Parental Outreach & Communications
The Parental Outreach and
Communications Subcommittee is committed to assessing the needs of
the young Texas population, as well as providing critical
information to parents about the importance of school
readiness. The goal of the Subcommittee is to conduct a
thorough initial and ongoing needs assessment on the quality and
availability of early childhood education and care and engage in
targeted outreach to underrepresented and special
populations. The Subcommittee will complete three projects
over the course of the Council's three-year grant to increase
outreach to Texas parents and improve school readiness in
Texas.
Each of the Council's Subcommittees will complete projects that
fulfill requirements from the Council's authorizing
legislation. For more information on the Improving Head
Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, click
here. The Parental Outreach and Communications
Subcommittee will fulfill two of these mandates:
- Conduct a periodic statewide needs assessment concerning the
quality and availability of early childhood education and
development programs and services for children from birth to school
entry, including an assessment of the availability of high-quality
pre-kindergarten services for low-income children in Texas
- Develop recommendations for increasing the overall
participation of children in existing Federal, State, and local
child care and early childhood education programs, including
outreach to underrepresented and special populations in Texas
Initiatives
Statewide Early
Childhood Needs Assessment
The Council contracted with the Ray Marshall Center at the
University of Texas at Austin to conduct a statewide early
childhood needs assessment and gap analysis of early childhood
services and resources in Texas. In addition, the Ray
Marshall Center subcontracted the Hobby Center for the Study of
Texas at Rice University to conduct a 30-year Texas population
projection using data from the 2010 Census. The needs
assessment and population projection will allow Texas to plan for
early childhood services in the near and distant future.
Texas
Community Campaign for School Readiness
In addition to the statewide needs assessment, the Council is
also conducting local needs assessments and early childhood systems
planning. The Council is funding four communities to conduct
the Early Development Instrument (EDI) kindergarten assessment,
form local stakeholder groups, and develop recommendations for
early childhood systems planning based on the data from the EDI
assessment. The lead agencies for this project are United Way of
Southern Cameron County, United Way of El Paso County, United Way
of San Antonio and Bexar County, and North Texas Area United Way.
To learn more about the exciting work going on each of the
TCCSR communities, click here.
Statewide Public
Awareness Campaign on School Readiness
The Subcommittee is also developing a statewide awareness
campaign on school readiness. In addition to the Council's
website, launched in April 2011, the Subcommittee will work with
the Council to develop targeted outreach to parents about school
readiness. The awareness campaign will begin in the Council's
third year, based on information collected by the statewide early
childhood needs assessment.
Subcommittee Members
Subcommittee Chair:
John W. Gasko, Children's Learning Institute
Gina S. Day, Texas
Education Agency
Angela Hobbs-Lopez, Texas Department of State
Health Services
Bobby Ott, Temple Independent School
District
Elaine Shiver, Mental Health America of Texas