Mixed Delivery System with Cindy Faulkner and Heather Smith

Nancy  00:05

Welcome back, everyone. This is Nancy Sherrod

Ana  00:07

and Anna Garcia. And thanks for tuning in to our Early Education and Development podcast. Tomorrow's Readiness Starts Today. We know we had a break in our episodes, but we are back and ready to chat with someone who is playing an important role in the preschool to third grade initiatives. We are also excited to share some updates on initiatives we are currently hosting here at the early education and development department at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. 

Nancy  00:31

As promised last episode. Today we're diving in to build an understanding of what a mixed delivery system is. And we're going to help share the role that it's playing to support our three to four year olds. This work and supporting parents in choosing among different program types and allowing them to select one that best meets their needs, is at the heart of a lot that we are doing here in San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, it will be a look at how mixed delivery will support directing children towards programs that meet their development and learning style. That was a lot of words, let's get a little easier definition and focus. So let me introduce who we have sitting in the room today. First, we would like to introduce our director of Early Education and Development. Can you share your name?

Heather  01:17

Hi, everyone. My name is Heather Smith. I'm so happy to be here in sharing on mixed delivery this morning. 

Nancy  01:23

And we are glad to have you back. We have another friend here. That is a fellow support in all work mixed delivery. I'm gonna let her introduce herself.

Cindy  01:32

Yes. Good morning. My name is Cindy Faulkner. And I'm the Assistant Director for first five San Bernardino and we focus on all things zero to five.

Nancy  01:41

Well, we are excited to have you both here with us today.

Ana  01:45

So Heather, we're gonna start with you. Let's define mixed delivery.

Heather  01:49

Excellent. Thank you, Anna. So mixed delivery is a term that is often used to describe the universal pre kindergarten system that is developing here in California. It really does bring together a variety of agencies and providers that will allow families to have lots of choice in how they provide early learning opportunities for their three and four year old children. mixed delivery includes Transitional Kindergarten, it includes existing state preschools and federal early education opportunities, including CSPP's and head starts. It includes private childcare, as well as our family, friends, neighbors, and our community based organizations as well. So lots of opportunities, lots of partners at the table. When we talk about UPK mixed delivery. 

Nancy  02:38

Perfect. And I know UPK is a big initiative that's out there parents are hearing about it. There's more and more behind that mixed delivery. Let's let's look at that term a little bit. Do you know where mixed delivery came from? Cindy?

02:51

I believe it came from the Governor's master plan for early learning and care, which states that all children thrive physically, emotionally and educationally in early years. So and that is done through access to high quality early learning and care resources, and equitable opportunities for the workforce within that system. Far too long, California's early learning and care system has not been connected to the TK thru 12 systems, which is both historically worked independently. And so this is our opportunity to create and bring systems together. And this collaborative and engaging pipeline between both of these systems that delivers a whole child, whole family whole community of services, which is emphasizing families choice, and how that we can be responsive to those needs of each individual family and child. 

Nancy  03:51

That is a fantastic answer. I love that. Because that's really what's happening out there is we have these families that are in need. They know they want to get their students enrolled in a program, but they don't know where to start. There's so many moving pieces. So we are absolutely impacting families in a bunch of different ways. 

04:07

And I can't agree with you more. So we really have to clearly communicate with families about how quality early learning opportunities, and then what are what is out there, and what is most important to create that path of success for their child. Parents need to have a clear understanding of what high quality programs are, and that they are able to make that choice that best suits the needs of the families. And parents should be welcomed at schools to learn more about those early learning options and share the needs of their own childcare needs as well as their child's needs.

Nancy  04:47

Do you want to jump in on any of that? .

Heather  04:48

Absolutely That was amazing. Cindy, you touched on many of the points that I was thinking about sharing as as well. In addition to the things that Cindy shared, we also want to make sure that our Our families in California know that they have access to these high quality programs. Regardless of their immigrations or income status. The goal really is to increase access and equity for all families and children. With that in mind, all children enrolled in a pre kindergarten program really should experience an environment that is consistent across all agencies and programs, we should see children of all abilities supported and welcomed, we should see each child's culture race, identity and language respected and valued. We should see educators that are ready to support our dual language learners and encourage children to use their home language in the classroom. We should also see that children are provided with joyful learning that sparks their curiosity and sense of belongings plays a play based learning activities are used in all environments to build the skills that our kids need to so that they can be successful when they get to the elementary setting.

Nancy  06:00

Thank you. Absolutely.

Ana  06:03

Heather, as you know, we focus a lot on supporting our school districts. So how is mixed delivery going to impact them?

Heather  06:11

Well, transitional kindergarten is one of the options for families as part of the UPK mix delivery system. And TK is universally available in all school districts in California as an integral part of that that mix delivery system. As we roll out TK across California, we have birthday rollout that allows children to be age eligible for transitional kindergarten. And it's at no charge to the families. We also know that not all four year olds would be best suited to be in TK, they have an opportunity to choose the best environment for their kids. And that really is what we want to make sure our families across the county know. The enrollment also provides access in tk to two free meals during the school day. They also have expanded learning opportunities programs that will provide for a nine hour Continuum of Care at the school sites. So there are lots of opportunities for our families that choose TK as the best fit for them. And those are all ways that are, you know, engaging with the local education or the school site that they're they're working with. With that we do encourage our LEA's to partner and to reach out to their close by CSPP's, their Headstart their family child cares, so that they can partner in that, especially providing that nine hours of care for some kids, you know, going to tk in the morning and then transitioning to a state preschool in the afternoon is a great setup. For some of our families. They'll go to tk in the afternoon are in a chant family childcare in the morning prior to going to school. So there's lots of flexibility. And we just want to make sure that our families and our our providers know how they can work together to really provide those choices for our families.

Nancy  08:03

And I love that you shared part of that childcare and preschool piece because that is definitely part of the focus of this mixed delivery. We know our school districts are putting a system in place for the TK which is naturally taking place on their campuses. But it's the before and after, where there might be some struggles for parents to make happen. Can one of you share a little bit more about that family childcare piece preschool? I know Heather, you shared that we're trying to build partnerships. But I think Cindy Cindy's had her hand up. Share. Tell us a little bit about how family childcare is in preschools are being impacted by this mix delivery folks?

08:33

Well, exactly. They have to be an essential partner to rolling out this UPK system and making sure that children are ready to enter either either TK or be a resource for those mix deliveries of you know a portion of the day going to tk but having that resource family childcare, some preschools can be that resource provide those additional hours as Heather had mentioned. And what's really cool is that early childhood educators really have a unique skill set that includes foundational understanding of how to support young children's development and they have the expertise to know how to design a learning environment that really captivates children's curiosity of learning. So as Heather had mentioned, it's it's very important to have the LEA's and the Early Learning educators, such as family child cares or preschools at the table to really coordinate their plans to provide adequate staffing, staffing that is knowledgeable in the early education field. I know some of the opportunities that early educators do have is that the California Department of Education has issued a number of grants aimed at increasing educators capacities in early learning and building the Early Learning childhood education workforce. So that we have a pipeline of a of qualified providers to provide those services. And so anyone that's currently interested in going into this field, this is a wonderful way to access these professional pathways to go into the field.

Ana  10:20

And so Heather, so our next few episodes are going to talk about the early education and teacher development grant. Can you talk a bit about...

Nancy  10:29

just an overview of it, just share with us a little, we're both doing fun stuff with this. It's at the heart of both mine and Ana's work. Yeah. And so that's where we're like, we've got all these acronyms LEA and CSPP and EETD. So Heather, let's pause. And let's talk a little bit about that early ed, teacher development because that really goes along with what Cindy shared with building those teachers in those family childcare's, and the preschools and really looking at the services they're offering that align and meet the same things that are happening on our Lea our local education agencies, the school districts. So that was a lot of letters again, let's go back to EETD, Heather. .

Heather  11:05

Absolutely, I'm so glad that we're highlighting the need for the Workforce Development and Early Education. I think our cue SSB partners including first five, Cindy and her friends over there, as well as our resource and referral partners CCRC. And everybody else that's, that's around the table, we know that we have children in our county that are not yet being serviced by the up UPK mixed delivery system. And in order to service the kids that and the families that need that, we have to make sure that we have high quality and prepared educators and providers to meet those needs. And so part of the work of QSSB and our department at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools is really to identify opportunities to build that workforce, right. We know that we have some early education folks who are moving into potentially getting finishing their bachelor's degree and finishing their multiple subject credential, and then moving into each a transitional kindergarten TK classroom on an elementary site. We also know that that leaves vacancy in our preschools, and our Headstart and our early learning program. So through quality counts, California and our workforce pathway, as well as their early education teacher development grant, we have opportunities to provide financial support to and tuition reimbursement for educators who want to continue their education and potentially get an additional permit for early education, or work on their bachelor's degree and finish it potentially get their multiple subject credential so that we can continue to open up that pipeline to make sure that we have the folks that we need to support our kids and families. So through EETD, as Anna asks, it really does focus on those folks that have their bachelor degree completed, that are working on a multiple subject credential, or they are currently have a multiple subject credential, and they want to work on the 24 units that are needed to move into a transitional kindergarten classroom. So through that grant, we can support the folks that are already on an elementary site or moving towards that way. And then through QCC workforce, we can support folks that are looking to go into that early learning field or get additional permits.

Nancy  13:31

Awesome. And Cindy, I know you're doing work at first five. So we're going to do a whole episode on first five but I would love for you to jump in and talk about the work you're doing that aligns with everything Heather just shared.

Cindy  13:40

Well, I was going to share all the opportunities that Heather mentioned were in supportive as as well. But there is also one through our quality start San Bernardino through Cal State San Bernardino University, they have some certificate programs that are accessible for for providers to utilize as well. And all the programs that Heather mentioned, the feedback, it's not just the incentives or the stipends that they get, which is very, very nice. Yes. But they really do appreciate the the coaching, they really are implementing what they're learning into their classrooms or in to their daycare. And and they're really seeing a positive difference in the children that they that they work with, and truly enjoying what they're what they're doing. And the parents appreciate as well. That's

Nancy  14:33

 That's exciting. So we've done a lot of talking here, there and everywhere about just some of the options. So if I'm a brand new parent, I have a three year old or a four year old, so maybe not a brand new parent, but a parent that's ready to kind of start looking at education and figuring out where their student needs to move forward and what they want for their needs. Can you give us a brief umbrella over you know, overview of this is an option here this is an option here just so when parents walk into a school district office or when parents walk into a first five office or some sort of support asking his questions. They know where to focus their questions. 

Heather  15:08

Sure, absolutely. There are so many options. And that's the beauty of the UPK mix delivery system that allows our families to choose what is going to fit their children's needs and their families needs best, it would be impossible almost to you to list all of the unique attributes of all of the type options. But I can give the listeners definitely a broad overview of four of the options that are typically chosen for their kiddos. The first I would talk about really is our California state preschool program, our CSPP. And there's another one of those acronyms for you. Our CSPP programs support three and four year olds. Typically they are looking at preschool programs that are run through the state of California, some are run as well on the LEA sites on the school district sites. So you might have an option for your preschooler to go to the same elementary site that your your older child goes to if you have a family with kiddos that are older, those typically have full day options that are available in our CSPPs. And then they're typically free or low cost and they're based on income, eligibility and some other factors. So that would be the first one. The second option I would talk about is Headstart. And our Headstart is run primarily through our county preschool services department. However, there are other providers. This is a federally funded preschool program. There are full day options available for this one as well, again, to provide that full continuum of care throughout the day for our kids. It is also free and based on income eligibility. The third is really a broad broad category of just our private programs. Three and four year olds are often included in these programs as well. There are a variety of schedules that are available half day full day, preschool and childcare programs are included in these as well as the hours being determined specifically by the individual preschool provider. So some may have early morning to late in the evening. Some may be more aligned to the school day, it really does depend on it's very flexible. And then finally, if these are determined by the individual preschool providers for these programs, so there's some variance in that as well. And then finally, I would talk probably about Transitional Kindergarten, as we talked about a little bit already. four year olds are currently being enrolled in transitional kindergarten based on birthday. It's part of the public elementary school system. So it will, those programs will be located on the elementary school sites, excuse me. And then there are full day options available depending on local decisions. Again, those are local decisions that are made by the LEA's. And those are free, regardless of income. The transitional kindergarten programs also offered to free meals as part of California's universal Meals Program.

Nancy  17:58

Excellent. Well, I know we're doing a lot of information. There's a lot here. But we also know that the four of us are part of a team, the mixed delivery team, the planning group that is trying to get the word out. So this is our very first baby step on getting the word out. But can you Cindy or Heather, share a little bit about that workgroup? what's at the heart of it. Who's on that workgroup? And what's the mission of that workgroup?

Cindy  18:23

Wow. I'll take a stab at it Heather. And Anna. Well, through we have a planning UPK planning workgroup that Heather and her team leads and does an amazing job. And we have all sorts of early educators there from school districts to universities, to tribal communities, to to first five, to Headstart to family childcare providers. So we're really beginning to connect with all all those those programs and and really trying to understand each programs perspective, and what is best for the child and and the family. And really figuring out ways in which we can make sure that those family child cares and preschools or Senator base settings are connected to their local school districts and LEA's. And from so we're focusing on that right now. And we are also currently planning on how can we best engage parents, we need their input, we need to really confirm what their their needs are and develop a system that's going to meet the needs of those of those families, and that and that child. And we are currently working on certain approaches on how we can get the parents voice at the table to do so. 

Nancy  19:53

Great.

Heather  19:54

Thank you so much, Cindy, you brought up some really important points when we talk about our mixed delivery Taskforce. Send our planning group, we look at that group as really the developing bridge between the early learning and care providers in our county. And that TK-12 system we've talked about, and Cindy did such a great job, really focusing on this early on in our podcast today about those two groups of P people being so historically siloed, and not having an opportunity to talk to each other. This taskforce is an amazing opportunity for us to bring the LEA's or the school district representatives in with the Early Learning care providers across all different types of provider environments, and begin that conversation. And so far, we've had Gosh, I don't know, six, eight meetings, and they have been so productive. Just building those relationships, building that bridge starting that vertical articulation has been incredible. We're thrilled to continue the work. Moving forward, those meetings are also open to the public. So if any of our listeners are interested in being part of that conversation, we encourage you to reach out to us. And I'm going to give some contact information here at the end, we would love to have parent voice around that table, we would love to hear what our families need and wants through this mixed delivery system. Along those lines. We're also working on a survey that we're developing in partnership with child Resource Center, Child Care Resource Center. And we are looking for innovative ways to get that survey out to our families that are not already connected with a program. But those that are not yet connected, because we have 1000s of kids in our county that could be being served in early learning and care environments that aren't currently in and connected with one. So we're really looking to hear from those families as to what they need, and how we can be a support of that.

Nancy  22:02

So if you're a parent, and you want to have a voice at the table, please come join us these meetings are a ton of fun. Coming from a district I came from a school district and I know Anna's on the other side came from a preschool setting. We sit in that room and we think we know all things education, and then you hear someone on the other side of the table start talking. And it's such a rich conversation. It's exciting to see there's we're no longer in silos. It's no longer preschool, and then kindergarten or preschool, and then TK but we're really working on the transitions and the collaboration. 

Ana  22:33

And as a parent, we need childcare. I know I did. And when I was an early parent, I didn't have anywhere to take my daughter. So that was really difficult. So just being at the table and have your voice heard is really important. So definitely we want parents at the table. But if parents want more information, where can we go. 

Heather  22:51

So we are fortunate to have our California Department of Education has a repository of resources around Universal pre kindergarten and mixed delivery. Specifically, we have a curated toolkit for parents and for families that they're able to access. There's a universal pre kindergarten Frequently Asked Questions page on the CDE webpage. And those can all be found at www.cde.ca.gov. So you can go there, you can also if it's easier for families to find follow the California Department of Education, you they are on social media as well. And so you can search for @cauniversalpreK is what you're going to search for. And they're on Facebook, they're on x as well as on Instagram, and you can follow them there and get lots of updates and find information there as well. listeners can also find resources out on our web page. We have our our San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools website, which is www.sbcss.k12.ca.us, which is the SBCSS webpage. There's also an Early Education Development Department page that is linked to that. And we have resources there for universal pre kindergarten mixed delivery, including our UPK plan for the county and our you became mixed delivery plan that we have drafted for the county

Nancy  24:24

And we had shared in one of our early episodes, the cradle to career page, which also has some early ed pieces in there that will link you to some of the places is there any work going on first five, early education and development that you want to make sure we get into this mix delivery episode. We've got a whole episode coming with first five but I know mixed delivery is big. It's a hot topic. There's so many moving pieces. Is there anything you want to make sure we include? 

Cindy  24:53

I would emphasize the importance of having your child enter into one In these programs, because not only is it child care or or early development of your child, but it really does identify maybe some developmental delays in the earlier years and be able to get referred to resources to address those so that your child is really ready to enter school that they've gotten the necessary services to help fully develop, you know, have that child fully developed and ready to enter school? 

Heather  25:30

Absolutely. Our mixed delivery system relies really heavily on our partners. You know, we're so appreciative first five, Thank you, Sandy, your friends over there, as well. As you know, Mr. James, Moses at Child Care Resource Center, our resource and referral partner is incredibly important in this work as well. Our higher ed partners, Cal State San Bernardino, they are amazing at the table as well as our preschool services department. If we didn't have the partnership with those external agencies, we wouldn't be able to do the work that we're doing. It really is a collective impact model, which is somewhat unique. And we're really proud of that. And in our county, we all have the interests of our families and our children at the center of everything that we do. It's It's the heart of all of the conversations that we have of where we put our resources, how we spend our time. And I think it's really important, as Cindy mentioned, that the work that we do is really for our kids, right, we want to develop our kids early on, so that they have opportunities to engage in joyful learning experiences. We want them to be school ready when they walk into that kindergarten classroom, so that they can, you know, develop their language and literacy, their early numeracy, we want them to be successful, and we want them to enjoy being at school. And so many of those, those practices, those behaviors that help kids become school ready happen in early learning and care environments. And so when we look at, you know, our California dashboard for our county and look at our how our kids are doing, we know that the critical work to get to that place where kids are proficient in reading, writing, math, speaking and listening, that happens well before they ever get into third grade. And so we want to make sure that our families are aware of all of the resources and the options that they have, so that they can do the work on the front end. And we can help support that work so that our kids have really successful experiences in elementary school, and then beyond, right, we want them to graduate from high school on time, we want them to have positive outcomes after high school graduation. You know, we've talked about that, in our cradle to career roadmap in a previous episode. You know, our work at the county isn't just while they're in school, it goes much, much further beyond that, we want to make sure our county is a thriving place to live, work, play and stay. And so that's that's the work that we do on the the zero to five end as well.

Nancy  28:10

Wow, that was amazing. Both of you, thank you for sharing the energy in this room, I wish you could feel it. I hope you hear it in our voices. This is exciting work, we've got such a great road ahead of us to truly start meeting the needs of kids younger and younger. They've always been there. But now we have all the same people at the table that are moving towards the same focus, and really getting our kids ready and prepared for well more than kindergarten but all the way beyond. So we want to take a moment to say thank you to both of you. We appreciate you being here this morning. And I am just excited and thrilled to see what we do. And remember for parents, educators, family, childcare workers, anybody out there that has a passion for little people, you are welcome to join this mixed delivery group. We will include our emails on the podcast, so you can have that at the bottom to click on. OK, so I know how they're shared a bunch of websites and a lot of places you could go. But if you just want a one touch phone number, feel free to call us here in Early Education and Development at 909-386-2658. We really do want some of you at these meetings with us you have a voice we need to hear it be part of this awesome work we're doing in partnership with so many of our local leaders.

Ana  29:23

And join us for the next episode when we sit down with our teammate, Elena Holly, as she shares with us the work being done at the county to build and support an early education workforce.

Nancy  29:34

Whether you're in the field of early education have an interest in pursuing a career with young learners. Or if you're just curious how we are supporting the education field for three to five year olds. You'll want to tune in.

Ana  29:45

As always, we thank you for listening and we hope to have you tune in next month when we continue to share the message that tomorrow's readiness

Nancy  29:51

starts today.