Early Education and Pre-K Engagement: Encouraging Young Child, Family, and Community Involvement

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Download the fall 2024 research summary.

 

The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) recently released its fall 2024 research summary titled, Early Education and Pre-K Engagement: Encouraging Young Child, Family, and Community Involvement.

Early care and education are vital for families to ensure they can maintain sustainable, self-sufficient work while children receive the educational foundation and support provided by high-quality early education. According to DECAL, Georgia Pre-K served 54% of the state’s 4-year-olds in the 2022-23 school year. And the Annie E. Kasey Foundation reports that of those enrolled in the Georgia Pre-K program, 44% were from low-income families.

With more than 73,000 students across the state enrolled in Pre-K in 2022 and more than 22,000 enrolled in HeadStart, state-supported early-education programs are beginning to see a rebound in enrollment post-pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, enrollment in state-supported early-education programs across the country had been on the rise for a decade. An increasing number of states is offering free universal preschool programs for 4-year-olds, but only a few with programs for 3-year-olds. The State of Preschool 2023: State Preschool Yearbook found that enrollment among 3-year-olds increased during the 2021-22 school year, but less than half of states enrolled more children in 2022 than in 2019 and the number of children enrolled is still below pre-pandemic levels.

Georgia Family Connection Collaboratives can support early education programs and centers by encouraging families and communities to engage with early education and Pre-K programs and encouraging caregivers to enroll their children in Pre-K.

Engaging Families and Increasing Enrollment

Strong, quality early childhood education (ECE) programs help foster healthy relationships, promote learning and development, and engage families in school improvement. Boosting preschool enrollment among low-income families also is a cost effective and developmentally appropriate way to reduce the socioeconomic gap in educational attainment. However, enrollment remains far from universal. Of all the 3- and 4-year-olds from eligible low-income families in the nation, less than half are enrolled in HeadStart and over a third are not in any kind of preschool. High quality Pre-K programs help children:

  • develop social skills,
  • associate with peers,
  • focus on academic topics,
  • build healthy relationships,
  • learn to follow a schedule, and
  • develop self-help skills.

Pre-K and early education students are more prepared for school and less likely to be identified as having special needs or held back.

Barriers

Families, when selecting preschool locations, must balance geographic location, hours, cost, flexibility, and other factors.

Schools and programs are looking for ways in this post-pandemic environment to increase engagement with families by first understanding why they’re not engaging in early education, and particularly why low-income families are not enrolling in early education. Schools and programs also are supporting research and policy aimed at reducing socioeconomic disparities in education.

Through listening sessions in communities, New Hampshire Listens, a civic engagement initiative of the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, found that families face barriers in accessing early learning opportunities that include locating available spots and affordable child care, completing required health and other forms, and ensuring adequate transpiration to programs.

Finding strategies to increase engagement and enrollment among hard-to-reach families— often those who would most benefit from high-quality early education—can be a challenge for communities. Families also are often unaware or unable to access early education programs.

Early education programs must prioritize those most at need during enrollment decisions. Helping programs identify the community needs and collaborate among existing service providers to meet those needs is critical. Outreach strategies include:

  • distributing materials in neighborhoods or at events,
  • coordinating with other community agencies,
  • engaging families from the community, and
  • increasing awareness of the importance of early education in the community.

By expanding program budgets to include transportation costs and staff to work directly with parent support, programs also can help address barriers to enrolling in high-quality early education.

When six agencies in Illinois received funding to develop strategies to recruit young children from underserved families into ECE programs, they reported that the biggest barrier was long waiting lists for limited slots. When programs provided ongoing follow-up and communication with parents during the wait period, families were more likely to enroll. Other barriers for families, despite government investment and publicly funded programs, include high tuition rates for high-quality programs, transportation challenges, lack of child care during the wait period, non-traditional work hours, and a fear of working with government-related agencies.

In Austin, Texas a recent study sought to understand why more families were not enrolling in available ECE programs. The study collected in depth qualitative data from parents and caregivers, they learned that families need simplicity, certainty, and trust. Factors that influenced the family decision include:

  • scheduling needs—pick-up and drop-off times,
  • location of the school in relation to home and work,
  • the application process, and
  • certainty about acceptance into the program and enrollment.

Maternal employment—and maternal education most consistently predict preschool enrollment among children from low-income families. Other factors such as hours of care needed predicted whether children would enter preschool instead of parental care or other types of care. Families’ perceptions of availability, flexibility, and the value of the educational opportunity were some of the key factors. Children of low-income mothers were more likely to be in non-educational, non-parental care than in preschool or HeadStart, possibly due to availability and flexibility needs and schedule issues. Parents also faced multiple challenges when selecting child care, including applying, completing forms for verifying eligibility, and enrolling their student due to low literacy, time to complete forms, materials needed, understanding the forms, and needing additional extended hours and help finding or paying for extend hour care.

Hiring and retaining qualified staff is a continuing challenge for early education settings. Intentionally recruiting and retaining a diverse, community-based ECE workforce could lead to programs that dismantle systemic barriers in communities by increasing availability, participation, and access to early care and learning.

Strategies for Increasing Enrollment and Engagement

Programs, states, and researchers are examining ways to improve engagement and enrollment. DeAnn Jones, a co-facilitator of the Family Child Care Intest Forum, outlined 12 ways to increase enrollment, including working with a child care resource and referral agency, having a presence at community events, making friends with other child care programs, working with local realtors and businesses, and asking current or former parents to help spread the word.

In a review of the 46 states, including Georgia, that were awarded grants for early-education needs assessments and strategic plans, and 23 states that received renewal grant funding in 2019-2020, the key focus areas included collaborative transitions, parent engagement, workforce development, program quality, data systems, and infant/toddler support. Georgia and several other states focused grant efforts on expanding a data system that allows easier tracking, reporting, and enrollment. Other areas states were working on included:

  • single point of entry systems,
  • co-location of services to streamline application and enrollment processes for children and families,
  • regional hubs to improve access to birth to 5 services for all families,
  • addressing child care shortages, and
  • addressing disparities to high quality transition activities for those families with the greatest need.

Focusing first on community assessment allowed states and communities to target strategies that best meet their families’ needs.

Lindsay Bell Weixler, associate director and senior research fellow at the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, and colleagues examined the use of text messaging to increase family enrollment and engagement in early education by examining how text messaging was used by multiple programs and early education sites. The study found that text messages helped parents stay more engaged in the enrollment process and progress further along.

In one study site, parents were able to request a funded ECE spot through OneApp , a mobile application for childcare slots that are specifically for low-income families. To qualify for the slots, parents provided documents to verify eligibility and then completed the enrollment process. Families who received reminder text messages were more likely to complete the verification process and enroll their children in ECE. Continuing text messages allowed programs to engage more with parents and provide key supports throughout the process. Parents often reported needing help identifying the program and locations and how to complete the multi-step enrollment process. Parents are often asked to navigate a multi-step process, which includes searching for a location, applying, submitting verification materials, and then submitting registration materials, including medical certificates. Barriers to completing the process included a lack of awareness or complete understanding of all the steps and needed materials. With a more simplified process and a staff person to provide ongoing text support, families were more likely to continue to enrollment and stay engaged.

In a similar study in New Orleans, 14% of eligible children birth to 3 were enrolled in early care and learning. That rate increased to 91% of 4- and 5-year-olds in publicly supported programs. Using text messaging communication and reminder systems increased the application rate by 33% for families applying for early education slots for children birth to 3.

Maintaining contact throughout the application and enrollment process was critical to increasing enrollment and engagement among underserved families. Sometimes it was necessary for staff to meet parents to help them complete the paperwork. Parents, often overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork, need additional support to complete paperwork and may even need staff to meet them rather than having to come into the center.

Engaging the Community

Community partners are a key component of successfully supporting and increasing ECE engagement and enrollment. One critical role ECE and Pre-K programs play is in linking families with services and supports to help build family sustainability and self-sufficiency. Programs often are challenged to extend learning outside of the school building and to develop strong bonds with local organizations. This involves building partnerships with local businesses, community organizations, government agencies, and other groups in the community to provide ways for students, teachers, families, and community to connect with, learn from, and contribute more widely to the community. Partnering with other organizations to offer services that families need was a critical factor for retaining families and increasing interest in future enrollment.

Building stronger partnerships can allow schools and ECE programs to harness the expertise that exists in the community, connect families to resources, and provide support to community organizations and others. A healthy, educated community benefits everyone. Community partnerships serve as cornerstones to leveraging shared resources and expertise, expanding reach and impact of early education; fostering innovation and problem-solving; and ensuring long-term sustainability of programs. When these partnerships exist, everyone benefits. Students benefit with higher grades, better attendance, higher self-esteem, higher graduation rates, and more post-secondary education. Educators often experience increased job satisfaction, greater success motivating students, and more family support. Families have stronger relationships with children, teachers, and are better able to navigate systems and feel less isolated. Schools experience improved morale and school climate and better teacher retention. Communities become better places to raise children, experience fewer high-risk behaviors, and greater family involvement and engagement.

To achieve this, ECE programs and community organizations must be intentional about building relationships and educators must be trained and supported to work with families from all backgrounds.

ECE and PreK programs that focus on engaging with communities they serve have more positive long-term impact. When programs clearly define who they serve and engage those communities, establish transparent and inclusive decision-making processes, and continually assess and address power imbalances, they benefit from more community and family involvement.

Building diverse leadership coalitions, increasing community participation, and enhancing public and private support for programs has helped to increase ECE engagement. When programs connect families to mental health support, family friendly activities, and other resources, community overall health improves and enrollment increases.

Implications and Recommendations

Some ways to build stronger relationships with community organizations include:

  • auditing and developing a comprehensive list of community resources and identify opportunities to partner;
  • taking a community walk and meet the leaders of community organizations, form a community partnership team to help promote communication and engagement;
  • defining a shared vision for the partnership;
  • starting with small pieces and expanding relationships and connection; and
  • evaluating outcomes and communicating partnership progress and challenges back to the group.

Other key recommendations include finding and building support for early childhood programs:

  • Cultivate a diverse, well-qualified, and sustainable pipeline of ECE professionals from within communities.
  • Increase communication between parents and staff throughout the enrollment process with staff support, text messaging, or other resources.
  • Streamline the application and enrollment process so that parents have a reasonable and simplified process for applying and enrolling utilizing one application.
  • Create an inventory of places and spaces available and ensure communication with all families.
  • Develop shared messaging about ECE through all partner organizations and the community at large.
  • Increase access to health support and resources to reduce barriers due to completion of medical requirements.

Develop staff positions that support parents with locating, applying for child care, and completing all the necessary medical forms and enrollment forms, including ongoing personalized communication throughout the application and enrollment process.

Contact:
Bill Valladares
GaFCP Communications Director
404-739-0043
william@gafcp.org

Reg Griffin
DECAL Communications Director
404-656-0239
reg.griffin@decal.ga.gov


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Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is responsible for meeting the child care and early education needs of Georgia’s children and their families. It administers the nationally recognized Georgia’s Pre-K Program, licenses child care centers and home-based child care, administers Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, federal nutrition programs, and manages Quality Rated, Georgia’s community powered child care rating system.

The department also houses the Head Start State Collaboration Office, distributes federal funding to enhance the quality and availability of child care, and collaborates with Georgia child care resource and referral agencies and organizations throughout the state to enhance early care and education.