HEAD START®

Effective Transition Practices: Facilitating Continuity

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3 | Continuing Professional Development | Informational Resources Section

MODULE 3: partnerships for continuity

Outcomes | Key Concepts | Background Information | Activity 3-1 | Activity 3-2 | Activity 3-3 | Activity 3-4 | Activity 3-5 | Next Steps
download these pdf attachments: Handout 18 | Handout 19 | Handout 20

Outcomes

As a result of completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Identify the common goals that early childhood professionals and parents share in supporting transitions from one setting to another

• Determine goals and strategies to develop effective transition practices and facilitate continuity
  
  
• Identify the strengths and resources that partners can contribute to achieve common goals
  
  
• Develop strategies for networking with key partners

Key Concepts

• The early childhood community includes parents, educators, caregivers, and service providers from various settings.

• Recognizing the common ground of everyone who works in the early childhood community is key to building partnerships across settings.

• Continuity between settings is best established through active, meaningful partnerships and information sharing.

• Working collaboratively requires an appreciation of the skills and resources that each partner can contribute toward common goals.
  
  
• Networking within the early childhood community allows those working in the field to share best practices and to develop partnerships in transition.

Background Information

Efforts to provide continuity throughout the early childhood community require the time and commitment of early childhood professionals, parents, and the broader community. To build this commitment, sending and receiving staff can work together as partners along with parents to develop transition plans. By developing collaborative relationships and establishing common goals in transition, partners ease transitions and improve the quality of education, care, and services for families and children.

Partnerships between programs can also provide a foundation for continuity. Across the country, programs have developed strategies so they can work with other programs or groups to establish continuity. Structural or administrative supports, such as joint funding and interagency agreements, provide incentives and tools for partners and communities. These collaborative community teams define transition goals and share responsibility for achieving common goals.

When programs begin to build partnerships and collaborative teams, they may encounter differences in philosophy, funding, and program priorities. These issues can often be worked out by improving communication. Model programs and local initiatives have adopted promising practices, or strategies that help improve communication between partners. For example, many programs network within community organizations, invite key partners to a breakfast or a program's special event, and sponsor small gatherings of community members. These promising practices create a welcoming environment for key partners to begin to better understand each other. Examples of successful ways that programs welcome parents as partners include:

• Summer Picnic–Head Start Transition Demonstration Project, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Head Start sponsors a summer activity for children transitioning out of Head Start. The children and families attend a picnic on the public school grounds in the summer. The principal is invited to attend to provide informal information. To accommodate working parents, the picnic is scheduled in the late afternoon.
  
  
• The Mamas and Papas of Byck Elementary–Byck Cradle School, Louisville, Kentucky. Parents and staff formed an after-school choral group. The group has since performed at statewide educational functions as well as school-based activities.

Once Head Start and community partners have become acquainted and established some common ground at an introductory event, a collaborative team can organize to more formally address issues in transition and continuity. The team can choose to adapt additional promising practices such as placing transition coordinators in elementary schools, coordinating curricula between Head Start and public schools, pairing parent mentors with new parents, and establishing parent resource centers in the schools.

Journey Point

Throughout this document, participants are asked to think of the training as a journey toward effective transition practices. At the end of each workshop and coaching activity, there is a place to stop on this journey, or Journey Point, so that participants can organize their materials and thoughts. In this module, at each Journey Point the trainer refers participants to their Journey Bag and Pocket Guide 3. These tools, and a summary of the journey, are provided in the Introductory Activity: Beginning the Journey, on page 9.

Trainer Preparation Notes:

This module provides participants from education, care, and service environments with an opportunity to identify themselves as members of the early childhood community. The audience should include parents and representatives from various early childhood settings such as child care centers, private preschools, public schools, and health and social service agencies. Invite these representatives to attend the training if they are not already participants.

Activity 3-1: Common Ground

Purpose: In this activity, participants focus on the common goals of members of the early childhood community and lay the groundwork to support and work collaboratively with those from other settings.

Materials:
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 3 (Introduction)
     Newsprint, markers

Identify Roles

1. On newsprint, draw a large circle. Ask participants to name their job titles or roles (for example, teacher, parent, volunteer). Write these titles and roles in the circle as shown in the Sample Early Childhood Community Pie on page 82. Then have participants list roles of others in their community who work with young children and their families. Add these roles to the circle.

Discuss Roles

2. Draw another circle outside the first circle. Place the words Teaching, Nurturing, and Supporting on the outer circle as shown in the Sample Early Childhood Community Pie. Ask participants to give examples of their daily activities that teach, nurture, and support children and families. Discuss how those individuals not in the training also teach, nurture, and support families and children.

Identify Overlap of Tasks

3. Discuss how the many roles within the community share tasks. Use the following examples or those presented by the group to highlight the overlap:
   
   
   • Parents, teachers, and child care workers all teach children when they read to them.
     
     
   • Bus drivers, mental health counselors, and family members all nurture children when they listen carefully to children and patiently answer questions.
     
     
   • Home visitors, parent volunteers, and teachers all support families when they refer families to community resources.

Sample Early Childhood Community Pie

4. Ask parents and staff to begin thinking of themselves as early childhood professionals who are members of a community that collectively teaches, nurtures, and supports children and families. All members of the community share a common goal of promoting the positive development of both children and families. Label the circle The Early Childhood Community Pie. Explain the benefits of the early childhood community working together.
   
   
   • Like the ingredients in a pie, each member of the community contributes to the flavor and quality of the whole pie. Each role is enhanced when members work together to provide services for children and families.
     
     
   • Members who recognize the common goals of those fulfilling different roles can offer each other resources, ideas, skills, and support
     
     
   • Together, members of the community can advocate for policies and funding that support children and families.
     
     
   • New initiatives to serve children and families can be developed collaboratively.
     
     
   • Through information sharing, partnerships can be developed to ease transitions and facilitate continuity between settings.

Small Group Discussions

5. Have participants form small groups. Be sure that each group includes a variety of early childhood professionals. Ask each group member to discuss her problems and concerns about transition and continuity. Provide the groups with newsprint to record the problems and concerns that members have in common.

Large Focus Group

6. Ask each small group to share its list of common problems and concerns. Then ask the large group to work with you to identify some steps that the community could take to address these issues.

Journey Point

Refer participants to the back of Pocket Guide 3 in their Journey Bag. Have them list their personal goals for nurturing, teaching, and supporting children and families in the Notes column. Point out that the Discoveries column can be used to list insights about their role or about the early childhood community. Then ask participants to discuss their ideas with a partner.

Activity 3-2: Find a Partner

Purpose: In this activity, participants develop strategies for networking with key partners in transition.

Materials:
     Program Profiles (Informational Resources)
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 3 (Introduction)

Discussion

1. During the first coaching session, discuss your early childhood community. Explain that there are many organizations working with the same children and families and that the more these groups can recognize their common goals, the more they can accomplish. Ask participants if they know of any groups that meet for joint training, provide collaborative services, or are involved in transition initiatives in their community.

Research

2. Ask participants to spend some time on their own researching other groups in their community that provide education, care, or services to families and children. Make the following suggestions:
   
   
   • Read the newspaper for organizational announcements and for information.
     
     
   • Check public places such as libraries or stores for flyers that announce meetings of these groups.
     
     
   • Meet with Family Service staff members or talk with friends and co-workers.
     
     
   • Ask co-workers and parents about their memberships in community organizations.
     
     
   • List the groups that now meet for joint training, to provide collaborative services, or to discuss common goals.

Discuss Partnerships

3. Hold another coaching session to discuss community partnerships. Explain that staff from individual programs can plan initiatives, such as a parent information night or summer home visits, that help smooth transitions. However, more far-reaching transition practices, such as coordinating curricula or transition planning meetings, require community partnerships.

Network

4. Help participants choose one of the groups researched in Step 2 with which to begin building partnerships. Ask participants to attend one meeting of the group to get to know potential partners or invite a member to visit one of their program' s social events. Refer to Program Profiles, located in the Informational Resources section, to learn more about establishing partnerships with parents and other professionals.

Foster Partnership

5. Meet again to discuss the results of this networking with partners. Discuss the value of making ongoing efforts to network with partners, including parents. Have participants develop a plan to foster the partnership through continued networking and information sharing.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put their handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to Pocket Guide 3 to list new strategies for networking. Have them share their ideas with someone outside the coaching session.

Activity 3-3: Collaborative Potluck

Purpose: In this activity, participants identify the skills and resources that individuals throughout the early childhood community can offer when collaborating.

Materials:
     Handouts 18, 19, and 20
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 3 (Introduction)
     Paper plates, art materials

Prepare a Dish

1. Deliver Handout 18: Invitation to a Collaborative Potluck Dinner. Invite participants to bring a dish representing a skill or resource that they can bring to the table when people assemble to work toward common goals. Pass out paper plates and art supplies. You can provide the following examples to explain how participants can use the art materials to prepare their dishes.
   
   
   • Draw a happy face in the middle of the plate to represent an ability to work with others.
     
     
   • Stretch rubber bands across the plate to indicate flexibility.
     
     
   • Write an e-mail address on the edge of the plate to represent access to Internet sites.

Share Personal Strengths

2. Have participants bring their dishes to a central table. Give participants a few minutes to look over the potluck. Compliment the chefs and ask them to share their recipes. Reinforce the idea that everyone has something to contribute to a collaborative effort; like most potluck dinners, the meal is complete when everyone brings his or her best dish to the table. Ask:
   
   
   • How do participants feel about the potluck? What does it tell them about the community's overall strengths and resources?
     
     
   • Is there a favorite dish?
     
     
   • Communication should be a main dish; are there other dishes that seem essential to a successful collaborative meeting?

Discuss Collaboration

3. Discuss with the group the possibility of inviting community members to a real collaborative potluck dinner or luncheon as a conclusion of the training. Distribute Handout 19: Recipe for Collaborative Cake. Explain that the handout summarizes the process of working collaboratively and the importance of knowing about your community's resources. Distribute Handout 20: Collaborating for Quality and tell participants to check off those items that they already do in their community. Ask:
   
   
   • What do you already do to collaborate in your community?
     
     
   • What transition goals might better be achieved through collaboration?
     
     
   • What strategies could help you expand collaborative efforts?

Journey Point

Suggest that participants put the handouts from the activity in their Journey Bag. Refer them to the back of Pocket Guide 3 to list their discoveries about community resources. Suggest that they share this list with staff not present in the workshop.

Activity 3-4: Adapting Promising Practices

Purpose: In this activity, participants develop strategies to use community resources in new ways to meet transition needs.

Materials:
     Program Profiles (Informational Resources)
     Journey Bag, Pocket Guide 3 (Introduction)

Coach Preparation Notes:

Identifying and contacting key partners is only the first step to effective collaboration. During this coaching activity, participants discuss their experiences with representatives from successful programs.

Describe Initiatives

1. Hold a coaching session to discuss the promising practices found in Program Profiles, located in the Informational Resources section. Explain that all these programs have achieved continuity for children in transition by collaborating to provide comprehensive services. Point out the variety of program demographics and services represented and review the following program features:
   
   
   • Some programs are funded by local initiatives, while others are funded by federal initiatives.
     
     
   • Communities have concentrated efforts on specific age groups.
     
     
   • A variety of community partners are involved in providing services.
     
     
   • Specific services and achievements are tailored to each community's needs.

Discuss Community Goals

2. Have participants read the Program Profiles, which contain a sampling of promising practices from programs across the country. Ask participants to select a program that addresses a particular category of service (family services, education services, or health services) that they would like to improve in their community. Discuss why this category of service is important in their community and identify the services currently available. Ask:
   
   
   • What specific practices do you want to implement?
     
     
   • What resources might be required to provide this service?
     
     
   • What community partners could contribute their resources and skills to collaboratively provide the service?

Plan Partner Meeting

3. Help participants plan a meeting with a community partner with whom they could adapt and collaboratively implement one of the promising practices described in the Program Profiles. Ask participants to find out the suggestions and concerns that their community partners have about implementing this practice.

First Steps

4. Have participants follow through with the partner meeting. Ask participants to record their partner's suggestions and concerns that are discussed during the meeting.

Follow-up Meeting

5. Schedule a follow-up meeting to share the results of the partner meeting. Discuss any new ideas that emerged during the meeting and help participants determine some key questions. Have them call the program contact from the Program Profiles to discuss these questions.

Journey Point

Suggest that participants keep all of the Program Profiles in their Journey Bag so that they can become familiar with and possibly adapt the promising practices, as well as know who to contact for further information. Refer participants to Pocket Guide 3 to list new strategies for collaborating. Have them share the information in a follow-up partner meeting.

Activity 3-5: What's in Your Journey Bag?

Purpose: In this activity, participants will reflect on the information and resources that they collected during the training activities to establish ideas for facilitating continuity in their communities and sharing valuable information with their co-workers.

Materials:
     Journey Bag contents and completed Pocket Guides (Introduction)

Coach Preparation Notes:

This activity can be used at the end of any module to review the concepts found in that module.

Discuss the Journey

1. Meet with participants to review the information and resources collected in their Journey Bag and the strategies recorded on their Pocket Guides. Explain that they will continue on their journey toward effective transition practices as they continue to use the information and ideas.

Review Materials

2. Have participants review all materials in their Journey Bag and information recorded on their Pocket Guides. Discuss what they discovered during their journey and what destinations they want to reach now that they have made these discoveries. Point out that they can list personal goals on the back of the Pocket Guide. Ask them to consider the ways that they might use their information to achieve their goals. Some suggestions include:
   
   
   • Sharing information, strategies, and materials with other program staff, parents, and key community partners
     
     
   • Using the Pocket Guides to list new ideas and review their progress

Meet with Staff

3. Suggest that participants share their strategies and personal goals with co-workers in a team meeting. They can provide some copies of handouts to everyone in the meeting. In addition, they can help each staff member identify his role in helping the program implement effective practices.

Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice

The following activities can help participants review key information, practice skills, and assess their understanding of the concepts in this module:

• Plan a variety of monthly strategies for networking with community partners. These might include formal meetings that focus on transition issues or other early childhood issues. You can also plan a variety of informal events such as breakfasts, community celebrations, or bag-lunch information sessions. As contacts are made, keep up-to-date on the efforts partners are making. Find out what you can do to help them.
  
  
• Invite leaders from the early childhood community to an informational or discussion program on providing continuity. Select some of the eight elements of continuity as described in the book Continuity in Early Childhood: A Framework for Home, School, and Community Linkages to review with the group. Discuss your community practices that relate to those elements and use the framework as an evaluation of those practices. See Resources, located in the Informational Resources section, for information on ordering this book.
  
  
• Test out strategies for school improvement with others from the early childhood community by using the simulation game Making Change for School Improvement. Head Start grantees may obtain this resource through their regional office, the Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Network, or Head Start program directors. Schools may find that their district has invested in the game. Refer to Resources, in the Informational Resources section, for ordering information.
  
  
• Give participants several months to try out their strategies for net- working and collaborating. Schedule a follow-up meeting with individuals or small groups. At the follow-up meeting, have participants share what they have tried and any difficulties they may be having. Discuss additional strategies that they can try and involve them in role playing to help improve their communication skills. Provide them with materials from the Informational Resources section to support the development of new transition practices.