 Hi, good morning good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us today to discuss improving access to high quality preschool lessons from five state mixed delivery systems. I'm Hannah Melnyk senior policy advisor at the Learning Policy Institute. And we are very excited to host this webinar today with the National Institute for Early Education Research. We have a wonderful group of co sponsors, the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of State Leaders in Early Education, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the National Conference of State legislators. These organizations represent policymakers at many levels showing how broadly important the issue of mixed delivery preschool is and how complex. Today I'm going to be starting with some very brief context setting, and then we'll have a research presentation from Karen Garver who will share near an LPI's recent report findings on five state mixed delivery preschool programs. We'll then have a panel moderated by Libby Doggett with state leaders from three of our five case study states, Alabama, New Jersey and West Virginia, to discuss their successes and challenges and setting up high quality preschool across settings. We'll then have a panel with local leaders from these same states to talk about how state policies affect local implementation. And then Barbara Chow from the Heising-Simons Foundation will identify some common themes that we've heard throughout the webinar and we'll close. So first, why are we focused today on mixed delivery? By mixed delivery system, we mean a program that is offered in various settings, so including public schools, childcare programs and family childcare homes. And there are many benefits of a mixed delivery system. It can provide families with more options, allowing them to choose a setting that works best for their child and meets their cultural and linguistic preferences. It can support small businesses by providing public funding to childcare programs and family childcare homes that operate as businesses and provide a public good. And when states are expanding publicly funded preschool options, they can build on the capacity of existing early learning programs in the community, many of which have been serving children and families for years. However, implementing a mixed delivery system raises several considerations for states. One is ensuring that children have access to high quality learning environments in all settings so that all options are good ones to choose. Another is making sure that they meet the needs of diverse providers with sufficient funding, training and support, since providers needs vary greatly across settings. And a third is navigating a complex early childhood landscape in a way that minimizes unintended consequences. For example, impacts on programs that serve infants and toddlers, as well as preschoolers. So, why are we discussing these questions now and why are we focused on state preschool mixed delivery, mixed delivery systems are already the status quo, almost all states already offer state preschool and a mixed delivery system. What's changed is that public preschool has lately achieved unprecedented public and political attention in 2021 Congress introduced the build back better act, which included language to substantially expand federal funding for early learning, and while ultimately not successful it would have earmarked funding to provide public preschool in a mixed delivery system. And in the absence of that federal legislation, many states are moving ahead in expanding state preschool, notably California has made preschool universal by 2025, serving over 300,000 children each year, and major expansions are also underway in other states. So we're really hoping that this webinar and the report upon which it's based will help state policymakers who are contemplating preschool expansions to ensure that they're building systems that are high quality and equitable for children and for providers. And we're also hoping that it'll be useful to researchers and advocates, since to date there has been a lack of research in this area. So now I'd like to hand it over to my colleague Karen Garver, early childhood policy specialist at near Karen is the principal investigator of near and LP as recent study and she herself has deep background in New Jersey state preschool system as a former administrator Karen. Sorry, I still need it there. Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be able to share some findings from our report where we outlined key decision points for states to consider when developing or expanding public preschool programs within a mixed delivery context, particularly in areas like governance and quality. What we found is that there are key policy areas that states need to address, but also that there's more than one path to high quality mixed delivery preschool. So I'm going to give you a brief overview of how we conducted our study, and then I'll talk you through some of the main points of the report before we move into our panel discussions. As Hannah already mentioned, when we refer to mixed delivery in the report, we're talking about a system that includes preschool providers from a variety of different settings, and we use two primary categories to define define provider types in the report. We refer to local education agencies or leas, which many states call school districts, and we also refer to non lea settings, which in the report includes Head Start agencies, childcare centers, private schools, family childcare homes, and some other less common places where children may be served, like in libraries or on college campuses. The findings of our report are based on case studies we developed for five states, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia and Alabama. And we selected these five states because they all serve at least a third of their four year old population, they serve children in mixed delivery settings, and they meet at least seven of near 10 quality standards benchmarks, which means they have important policies in place to support quality. We also selected these states because they represent different approaches to mixed delivery in terms of governance, establishing and maintaining quality, and how funding flows to individual program providers. Our data came from several different sources. We pulled much of our information from near state of preschool yearbook, which is an annual survey of state preschool program administrators. We provided us with background data on each of these states, as well as an overview of the policies they have in place to support program quality across settings. Then we supplemented the yearbook survey data with a series of interviews with state preschool administrators to dig deeper into their policies and practices, and also with a review of publicly available documents like state statutes code and guidance documents. And here's a bit more context on our case study states, showing the total number of children they serve, the percentage of four year old served in public preschool, and the percent of slots being offered in non lea settings. You'll notice that New York and New Jersey served the largest total number of children, and something interesting about New York we found is that 44% of public preschool children in New York State are actually served as part of New York City's pre school for all program, which operates within a robust mixed delivery system. West Virginia is also an interesting case where over 80% of state preschool classrooms represent a collaboration between an lea and a non lea. It's also the only state on this list that has reached a level of universal access to public preschool. Like most states West Virginia is still recovering from pandemic related enrollment declines, but was serving almost 70% of its four year old pre pandemic. So the first set of questions we address in the report are about how programs are governed, and we examined policies around legislative requirements for mixed delivery, how contracting happens and how funding flows. Legislative requirements can influence mixed delivery, and some states use this approach to signal the importance of non lea participation in public preschool systems by requiring mixed delivery. These states represent a few different approaches Michigan in New York, set minimum, a minimum percentage of slots that are required to be offered in non lea settings. And as I mentioned earlier West Virginia is a bit different requiring that at least 50% of classrooms represent a collaboration between lea and non lea providers. In New Jersey's Abbott districts, leas are required by a state Supreme Court mandate to subcontract with all willing and able non leas when spaces needed to serve children. The way states set up their governance structures impacts how funding flows, and also determines who's responsible for monitoring finances and providing support to improve quality. The case study states represent three different contracting structures. Alabama has the highest level of state involvement, where both leas and non leas are allowed to apply directly to the state for contracts. In New Jersey and New York by contrast, leas receive funding directly from the state and then subcontract with non leas. Then in Michigan state preschool funding is only granted to intermediary agencies, which then subcontract with both leas and non leas. And in West Virginia, funding is provided to county based collaborative teams, which negotiate funding levels with lea and non lea providers. When states are determining funding levels for public preschool, it's important to understand that those rates are likely to impact whether leas and non leas are able to participate in the program. They develop rates that are customized to individual program needs, and others provide equal rates to all program providers. Alabama is unique because it's one of the only states in the nation that provides funding by classroom, which is then often tailored based on specific program needs. Our remaining case study states use a more traditional per child rate, but they each approach those rates differently. In Michigan per child rates vary only by the length of day provided to children. And for one of New York state's programs rates vary only by whether or not there's a certified teacher in the classroom. Then there's New Jersey where rates vary based on where children are served with the highest rate provided for slots in childcare settings, since they often operate with smaller economies of scale, and the lowest rate provided for slots in head start since they braid state and federal funding to serve children. And West Virginia stands out as a state often highlighted for requiring programs to brands blend state preschool funding with all other available funding sources to ensure efficient use of all available funds. The second set of questions we address in the report are about how states support program quality through policies that address standards teachers call teacher qualifications and instructional support. In order to support access to high quality preschool experiences in every type of setting state policies need to be consistent across settings and our five case study states each meet that mark. They require both lea and non leas to follow state program standards addressing key domains of child development and offer support for providers to choose a curriculum and child assessments that are aligned to those standards. Then they require teachers in all settings to receive professional development that supports implementation of the state standards and is also aligned with the chosen curriculum and assessments. Each of the case study states also requires all classrooms to to adhere to class size limits of no more than 20 children and to maintain a teacher child ratio of no more than 10 children per adult again regardless of setting. Digging a bit deeper into requirements related to teaching staff. We know that research suggests teaching staff with specialized knowledge and training and early childhood education are generally associated with higher quality programs. Again illustrating the importance of consistent policies for preschool teaching staff regardless of setting. All five of our case study states require a bachelor's degree with early childhood education specialization for lead teachers in lea and non lea settings. But a few of the states have some slight variations in how this is implemented. For example in Alabama the type of credential license or certification required for lead teachers in lea settings is different from non lea settings. And in West Virginia teachers and non leas are provided with more than one option for fulfilling program certification requirements. In the report we thought it was important to highlight the approach that New Jersey took in the early years of expanding the Abbott preschool program. As the program ramped up uncertified teachers and non lea settings were given scholarship funding and up to six years to obtain a bachelor's degree and the p3 credential required to teach in state preschool classrooms. So in that way the state recognized the important capacity these existing teachers brought to preschool expansion efforts. And finally since compensation inequities between preschool and k12 teachers are significant challenge for recruiting and retaining state preschool teachers. The report highlights the importance of compensation parity policies across settings. New Jersey and Alabama both have policies in place requiring salary parity for state preschool teachers in all settings, but neither requires equal benefits for teachers in non lea settings. West Virginia supports salary parity for teachers in lea settings, but state policy doesn't extend to teachers in non lea settings. In fact there's not currently a state preschool program in the country that requires both salary and benefit parity for non lea teachers. The case study states also have some more requirements across settings to support instructional quality through coaching and professional development. But again some of the states differ in how they implement these practices. For example in Alabama coaches or employees at the state, while in New Jersey coaches are employed by leas, but are required to provide coaching in all settings. And in Michigan professional development and coaching are coordinated by the intermediary school district. Hopefully you saw through this very quick overview of our report that the states we studied how to have a lot of consistent policies in place to support mixed delivery, even though in some cases they take different approaches. With these policies and approaches in mind the report outlines six actions states can take to support a strong mixed delivery system with consistent quality across settings. The first is to establish common program standards across settings, so that all children receive high quality preschool experiences. As you saw, each of our case study states have high quality standards that are aligned across settings to ensure that families have access to quality preschool in a variety of different types of settings. The second is to address the barriers that might prevent non lea providers from participating in state preschool programs, specifically by providing them with information and resources to support their participation. The third action is to ensure that both lea and non lea providers receive ongoing support to establish and maintain high quality learning environments through coaching and professional development that are embedded in a continuous quality improvement system. And again as the report addresses there are several different ways states can implement this practice. The fourth recommended action is for states to recognize that the cost of meeting high quality standards can vary across settings. And that it's important to ensure that program funding levels are established in a way that allows different kinds of providers to meet high quality standards, while also retaining qualified staff with appropriate compensation. The fifth recommended action is to establish a system for coordinated enrollment across mixed delivery settings to ensure family choice and provider stability. States can play a role in ensuring that preschool options are clearly communicated to families and that enrollment processes are organized in a way that's efficient and equitable. And finally the sixth recommended action is for states to collect data and conduct research to understand families access to high quality preschool in different settings. Enrollment data that's disaggregated by program setting and child demographics can shed so much light on the extent to which children from different backgrounds and abilities have access to and are enrolling in different types of settings. The main goal of our study was to use case studies to highlight the critical policy decisions that influence how quality and access are supported within a mixed delivery system. The co-authors and I hope that states can use this information as they build or expand their own mixed delivery systems to provide more children with high quality early learning experiences. And with that I'd like to introduce Libby dogged, who is the moderator for our two wonderful panels. We are extremely lucky to have Libby here today as she's devoted more than 40 years to improving early education programs across the country at the local, state and federal levels. Thank you so much for being here Libby and now I will turn it over to you. Right, thank you Karen that was an excellent report you packed a lot in and I do urge everybody to download the report and read it is wonderful. I'm delighted to be here with this awesome set of panelists, the creators of the mixed delivery case study report, and all of you. I love seeing old friends, and I'm heartened by all the awesome young leaders, moving us forward today. Today's panelists will not be talking about the importance of mixed delivery system we've already heard that and that's accepted practice. And we won't really discuss the urgency we all feel to build a zero to five or zero to eight system because that too is a widely accepted goal. But it will be about how leaders within and outside the system in three states have worked together to build some of the best mixed delivery systems program pre K programs really in the country. They're not done. They're not perfect, but they are moving quickly in the right direction and have a lot to teach us about state policy implementation and collaboration. So we're moving distractions, hold on to your seat, because we're going to move fast. And we're going to learn a lot. Our first panel our state panel features three of these awesome young leaders I was talking about. First we have Janet Fock Hager. She is the coordinator of universal pre K steering team at the West Virginia Department of Education. Then we'll hear from Pamela true love Walker, who is the senior director of early learning and early education at the Alabama Department of early childhood education note that's not the Department of Education it's separate. And then a third person on our state panel is Robin Wilkins. The she's the education program development specialist at the New Jersey Department of Education, and she's also our current president of the National Association of leaders and early education. I'm delighted to have these great panelists with us. And with this proceed with our questions. So my first question is for all of you. And you have two minutes, we have to be brief to to answer and we'll, here's the question. What approach did your state take in crafting the legislation to establish a state preschool program. And how did the state agency support effective implementation at the local level. And we'll start first with Janet, and then with Robin, and then with Pamela. So Janet, the floor is yours. Thank you Libby. So in West Virginia. It started to it started more than two decades ago local agencies were already doing sort of a mixed delivery system but it was a, it was a hodgepodge and state legislators or we call them pre K champions two decades ago. Past legislation in the 11th hour of the last day of the legislative session that said universal pre K will take place in West Virginia by the year by the school year 2012 2013. And in that, in that legislation they dictated that it will be duly governed by our Department of Health and Human Resources and our Department of Education and so we partner at the state level and model a collaboration. At the state level, as we want it at the local level and you'll hear more about that from my local partner. And as, as they did that they pulled together a state level stakeholders team once the legislation was passed. And those stakeholders included those invested in early childhood. And out of that came our state pre K policy. And it's, it's a riveting document that really does guide us as a state, and our local level on what pre K should look like. So counties had 10 years or leas with their partners had 10 years to build a system. And as they built a system they had to submit an annual plan that has now shaped what each county collaborative early team looks like to implement pre K, and it included a needs assessment program design curriculum assessment enrollment and all of the big nuts and bolt to a high quality system. We also in that policy included high quality indicators so the legislation paved the way for the state policy and the state policy is what guides us at the state level as we support the local levels in this in this process. Inside the legislation it said that counties will collaborate with existing programs and that was the big agent that drove our mixed delivery system. That's great that 10 years was really really critical to getting it set up. So Robin we'd love to hear from you. Hi everyone. So New Jersey story began really on a foundation from a 1998 Supreme Court mandate that established legislation now known as the added preschool program. And that preschool program is built on high quality standards, along with child outcomes that are now 25 years or so going strong. However, in recent times and I would say since 2017 2018, our state is very quickly moving towards expanding preschool to more districts. And so this program is now called preschool expansion. And actually New Jersey is really gearing up for a universal preschool rollout very soon. One of the challenges that I would like to just share is how the Department of Education which is given oversight over the state funded preschool program is going to continue the relationship between local school districts, which were originally gone to what we currently have which is about 250 to the potential of 600 school districts, and what we will be able to manage in terms of continuing those high quality experiences for children standards and those outcomes that we know are so important. Right. Thank you. Pamela, your last. I didn't get myself there for a minute. So I think that is important to know that the initial code and all the work that was done to actually get pre K into a state code really did involve multiple problems. And with that, there was in depth reviews and of early childhood research and child outcomes and, and that was combined really with collective impact and civic prosperity so what, what was going to be the ultimate return on the investment. And I think that began all the conversations in the legislation around not only what was going to be established as what we call first class pre K here in our state, but also where it was going to be housed. Alabama State Department of Education had long been in existence and then we had the Department of Children's Affairs which was then, which has then been translated with the name changed to the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. But I think one of the things that was very important in establishing state funded pre K was the goal that there would be a slow incremental growth. And I think that was one of the reasons of what that pre K establishment would be and that the investments would then follow at that same page. So what began with 54 classrooms and a 3.3 million dollar investment has evolved to current 100 classrooms and over $152 million invested, and that is with a goal that eventually our state would be able to reach 70% access and 70% access was research and it was determined that that would allow families who wanted state funded pre K an opportunity to be able to access pre K. And I will say that effective implementation at the local level, because we do actually go from state to local was really, it really took a lot of partnerships and outreach in order to make that happen. So there was a combination of state agencies and community organizations. And then we had key advocates like the Alabama school readiness alliance, and they were all instrumental in showing that the information and the implementation that was happening at the local level really really had someone there to support the goals and the missions of what state funded pre K was designed to be so those boots on the ground, the multiple prong approaches to how we were going to do this for all key and what state funded pre K is today in our state. Wow. You can see each state is so very very different and each one has a different story, an amazing story, and wonderful leaders right now that are actually on the backs of former leaders because I knew all those that got these programs started years ago. So my next question is actually to go a little bit further on governance and administration, and it's going to be a little bit different for each panelists and each one will have two minutes. So we're going to start with you. Alabama was the only case study state that directly contracts with providers you saw that in the slide earlier. Can you briefly share why your state took this approach, and how direct contracting supports a high quality mixed delivery program. Yes. And I say, it was viewed as the best approach because direct funding to providers actually allows them to best identify work funds are needed. So as they are able to establish their budgets in this mixed delivery model. Then they're able to then say, these are our needs and clearly the needs of of an LEA are drastically different than the needs of a head start program or private childcare. And then there's also lots of tremendous variability in our state in need based on geographic location. So what's available in rural areas versus what's available in suburban areas in just with the availability of childcare is tremendously different. So direct funding does allow our agency to better target access. So some areas of our state are comprised of a school district and maybe just one other licensed childcare facility by others have the availability of multiple childcare options within a city block. So direct funding also allows our department to actually then target funds as well to spaces and places that may need additional supports. It also allows us to target where we provide additional resources and services like. Is there a higher need for coaching in one particular part of the area of the state or based upon the mixed delivery system. So it really does allow us to kind of like get down to the root of what would be needed in order for state funding pre-cated be successful in the mixed delivery system. Obviously working in Alabama. So Janet, you're next. West Virginia said a benchmark that 50% of classrooms are collaborative with non public providers. Can you share briefly how your state defines collaboration and why West Virginia chose to focus on partnerships by classroom rather than by setting. I'm going to start with what collaboration is not in West Virginia collaboration is not a subcontracting of seats. So it's not about where you are. It's about the services and collaborative contracts. So as the in West Virginia as counties were building their systems, each brought to the table various resources, and the overarching goal is that families don't have to provide the most necessary service to them but that they can access various services. For instance, you might have a classroom in a childcare center that is collaborative with head start and the lea school aid funding comes to that classroom head start services are provided in that classroom. And they can have before and after school care through the childcare center. So it, it's very dependent upon collaborative contracts that are signed and initiated every year. And so counties use this process to maximize the resources available to families. And this includes all four year olds and three year olds with IEPs, and it's very much dependent on the enrollment process. You have to have a county wide enrollment process. And that enrollment process helps place children where they need the services. So collaboration is equals joint decisions in West Virginia. It's governed by each county team governs the composition of the classrooms and, and how the services are provided so that looks very different it's not just a space for a child but really how can we provide all those services and those contracts solidify that process. And we're at 82% collaboration in West Virginia. That's amazing and you're serving so many of your kids and such a high quality program. It's a great story. And every child is eligible, which isn't always the case in many states. So Robin, can you share why New Jersey has funding rates that reflect different costs by setting and how these rates are actually updated over time. Sure. So as you referenced in the report and as Karen mentioned earlier, we do have three county per pupil or per child rates and they do vary by geographic region so similar to what Alabama mentioned. But based on the setting, we wanted to allow for programs to develop budgets that were tailored to their unique needs and circumstances so the highest rate does go to childcare providers who are contracting with school districts. The next highest rate would be the school districts themselves. And then for Head Start programs because the state funding is leveraged with the federal funding, the state per pupil rate is lower. But again, they are funded pretty much on an equal basis in terms of that, that available allocation. As I mentioned, these districts are subcontracting with private providers and they are going through a budgeting process with their contracted Head Starts and providers to again look at overall costs that will vary by those various settings. One of the things I do want to just add is that over the years there has been a cost of living allocation adjustment made to those regional county per pupil rates. However, one of the things that we are coming to learn is of course that the real cost of the program are not keeping up with the state dollars. And so one of the examples I want to have two examples. One is the teacher parity, which I know we're going to talk about. But you know, as school district salaries rise, we are we are trying to ensure that there's teacher parity in the contracted programs. And that might be the case for salaries, but not for benefits, which I know was mentioned earlier in the discussion. And so we do run the risk of, you know, the non LEA teachers having comparable cave and not having comparable benefits. And then the second thing I would say is that benefits as we all know our health benefits are rising. And so again, it's becoming much more of a challenge for programs to to keep up with those rising costs. So even some of the best programs are having trouble with parity around benefits and that's all across the country. But the next question is, we really want to look at the research. So from the research, I mean, from the research overview, we know that states in this study have consistent quality standards for LEA's and non LEA's programs in LEA's and programs in non LEA's state and local supports are critical though, to ensure that teachers are well qualified and compensated, and programs are provided resources for continuous quality improvement, which we know is critical. So, each of you will have two minutes to respond. And Robin, I'm going to start with you. New Jersey has invested in building a pipeline of qualified teachers and non LEA settings. How has the pre P3 certification supported your efforts? What lessons can you share to build a pipeline of qualified teachers and assistant teachers in non LEA settings? Well, as the Supreme Court mandate was coming down the preschool through grade three certification, I believe was already in existence. So this was not a big shift for district teachers to have a bachelor of degree in certification. It was something new, though, for the non LEA, so for those childcare providers, and in many cases head start. So what New Jersey did was to invest in scholarship funding for those non LEA teachers to obtain their bachelor's degrees and to get certification. But then we started to see also that the timeframe that the courts had required was coming to an end and we still had a sizable number of teachers in those non LEA settings who had not just, they just didn't have enough time. So the Department of Education went back to petition the court to get an extension. And that was granted. Along with the scholarship funds though is just the idea of having working with an existing infrastructure through the Department of Education Services, which is the vehicle that was giving out the scholarships, but also to partner with our higher education folks to ensure that those two and four year institutions really had become that pipeline, setting up programs across the state that would enable non LEA teachers to attend classes and get, you know, they'll sort of get their bachelor's degrees get certification. One last thing that I will mention that was also happening is that in some cases, we had teachers who were sometimes just to meet the foundational requirements of a bachelor's program. And so there were additional supports built in to ensure that those teachers were still successful. So that that pipeline of having P3 certification is a requirement now it provides a requirement for all of the teachers in the state funded preschool program. So for the miracle you all got so many teachers in place so quickly, and those supports of time and scholarship money were critical. So Pamela, Alabama has a commitment and requires salary parity for LEA teachers in all settings, which is great. Can you tell us how you convince the legislature that the funding to support salary parity because it's expensive was critical to supporting a mixed delivery system. Well, pay parity was important for multiple reasons and I'll just kind of really focus on a couple of those and one is quality. So as we're having conversations with multiple stakeholders, some with more awareness of early childhood best practices than others. It was essential to note that teacher caregiver credentials do play a role in classroom quality. So we were going to be asking for these teachers to have comparable degrees to those that are found in K-12, then we then want comparable wages. And so because our Pre-K program does require the same or similar entry level teachers as K-12, then why shouldn't they be compensated to that same degree so that was something that we were very passionate about and continue to remain passionate about. The other importance for pay parity is around elevating the profession. Pay parity helped with the conversation around pre-K teachers as professionals. They're not babysitters, they're not child care workers focused on health and safety, but we have quality indicators and we have standards that are taught in these classrooms. And I think when individuals are then having those conversations about the wages for first class pre-K teachers, then they're going like this, oh, and they're the same for K-12. There is no difference for us. And I will add, these are conversations that we have annually because we are separate from the State Department of Education, then we have to make sure that we're forever in front of our legislators and reminding them, hey, there was a 4% increase for teachers in K-12, don't forget about our 4% increases for our pre-K teachers. And so I think all of that together speaks to quality, it speaks to elevating the profession, and then individuals then realizing, regardless of where individuals land in that mixed delivery system, whether or not you're in a child care center or a head start program, equal salaries is what we're wanting because we have equal demand for quality and we have equal demand for those credentials to support the work. Will you come to Texas and talk to some of our legislators? I'd love to see you take them on. So Janet, you're the last one and then we're going to go to our audience and have some questions from them. West Virginia collects data from county collaboratives annually on aggregated child assessment and program quality. Will you use the data at the state level to monitor quality and report to the state board and the legislature how your program is ensuring program quality and resulting most importantly in success for kids? So, I mean, we collect more than that as far as data and what we, you know, as our state team supports the local teams, we say how are you making decisions about professional development? How are you making big decisions for your program? You use data. So we collect that data in addition to our pre-K program review process that we conduct with all of our counties at a minimum of once every three years. We pull all that data together and then we determine through our system of support that we use in the state and that system of support really does pull in those county collaborative early childhood teams on a regular basis to ensure that they're getting support in the areas that they need. So we look at those data pieces as a state team, consult with the local teams and then we provide professional learning for those local teams on a regular basis. Sarah and I are actually at our spring meeting for our pre-K teams in the south for West Virginia today and so it's an ongoing process based on data that we collect from the local levels and we look for trends to see where we need to go. What we need to focus on is it instructional supports in the classrooms post COVID? Is it structures for county collaborative teams and enrollment processes because they have a lot of requirements in the state pre-K policy that they have to meet as a team? And that's our focus always using that data to give them relevant support. Great. Thank you. You are awesome. So we have a little bit of time left for some questions from our audience and I have some good ones here. So Pamela, what about the infant and toddler teachers in the system? I said we weren't going to talk about that because it's but we have a question so you get to talk. Yeah, so we've done a couple of things because we also are very passionate about elevating the profession as a profession for our agency birth through age eight, right? And so we were fortunate enough to actually receive PDG funding. And so with those PDG funds, we did just that. We took classrooms that we call first class foundations sites and said, hey, if you guys are going to then go through the process with us of implementing these standards and ensuring that, you know, there is an elevation of what happens in those classrooms, then this is how we'll be able to support you in that work. And we then provided pay parity for those teachers that were a part of first class foundations as well. So our infant toddler teachers are also making with comparable degrees. They're also making that but there's a limit to that because of course that's in those first class foundation sites. We also did we make that a part of our apprenticeship. So we have a educator of apprenticeship that is worth a sponsor. And so individuals who come into that apprenticeship model, pay parity is embedded with that as well. So we do have infant and toddler teachers who are not part of first class foundations for our in headstart programs we have them even a part of our school system. They're also at pay parity. So I'm always delighted when I'm able to tell people that there's an infant dollar that we have infant dollar teachers in our state, whose salaries are comparable to that of of K 12. And so we just continue that process continue to have those conversations, continue to request funding for that. And so I'm on the mind that it eventually will get there. Alabama is becoming more and more impressive every day. So I have one question I would love to hear from our other two panelists about this. How can have yours as your state ensured that one provider type doesn't dominate the system and Janet will you go first. Sure. So I mentioned a couple of times these local collaborative teams. There's a required core team in West Virginia at each county, and it includes a designated pre K coordinator, a designated preschool special needs coordinator to be the voice for children with disabilities. A headstart representative and a childcare representative. Those are the people who make the core decisions county by county in West Virginia. We do have some childcare. Places that don't have childcare. They're in, in some of our counties and in that case the Department of Health and Human Resources is required to provide a representative on that team. Those team make that team makes decisions. You can't even open a superintendent can even open or close a classroom without that core team making that decision. So that core team is a very powerful entity, but it includes all four voices. Great. And Robin, how about in your state. And really interesting question so I mean what I would say and I didn't get to mention this earlier is that you know our mixed delivery system is firmly in place for those 31 Abbott districts that was part of the Supreme Court Bandate. There's definitely a higher percentage of those districts contracting out with centers childcare programs and head starts, but not so much in these districts that are part of preschool expansion, although the Department of Education does incentivize it through an application process through a competitive, you know process. But what I would say is that we are working very hard in partnership with the Department of Children and Families which is where licensed childcare exists in our state and the Department of Human Services would subsidize childcare to ensure that school districts understand the value and benefits of contracting with programs so that it is not seen as. a private where it's an us versus them. We want the districts to understand that families may opt for a private provider setting or may want to maybe eligible for a head start setting. And those children are going to come to that school district as kindergartners so we want to raise the quality across the board in in communities across New Jersey. Well, big applause. Can you all hear it for this amazing panel and thank each of you for your contribution. And most importantly, thank you for leading us forward in your states because I think we all feel much better just knowing that there's some states that have such good leadership so thank you. Now we're going to move on to our local panel discussion and we have an equally great set of leaders that I'm excited about. So first we have Jocelyn Estevez Vargas. She is the vice president of early childhood programs for hopes. Community action program that's in New Jersey and they have you'll get to hear this they have a number of head start programs and work collaboratively with the school districts. So we have Sarah Kuiper. She is the pre K coordinator at Nicholas County Schools in West Virginia so she's there at the local level running things in such a wonderful way. And then we have my good friend from many years, Alison Mollendorf, who's the executive director of Alabama School Readiness Alliance. This is a great panel and welcome each of you. I have a question and you have three to four minutes to answer it. And it's for everybody and we'll start with, I haven't decided but I'll start with Alison, and then we'll go to Sarah and then to Jocelyn. You each play a critical role in supporting local implementation of high quality mixed delivery pre cave. Although your roles are very different. If you share your role at the local level in implementing the pre K program. What have you learned about ensuring families have access to a range of high quality mixed delivery preschool settings. So Alison. Well, thank you so much Libby. Alison Mollendorf, the executive director of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance, and I am on the local panel, but I do actually work statewide. And I'm going to get into the local work that we have encouraged the quarter to expand it over the years and how that influence state policy. And just a little bit of an answer to that question is that I lead a statewide alliance of four organizations advocating for the expansion of quality pre K. And over the years as part of that expansion as Pamela mentioned, states, the state has increased investments in quality pre K from 19 to over 170 million dollars. Now we have grown over the last decade from 6% of four year olds in Alabama to 45% of four year olds. And we do have research through the eighth grade in a longitudinal study that has shown that controlling for school system demographic that children that have attended Alabama's first class pre K program. Have much higher rates of reading proficiency and math proficiency. They are less likely to need special education services. They're less likely to be held back a grade. They're less likely to be chronically absent. And they're less likely to have serious disciplinary issues. And we also have studies showing the extent of the achievement gap closures in our state. So I just wanted to point that out. The other thing about our role is that as the advocates in our state for high quality pre K. We have always wanted pre K for all, but we wanted to expand gradually to maintain the high quality the 10 out of 10 ranking for quality that our state has that has been leading to these results for children. And the diverse delivery program. I will never. Ever advocate for an all public school pre K program. I grew up with a mom who ran a childcare center. So I will always put childcare at the table. And I will always keep them in mind and they do need different supports. We know that now that we are looking at everything through an equity lens. When we're looking at diverse delivery, the problem with equity is that the average childcare center in Alabama. The level of quality is way far away from what we demand in Alabama first class pre K program. So we are looking at how to close that gap. But we do have a lot of search based programs that participate in Alabama's first class pre K program. Some of our volunteers and advocates have recruited those programs. And for Latino families, the Catholic diocese are some of the most trusted programs. And I'll be happy to answer questions later about how that works. But in the past, it was all 70% public schools, you know, over the last decade, really, we're really getting the first class pre K funding and it would be 30% like private childcare and other university funded site, YMCA. And now, in this last grant cycle in Alabama out of necessity, because we're now at 45% of four year olds and public schools are running out of space. We're looking at 30% public schools and 70% private site. So that's how we're going to do the remainder of our pre K expansion and we've got some exciting plans for that. Wonderful thing. It's great that you have the local perspective and the state perspective. And I love the research because there's nothing like research to really prove your point. Okay, Sarah, we'd love to hear your answer. Good afternoon. I'm Sarah Kuiper preschool coordinator at Nicholas County Schools. We do have a fully collaborative full day model. We have a universal application process, which includes local education agency head start and childcare as well. We use a point system to rank each student, each applicant. And then we based on that point system, they are filtered out into sites, and then families can also choose what site might fit their needs. And just like has been mentioned, a child might need before care. And they might thrive from the school environment and then they might need after care. So we provide for that in our universal application process and that's what we use in our county. That's great. What's obviously working. So Jocelyn, you have a very different situation. Tell us about your role. Yes, good afternoon. I'm honored to be part of this panel. Thank you for inviting me to share the perspective from the provider head start program perspective. I work for hopes cap Inc. a non for profit agency located in Hoboken, New Jersey, which collaborates with four different school districts to a wish or former avid districts at Robin mentioned part of a legislative ruling and to our pre school districts. So, and we serve three different counties in New Jersey. We have classrooms that are collaboration classrooms between our head start and districts local school districts and we have fully state funded classrooms so we have both a head start provider as well as a childcare provider collaborating with districts. We, I have served as the Vice President of early childhood programs for hopes cap Inc. and worked with hopes for the past 22 years. And I am responsible for the development expansion and oversight of the programs that includes expect them women and children birth to five years old. Since we have an early head start grant as well as our head start grant. And we do serve families in three different counties within New Jersey. So we have Union County, Somerset County and Hudson County, currently serving over 1250 children. And as we go on through our conversation this afternoon, you'll learn more about some of our partnerships and what those look like throughout the state. And that's a lot of programs and a lot of kids. Thank you for serving them. So my second question is, once again, this the tailored to each of you individually, and you'll have three minutes to answer. So I'm going to start with Sarah West Virginia. Tell us about the role of the county collaborative in Nicholas County and ensuring that all children have access to high quality preschool. How does the collaborative coordinate enrollment and allocate funding to providers through joint decision decision making. Like I had mentioned previously, 100% of our programs are fully collaborative between head start childcare and local education. We do combine all of our funding to maximize the service delivery and continuity for each classroom. We have a blended staffing model. So that might include a teacher who's employed by the local education agency and an assistant who might be employed by head start, or even childcare so we have a mixed blended staffing model as well as students. We have students that are that do fall under the program for local boards of education and then we also have them that fall under head start funding so we've got blended staffing and students. We have a monthly collaboration meeting where all of our stakeholders come together, and that includes the West Virginia DHR. We even have save the children school health professionals principal parent rep head start childcare, everyone comes to the table monthly for that collaboration and that's called our core team meeting like Janet referenced before. So we have that process in place, and we're able to review what's going on into classrooms, what might be needed and next steps as to where we can go further. And then also, you know it is complicated and there are a lot of things to talk about and work out. So, if, if an agreement cannot be made we do have an impasse procedure in place for that so you know it doesn't always go as planned. So we do have procedures in place. Great. Thank you very much. So Allison, your organization the Alabama School Readiness Alliance has a long history. I remember when it got started for access for advocating for access to high quality pre K. I know now you have a new program called bold goals coalition. Can you tell us how this is working. Absolutely. Thank you, Libby. So, the Alabama School Readiness Alliance has always organized local volunteers to help with pre K implementation. And we still do that to this day. My board chair just sat down with his church, finally, and got them interested in opening up empty classrooms to have the Alabama first class pre K program. In the middle of a town where they have a large concentration of students that are very high need. Um, but we started to know this about six years ago that no before then that public schools are really eating up all this funding. They just were so good at writing the grant. For Alabama first class pre K and some private childcare centers. And on profit and other places where that were eligible for funding. They didn't know that they could apply. They didn't think they could apply. They didn't have time to apply. So, we've been working in several counties to develop cohorts. Of childcare centers for mentoring to. Understand what first class pre K is and we'll have a local organization that just raises a small amount of money to do this. And one of those initiatives, which has had the largest impact in our state at the local level is bold goals and it's not a project of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance. I am 1 lowly member of the bold goals early learning action network and once a month. I participate in their meeting. So bold goals incorporates the 5 counties around our largest population center, Birmingham, Alabama. And what we decided to do about 6 years ago. Was take advantage of the fact that our state is increasing pre K funding every year. And connect local childcare programs with what they need in a series of trainings. And hands on support through the organizations that were already doing that at the local level. Similar to what I know, you know, these other states have mandated. I would like to see what bold goals is doing to be more codified. And that's something that we're working on, but the results speak for themselves. So we've had about 30 programs just over the last 4 years or 5 years. That are private childcare programs, but it's more than 30 classrooms because some of them have gotten multiple classrooms. Now get pre K funding when they didn't think that they could do it. Some of them had to try 3 years in a row. Some of them had to move. Walls and get, you know, funding from a local philanthropist just to meet the square footage requirements, but it wasn't everything. That it takes mentality and is a collective impact. And it is, it is monitored and led by that local United Way. So I would say tap into your local United Way. Work with your local drive together initiative, work with your local third grade reading initiative. These collective impact initiatives can do so much to get programs ready for pre K and. And now we have this quality stars program in Alabama. That if we get more time, I'd like to talk more about which pays providers up to 80 grand a year. And it helps them show the quality. It's our quality rating and improvement system. And it, they can choose all of cards. What they want to choose on the quality rubric rather than it be like you have to get everything under star one to get star two. No. You just have to get a certain number of points. And it is changing the game. And our department of early childhood is finding so many new pre K providers. Through our newly prepared quality stars, but it's going to take a lot of funding. It's going to take a lot of continued advocacy to move this forward. And I really appreciate what Margot said. In the chat quality is equity equity is quality. There's been a lot of talk over the years. Oh, quality rating systems don't reflect the quality of that lady in the basement. Well, in Alabama we now do. And it can be done. I love it. The lady in the basement is now offering quality pre K because of your good efforts. So thank you. So Jocelyn, in your work at as a large head start agency in New Jersey sounds like you're really big and been around for a while. You receive state preschool contracts with several school districts of varying sizes, some as small as three classrooms and some as large as 26. What have been the strong points in these relationships, and what have been the challenges, and how have you dressed the kings and implementation. How have you built positive relationships with partners, work to build consensus, reach compromise and develop solutions to expansion of state pre K. All that is three minutes. Okay, I'll do my best. Thank you. So in terms of strong points I think I want to bring out three flexibility commitment to the mixed delivery system and communication in terms of flexibility. None of our collaborations look exactly the same. As you mentioned, some are very small to be classrooms and others are very large 26 classrooms. So in the length of time that we've been partnering so sometimes are youngest a partnership is in his first year. So as an infancy per stage with the preschool expansion district. Well, our longest lasting collaboration has been almost 25 years so it out with my tenure at, at hopes so that is very important to, to know that programs that are willing to do this kind of partnership have to be flexible and it has to be flexibility, not not only in the part of the provider head start program but also in the parts of the district. For example, we are some of our partnerships are within the school district building so we are in the same buildings as their K to six population, which sometimes brings his own set of challenges and I'll go into some of the challenges in a little bit, but those. That's one kind of setting we've also are in settings where we provide within our own agency collaboration classrooms has start only as well as early head start classrooms. So that is, you know, some differences there. We also have to have flexibility in understanding where districts are and understanding how to merge the requirements of head start with state requirements, some of our collaborating districts have a deep knowledge and understanding of what head start regulations are and are you know willing to take on the partnership, knowing what they're stepping into others have a larger learning curve so being flexible in working with districts that have a history and a knowledge of head start and others that don't. The second important thing is, like I said commitment to having a mixed delivery system, knowing that not every program is going to look exactly the same, some in childcare Sunday, setting some in public schools, some in smaller buildings some enlarger buildings. I think that having the right this position and having the commitment from the district part point of view as well as our agency has been, you know, a great launching point to make having the programs be a success. And lastly but not least in terms of strong points is communication. I think that is one of the most crucial things in any partnership, and it's really led to the success of our, our partnerships, you know, we have to be able to discuss things like per curriculum implementation assessment tools, data sharing staff professional development coaching and mentoring evaluations of the staff, teacher pay equity and pay daily schedules and even the yearly calendar so every topic needs to be able to be focused in an open and respectful, you know, matter. I think an important takeaway from our experience those far is that communication needs to be ongoing, frequent and willing to take on any challenges at any point of that partnership. In terms of the challenges, the biggest challenges we found is within the funding, making sure that we find that right formula that provides a per pupil allocation to the Head Start program and childcare partners that truly supports parody and pay or at least comparable wages for staff at all levels, not just the teachers but TAs, family advocates and other support staff to the program. And being able to make sure that this that the district understands that that the providers are part of the district and should be part of any district or statewide initiatives that can support staff development like alternate credentialing programs for teachers support through scholarships and ongoing professional development. The challenge is stability of location, you know, sometimes when you are in school buildings, the pre K programs get shuffled around because of their growing population in the K to six population or K to eight depending on which district building you're in. Also knowing that districts need to understand that if a provider or Head Start program is leasing or mortgaging a facility, rent still needs to be paid on the other months when the program is not in operation and their costs that are, you know, standard and so a lot of issues on most of the challenges are from funding and sustainability of the program. I think the last part of your question was about sustaining those positive relationships. And I think that what I can say from our experience is dedicating the time. You need to put the work in to plan together to build those partnerships to be a, you know, able to really go through the conversation of what the program will look like together and plan it together, being able to write a proposal in the case of the state of New Jersey we have to write a proposal to DOE to be able to obtain the funding to establish those partnerships so I think if every step of the way requires that dedication and time and putting in the work to make it work. But also the willingness to problem solve and find consensus together and find practices policies and procedures that are a win-win, a win for the district, a win for the provider or Head Start program and most importantly a win for families and children in New Jersey. Excellent. You did a wonderful job. So now it's time for us to hear questions from our audience and we have one here and Sarah it's directed to you but I'll also love Allison to comment on it. So it's how have you ensured early learning the early learning community and families particularly understand what a mixed delivery system is and what their options are. We host several school readiness events in our county. And so that gives families the opportunity to come out and get a little snapshot of what we offer and what's available for their children. And I think that helps them understand the programs that we have to offer. Great. And Allison, how are you all doing in Alabama? We don't have the answer so far. You know, we do have a universal registration website, which was only launched in the last couple of years and that has gone a long way. And the programs in Alabama First Class Pre-K are required to advertise. They have to use some of their budget to advertise. And diverse delivery just makes it easier to reach families in their own neighborhoods. All right. So we have another question. And it's what mechanisms are used to help align early childhood education to K3 so that the systems don't remain sliced or siloed, I'm sorry siloed. So how are you aligning things and, and actually let's start with Jocelyn because it might be harder since you're not in the school district. I know it might be easier for Sarah but what about you Jocelyn how are you all aligning with K-12 or K-3? Again, that comes to the relationships and communication. We are as providers and has our programs that collaborate with districts having ongoing meetings to discuss transitions to kindergarten, how the curriculum aligns with what's happening in kindergarten. What are the expectations for children when they enter kindergarten once they leave our program? So I think those conversations are important. And also what portfolio information we provide to the kindergarten teacher from the pre-K teacher of pre-K-4 teachers to see what the children learn, where they add and what conversations have been had with families in order to continue that learning at home. So I think that all of that goes together and really strengthen that transition and also builds kind of like a partnership between the teachers. So the pre-K teacher is communicating what she has seen or the teams have seen the pre-K3 and pre-K4 teams have seen with the kindergarten teachers and beyond. So most of our districts have really strengthened that transition process and the communication that happens so that information that is shared really benefits the families. So Sarah it's probably easier for you but I'd love to hear you comment on it. How are you all making sure there's a seamless system? We do have a kindergarten transition or excuse me preschool kindergarten transition day. And we hold that and the students will actually move up and spend the day in the kindergarten classroom and they get to kind of you know run through what a typical day would look like and maybe they're coming from childcare or they're in one of the collaborative classrooms that we have that are in the school. So they're coming from various sites and they're going to the school they're going to get the day of you know how it would go actually in the classroom. So they get that piece and then the teachers also meet separately. So the preschool teachers and the kindergarten teachers meet and they go over individual child transition reports. So they get that information from the previous teacher going to the kindergarten teacher and we make that connection there. Allison I'd love to hear what you all are doing as well I mean how how are you you have research to show kids are doing well but is are the when the kids get to kindergarten or the kindergarten teachers happy to get these kids or they like oh you haven't taught them the right stuff. Well generally the kindergarten teachers are thrilled to get the children who have had pre K especially have more and more have them. But yeah we still have a long way to go in terms of ensuring that what's taught in kindergarten through third grade is meeting children where they are and it's developmentally appropriate for how young children learn and Alabama does have a wonderful new if program called the pre K to third grade developmental approach to early learning. And you know Dr. true love Walker who's on the panel the previous panel can probably share how many school systems are now participating in that it's a small pilot like our pre K program used to be it's truly phenomenal and it was developed with that national elementary principals association can't remember the official name of that group but it is fantastic and it's a really changing the way that educators are collaborating and looking at the kids they're coming to them as young children as good children as good inside and maybe just five and six really you know and and not really able to do some of the things that they may be expecting them to do but the play leads to the outcomes in the long run as we all know. Okay we only have a minute or two left but I'd love to hear one of you talk about this because this is my passion. What about our kids with IEP's that are in special ed are they over in their own classroom or they integrated in and if so how are you doing that so who wants to take it on. Okay Jocelyn. I can start yeah absolutely all of our classrooms are inclusive we really strive and make extra efforts to reach you know hard to reach population not only children with special needs but also homeless families, newly immigrant families. Families that are obviously low income we provide a lot of outreach for families that are really have a hard of time accessing, you know, education overall. So it, our efforts are totally focused on making sure that everyone feels like they can be part of something wonderful like universal pre K. Right Allison I know you wanted to say something had to be fast. So, we just want to be like Jocelyn's agency, Alabama pre K is inclusive about something that our state has worked on over the years with special education preschool to really combine blend embrace and have the children, you know, out of their standalone classrooms and sprinkled into our first class pre K with the support that they need. Well, kudos, I wish I had confetti to drop in the, the screen because you all were awesome thank you so much for the great presentations but most importantly what you're doing there in your state to assure that what's happening at the state level is really working down to the local level, and most of all benefiting kids and family so thank you. I'm going to the last part of our program but not the least, I'm so excited to get to introduce Barbara chow. She is a rock star. She is the director of education programs at the Heising Simons Foundation and she's in philanthropy and you think, oh she's over in philanthropy she's giving out money and that's what she's thinking about. But you know, she has an incredible policy background and used to work at the domestic policy Council she was associate director for education income maintenance and the office of management and budget and a special assistant to the President for the White House legislative affairs so she knows policy, and we're so fortunate to have her do our wrap up so Barbara welcome and thank you. Thank you Libby that was lovely and this has just been an amazing webinar I will say the panelists I want to congratulate the panel that learned so much and near and learning policy Institute for the very very excellent policy brief. I've been kind of watching the chat back and forth and I can see there's intense interest in these in the details really of how these programs work and so I think it's been phenomenal. So I have the sort of happy task of just trying to pull some things together and I have five observations that I'm going to share with you. The perspective I take is that of a, I would say recovering policy person. And I'm currently an early childhood funder in California which is about to implement the country's largest and probably most complex universal pre K program. And so for us and I see a lot of Californians are in this group, learning from others is really essential and so this has been very, very helpful already, but they're kind of five things, I think I would start with one policy is a blunt tool that is folded with precision. When I used to work in on legislation years ago at Libby said there was a lovely practice where you would receive what's called a red line, which is the first boss page of a bill, and the pen used to sign the legislation you had been working on. I was fortunate to receive a bunch of these when I worked at the White House. It was a really joyful feeling of accomplishment of being done when the legislation was signed. But of course in retrospect that was both arrogant and naive and signing a bill only signals the beginning of something as complex as changing education system. And there's so many ways in which the good idea captured the legislative text can end up with unanticipated and even harmful consequences. I think that kind of leads me and we saw some of this reflected in the panel to the question of like what is the policy role to the legislative policy role. I think there are kind of two core goals to two core roles. One is budget, the system has to be well financed and to support high levels of compensation and benefits commensurate qualifications. And the other is education that everybody has said here is complex, delicate and skilled and should be paid accordingly. Labor costs represent the vast majority of pre K expenditures, which means the expensive endeavor, and it requires significant public investment. And the quality role is that of quality. All the systems that you know you saw here and described in the, in the research report, emphasize the importance of highly qualified well supported teachers and maintaining comparable standards across all sorts of elements from schools to community centers or for family care. I like to think of this as every choice should be a good choice goal. And I think that's an important policy goal. There are two non negotiables adequate budget and quality markers there's lots of other very good to have objectives that might be best left to a broad statement of aspiration guidance or implementation and a reliance on a kind of a system of continuous improvement. So what's Virginia, I hope that was so interesting that the importance of collaboration I think between this school districts and kind of the private child care and head start system is really critical and I as I understand that the initial legislation wanted to kind of stop and specify that there should be this kind of collaboration, but that actual decision around what the amount should be the 50% kind of came about as a result of this more consultative practice. And what that meant I think is that the. It's really important to have practice informed policy rather than sort of policy that dictates or mandates something even if it's a good thing. Before we're kind of really know what that level ought to be. They also gave 10 years for that to occur. And I think the result of that is, you know, you saw that there's a very high level of collaboration, 82%. That was only absent when it's not really possible to have that kind of level of collaboration because of child care deserts. So that's kind of point number one is what's the role of policy. The second is, I think a really obvious one which is many, many roads lead to Rome. It's really clear from the descriptions of all these different geographies and political context and sizes of state that there are a lot of ways of getting to all these systems. The near LPI recommendations presented an essential checklist of considerations that states should think through while constructing new systems but you'll note they don't recommend one path. That's because each state in context is different and should be decided really by those closest to the ground. Third, meet people where they are. A lot of old adage change happens at the speed of trust. Universal pre K is exciting. It's important, and it's disruptive can upend the business model of many home or center based providers and add the layer of complexity to school leaders and teachers who may have little experience with this age group. Building relationships and trust over time is essential to the successful role of the rollout of universal pre K. This is one of the very femoral very hard to measure goals, but I am convinced it is an integral part of the success equation for all politics are local. Of course, state Asians use play a critical role in setting the systems broad framework budget and goals. As you heard today in most cases implementation is really occurring at the local level. Certainly this will be the case in the state as big as California with strong local control ethos. This means that the local governing councils and you heard some examples of that should be inclusive in regular dialogue with state counterparts and recognized as foundational for pre K systems. This collaboration model might serve as a strong example of how to blend state goals with local action. And last, the best, it can be done. High quality mix delivery state pre K systems are possible if given enough intentionality money and time, and I'll end with that thought. Thank you. Thanks so much Barbara for those insightful comments. With that, I just like to remind everyone that you can learn much more about the states that we have featured as well as others in the near NLP I brief and report that were shared in the chat and you can find them on our websites. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who is involved in today's inspiring conversation to our wonderful panelists first and foremost to Libby dogged to Karen Garver. We thank our co host the National Institute for early education research for their leadership in this study, and to our amazing co sponsors CC SSO, Nazley, NASB and NC SL. Thank you to the Heising Simons Foundation, the Balmer Group and the Packard Foundation for supporting this webinar and the research. Before we leave today, we'd really encourage you to fill out the survey in the chat please let us know what went well what you'd like to learn more about and how we can improve. Thank you so much and have a great day and I also just want to answer the chat that this webinar was recorded and will be available in a few days. I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon.