http://buildingbrightfutures.org/bennington/about/
February 5, 2015
Bennington Building Bright Futures
Bennington's Early Childhood Council
Greetings,

There is a lot going on right now at the state, national and local levels. It is difficult to stay up with all of it. There 2 things happening in the next week that I want to make sure that you know about.

ACT 166

The public now has two new ways to get information on Vermont's new universal pre-kindergarten law passed in 2014, called Act 166*. Building Bright Futures (BBF) unveiled today a series of taped question and answer sessions that clarify several parts of the new law

 .

 

The BBF videos, available on the BBF website, feature two of the law's experts, Manuela Fonseca from AOE, and Reeva Murphy from AHS, answering questions put to them by BBF's Committee on Early Learning and Development. The topics covered in BBF's video series include:

  • An overview of 2014's Act 166
  • An explanation of "pre-K regions"
  • Reasons for the delay of implementation
  • The new federal pre-K expansion grant 
 

Webinar start on Monday February 9, 2015 at 3 pm 


Only 100 logins are available for each webinar.  To register for one or more of the webinars, go to https://www.research.net/s/Act_166_Webinars_registration .

The schedule for the first few webinars is as follows:

  • Financial Overview - Monday, February 9, 3:00 pm
  • Act 166 Overview - Thursday, February 12, 3:00 pm
  • Establishing or Expanding School-Operated Pre-K
  • Programs - Thursday, March 5, 3:00 pm
  • Prequalification - Thursday, March 12, 3pm
  • Pre-kindergarten Regions - Thursday March 19, 3 pm

Appropriation Committee Hearings


 

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will be holding a joint public hearing on the Governor's recommended budget for FY2016.  The joint hearing will be held via Vermont Interactive Technologies (VIT) on Monday February 9 from 4-6 p.m. at all 13 VIT sites

The VIT site in Bennington is located in the Senior Center at  124 Pleasant  Street in Bennington.  It has seating capacity for 28 people.


Robin Stromgren
Bennington Building Bright Futures
802.447.2887
Bennington BBF in ACTION

Devereux Early Childhood Assessment

 

elbow-children-line.jpg  

The Bennington region completed the first cycle of DECA assessments in December.  There were 13 pilot sites. Annually, it is possible to complete 3 assessment cycles. There are both parent and teacher assessments. This report is only looking at the teacher assessment for the first cycle. It includes children who are both typically and a typically developing.

 

DECA is a research based nationally normed assessment that measures within child's protective factors:  initiative, self-regulation and attachment/relationships.  The charts are providing information using the regional aggregate.

 

There are three assessment levels, Pre-school (3 years to 6 years), Toddler (18 months to 36 months) and infants (1 month to 18 months). Assessments were done on 19 infants, 68 toddlers and 333 pre-schoolers   

 

Each assessment has appropriate developmental questions asking how often a child a child displayed t from never to very frequently.  The answers to the items produce a raw score that translates into a range of strength, typical or need.  For each individual child or classrooms, the information can identify strategies to working with the children and their families.  On a regional level, the information will help to identify areas for professional development and technical assistance.


The Bennington Region will be holding some followup web-in-airs by Devereux in the next several months.

 

DECA Data 12-14 

teacher-jigsaw-puzzle.jpg

Save the Date For
Transition to Kindergarten Summit

 
Wednesday March 25, 2015
12 to 4:30
Mt.Anthony County Club, Bennington

Goal: To create a long term collaboration with Bennington County school districts, Head Start, community early childhood providers and families to promote a seamless transition for children and families into kindergarten (or pre-K)

Trainer/Facilitator: Beverly Sweeney, PHD University of Virginia

Who Should Attend:  Administrators, Kindergarten Teachers, Early Childhood Teachers, Head Start, Community Partners, Principals

Sponsored by:  Head Start Collaborative Office, Bennington County SU's, Bennington County Head Start and Bennington BBF

Addition information will be coming out soon. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to reserve a spot for this exciting event or have questions

[email protected] or 802-447-2887

 

 

Bennington BBF
Regional Council News
Next Meeting:  February 11, 2015

January 14,2015

Matt Levin from the Vermont Early Childhood Alliance came to the Council Meeting on January 14, 2015 to speak about lobbying and advocacy  (minutes 1-14-15) as the 2015 session begins.  For many of the council partners there are concerns about proposed budget cuts and the affects that it could have on local agencies and services.

Robin shared the draft BBF Coordinator Scope of Services.  There was a meeting on January 20, 2015 for the coordinators and a representative from our local council. Minutes 1-14-15

  

February 11, 2015

 

Agenda 2-11-15
 

The agenda includes a presentation from Karen Burnell about Southwest Vermont Early Ed Data and a presentation by the Bennington Oral Health Coalition Lisa Kazazean, Dr. Richard Dundas and Sue Andrews from the Greater Bennington Interfaith Council.  Grace Winslow RN,BSN from Head Start has written an opinion piece about the importance of Dental Health.  Dental Health

 

March 11, 2015

This date is also the date for Early Childhood Day at the Legislature.

The Bennington Council will not meet on this date
 

Early Childhood Day at the Legislature

March 11, 2015 in Montpelier 

 

This year's education and advocacy event on March 11, 2015 from 9:00am-3:00pm in Montpelier hosted by the Alliance, Let's Grow Kids and Building Bright Futures. 

Dr. Paul Dworkin will be this year's keynote speaker. Dr. Dworkin is Executive Vice President for Community Child Health at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Founding Director of the Help Me Grow National Center, and professor of pediatrics at the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine. We look forward to learning from his expertise in the interface between child development, child health services, and child health policy. Help Me Grow is one of the twenty seven projects of the Early Learning Challenge Grant.

Registration for Early Childhood Day at the Legislature opened on January 30, 2015. The registration fee is $35 or $25 for Alliance members.  For more information go to

www.vermontearlychildhoodalliance.org

 

Area Activities

 

Playgroups

 

New Playgroup in Arlington

 

Starting Saturday, February 7, 2015 a new playgroup will start at the Martha Canfield Library in Arlington. The time is from 10:30 to 12.  Arlington Area Childcare is the sponsoring center. Margarete Fisher is the facilitator.

The playgroup hosted by Sunrise continues at Applegate on Wednesdays.  As soon as we have the spring schedule for the playgroups hosted by Head Start and Bennington Early Childhood Center, I will get the information out to you.


 

Theory Of Change

Rescheduled Meeting 

Tuesday February 17, 2015   1 pm to 5 pm

SVMC Employee Conference Room

 


 

Theory of Change is a rigorous yet participatory process whereby groups and stakeholders identify the conditions they believe have to unfold for their long-term goals to be met.  These conditions are modeled as outcomes or, more precisely, desired outcomes, arranged graphically in a causal framework.  The framework provides a working model against which to test hypotheses and assumptions about what actions will best bring about the outcomes in the model.

 

A Theory of Change provides a clear and testable hypothesis about how change will occur and what it will look like.  The theory describes the types of interventions (a single program or a comprehensive community initiative) needed to bring about the outcomes depicted in the causal pathway map.  Each outcome in the causal pathway is tied to an intervention, revealing the often complex web of activity needed to bring about change.  As a road map, a Theory of Change identifies measurable indicators of success and keeps the process of implementation and evaluation transparent, so everyone knows what is happening and why.

 

http://theoryofchange.org.


 

Please contact Robin Stromgren at rstromgren@buildingbrightfutures to sign  up or for further information


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In This Issue
BBF State Council
To find out more about the BBF State Council, visit the BBF website. The next meeting is February 23, 2015.

Quick Links
Upcoming Events
 
2/9/15 ACES Team
 
    United Counseling  Children
    Bennington
    9 am to 10 am

2/9/15   Local Inter-agency Team  
    United Counseling  Children
    Bennington
    10 am to noon

2/9/15   House and Senate
    Appropriations Hearings
    VIT  124 Pleasant St,   
     Bennington
    4 pm to 6 pm

2/11/15  BBF Council Meeting
      United Counseling  Children
      Bennington
     11 am to 1 pm:  
    Lunch provided please rsvp

2/12/15    
Northshire Human Services Council
   Dorset Nursing Association
   8:30

2/17/15  Theory of Change
   1 to 5
   SVMC  Bennington
   RSVP

2/25/15  Maternal Child Health
   Women's & Children
   1 -2

3/4/15  Quality Task Force
   9 am to 11 am
   Head Start North Bennington

3/9/15  ACES Team
    United Counseling  Children
    Bennington
    9 am to 10 am

3/9/15   Local Inter-agency Team  
    United Counseling  Children
    Bennington

3/11/15  Early Childhood Day at the     Legislature
  Montpelier

3/25/15
 Kindergarten Transition Summit  12 to 4:30  Mt Anthony County Club, Bennington

3/25/15
  Maternal Child Health
   Women's & Children
   1 -2

4/415  Family Fair
  BCCCA - 10 am to 2pm
  Details to follow
Please Contact  Robin to add future event dates or for additional information

Early Childhood Data System is now 

Vermont Insights

 

www.vermontinsights.org

 

Early Childhood  Leadership Institute


 

Application process

is now open for the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at the Snelling Center For Government. Click Here for details and to apply. The program consists of 12 days of training over a six month period. 

 

Applications are due February 15, 2015.  The cost for an individual is $200. The  remainder of the cost will be paid by the Early Learning Challenge Grant (Race to the Top).  The total cost is $6,200 per student.  It is a great opportunity.


 

Vermont's Early Learning Challenge Grant Updates

 

These updates are meant to be responsive, and contact information for the grant Implementation Team can be found at the end of each update. The updates have been grouped into four main grant strategies: Improving Quality and Access, Investing in People, Empowering Communities, and Ensuring We Are Making a Difference. And, updates have been listed by project number, project name, and project lead to help you gain greater familiarity with the twenty-four projects of the grant.


 

www.buildingbrightfutures.org

 under Early Learning Challenge Grant



The Vermont Early Childhood Budget Report 

 

Vermont has a new tool for tracking the benefits of public investments in early childhood.  The Early Childhood Budget Report, released by BBF, examines the share of Vermont's annual state budget devoted to young children- specifically, public investments on behalf of young children through age 8, their families, and pregnant women. 


 

www.buidlingbrightfutures.org

   under Data
Act 166 Webinar 

Webinar start on Monday 

February 9, 2015 at 3 pm 

 

Only 100 logins are available for each webinar.  To register for one or more of the webinars, go tohttps://www.research.net/s/Act_166_Webinars_registration .

 

The schedule for the webinars is as follows:

* * Financial Overview - 
Monday, 2/9/15    3 pm
* *  Act 166 Overview - 
Thursday, 2/12/15  3  pm
* *  Establishing or Expanding 
   School-Operated Pre-K
   Programs - 
Thursday, 3/5/15  3 pm
** Prequalification
Thursday, March 12, 3 pm
** Pre-Kindergarten Regions
Thursday March 19, 3 pm

A last note:
Please send me any information that you would like shared or issues and questions that you would like to have us explore.

Enjoy the snow
 

Robin