conference--earn "parent bucks" to purchase items from the parent store.
Enhanced Professional Development
In the Bibb E3Z, enhanced professional development has taken the form of a Directors' Network. The Directors' Network was started by the zone's CCR&R as a peer-support network for child care directors. The group, which is comprised of upwards of 27 child care center directors meets every other month and follows a suggested list of learning topics of most interest to its members.
The Directors' Network works actively to recruit new members and keep current members up-to-date on information. The group has its own Facebook page, which is currently managed by one of the member child care centers. The group also has a regular newsletter it sends out to everyone on its mailing list, including the Early Learning Network. The CCR&R recruits most members through word-of-mouth, and the network is open to all child care directors, both licensed and unlicensed.
Challenges & Opportunities
An advantage for the Bibb E3Z is the already existing network of partners who work to provide coordinated services for children and youth. The United Way of Central Georgia provides a lot of this structure. This means that the Bibb E3Z Early Learning Network is comprised of individuals who not only know each other, but have also worked--and are working--with each other extensively.
Another challenge for the Bibb E3Z is getting more family child care providers engaged, participating, and rated in Quality Rated. Although one family child care provider is rated in Quality Rated, that one provider only accounts for about 3% of all eligible family child care homes in the zone (see Table 12). Most licensed family child care providers have only one director and no additional staff available to provide care for up to six children. Quality Rated is a voluntary program, and given the amount of time it could take to complete the Quality Rated
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
portfolio, some family child care providers may not think the benefit is worth the cost. Also, most family child care providers operate within their homes. Quality Rated requires an official classroom observation, which means that a new stranger--in addition to the CCR&R consultant, the licensing consultant, the nutrition consultant, and other regulatory consultants--will enter the provider's home to conduct an observation. As a result, the CCR&R experiences resistance from family child care providers when it tries to recruit for Quality Rated. The Bibb E3Z is committed to turning around the lack of participation from family child care providers by building a peersupport network specifically for family child care providers. What's Next
The zone is developing a couple of community initiatives. Attend Caf, sponsored by the United Way of Central Georgia, was devised to tackle the problem of school attendance and truancy rates, and was first celebrated in September as part of National Attendance Awareness Month. Born Learning Academy is a school-based workshop series that will teach busy, overwhelmed parents and caregivers how to turn everyday moments into learning opportunities.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
South Georgia E3Z
The South Georgia E3Z consists of five counties, three of which make up part of the Georgia/Florida border: Colquitt, Cook, Brooks, Lowndes, and Echols counties.
Birth-to-Eight Team
When the South Georgia E3Z was selected as a finalist, there was little zone-wide coordination of local initiatives designed to improve the quality of or access to early care and education options for families. This meant that the zone coordinator first needed to pull together early care and education stakeholders across the zone to help form a Birth-to-Eight Team, which then began implementing the strategies of the RT3-ELC grant. The zone's Birth-to-Eight Team is formally known as the South Georgia E3Z Leadership Team. This name was chosen to reduce confusion related to local Family Connections Collaborative groups that work within the counties of the zone.
The South Georgia E3Z Leadership Team is in its installation stage and meets regularly every other month at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in Valdosta. Currently, the team consists of about 27 individuals who represent different organizations across the five-county zone. Some of the represented organizations include: infant, toddler, and preschool teachers; early learning and development program administrators; elementary school principals and superintendents; business leaders; healthcare professionals; public library systems; technical colleges and university systems; nonprofit organizations; faith-based organizations; local chambers of commerce; local Family Connection Collaborative from each county; the Department of Public Health; and a state representative from the Georgia House of Representatives.
The Team identified seven strategies that they are actively using achieve the goals of the RT3-ELC grant, as well as improve early childhood education in the region. Their seven strategies are (1) implementing a Directors' Network, (2) offering professional development opportunities for child care workers, (3) maintaining a strong Leadership Team with a dedicated vision, (4) increased Summer Transition Program participation, (5) increased Summer Feeding Service Program participation, (6) increased community awareness of Quality Rated, and (7) promoting the Little Leaders Program.
Quality Rated & Tiered Family Co-Pays
In the South Georgia E3Z, the Quality Rated initiative is in the initial implementation stage. Quality Rated is implemented mostly by the Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agency in that region. One of the main objectives of the CCR&Rs is to help child care programs become Quality Rated. To this end, CCR&R staff work one-on-one with child care programs, walking program directors through the Quality Rated process and helping directors identify areas of program improvement.
The five counties that make up the South Georgia E3Z contain varying amounts of child care options (Table 15). For example, Brooks County has no licensed family child care homes. Echols County, similarly, has only one licensed family child care home and one licensed child care center, neither of which are participating in Quality Rated. The lack of available, licensed child care options poses a problem to families in need of child care. The regional CCR&R is
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

committed to working with the local child care programs to help them raise the quality of care that they provide to children and families.

Table 15: Total Child Care Programs Participating in Quality Rated, South Georgia E3Z

Licensed Eligible for Participating Participating

Child Quality

in QR2

in QR

Care

Rated1

(No.)

(%)

Oct 2015 Participation Rates (%)

Child Care Learning Centers 31

30

15

Colquitt County

Family Child Care Homes

4

4

0

Colquitt County Total

35

34

15

48%

48%

0%

0%

43%

42%

Child Care Learning Centers 8

7

4

Cook County

Family Child Care Homes

11

10

5

Cook County Total

19

17

9

50%

50%

45%

45%

47%

47%

Child Care Learning Centers 5

5

2

Brooks County

Family Child Care Homes

0

0

0

Brooks County Total

5

5

2

40%

40%

N/A

N/A

40%

40%

Child Care Learning Centers 68

66

42

Lowndes County

Family Child Care Homes

39

38

15

Lowndes County Total

107

104

57

62%

61%

38%

37%

53%

50%

Child Care Learning Centers 1

1

0

Echols County

Family Child Care Homes

1

1

0

Echols County Total

2

2

0

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

E3Z Total

168

162

83

49%

48%

Statewide Total

6,116 5,815

2,442

40%

39%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1To be eligible to be rated, a child care program must be compliant with licensing regulations. 2Any licensed program is allowed to fill out a Quality Rated application; however, only programs compliant with
licensing are eligible to be rated in Quality Rated.

Table 15 also shows that, with the exception of Echols County, all of the South Georgia E3Z counties--and the zone as a whole (49%)--are surpassing the statewide Quality Rated participation rate (40%). Table 16 shows that the same relationship holds true when the total rated percentage for the South Georgia E3Z (23%, up two percentage points from the previous quarter) is compared to the statewide percentage for total rated programs (14%, up one percentage point from the previous quarter). This may be because of the local efforts within the zone to increase Quality Rated participation. Similar comparisons cannot be made for the RT3ELC tiered family co-pay strategy because it is a strategy that is being applied within the E3Zs only.

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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

Table 16: Total Child Care Programs Rated in Quality Rated, South Georgia E3Z

Licensed Child Care

1Star

2- 3Star Star

Total Rated1
(No.)

Total Rated (%)

Oct 2015 Rated (%)

Child Care Learning Centers 31

Colquitt Family Child Care Homes County

4

Colquitt County Total

35

1

1 0

2

0

0 0

0

1

1 0

2

6% 6% 0% 0% 6% 6%

Cook County

Child Care Learning Centers 8

Family Child Care Homes 11

Cook County Total

19

1

2 0

3

0

0 0

0

1

2 0

3

38% 38% 0% 0% 16% 16%

Brooks County

Child Care Learning Centers 5

Family Child Care Homes 0

Brooks County Total

5

0

0 0

0

N/A N/A N/A N/A

0

0 0

0

0% 0% N/A N/A 0% 0%

Child Care Learning Centers 68

Lowndes Family Child Care Homes County

39

Lowndes County Total

107

14 12 0 26

1

1 6

8

15 10 6 34

38% 33% 21% 17% 32% 27%

Echols County

Child Care Learning Centers 1

Family Child Care Homes 1

Echols County Total

2

0

0 0

0

0

0 0

0

0

0 0

0

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

E3Z Total

168

17 13 6 39

23% 21%

Statewide Total

6,116 300 416 167 883 14% 13%

Source: Quality Rated Program, January 2016 1Rated in Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated
program.

Table 17 and Table 18 are related to the number of programs and the number of children receiving subsidies, respectively, that are benefiting from the RT3-ELC strategy designed to decrease family co-pays.28 Across the zone, 74 child care providers serve 1,016 total children that receive CAPS subsidies. The majority (51%) of these children and their families can take advantage of the decreased family co-pays because they attend one of the 27 child care providers that are Quality Rated. Each quarter, the zone has watched the percentages of CAPS-receiving programs participating in Quality Rated grow from 34% to 41% and now to 51%. Another 25 child care providers in the zone are participating in Quality Rated, which means they are not yet rated have but have started the process. If they were to become Quality Rated and earn 1-, 2-, or 3-

28 Note that Table 17 shows different total rated amounts than Table 16 because, though all licensed child care providers are eligible to receive CAPS, not every licensed child care provider currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies. Additionally, not every Quality Rated child care program currently serves or accepts children who receive subsidies; therefore, the total numbers in Table 17 are smaller than Table 16.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)

stars, then an additional 350 (34%) children and their families would see a reduction in their copays to either $5, $10, or $15.

Table 17: Total Number of Providers Serving Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, South Georgia

E3Z

E3Z E3Z Oct 2015

Colquitt Cook Brooks Lowndes Echols Total Total E3Z Total

(No.) (%)

(%)

Quality Rated1

2

2

0

23

0

27 36%

27%

QR Participating2

5

1

1

18

0

25 34%

41%

Not Quality Rated

3

3

1

14

1

22 30%

32%

Total

10

6

2

55

1

74 100% 100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016 1Quality Rated means that a child care program has earned either 1-, 2-, or 3-stars in the Quality Rated
program. 2QR Participating means that a child care program has started the process to becoming Quality Rated, but has
not yet earned a rating of 1-, 2-, or 3-stars.

Table 18: Total Number of Children Receiving CAPS Subsidies, South Georgia E3Z

E3Z Total E3Z Total Oct 2015 E3Z

(No.)

(%)

Total (%)

Quality Rated

516

51%

41%

QR Participating

350

34%

44%

Not Quality Rated

150

15%

15%

Total

1,016

100%

100%

Source: CAPS, January 2016

Great Start Georgia
The Great Start Georgia evidence-based home visiting model is in the initial implementation stage in the South Georgia E3Z. The Family Connection of Lowndes County serves as the fiscal agent for the Great Start Georgia grant, and Bright Start Preschool and Learning Center in Valdosta serves as the child care hub. Currently, there are six local personnel funded through the home-visiting program: one First Steps Resource Coordinator, one Parents as Teachers supervisor, and four certified Parent Educators. GSG service delivery in the South Georgia E3Z started October 1, 2015, about three months later than the other three E3Zs.
To find families eligible for home visitation services, the First Steps Resource Coordinator is reaching out to other local agencies that serve families and children with high needs. The GSG team is working closely with the Department of Public Health to share data. The team is also working on a securing a partnership with the South Georgia Medical Center. One challenge that the GSG team is experiencing is securing additional resources and support, which may be outside the scope of the grant, for families in need. For example, the team was able to

26

E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
find housing a family that was living in a park. Once the family moved into the apartment, however, they then needed help finding safe furniture and other daily supplies. Enhanced Professional Development
The South Georgia E3Z has a Directors' Network, and it is in the initial implementation stage. The South Georgia E3Z Directors' Network expressed concerns that much of the available trainings and professional development opportunities took place far away from the zone. To address the concerns of the South Georgia E3Z Directors' Network, DECAL scheduled a specialized Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards (GELDS) training in February 2015. The CCR&R continues to offer local trainings during the week and on the weekends.29 Challenges & Opportunities
One of the biggest challenges facing the South Georgia E3Z is helping providers qualify for the child care expansion grants and finding organizations to apply for the Family Engagement Opportunity Grants. For the child care expansion grant, the community coordinator received interest from centers who did not qualify because they were not 2- or 3-star rated. What's Next
The South Georgia E3Z is developing a Summer Feeding Service Program for summer 2016. The Leadership Team recently received guidance from the E3Z North's community coordinator about how the Summer Feeding Service Program is being implemented in the other five-county E3Z.
29 For more information on the GELDS, please see the DECAL website: http://gelds.decal.ga.gov/.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Conclusion
The four E3Zs are each taking the strategies outlined in the RT3-ELC grant and implementing them in ways that address community needs. In many cases, the E3Zs are also working with local partners to create new and innovative initiatives in response to other areas of the community's need. Two areas of need, identified by all of the E3Zs, include helping more providers qualify for the economic development incentives and adapting the Great Start Georgia home visitation hub to cater to the specific needs of the community. Below is a summary of the difficulties and suggestions to address them.
Raising Quality to Qualify for Grant Opportunities
The DCA/DECAL child care expansion grant was written with strict criteria for higher child care quality standards. Applicants needed to be 2- or 3-star Quality Rated child care providers. Applicants also needed to ensure that any additional classrooms or programs created as a result of grant funds became 2- or 3-star Quality Rated within one year of receiving the award. The rigor of the grant helps to underscore the importance of high quality child care and connect that importance to economic benefits at the provider level.
In addition to the program in Clarke E3Z that was awarded during the first round, one provider in the E3Z North also met the rigorous standards during Round 1. Unfortunately, this child care provider declined the award because of sustainability issues. For this provider, securing the matching funds necessary to create two additional teaching positions became an insurmountable challenge. This challenge speaks to the overall context of the RT3-ELC grant, in general, in moving from development to implementation to sustainability. On the one hand, the grant encourages the development of higher quality child care for all children, especially children with high needs. On the other hand, the grant--and the E3Z initiative--wants to foster longstanding development and change. Being about halfway through the grant period, most stakeholders are starting to switch their focus from development and implementation to implementation and sustainability.
Supporting an Adaptive Resource Hub
For at least nine months now, Great Start Georgia has been operating a home visitation program located within a child care center in each of the E3Zs. The hub programs have all experienced similar issues with working from within a child care center. One such issue is the limited pool of eligible, and available, families to receive home visiting services. The limitations within the child care center have increased the need for the hub programs to connect to other community agencies, like the local Department of Health, local Head Start programs, regional hospitals, and local school systems.
Another issue for the hub programs is responding to community needs which may be outside of the scope of the grant. These additional community needs require the hubs to tailor their services. For example, the hub program in the Bibb E3Z offers counseling and career services, in addition to a parent store that rewards parents for being engaged (e.g., volunteering, attending special events, completing parent-teacher conferences, etc.). The hub program in the South Georgia E3Z continues to look for ways to provide services and resources outside of the scope of home visitation. For example, the hub helped secure housing for a homeless mother and her children, but the family also needed continued resources and support after housing was
28

E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
secured. The hub programs may not have initially forecasted the additional needs of individual families, but as the hub programs continue they are becoming more efficient in adapting to the needs of their specific communities.
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E3Z Quarterly Evaluation Report (March 2016)
Acknowledgements
The Governor's Office of Student Achievement would like to thank the E3Z Coordinators and the state, regional, and local stakeholders who are working to implement the RT3-ELC grant in the E3Zs. The Governor's Office of Student Achievement would also like to thank the following individuals and organizations who provided the data contained in this report: Clayton Adams, Clarke E3Z Community Coordinator Valerie Blackmon, Bibb E3Z Community Coordinator Suzanne Harbin, E3Z North Community Coordinator Taijha Harden, CAPS-ELC Business Operations Specialist Jill O'Meara, South Georgia E3Z Community Coordinator Georgia's Quality Rated Program
30