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2 2 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTOklahomaDepartmentofHumanServicesChildCareServicesP.O.Box25352,OklahomaCity,OK73125Voice(405)5213561Fax:( 405)5222564TollFree:( 800)3472276www. okdhs.org/childcare Dear Child Care Supporter: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2010 Annual Report for Oklahoma Child Care Services (OCCS) covering the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. The report reflects the activities of OCCS working in partnership with parents, legislators, the Child Care Advisory Committee, the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services, child care providers, the federal Office of Child Care, state agencies, tribes, vendors and other partners to promote and enhance access to child care in a safe, educational and nurturing environment. OCCS licenses over 4,500 child care facilities throughout the state. These facilities employ over 20,000 people and have the capacity to care for more than 135,000 children per day while their parents or guardians are employed. Our 106 Child Care Licensing Specialists conduct at least three unannounced monitoring visits at each facility per year. In addition, we respond to complaints, provide technical assistance and encourage participation in the Reaching for the Stars program. Research indicates children experiencing a high quality early childhood education are better prepared to enter school and have more positive outcomes throughout their lives. A significant factor affecting the quality of care is the education and training of caregivers. OCCS collaborates with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to provide scholarships through the Scholars initiative and the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Early Childhood Professional Development to administer the REWARD initiative compensating teachers for education and longevity. Additionally, we support families in identifying and finding quality care through a statewide network of resource and referral organizations. We are proud of Oklahoma’s commitment to support families and children. Every Oklahoman has a role to play in supporting good beginnings for our children and their families. I hope that you will use this information to better inform yourself and others to support our mission and work. Respectfully, Lesli Blazer Director of Child Care Services “AssuringOklahoma’sfamilieshaveaccesstolicensed,affordable,qualitychildcare” FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 3Mission Statement The Oklahoma Department of Human Services Oklahoma Child Care Services assures Oklahoma families have access to licensed, affordable, highquality child care where children have the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment. 4ALREPORTOKDHS Organizational ChartFAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION Director Mary Stalnaker CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES DIVISION Director Deborah G. Smith FIELD OPERATIONS DIVISION Director Larry Johnson OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES Director Robin Jones SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES Director Kyle McGraw OFFICE OF PLANNING, RESEARCH AND STATISTICS Director Connie Schlittler DATA SERVICES DIVISION Director Sarjoo Shah ENTERPRISE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT OFFICE Director Fonda Logston INFORMATION SECURITY Information Security Officer Mark Gower AREA I Director Amy Whitson 11 COUNTY DIRECTORS (22 offices) AREA II Director Marie McCormick AREA III Director Debra Clour AREA IV Director William Wilson AREA V Director Judy Wyatt AREA VI Director Kelly Johnson 15 COUNTY DIRECTORS (20 offices) 8 COUNTY DIRECTORS (10 offices) 10 COUNTY DIRECTORS (15 offices) 14 COUNTY DIRECTORS (16 offices) 8 COUNTY DIRECTORS (8 offices) ADVISORY COMMITTEES Advisory Committee on Services to Persons with Developmental Disabilities Oklahoma Child Care Advisory Committee State Council on Aging OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Inspector General Investigations Inspector General Mike Fairless Audit & Reviews Inspector General Stuart McCollom OFFICE OF CLIENT ADVOCACY Advocate General Mark L. Jones OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS Administrator William T. Drapala OKLAHOMA COMMISSION FOR HUMAN SERVICES DIRECTOR OF HUMAN SERVICES Howard H. Hendrick Commission Secretary Margaret Hall Executive Assistant to the Director Cheryl Willie Effective October 4, 2010 = Direct Reports = Administrative Reports ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Chief Administrative Officer Paula Hearn LEGAL DIVISION General Counsel Charles Lee Waters HUMAN SERVICES CENTERS Chief Operating Officer Marq Youngblood INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISIONS Chief Information Officer Connie Schlittler FINANCE DIVISION Chief Financial Officer Phil Motley VERTICALLY INTEGRATED SERVICES DIVISIONS Chief Coordinating Officer Raymond Haddock HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DIVISION Director Diane Haser-Bennett SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION Director Adele Jack OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator Sheree Powell OFFICE OF VOLUNTEERISM Coordinator Karen Jacobs OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REFERRAL Coordinator Cynthia Kinkade OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AND POLICY Coordinator Sandra Benischek Harrison AGING SERVICES DIVISION Director Lance Robertson OKLAHOMA CHILD CARE SERVICES Director Lesli D. Blazer OKLAHOMA CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES Director Gary W. Dart DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES DIVISION Director James M. Nicholson OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COUNCIL Ann Trudgeon FY2010OCCSANNUALREPORT 5Child Care Licensing The Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act (10 O.S., § 401-410), enacted in 1963, authorizes OKDHS to administer the licensing program. This responsibility includes developing minimum requirements for child care facilities, revising existing requirements, and implementing policies and procedures for the licensing program. The foundation of quality child care is a strong licensing program. Working closely with the Child Care Advisory Commit-tee, OCCS is committed to working with providers to ensure licensing requirements are met that safeguard the health and safety of children while in care. A well-trained licensing staff and regular monitoring visits increase the likelihood of positive outcomes in children’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. 6 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTOklahoma has 4,505 licensed child care facilities including the following programs: child care centers, family child care homes and large family child care homes, part-day, school age, summer camps, drop-in programs and programs that care for children who are sick. Licensing specialists work cooperatively with the Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Creek Nation, Chickasaw Nation, and Choctaw Nation tribal licensing programs to license facilities and reduce duplication of monitoring tasks. At year-end FY10 the licensing program monitored 1,756 child care centers and 2,749 family child care homes with total licensed child care capacity of 135,931. Figure 1 illustrates capacity over the last five years. Figure 2 provides the total number of facilities of each type and the number that contract with OKDHS to care for children from low-income families. Licensing specialists are located throughout the state in OKDHS county offices. There are also twenty-one licensing supervisors and five regional program managers located in the various county offices. Licensing staff are responsible for: ❏ Accepting applications and approving recommendations for licensure of child care providers and facilities ❏ Monitoring facilities a minimum of three times annually for compliance with licensing requirements ❏ Investigating complaints ❏ Recommending revocation of license or denial of application when a facility fails to meet or maintain requirements ❏ Maintaining information on a database for accountability and parent referrals ❏ Maintaining involvement in community child care issues and promoting public awareness Figure 1 Figure 2 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 7Residential Licensing Residential and Agency Licensing Services license residential child care facilities and child-placing agencies throughout the state. Licensing staff provide a variety of consultative services, in addition to regulatory responsibility for the enforcement of licensing requirements. They also investigate complaints regarding non-compliance with licensing requirements or violations of the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Act. Their primary mission is to ensure that licensed programs are safe and healthy environments for children and youth who are in 24 hour out of home care. Licensed programs include residential child care facilities, regimented residential programs, children’s shelters, residential treatment facilities, secure care facilities, foster care agencies, adoption agencies and independent living programs. The constant change in the types of services provided for children and youth of Oklahoma has increased the diversity of programs offered and the number of licensed facilities available. During FY10, Residential Licensing Services monitored the following child care facilities with a combined capacity of 3,200 children: 32 children’s shelters and 82 residential child care programs. In addition, the program monitored 61 child-placing agencies. OCCS sponsored a training conference for residential and agency providers this year that was attended by approximately 200 residential and agency staff. Reaching for the Stars The Reaching for the Stars program was instituted February 1, 1998 to improve the quality of child care and provide child care providers with financial incentives. Differential Quality Certification criteria for both centers and homes are as follows: Child Care Centers: ❏ One-star centers meet minimum licensing requirements. ❏ One-star plus centers require items such as: additional staff training, a professional development plan for the director and all fulltime staff, lesson plans and five interest areas, reading to children, completion of annual health and safety checklist, and parental involvement. ❏ Two-star centers require additional quality criteria such as increased number of interest areas and parent involvement activities, master teachers, staff compensation, completion of a self-assessment tool every two years, and independent evaluation every three years. ❏ Three-star centers meet two-star criteria and are nationally accredited. 8 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT FamilyChildCareHomes: ❏ One-star homes meet basic licensing requirements. ❏ One-star plus homes require the provider to have a written professional development plan, follow a daily schedule that includes reading to children at least 15 minutes daily, parent involvement, and completion of an annual health and safety checklist for both indoor and outdoor space. ❏ Two-star homes require additional quality criteria such as having opportunities for children to access dramatic and manipulative play, blocks, art, and books; a system for parent communication, completion of a self-assessment tool every two years, and independent evaluation ever three years. ❏ Three-star homes meet all two-star criteria and are accredited by the National Association for Family Child Care. Oklahoma has two Stars Outreach Specialists (SOS) and 12 Consultation and Technical Support Specialists (CATSS) located throughout the state who are responsible for: ❍ Approving facilities that meet various levels ofStars quality criteria ❍ Providing consultation and technical assistanceto programs regarding program criteria andquality improvement During FY10, 69,454 children received subsidized child care. Of the children receiving OKDHS subsidized care in a licensed Child Care Center; 93% attended Two-or Three-star Centers. Seventy-four percent of children receiving OKDHS subsidized care in a licensed Child Care Home attended Two-star or Three-star Homes. Figure 3 illustrates program growth over the last five years while Figure 4 shows the quality rating of facilities where children receive care. Figure 3 Figure 4 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 9Policy Development and Staff Development Oklahoma Ranked In the Top Ten The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies released a report card this year comparing states on how well their licensing requirements meet basic health and safety requirements for center based care. The organization ranked Oklahoma second for family child care home requirements and oversight. Policy Development The Department of Human Services is statutorily required to develop minimum licensing requirements and standards for child care facilities under the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act (10 O.S.,§ 401 et. seq.). In accordance with the statute, OKDHS partners with the Child Care Advisory Committee. The Director of OKDHS appoints representatives from child care and other fields concerned with children’s issues to prepare recommended requirements. Current requirements address care in the following types of facilities and programs: ❏ Family Child Care Homes caring for one to seven children and Large Family Child Care Homes caring for up to twelve children ❏ Child Care Centers offering care for more than 30 hours per week, including drop-in child care programs and two levels of care for sick children ❏ Part-day Children’s Programs offering care for more than 15 and up to 30 hours per week ❏ School-Age Programs offering care for school-age children in before and after school programs, extended-day programs, and summer day camps ❏ Residential Care Programs providing 24-hour care in residential child care facilities, including regimented residential programs, shelters, residential treatment facilities, and secure care facilities ❏ Child placing agencies including adoption agencies, foster care agencies, and independent living programs Staff Development OCCS develops and delivers training to new and existing staff. Topics of training for FY10 included licensing requirements/policy updates, documentation training, balanced use of authority, ethics in licensing, complaint investigations, interviewing techniques, communication skills, personal safety, domestic violence, gang awareness and methamphetamine identification and awareness. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 10Operations The Operations unit works to provide contracting and financial support to OCCS. This unit is responsible for assisting OCCS in all aspects of contract development and implementation, budgeting, claim payment, financial analysis, accounting, and fiscal management. While child care subsidy contracts and family eligibility are managed by the Family Support Services Division, OCCS assists in evaluating policies, making budget projections and calculating subsidy rate increases. OCCS expenditures in FY10 totaled $179,759,286 (see Figure 5). Sources included the Child Care and Development Fund, transfer from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), TANF Direct, TANF Reserve funds, State of Oklahoma appropriation, and Title XX funds. The bulk of expenditures (79%) were for child care subsidy expenses supporting low income families’ efforts to find and maintain work. The remaining expenses included administration, licensing, support of quality initiatives, electronic benefits, and eligibility determination (see Figure 6). Information Technology Work was completed on the Child Care Restricted Registry (CCRR). The CCRR was mandated by Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act Oklahoma Statute 10 Section 405.3. Effective July 1, 2010, OKDHS established and will maintain a child care worker registry, accessible to the public through an on-line database. Individuals placed on the CCRR will be restricted from working in child care facilities due to specified criminal history, confirmed child abuse or neglect history, or child care licensing history of revocation or denial of a child care license. Figure 5 Figure 6 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 11Professional Development Unit The Professional Development Unit is responsible for the development of quality initiatives supporting the mission of OCCS. Child Care and Development Fund regulations require that no less than four percent of the funds expended in a fiscal year are used for quality activities. The unit participates in the development of initiatives; creation of contracts through an invitation to bid process, interagency agreement or grant award; and monitoring of initiatives for effectiveness. Major services delivered under contracts include the following: ❏ Center for Early Childhood Professional Development The Center is a centralized statewide program that delivers training to Oklahoma early childhood teachers and directors, maintains a list of consultant/educators approved under the Training Approval System, maintains a list of approved CDA/CCP advisors and pays for observation of candidates, pays for specialized training and conducts environment rating services for Two Star rated child care facilities. During FY10, over 100,000 hours of professional development opportunities were delivered to approximately 8,500 participants. Leadership training for center directors was delivered through an intensive series of trainings known as Leadership Academy I, Leadership Academy II, Leadership Academy III and the Leadership Academy Institute. Leadership Academy I is designed for child care center directors, assistant directors, and administrators. The Academy provides leadership skills training and focuses on ways to become a more effective leader to meet the needs of staff and children in their care. Leadership Academy I provides 47 hours of training and meets the training requirements for Two-and Three-Star Centers. Leadership Academy II is offered in two separate training sessions Leadership Academy I is a prerequisite. Session I content is Planned Change and Collaborative Supervision and is 26 hours in length. Session II content includes Philosophy to Practice and is 12 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT20 hours in length. Leadership Academy III features instruction in child development concepts that includes up to date research on infants, toddlers, preschool and school-age children. The Leadership Institute provided an intensive two-day seminar called “Taking Charge of Change”. The goal of this training was to provide continued support for child care directors as they begin to implement new policies, procedures, and programs. The Program Administration Scale (PAS) was administered at programs that participated in Leadership Academy I. Sixty-two facilities received a pre-assessment and 29 have received a post-assessment. An increase in PAS scores of 24.4% demonstrated that participants in Leadership Academy I implemented what they learned during training. Focused Portfolio I training was provided to 48 directors and teachers. Focused Portfolio II served an additional 43. These trainings assist with child observation and assessment. New sessions of Focused Portfolio were added: Implementation Overview (15 participants), Thinking, Reasoning and Problem Solving (32 participants), and Focused Portfolio Crosswalk (12 participants). Child Care Careers curriculum includes six teacher courses. Approximately 1400 participants took part in Child Care Careers training. Entry Level Child Care Training (ELCCT) continued to be offered in both classroom and on-line formats. This year 5,318 caregivers statewide received the ELCCT online training, while 224 caregivers completed the classroom style course. The Center performed 564 Environment Rating Scales including 157 ITERS-R, 166 ECERS-R 33 SACERS, and 208 FDCRS to support policy requirements of Reaching for the Stars. ERS assessors attended training with the CATSS. The goal of co-training was to build a common foundation of Environment Rating Scale knowledge. CDA/CCP advisements were coordinated by staff at the Center. 378 advisements were completed during the fiscal year. ❏ REWARD Oklahoma & Oklahoma RegistryThe REWARD salary supplement program provided two payments per year to 1,603 participants; 1,323 teachers or family child care home providers and 280 directors or assistant directors. There were 2,415 graduated salary supplements paid to participants this fiscal year. The REWARD Oklahoma continued to feel the impact of January 1, 2008 requirements and time limits. Almost 500 new participants were added to REWARD. Approximately 600 participants were made inactive. Of those, 193 became inactive due to level expiration. There were another 133 participants that achieved a higher level during the year. The marketing of the REWARD program continued with the REWARD Ambassadors. The Ambassadors partnered with the Scholar Coordinators and visits were made to 305 facilities covering 34 counties and reaching 1,900 practitioners. Program materials were distributed to approximately 3,300 people. An electronic newsletter and informational webinars are also used to promote the program. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 13Oklahoma Registry staff processed 3,000 applications. The Center issued 2,366 certificates and maintains the database for the Oklahoma Director’s Credential, which included 136 administrators at the gold level, 42 at the silver level and 516 at the bronze level. The Early Care and Education Professional Development Ladder is a system of tracking professional development for child care and teachers. At the end of FY09 participants totaled 3,705. ❏ Scholars for ExcellenceScholar Coordinators at each of the community colleges recruit child care professionals who would not attend college without the additional assistance of the Scholars program. The coordinator supports and mentors child care teachers seeking a credential, certificate or associate degree in early childhood education. Oklahoma State Regents administer a scholarship program that helps students pay for tuition and books. Additionally, the scholarship will cover part of the clock hour fee for child care professionals wanting to earn a CDA credential by taking “Early Education: Pathway to CDA” curriculum offered through area technology centers across the state as well as on-line. They also offer a CDA/CCP assessment scholarship. A bachelor scholarship continues to be piloted. This started the spring semester of 2009. East Central University, Northeastern State University, and University of Central Oklahoma have articulation agreements with community colleges to accept coursework towards a bachelor’s degree in child development. Students that have completed an associate’s degree in the Scholars program, work in child care programs, and maintained a 2.5 grade point average in child development courses are eligible for participation in pilot project. Approximately 56 students have been enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 14During this fiscal year approximately 1,000 students were enrolled each semester in college coursework. Of these, approximately 617 students were classified as new scholars. Achievements included: 275 students earned a Certificate of Mastery, 54 earned a Director’s Certificate of Completion, 26 obtained a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, and 114 earned associate degrees. Since the inception of the program 374 participants earned CDA credential, 2,512 participants earned a Certificate of Mastery, 681 participants earned an associate degrees and 188 earned a Director Certificate of Completion. The “Mentoring in Motion” pilot project completed the second year of research. Scholar coordinators at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid, Murray State College, and Connors State College are participating in the program. The mentoring project is designed to assist Certificate of Mastery students in making connections between course content and actual classroom practice with children, staff, and families. A research team at The University of Oklahoma Tulsa is conducting a study of the “Mentoring in Motion” initiative. Eligible Scholars that were recruited for random assignment into a mentoring or typical group. The mentoring group receives enhanced mentoring services, while the typical group receives services normally provided by scholar program staff. The research activities include gatheringdemographic information, classroom quality information, mentee self-reflections and mentee observations. The study will conclude in FY11. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 15❏ Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association The eight member agencies of Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) provide services to three groups; families, communities, and child care providers. These community based agencies provide consumer education and referrals to help families find child care, maintain child care databases, develop child care supply and demand reports, foster partnerships in child care communities, and provide technical assistance and training to child care providers. They responded to 5,466 parent calls seeking child care referrals or information, and 7,907 child care provider technical assistance calls. Member websites recorded 7,280 internet logins from parents seeking on-line referrals. The Hispanic Outreach Specialist supported Spanish-speaking families and providers by making available translated parent resources and child care licensing requirements, providing child care referrals and contacting providers to offer assistance. OCCRRA also organized the fourth annual provider conference in Oklahoma for Spanish speaking providers with all sessions delivered in Spanish. Infant/Toddler Specialists provided enhanced assistance, training, mentoring and coaching to child care programs seeking assistance in improving the quality of care. The Infant Toddler Enhancement Project delivered enhanced services to 19 facilities for a period of six months. Services were evaluated with pre and post Quest Assessment Caregiver Scale and Quest Assessment Environment Scale. In Oklahoma City the post intervention scores indicated an improvement of 9.7% on the Environment Scale and an average improvement of 42.4% on the Caregiver Score. In Tulsa the post intervention scores indicated an average improvement of 1.3% on the environment scale and an average improvement score of 26.0% on the Caregiver Score. Child Care Health Consultants are registered nurses who provided child care programs with assistance in developing policies and practices that maintain appropriate health and safety. Twenty child care facilities participated in the Health and Safety Enhancement Project and received enhanced services for six months. Independent pre-post scores using an adapted version of the California Child Care Health Program Checklist indicated an overall improvement of 27.6% for Oklahoma City facilities. They received an average of 26.4 hours of training and technical assistance. Tulsa facilities showed an average improvement of 24.9%. Total training and technical assistance averaged 22.4 hours per facility. 16 ❏ TICTOC, a training series offered by the Univer-sity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to teach early childhood staff how to care for children with special needs, delivered 31 six-hour workshops to 864 participants. Eight different curriculums were offered in Okmulgee, McAlester, Ada, Durant, Weatherford, Woodward, Enid, Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Two additional curriculums were offered only in Oklahoma City and Tulsa based on the demand from the preceding year. On site consultation is available to all child care professionals who attend a TIC-TOC course. Many providers utilized telephone and mail to receive assistance. ❏ Warmline, a statewide toll free service for child care staff seeking answers about a variety of health and child development related issues, responded to 581 calls from teachers and directors; an additional 948 callers listened to health, behavior and child development, and care and safety topics in the prerecorded tape library. Warmline also served as the referral source for child care consultation to centers. In this capacity staff responded to 152 requests for child care consultation by arranging on site visits by trained consultants to facilities requesting services. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 17 ❏ Child Care Consultation OCCS collaborates with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Oklahoma State Department of Health Guidance Division to provide mental health professionals as consultants to child care centers. A small number of independent consultants also are available through the Center for Early Childhood Professional Development. The partnership makes consultants available to licensed child care centers and family child care homes. Services focus on helping center teachers and directors and family child care home operators manage disruptive children more effectively so that children can remain in care. They also help center and family child care home staff make program and organizational changes that improve child care quality. Consultants delivered 847 consultations totaling 1,786 hours to 97 facilities in 24 counties during this fiscal year. ❏ Ready to Learn OCCS continued its collaboration with the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and OETA this year. Trainers under contract to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries offered workshops statewide to child care teachers. “Early Literacy through Science and Play” workshops focused on the importance of emergent literacy and the utilization of books and related activities to promote literacy skills. OCCS purchased children’s books for the classroom of each teacher who attended. During the fiscal year 369 teachers were trained from 211 child care facilities, and participants received 1955 children’s books for their facilities’ libraries. 18 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT OtherIssuesImpactingOCCS ❏ Good StartGrow Smart The federal Good Start, Grow Smart initiative is an early learning initiative. The goal is to ensure that children enter kindergarten with the skills needed to succeed. In FY04 the Division collaborated with the Department of Education, tribal child care and Head Start to develop voluntary early learning guidelines that provide guidance to child care teachers, educators and families on learning activities that develop language arts, creative skills, social and personal skills, and mathematics. During FY09 the Oklahoma Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners were adopted. Core competencies define best practices, standards, and essential behaviors as a foundation for early care and education settings and programs. These competencies reflect the skills necessary for early childhood practitioners to obtain in order to implement Oklahoma Early Learning Guidelines. The Core Competencies are used in the Oklahoma Training Approval System. Each approved class has identified the core competency that will be addressed. Training on the competencies and how to design engaging training have been provided to all educators registered at CECPD. Overviews of the competencies have been provided to the Partner organization staff. A brochure has been developed and distributed to child care directors to provide guidance using the core competencies to identify professional development needs of their staff. This resource is available on-line and from various consultants. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 19Two Professional Development opportunities are developed to offer training to directors and teachers. There were 10 sessions of Creating Effective learning Environments training offered with 203 professionals completing the 20 hour training. Early Learning Guidelines training was offered 7 times. Unfortunately due to low enrollment only two trainings were completed. Participants totaled 35. Increased enrollment occurs in the Focused Portfolio. This training instructs providers in utilizing artifacts to document children’s progress. The Early Learning Guidelines for Infants, Toddlers and Two-Year-Olds was completed and endorsed by the Early Education Professional Development Council in March of 2010. These guidelines align with the OK Guidelines for Children Ages Three through Five Years. A committee is working on curriculum for demonstrating how the guidelines could be used in an early childhood program. Representatives from Early Head Start, child care programs, Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the State Department of Education, Oklahoma Child Care Services and Infant/Toddler specialists comprise the committees. 20 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT ............................ ................................................ .................................... .......................... .................. .................................... .......................... .................................... .............................................. .............................. ............................................................ ........................ ContactInformationOklahomaChildCareServicesministrativeOffices(405)5213561or( 800)3472276 ChildCareLicensing(405)5212152 ProfessionalDevelopment(405)5212075 QualityRatingandImprovementSystems(STARS)(405)5220256 ResidentialandChildPlacingAgency(405)5213562 Partner Programs CenterforEarlyChildhoodProfessionalDevelopment(405)7996383 OklahomaChildCareResourceandReferralAssociation(888)9622772 ReadytoLearn(800)5228116 ScholarsforExcellence(405)2259397 TICTOC( 405)2711836 WarmlineandMentalHealthConsultation(888)5745437 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 2122 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTS11023OKDHSIssued 05/2011 ThispublicationisauthorizedbytheOklahomaCommissionforHumanServicesinaccordancewithstateandfederalregulationsandprintedbytheOklaomaDepartmentofHumanServicesat a cost of $720 for 600 copies. Copies have been deposited with the Publications Clearinghouse f the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 231
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Title | Annual report Division of Child Care 2010 |
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Full text | 2 2 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTOklahomaDepartmentofHumanServicesChildCareServicesP.O.Box25352,OklahomaCity,OK73125Voice(405)5213561Fax:( 405)5222564TollFree:( 800)3472276www. okdhs.org/childcare Dear Child Care Supporter: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2010 Annual Report for Oklahoma Child Care Services (OCCS) covering the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. The report reflects the activities of OCCS working in partnership with parents, legislators, the Child Care Advisory Committee, the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services, child care providers, the federal Office of Child Care, state agencies, tribes, vendors and other partners to promote and enhance access to child care in a safe, educational and nurturing environment. OCCS licenses over 4,500 child care facilities throughout the state. These facilities employ over 20,000 people and have the capacity to care for more than 135,000 children per day while their parents or guardians are employed. Our 106 Child Care Licensing Specialists conduct at least three unannounced monitoring visits at each facility per year. In addition, we respond to complaints, provide technical assistance and encourage participation in the Reaching for the Stars program. Research indicates children experiencing a high quality early childhood education are better prepared to enter school and have more positive outcomes throughout their lives. A significant factor affecting the quality of care is the education and training of caregivers. OCCS collaborates with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to provide scholarships through the Scholars initiative and the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Early Childhood Professional Development to administer the REWARD initiative compensating teachers for education and longevity. Additionally, we support families in identifying and finding quality care through a statewide network of resource and referral organizations. We are proud of Oklahoma’s commitment to support families and children. Every Oklahoman has a role to play in supporting good beginnings for our children and their families. I hope that you will use this information to better inform yourself and others to support our mission and work. Respectfully, Lesli Blazer Director of Child Care Services “AssuringOklahoma’sfamilieshaveaccesstolicensed,affordable,qualitychildcare” FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 3Mission Statement The Oklahoma Department of Human Services Oklahoma Child Care Services assures Oklahoma families have access to licensed, affordable, highquality child care where children have the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment. 4ALREPORTOKDHS Organizational ChartFAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION Director Mary Stalnaker CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES DIVISION Director Deborah G. Smith FIELD OPERATIONS DIVISION Director Larry Johnson OFFICE OF FAITH-BASED AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVES Director Robin Jones SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES Director Kyle McGraw OFFICE OF PLANNING, RESEARCH AND STATISTICS Director Connie Schlittler DATA SERVICES DIVISION Director Sarjoo Shah ENTERPRISE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT OFFICE Director Fonda Logston INFORMATION SECURITY Information Security Officer Mark Gower AREA I Director Amy Whitson 11 COUNTY DIRECTORS (22 offices) AREA II Director Marie McCormick AREA III Director Debra Clour AREA IV Director William Wilson AREA V Director Judy Wyatt AREA VI Director Kelly Johnson 15 COUNTY DIRECTORS (20 offices) 8 COUNTY DIRECTORS (10 offices) 10 COUNTY DIRECTORS (15 offices) 14 COUNTY DIRECTORS (16 offices) 8 COUNTY DIRECTORS (8 offices) ADVISORY COMMITTEES Advisory Committee on Services to Persons with Developmental Disabilities Oklahoma Child Care Advisory Committee State Council on Aging OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Inspector General Investigations Inspector General Mike Fairless Audit & Reviews Inspector General Stuart McCollom OFFICE OF CLIENT ADVOCACY Advocate General Mark L. Jones OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS Administrator William T. Drapala OKLAHOMA COMMISSION FOR HUMAN SERVICES DIRECTOR OF HUMAN SERVICES Howard H. Hendrick Commission Secretary Margaret Hall Executive Assistant to the Director Cheryl Willie Effective October 4, 2010 = Direct Reports = Administrative Reports ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Chief Administrative Officer Paula Hearn LEGAL DIVISION General Counsel Charles Lee Waters HUMAN SERVICES CENTERS Chief Operating Officer Marq Youngblood INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISIONS Chief Information Officer Connie Schlittler FINANCE DIVISION Chief Financial Officer Phil Motley VERTICALLY INTEGRATED SERVICES DIVISIONS Chief Coordinating Officer Raymond Haddock HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DIVISION Director Diane Haser-Bennett SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION Director Adele Jack OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS Coordinator Sheree Powell OFFICE OF VOLUNTEERISM Coordinator Karen Jacobs OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REFERRAL Coordinator Cynthia Kinkade OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AND POLICY Coordinator Sandra Benischek Harrison AGING SERVICES DIVISION Director Lance Robertson OKLAHOMA CHILD CARE SERVICES Director Lesli D. Blazer OKLAHOMA CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES Director Gary W. Dart DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES DIVISION Director James M. Nicholson OKLAHOMA DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COUNCIL Ann Trudgeon FY2010OCCSANNUALREPORT 5Child Care Licensing The Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act (10 O.S., § 401-410), enacted in 1963, authorizes OKDHS to administer the licensing program. This responsibility includes developing minimum requirements for child care facilities, revising existing requirements, and implementing policies and procedures for the licensing program. The foundation of quality child care is a strong licensing program. Working closely with the Child Care Advisory Commit-tee, OCCS is committed to working with providers to ensure licensing requirements are met that safeguard the health and safety of children while in care. A well-trained licensing staff and regular monitoring visits increase the likelihood of positive outcomes in children’s physical, emotional and cognitive development. 6 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTOklahoma has 4,505 licensed child care facilities including the following programs: child care centers, family child care homes and large family child care homes, part-day, school age, summer camps, drop-in programs and programs that care for children who are sick. Licensing specialists work cooperatively with the Cherokee Nation, Muscogee Creek Nation, Chickasaw Nation, and Choctaw Nation tribal licensing programs to license facilities and reduce duplication of monitoring tasks. At year-end FY10 the licensing program monitored 1,756 child care centers and 2,749 family child care homes with total licensed child care capacity of 135,931. Figure 1 illustrates capacity over the last five years. Figure 2 provides the total number of facilities of each type and the number that contract with OKDHS to care for children from low-income families. Licensing specialists are located throughout the state in OKDHS county offices. There are also twenty-one licensing supervisors and five regional program managers located in the various county offices. Licensing staff are responsible for: ❏ Accepting applications and approving recommendations for licensure of child care providers and facilities ❏ Monitoring facilities a minimum of three times annually for compliance with licensing requirements ❏ Investigating complaints ❏ Recommending revocation of license or denial of application when a facility fails to meet or maintain requirements ❏ Maintaining information on a database for accountability and parent referrals ❏ Maintaining involvement in community child care issues and promoting public awareness Figure 1 Figure 2 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 7Residential Licensing Residential and Agency Licensing Services license residential child care facilities and child-placing agencies throughout the state. Licensing staff provide a variety of consultative services, in addition to regulatory responsibility for the enforcement of licensing requirements. They also investigate complaints regarding non-compliance with licensing requirements or violations of the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Act. Their primary mission is to ensure that licensed programs are safe and healthy environments for children and youth who are in 24 hour out of home care. Licensed programs include residential child care facilities, regimented residential programs, children’s shelters, residential treatment facilities, secure care facilities, foster care agencies, adoption agencies and independent living programs. The constant change in the types of services provided for children and youth of Oklahoma has increased the diversity of programs offered and the number of licensed facilities available. During FY10, Residential Licensing Services monitored the following child care facilities with a combined capacity of 3,200 children: 32 children’s shelters and 82 residential child care programs. In addition, the program monitored 61 child-placing agencies. OCCS sponsored a training conference for residential and agency providers this year that was attended by approximately 200 residential and agency staff. Reaching for the Stars The Reaching for the Stars program was instituted February 1, 1998 to improve the quality of child care and provide child care providers with financial incentives. Differential Quality Certification criteria for both centers and homes are as follows: Child Care Centers: ❏ One-star centers meet minimum licensing requirements. ❏ One-star plus centers require items such as: additional staff training, a professional development plan for the director and all fulltime staff, lesson plans and five interest areas, reading to children, completion of annual health and safety checklist, and parental involvement. ❏ Two-star centers require additional quality criteria such as increased number of interest areas and parent involvement activities, master teachers, staff compensation, completion of a self-assessment tool every two years, and independent evaluation every three years. ❏ Three-star centers meet two-star criteria and are nationally accredited. 8 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT FamilyChildCareHomes: ❏ One-star homes meet basic licensing requirements. ❏ One-star plus homes require the provider to have a written professional development plan, follow a daily schedule that includes reading to children at least 15 minutes daily, parent involvement, and completion of an annual health and safety checklist for both indoor and outdoor space. ❏ Two-star homes require additional quality criteria such as having opportunities for children to access dramatic and manipulative play, blocks, art, and books; a system for parent communication, completion of a self-assessment tool every two years, and independent evaluation ever three years. ❏ Three-star homes meet all two-star criteria and are accredited by the National Association for Family Child Care. Oklahoma has two Stars Outreach Specialists (SOS) and 12 Consultation and Technical Support Specialists (CATSS) located throughout the state who are responsible for: ❍ Approving facilities that meet various levels ofStars quality criteria ❍ Providing consultation and technical assistanceto programs regarding program criteria andquality improvement During FY10, 69,454 children received subsidized child care. Of the children receiving OKDHS subsidized care in a licensed Child Care Center; 93% attended Two-or Three-star Centers. Seventy-four percent of children receiving OKDHS subsidized care in a licensed Child Care Home attended Two-star or Three-star Homes. Figure 3 illustrates program growth over the last five years while Figure 4 shows the quality rating of facilities where children receive care. Figure 3 Figure 4 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 9Policy Development and Staff Development Oklahoma Ranked In the Top Ten The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies released a report card this year comparing states on how well their licensing requirements meet basic health and safety requirements for center based care. The organization ranked Oklahoma second for family child care home requirements and oversight. Policy Development The Department of Human Services is statutorily required to develop minimum licensing requirements and standards for child care facilities under the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act (10 O.S.,§ 401 et. seq.). In accordance with the statute, OKDHS partners with the Child Care Advisory Committee. The Director of OKDHS appoints representatives from child care and other fields concerned with children’s issues to prepare recommended requirements. Current requirements address care in the following types of facilities and programs: ❏ Family Child Care Homes caring for one to seven children and Large Family Child Care Homes caring for up to twelve children ❏ Child Care Centers offering care for more than 30 hours per week, including drop-in child care programs and two levels of care for sick children ❏ Part-day Children’s Programs offering care for more than 15 and up to 30 hours per week ❏ School-Age Programs offering care for school-age children in before and after school programs, extended-day programs, and summer day camps ❏ Residential Care Programs providing 24-hour care in residential child care facilities, including regimented residential programs, shelters, residential treatment facilities, and secure care facilities ❏ Child placing agencies including adoption agencies, foster care agencies, and independent living programs Staff Development OCCS develops and delivers training to new and existing staff. Topics of training for FY10 included licensing requirements/policy updates, documentation training, balanced use of authority, ethics in licensing, complaint investigations, interviewing techniques, communication skills, personal safety, domestic violence, gang awareness and methamphetamine identification and awareness. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 10Operations The Operations unit works to provide contracting and financial support to OCCS. This unit is responsible for assisting OCCS in all aspects of contract development and implementation, budgeting, claim payment, financial analysis, accounting, and fiscal management. While child care subsidy contracts and family eligibility are managed by the Family Support Services Division, OCCS assists in evaluating policies, making budget projections and calculating subsidy rate increases. OCCS expenditures in FY10 totaled $179,759,286 (see Figure 5). Sources included the Child Care and Development Fund, transfer from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), TANF Direct, TANF Reserve funds, State of Oklahoma appropriation, and Title XX funds. The bulk of expenditures (79%) were for child care subsidy expenses supporting low income families’ efforts to find and maintain work. The remaining expenses included administration, licensing, support of quality initiatives, electronic benefits, and eligibility determination (see Figure 6). Information Technology Work was completed on the Child Care Restricted Registry (CCRR). The CCRR was mandated by Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act Oklahoma Statute 10 Section 405.3. Effective July 1, 2010, OKDHS established and will maintain a child care worker registry, accessible to the public through an on-line database. Individuals placed on the CCRR will be restricted from working in child care facilities due to specified criminal history, confirmed child abuse or neglect history, or child care licensing history of revocation or denial of a child care license. Figure 5 Figure 6 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 11Professional Development Unit The Professional Development Unit is responsible for the development of quality initiatives supporting the mission of OCCS. Child Care and Development Fund regulations require that no less than four percent of the funds expended in a fiscal year are used for quality activities. The unit participates in the development of initiatives; creation of contracts through an invitation to bid process, interagency agreement or grant award; and monitoring of initiatives for effectiveness. Major services delivered under contracts include the following: ❏ Center for Early Childhood Professional Development The Center is a centralized statewide program that delivers training to Oklahoma early childhood teachers and directors, maintains a list of consultant/educators approved under the Training Approval System, maintains a list of approved CDA/CCP advisors and pays for observation of candidates, pays for specialized training and conducts environment rating services for Two Star rated child care facilities. During FY10, over 100,000 hours of professional development opportunities were delivered to approximately 8,500 participants. Leadership training for center directors was delivered through an intensive series of trainings known as Leadership Academy I, Leadership Academy II, Leadership Academy III and the Leadership Academy Institute. Leadership Academy I is designed for child care center directors, assistant directors, and administrators. The Academy provides leadership skills training and focuses on ways to become a more effective leader to meet the needs of staff and children in their care. Leadership Academy I provides 47 hours of training and meets the training requirements for Two-and Three-Star Centers. Leadership Academy II is offered in two separate training sessions Leadership Academy I is a prerequisite. Session I content is Planned Change and Collaborative Supervision and is 26 hours in length. Session II content includes Philosophy to Practice and is 12 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT20 hours in length. Leadership Academy III features instruction in child development concepts that includes up to date research on infants, toddlers, preschool and school-age children. The Leadership Institute provided an intensive two-day seminar called “Taking Charge of Change”. The goal of this training was to provide continued support for child care directors as they begin to implement new policies, procedures, and programs. The Program Administration Scale (PAS) was administered at programs that participated in Leadership Academy I. Sixty-two facilities received a pre-assessment and 29 have received a post-assessment. An increase in PAS scores of 24.4% demonstrated that participants in Leadership Academy I implemented what they learned during training. Focused Portfolio I training was provided to 48 directors and teachers. Focused Portfolio II served an additional 43. These trainings assist with child observation and assessment. New sessions of Focused Portfolio were added: Implementation Overview (15 participants), Thinking, Reasoning and Problem Solving (32 participants), and Focused Portfolio Crosswalk (12 participants). Child Care Careers curriculum includes six teacher courses. Approximately 1400 participants took part in Child Care Careers training. Entry Level Child Care Training (ELCCT) continued to be offered in both classroom and on-line formats. This year 5,318 caregivers statewide received the ELCCT online training, while 224 caregivers completed the classroom style course. The Center performed 564 Environment Rating Scales including 157 ITERS-R, 166 ECERS-R 33 SACERS, and 208 FDCRS to support policy requirements of Reaching for the Stars. ERS assessors attended training with the CATSS. The goal of co-training was to build a common foundation of Environment Rating Scale knowledge. CDA/CCP advisements were coordinated by staff at the Center. 378 advisements were completed during the fiscal year. ❏ REWARD Oklahoma & Oklahoma RegistryThe REWARD salary supplement program provided two payments per year to 1,603 participants; 1,323 teachers or family child care home providers and 280 directors or assistant directors. There were 2,415 graduated salary supplements paid to participants this fiscal year. The REWARD Oklahoma continued to feel the impact of January 1, 2008 requirements and time limits. Almost 500 new participants were added to REWARD. Approximately 600 participants were made inactive. Of those, 193 became inactive due to level expiration. There were another 133 participants that achieved a higher level during the year. The marketing of the REWARD program continued with the REWARD Ambassadors. The Ambassadors partnered with the Scholar Coordinators and visits were made to 305 facilities covering 34 counties and reaching 1,900 practitioners. Program materials were distributed to approximately 3,300 people. An electronic newsletter and informational webinars are also used to promote the program. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 13Oklahoma Registry staff processed 3,000 applications. The Center issued 2,366 certificates and maintains the database for the Oklahoma Director’s Credential, which included 136 administrators at the gold level, 42 at the silver level and 516 at the bronze level. The Early Care and Education Professional Development Ladder is a system of tracking professional development for child care and teachers. At the end of FY09 participants totaled 3,705. ❏ Scholars for ExcellenceScholar Coordinators at each of the community colleges recruit child care professionals who would not attend college without the additional assistance of the Scholars program. The coordinator supports and mentors child care teachers seeking a credential, certificate or associate degree in early childhood education. Oklahoma State Regents administer a scholarship program that helps students pay for tuition and books. Additionally, the scholarship will cover part of the clock hour fee for child care professionals wanting to earn a CDA credential by taking “Early Education: Pathway to CDA” curriculum offered through area technology centers across the state as well as on-line. They also offer a CDA/CCP assessment scholarship. A bachelor scholarship continues to be piloted. This started the spring semester of 2009. East Central University, Northeastern State University, and University of Central Oklahoma have articulation agreements with community colleges to accept coursework towards a bachelor’s degree in child development. Students that have completed an associate’s degree in the Scholars program, work in child care programs, and maintained a 2.5 grade point average in child development courses are eligible for participation in pilot project. Approximately 56 students have been enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 14During this fiscal year approximately 1,000 students were enrolled each semester in college coursework. Of these, approximately 617 students were classified as new scholars. Achievements included: 275 students earned a Certificate of Mastery, 54 earned a Director’s Certificate of Completion, 26 obtained a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, and 114 earned associate degrees. Since the inception of the program 374 participants earned CDA credential, 2,512 participants earned a Certificate of Mastery, 681 participants earned an associate degrees and 188 earned a Director Certificate of Completion. The “Mentoring in Motion” pilot project completed the second year of research. Scholar coordinators at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid, Murray State College, and Connors State College are participating in the program. The mentoring project is designed to assist Certificate of Mastery students in making connections between course content and actual classroom practice with children, staff, and families. A research team at The University of Oklahoma Tulsa is conducting a study of the “Mentoring in Motion” initiative. Eligible Scholars that were recruited for random assignment into a mentoring or typical group. The mentoring group receives enhanced mentoring services, while the typical group receives services normally provided by scholar program staff. The research activities include gatheringdemographic information, classroom quality information, mentee self-reflections and mentee observations. The study will conclude in FY11. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 15❏ Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association The eight member agencies of Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) provide services to three groups; families, communities, and child care providers. These community based agencies provide consumer education and referrals to help families find child care, maintain child care databases, develop child care supply and demand reports, foster partnerships in child care communities, and provide technical assistance and training to child care providers. They responded to 5,466 parent calls seeking child care referrals or information, and 7,907 child care provider technical assistance calls. Member websites recorded 7,280 internet logins from parents seeking on-line referrals. The Hispanic Outreach Specialist supported Spanish-speaking families and providers by making available translated parent resources and child care licensing requirements, providing child care referrals and contacting providers to offer assistance. OCCRRA also organized the fourth annual provider conference in Oklahoma for Spanish speaking providers with all sessions delivered in Spanish. Infant/Toddler Specialists provided enhanced assistance, training, mentoring and coaching to child care programs seeking assistance in improving the quality of care. The Infant Toddler Enhancement Project delivered enhanced services to 19 facilities for a period of six months. Services were evaluated with pre and post Quest Assessment Caregiver Scale and Quest Assessment Environment Scale. In Oklahoma City the post intervention scores indicated an improvement of 9.7% on the Environment Scale and an average improvement of 42.4% on the Caregiver Score. In Tulsa the post intervention scores indicated an average improvement of 1.3% on the environment scale and an average improvement score of 26.0% on the Caregiver Score. Child Care Health Consultants are registered nurses who provided child care programs with assistance in developing policies and practices that maintain appropriate health and safety. Twenty child care facilities participated in the Health and Safety Enhancement Project and received enhanced services for six months. Independent pre-post scores using an adapted version of the California Child Care Health Program Checklist indicated an overall improvement of 27.6% for Oklahoma City facilities. They received an average of 26.4 hours of training and technical assistance. Tulsa facilities showed an average improvement of 24.9%. Total training and technical assistance averaged 22.4 hours per facility. 16 ❏ TICTOC, a training series offered by the Univer-sity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to teach early childhood staff how to care for children with special needs, delivered 31 six-hour workshops to 864 participants. Eight different curriculums were offered in Okmulgee, McAlester, Ada, Durant, Weatherford, Woodward, Enid, Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Two additional curriculums were offered only in Oklahoma City and Tulsa based on the demand from the preceding year. On site consultation is available to all child care professionals who attend a TIC-TOC course. Many providers utilized telephone and mail to receive assistance. ❏ Warmline, a statewide toll free service for child care staff seeking answers about a variety of health and child development related issues, responded to 581 calls from teachers and directors; an additional 948 callers listened to health, behavior and child development, and care and safety topics in the prerecorded tape library. Warmline also served as the referral source for child care consultation to centers. In this capacity staff responded to 152 requests for child care consultation by arranging on site visits by trained consultants to facilities requesting services. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 17 ❏ Child Care Consultation OCCS collaborates with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Oklahoma State Department of Health Guidance Division to provide mental health professionals as consultants to child care centers. A small number of independent consultants also are available through the Center for Early Childhood Professional Development. The partnership makes consultants available to licensed child care centers and family child care homes. Services focus on helping center teachers and directors and family child care home operators manage disruptive children more effectively so that children can remain in care. They also help center and family child care home staff make program and organizational changes that improve child care quality. Consultants delivered 847 consultations totaling 1,786 hours to 97 facilities in 24 counties during this fiscal year. ❏ Ready to Learn OCCS continued its collaboration with the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and OETA this year. Trainers under contract to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries offered workshops statewide to child care teachers. “Early Literacy through Science and Play” workshops focused on the importance of emergent literacy and the utilization of books and related activities to promote literacy skills. OCCS purchased children’s books for the classroom of each teacher who attended. During the fiscal year 369 teachers were trained from 211 child care facilities, and participants received 1955 children’s books for their facilities’ libraries. 18 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT OtherIssuesImpactingOCCS ❏ Good StartGrow Smart The federal Good Start, Grow Smart initiative is an early learning initiative. The goal is to ensure that children enter kindergarten with the skills needed to succeed. In FY04 the Division collaborated with the Department of Education, tribal child care and Head Start to develop voluntary early learning guidelines that provide guidance to child care teachers, educators and families on learning activities that develop language arts, creative skills, social and personal skills, and mathematics. During FY09 the Oklahoma Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners were adopted. Core competencies define best practices, standards, and essential behaviors as a foundation for early care and education settings and programs. These competencies reflect the skills necessary for early childhood practitioners to obtain in order to implement Oklahoma Early Learning Guidelines. The Core Competencies are used in the Oklahoma Training Approval System. Each approved class has identified the core competency that will be addressed. Training on the competencies and how to design engaging training have been provided to all educators registered at CECPD. Overviews of the competencies have been provided to the Partner organization staff. A brochure has been developed and distributed to child care directors to provide guidance using the core competencies to identify professional development needs of their staff. This resource is available on-line and from various consultants. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 19Two Professional Development opportunities are developed to offer training to directors and teachers. There were 10 sessions of Creating Effective learning Environments training offered with 203 professionals completing the 20 hour training. Early Learning Guidelines training was offered 7 times. Unfortunately due to low enrollment only two trainings were completed. Participants totaled 35. Increased enrollment occurs in the Focused Portfolio. This training instructs providers in utilizing artifacts to document children’s progress. The Early Learning Guidelines for Infants, Toddlers and Two-Year-Olds was completed and endorsed by the Early Education Professional Development Council in March of 2010. These guidelines align with the OK Guidelines for Children Ages Three through Five Years. A committee is working on curriculum for demonstrating how the guidelines could be used in an early childhood program. Representatives from Early Head Start, child care programs, Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the State Department of Education, Oklahoma Child Care Services and Infant/Toddler specialists comprise the committees. 20 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT ............................ ................................................ .................................... .......................... .................. .................................... .......................... .................................... .............................................. .............................. ............................................................ ........................ ContactInformationOklahomaChildCareServicesministrativeOffices(405)5213561or( 800)3472276 ChildCareLicensing(405)5212152 ProfessionalDevelopment(405)5212075 QualityRatingandImprovementSystems(STARS)(405)5220256 ResidentialandChildPlacingAgency(405)5213562 Partner Programs CenterforEarlyChildhoodProfessionalDevelopment(405)7996383 OklahomaChildCareResourceandReferralAssociation(888)9622772 ReadytoLearn(800)5228116 ScholarsforExcellence(405)2259397 TICTOC( 405)2711836 WarmlineandMentalHealthConsultation(888)5745437 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 2122 FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORTS11023OKDHSIssued 05/2011 ThispublicationisauthorizedbytheOklahomaCommissionforHumanServicesinaccordancewithstateandfederalregulationsandprintedbytheOklaomaDepartmentofHumanServicesat a cost of $720 for 600 copies. Copies have been deposited with the Publications Clearinghouse f the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. FY 2010 OCCS ANNUAL REPORT 231 |
Date created | 2011-09-15 |
Date modified | 2011-10-28 |
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