Weekly Update December 2, 2011

December 2, 2011

News from the Office of Great Start

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan has chosen Susan Broman to lead the new Office of Great Start.

“Susan is the type of leader we need to establish and build this pivotal office,” Flanagan said. “Quality early childhood development is the foundation  for successful learning and opportunity in every child’s life.”

Housed within the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), the Office of Great Start was created by Governor Rick Snyder through Executive Order 2011-8 on June 29, 2011 to consolidate and coordinate a variety of early childhood development and learning programs and funding streams that had been fragmented across state government.

Improving early childhood development and creating the Office of Great Start were major focuses of the Governor’s Special Message on Education delivered to the state legislature in April 2011. Focusing greater attention and access to pre-kindergarten education also is a
major priority of the State Board of Education.

As director of the office, Broman will be a Deputy Director at MDE and report directly to  Flanagan.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity,” Broman said. “We now have a focal point for early childhood development in state government that aligns all of the services to bring about
better outcomes for kids.”

“We have all of the pieces in place and are positioned to take the ball and run,” she added. “We have a governor and state superintendent who truly understand that early childhood development is important, and understand the return on investment we receive by investing in quality early childhood programs.”

Broman will help develop a new and more comprehensive culture between early child care and traditional education systems and groups.

“We need to move the function of day care from being seen as just babysitting and child care to being early learning,” Broman said. “Increasing the quality of early child care will help
ensure that all kids, especially low-income kids, are ready to succeed in kindergarten.”

Broman has been president of the Steelcase Foundation since 1996. The Grand Rapids-based philanthropic foundation focuses on the areas of human service, health, education,  community development, the arts and the environment — giving particular concern to people who are disadvantaged, disabled, young and elderly as they attempt to improve the quality of their lives.

She has a strong history of working collaboratively on early childhood issues. She currently chairs the Kent County Family Children Coordinating Council; co- chaired the “Early Matters” early childhood initiative for the Council of Michigan Foundations; was past
chairperson of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation’s board of directors; was one of the creators of the First Steps Commission in Kent County; and was integral in “Ready to Succeed,” an early proponent of early childhood learning in Michigan.

Michigan Early Childhood CHALLENGE – A Challenging Time

We participated in a webinar this week to learn more about the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Grant.  Michigan’s application was discussed. An overview of the plan for Early Childhood in our state was presented. The grant provides a clear pathway for our future early learning system that includes a statewide system for preparing, assessing and responding to our children’s needs from birth to age 8. This is exciting work and we are looking forward to continuing to provide support to the early learning and development programs in our region.

Crib Exchange

The second round of the Crib Exchange is underway. Forty-one additional cribs will be distributed to providers in our region in the coming weeks. This is in addition to over 75 cribs that were distributed earlier this fall. The new cribs meet the new Federal safety guidelines and were purchased with ARRA funds. Recipients of the cribs were identified by DHS and ECIC and Child Care Connections organized the distribution. Special thanks go out to our
Child Care Specialist Candice Case for her work on this important project.

Child Care Administration Class Offered in January

Do you have staff members that need the 30 hour Child Care Administration Class required for Center Directors? Child Care Connections plans to offer this class in January in a hybrid format. Students will meet with Instructor Lisa Morley on Friday and Saturday, January 13^th and 14^th and again January 27^th and 28^th. In between there will be assignments to complete. Classes will run from 9am – 3pm. The fee for this class is $185 and students will need to provide their own lunch. This class will only run if we have at least 6 participants registered and paid in full by December 15. Class size is limited to 15. Please register online at www.greatstartconnect .

Great Start to Quality, Self Assessment Survey (SAS) Training Sessions

Great Start to Quality (The Tiered Quality Rating and  Improvement System) is up and running. In order to assist child care providers in completing the Self Assessment Survey (SAS), the first step in the rating system, we will be hosting workshops throughout the ten counties. Participants will work with one of our Child Care Specialists. Individual computers will be available for use during the workshop.  Please note that several of the workshops
in Traverse City are for Family and Group Home Providers ONLY and there is one session in Traverse City scheduled for Center Directors ONLY. In other counties the workshops are open to all licensed providers. The class schedule for the entire region is located below in Looking Ahead.   Participants must register for these trainings online at www.greatstartconnect.

Looking Ahead…