ESC Annual Report 2019

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Children are Ready for School This 2017-2018 school year began with implementing Teaching Strategies (TS) Gold to its fullest! We purchased Creative Curriculum Kits and TS Gold Online to capture school readiness in a natural setting/environment… our classrooms! The scores above reflect children who met and/or exceeded widely held expectations based on research and child development. To gain further clarification, we brought in a professional Creative Curriculum-TS Gold trainer to train our staff on the assessment process. We learned typically in the 1st year of using TS Gold School Readiness Assessment teachers tend to assess higher. Since training, 91% of our teaching staff have achieved Interrater Reliable Certification and the remainder will be certified by the 8 Head Start School Readiness Summary 2017-2018 2017-2018 Creative Curriculum Teaching - Strategies GOLD School Readiness SE PHY LAN COG LIT MATH FALL 2017 42% 40% 42% 38% 42% 35% WINTER 73% 83% 77% 79% 84% 73% SPRING 2018 90% 99% 89% 90% 86% 84% We are Trusted in our Community. end of the year! In addition, we have purchased TS Gold Plus Digital Curriculum for all our teachers, which will be a huge help and time saver in data collection. It is our hope and program goal for all our children to be ready for school. We want to see 90% or more of all children going on to Kindergarten achieving 90% or higher academically in each domain. We made it in the domains of Social Emotional, Physical and Cognitive falling only 1% below in Language! We feel the lower scores of the other domains reflect adjustments teachers made in their data collection due to the effects of the TS Gold training and are optimistic for the upcoming year. Head Start has been very beneficial to our family. In the four months that Brooklyn has been going to Head Start we have seen her come a long ways. With the help from Head Start we were able to get her potty-trained in two weeks. Brooklyn has also learned letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and she is continuing to learn how to share and have compassion for her friends. Head Start encourages children to be more independent and we have been able to see that at home also. We have incorporated the family style dinner at home which helped us with more family time. Brooklyn has also learned how to make friends and be more social. She has learned to use her words when needed in a situation to express her feelings. We as a family have been involved in the Head Start program as well, which helps us have a greater family bond. We attend the systemic training for effective parenting or STEP meetings and any other events that are available. Thank you! Children are Ready to Learn, Families are Ready to Engage and the Community Invests! This is a great example of how we help children get ready to learn. Preschool transitions are hard for families, and it can be even harder if the children are really attached to mom. At the beginning of the Head Start school year, ESC had a 3-year-old child that was having a difficult time detaching from mom. She was a stay at home mom so the child was always with her. On the first day of school the child did not want to get on the bus and when mom brought him in, he cried and then she would take him back home. This happened for three consecutive days. We knew we would need to do something different, so we met with mom and let her know that we could figure out something that would be successful for her and the child, making for a smoother transition plan. We explained to her that she could bring him to school, eat breakfast with him, then he could stay at school for thirty minutes, and then come and pick him up. Next step, we extended Making a Difference in our Lives. My name is Katelyn Collins and I want to tell you about ESC’s Early Head Start and the difference this is making in our lives. My son attends Lamar’s Early Head Start (EHS), it gives him a way to socialize with other kids. Early Head Start has helped me by giving me the opportunity to continue my education and Early Head Start has even offered me a job when I turn 18. It’s such a great program! The teachers and everyone are there for you no matter what is going on in your life. They are such supportive people, I’m truly blessed to have them in my son’s life and mine. The STEP parenting classes are a great thing that this EHS offers. I love learning all kinds of new things and I love learning about conscious discipline. I love being able to get together with other parents from EHS and Head Start and learn different parenting styles. I want to learn the best ways to raise my son and they offer a lot of resources for me. Without this program, I wouldn’t be able to finish high school and even start college. These people and this program are something that I put all of my trust into. I trust that they will care for my child while I am away, I trust them to make the right decisions for the classroom to keep everyone safe, and I trust them to protect my child while I am away. This program has never made me question putting my trust in them, not once. the time from thirty minutes to an hour. We continued adding time till the child was able to stay the whole day. We did this transition plan for one week, and then the next week he was riding the bus and completing the school day. Mom was so happy and proud. Head Start’s focus is on children, family and community. For this family the next step was engagement. During a Head Start home visit, ESC was setting family goals. Mom mentioned she wanted to find a morning job, but needed to be at home in the afternoons when her children were out of school. But mom wanted to work, what could we do to help her with these goals? We were able to encourage her employment goal which lead to her applying for three different jobs. She then was able to interview and then she got a job working morning shifts. She was still able to spend the afternoon with her children. In addition, she has time to attend Head Start parent activities and all of this makes her family very happy! Our community invested in this mother by offering her a chance to work and still be available for her family. 9
Children are Ready for School Head Start Strong, Sherri Rhuems, Alumni Head Start Parent All three of my children attended Head Start when they were young. I was a single mother of three and like many young moms, I clearly had no idea what I was doing. My parents divorced when I was 9 and life from that point on was quite turbulent. I was required to have an overwhelming amount of responsibility as a child and although being responsible and having a good work ethic were great qualities I needed more resources to raise children. I don’t recall how I learned about the program, but I do remember attending workshops and volunteering at Head Start. Consults with the Head Start teachers were provided to assist me with parenting advice and ways to prepare my children for kindergarten. So as my children were learning, I was too. Head Start provided an assortment of assessments to gauge the children’s development and as a result of those assessments we discovered my oldest had a significant hearing loss. Through the program we were able to have access to opportunities the kids and I might not have known about. I also utilized the program as a resource for child care. At one point I was working 12 hour shifts from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., I remember the two oldest children being picked up in the morning, they were fed breakfast and would return home after lunch. This gave me a few hours to lay down with my youngest child and get a couple of hours sleep before doing it all again the next day. Once I figured out I couldn’t keep doing that forever, I enrolled in college. I leveraged the Head Start resources with state assisted child care in order to have full-time quality training and child care for my children while I attended college and worked part-time. Currently, I am the Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board of SW MO. Part of my job is interacting with the multiple partners in our seven-county region including community agencies and state and local government. Through these partnerships we are able to identify our strengths and weaknesses within our organizations in order to coordinate service for the clients we serve. Our organization works with Economic Security Corporation’s Head Start programs by working together to leverage resources for the clients we serve. We also provide the linkage for Child Care Development training for some of our clients that have eventually become Head Start staff. I’m fortunate to be able to assist in creating effective programs for individuals with barriers to employment. I’m motivated by helping others find success in accomplishing their goals. My children have become amazing adults with children of their own. After High School they all three received training through either a Community College, Trade School or University and are successful business owners in the community. I’m very proud of the adults they have become, but more importantly I’m proud of how they are raising my grandchildren. I would recommend Head Start for any child that has the opportunity. The program provides families with early childhood education, parenting, nutrition and health resources to prepare for a better future. Economic Security Corporation can help resolve some of these issues through outreach, intake, assessment and referrals to organizations who can stretch Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or by assisting families’ access SNAP. Two of ESC’s Counties have some significant food insecurities noted: • Barton County has 24.49% of their children under the age of 18 report being food insecure. • In McDonald County over 24.51% of their children under the age of 18 report being food insecure. Nutrition Experiences ESC’s Head Start and Early Head Start receive funding for meals and snacks through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Food Program. This program supports the nutritious foods we serve during meals. Nutrition experiences take place in the Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms every third Thursday, we have a book of approved nutrition Our Head Start Family has Always Been There with Open Arms When asked about her experience with the ESC’s Head Start program, Tiffany replied, “We started our journey with ESC’s Head Start around five years ago with my oldest son Jasper, who is now 7 and in second grade! My daughter Roxanne who is 6 and currently in Kindergarten went to Head Start and Turner who is one is currently in Early Head Start! Since the beginning, we’ve experienced many obstacles in our lives. With each of these obstacles our Head Start family has always been there with open arms and no judgment whatsoever!! I hope to be able to become a part of the Head Start family in the near future and to be able to help parents like myself be able to overcome the toughest of obstacles and take life by the horns and improve their relationships with their children! I believe that Head Start has helped me become a better parent and learn how to communicate with my children better! I want to thank each and everyone at ESC’s Anderson Head Start and Early Head Start who has come into our lives I appreciate each and everyone of you!” FOOD & NUTRITION Southwest Missourians Southwest SNAP Benefits Missourians Southwest (annually) SNAP Benefits Missourians (annually) SNAP $44,762,463 Benefits (annually) $44,762,463 $44,762,463 SW Missouri Households receive SNAP Benefits 10 11 13,751 13,751 13,751 SW Missouri Households receive SNAP Benefits SW Missouri Households receive SNAP Benefits $277 $277 $277 SW Missouri average monthly SNAP Benefit SW Missouri average monthly SNAP Benefit SW Missouri average monthly SNAP Benefit
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ESC Annual Report 2019

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