2023-2024 Objectives
The following strategies and actions were implemented from April 2023 to September of 2024. Action Teams completed 75% of the success metrics listed below. For more information, download the full report and review Action Team strategies below.
Cultivating a Landscape for Learning: Raising Readers Nashville 2023-2024 Objectives
In this document, you’ll find information about each of our seven 2023-2024 objectives and their core strategies, success metrics, and timelines. Additionally, get to know more about the importance of early childhood support, the processes and resources we used over 2022 to develop these strategies, the history of this group, and the partners who have contributed to this work.
Action Team 1: Access to Early Child Care
OBJECTIVE: Increase access to quality early child care education programming.
Strategy 1
Develop a platform to publish public-facing, user-friendly data and information to better understand the child care landscape in Davidson County (i.e., number of child care seats; child care deserts; wants/needs of parents; alignment of TDHS, TDOE, Find Child Care, and Childcare Nashville data; budget templates/projections, child care expansion process guide).
SUCCESS METRIC:
Publication of early care and education data that includes information regarding the state of child care in Davidson County, value of child care, links to resources, and other information to support those working to increase access to child care.
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Create a process guide that outlines steps to license new and existing spaces for child care, documenting policy or regulatory challenges/barriers and short- and long-term implications of such an undertaking.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Development and publication of child care expansion process guide.
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 3
Expand access to child care by supporting providers to reimagine their existing space, maximizing square footage to serve more children.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Number of licensed providers engaged in conversations, number of licensed providers that have re-imagined use of space, Number of additional seats created.
STATUS: DEFERRED
Action Team 2: Aligned Transitions to Pre-k and Kindergarten
OBJECTIVE: Support aligned transitions for children entering pre-k and kindergarten (both technical and non-technical supports).
Strategy 1
Remove barriers to Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) pre-k enrollment, including increasing access to enrollment information and available supports for enrolling in pre-k.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Reduce number of students on pre-k waitlist as a percentage of those being served
Increase participation rate of families attending the pre-k and kindergarten Round-Ups each year
Increase positive feedback on surveys from families who participate in Round-Ups
Longitudinal enrollment trends in MNPS pre-k and kindergarten
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Streamline pre-k to kindergarten transition for all students wishing to attend MNPS kindergarten by partnering with community members to increase access to enrollment/school readiness resources.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Increase capture rate from pre-k and kindergarten
Increase participation rate of families attending K-Readiness Fair each year
Increase participation rate of families attending the pre-k and kindergarten Round-Ups each year
Increase positive feedback on surveys from families who participate in pre-k and kindergarten Round-Ups
Longitudinal enrollment trends in MNPS pre-k and kindergarten
STATUS: COMPLETED
Action Team 3: Gain and Retain Educators
OBJECTIVE: Gain and retain educators to further strengthen the quality of early child care and education through systemic workforce investments.
Strategy 1
Establish Early Childhood Educator (ECE) Quality of Life Fund to supplement the incomes of early childhood educators in Nashville.
SUCCESS METRIC:
Number of dollars raised to support fund
Amount of educators served through fund
Impact of ECE Fund on educator quality of life and other key indicators
STATUS: NO LONGER PURSUING
Strategy 2
Explore and map the current pipeline for early childhood educators to understand areas for intervention.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Publication of expanded report with recommendations for next steps to grow the number of early childhood educators.
STATUS: NO LONGER PURSUING
Action Team 4: Core Network Nashville
OBJECTIVE: Utilize evidence-based approaches to train and support the early child care education workforce to strengthen the quality of early child care and education.
Strategy 1
Establish a collaborative to develop:
Training directory and community of practice for early childhood professionals
Marketing strategies for training directory
Communities of practice for trainers
Strategies to assist with Train TN and Department of Education navigation
SUCCESS METRICS:
Impact of communities of practice
Number of people accessing calendar and directory quarterly, monthly; signing up for trainings; completing trainings
Educator perception of value of training experiences
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Coordinate and organize available coaching and mentorship opportunities to support new and veteran early childhood educators.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Impact of trainings and coaching support
Number of educators completing coaching cycle
Educator perception of value of training and coaching experiences
STATUS: DEFERRED
Action Team 5: Health Resources for Families
OBJECTIVE: Increase awareness of resources available to support families; with a focus on connecting families with children prenatal to 2 years old to screenings and early interventions.
Strategy 1
Convene key early childhood service providers, with a focus on home visiting programs, key early childhood educators (preschool, Head Start, licensed/unlicensed child care providers), perinatal health providers, and trusted messengers, to identify gaps and address common needs across providers and target families that are disconnected or underserved.
SUCCESS METRIC:
Number of convenings
Number and type of stakeholders convened
Buy-in from stakeholders to participate in the Health Hub
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Design, and build an Early Childhood Health Hub to share resources and supports with families and providers. Train service providers and families on Health Hub platform.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Creation of Health Hub
Number and type of resources/supports, users on Health Hub
Positive feedback from families and early childhood service providers on the usability of the online platform
STATUS: DEFERRED
Action Team 6: Family Engagement
OBJECTIVE: Design an intentional family engagement strategy for Raising Readers Nashville.
Strategy 1
Conduct a landscape analysis to: identify barriers that hinder family engagement; understand existing institutions, groups, and communities working to support engagement of families who have children ages 0-8.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Development and publication of landscape analysis
Identification of strategies based on landscape analysis findings
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Define what family engagement looks like for Raising Readers Nashville and identify next steps for engaging families in alignment with definition.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Shared definition of family engagement for Raising Readers Nashville
Clear next steps set for engaging families in Raising Readers Nashville in alignment with definition
STATUS: COMPLETED
Action Team 7: Early Literacy Awareness and Book Access
OBJECTIVE: Increase early literacy awareness, engagement, and book access.
Strategy 1
Perform a gap analysis to understand accessibility of early literacy resources for families and early childhood professionals. Formulate strategies to address gaps.
SUCCESS METRIC:
Synthesis of data collected from families and community organizations and publication/distribution of findings
Development and distribution of toolkits
Number of presentations to various stakeholders to promote toolkit
Annual participant organization surveys about toolkit use
STATUS: COMPLETED
Strategy 2
Launch a research-based messaging campaign on importance of literacy development for families and caregivers of young children birth to age 8. Align and coordinate messaging distribution across stakeholders and literacy partners.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Number of messaging campaign models reviewed from other communities
Number of partners adopting shared messaging
Development of success metric for public messaging campaign (e.g., number of users accessing messages through various platforms, etc.)
STATUS: DEFERRED
Strategy 3
Coordinate and develop strategies to increase equitable book access for families in Davidson County.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Development of “current state” book distribution map
Set annual targets to measure increase of book access
STATUS: IN PROGRESS