Ounce of Prevention Fund receives $3-million Investing in Innovation grant
December 22, 2011
CHICAGO – The U.S. Dept. of Education announced it will award the Ounce of Prevention Fund a $3-million Investing in Innovation (i3) grant for its early childhood professional development initiative. The Ounce was one of 23 winning grantees out of 600 applicants, and the only winner from Illinois.
"We are thrilled to be recognized in this competitive process and to have the opportunity to expand our professional development model," said Diana Rauner, president of the Ounce. "We intend to use the grant funds to help more early learning professionals understand and adopt the teaching and leadership practices that are proven effective at preparing low-income infants, toddlers and preschoolers for school."
The grant money will be used by the Ounce to implement its professional development model in Chicago Public Schools' community-based early childhood programs. The model is designed improve both classroom instruction and leadership through evidence-based strategies that improve the school readiness of children in poverty.
Professional development coaches will train early childhood teachers to implement data-driven classroom interactions and instructional methods proven to enhance the learning and development of young children. Coaches will also help teachers transfer that knowledge into practice and sustain improvements over time. Leaders will learn to implement organizational routines that help teachers implement effective practices and establish partnerships with parents.
Development of a quality early childhood education workforce is essential to ensuring that children arrive at kindergarten with the academic and social skills they need to succeed in school.
Four million low-income children ages birth to five across the country enter a child care setting every day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But too few teachers have the specific teaching and subject-matter training to effectively teach young children. In fact, only 10% of infant-toddler care is considered high-quality, while the rest is considered "fair" or "poor," according to a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study.
"It's unacceptable that so many of our children don't receive quality care and education in their first years of life," Rauner said. "We are setting up children to fail because they don't have the strong foundation for learning that is formed in the first years of life. To raise student achievement across the board, you need highly trained early childhood teachers who can effectively partner with parents and help young children develop the literacy, math and social-emotional skills that prepare them for success in kindergarten and beyond."
The Ounce will partner with Drs. Steven Tozer and Samuel Whalen, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to evaluate the impact of the professional development model on teachers, leaders, coaches and children. They will also study how the model changes and evolves to better understand how to maximize its effectiveness in community-based settings. At the conclusion of the grant period, the model will be prepared for large-scale efficacy study.
"Our research and evaluation efforts will inform the early childhood field about what it takes to develop and support effective early childhood teachers and leaders," Rauner said. "We will also share our findings on improving effective teaching and leadership with our K-12 education colleagues."
The Ounce's i3 project builds upon the success of its other innovative early learning programs, including Educare, a national network of 13 high-quality early learning schools; its partnership with the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute to facilitate the transition of Educare of Chicago children and their families to high-quality elementary schools; and the Birth-to-Three Center-Based Training Initiative, which offers the Ounce's professional development model to Chicago-area early childhood centers.
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