SUMMARY

Investing in Early Childhood and School Readiness on the Palouse (Investing in the Palouse) is a community needs and resource assessment and strategic planning process that will build the capacity of Whitman County, Washington and Latah County, Idaho to promote early learning and school success in young children. This two county area is geographically known as the Palouse.

Invest in the Palouse Goals

• Engage county leaders, educators, parents, and other community members in a dialogue about the extent to which children are coming to school prepared for success.
• Collect and analyze data and develop priorities for early childhood and school readiness in each county.
• Develop a regional strategic plan to continually monitor the priorities and improve county and region wide coordination of early care and education.

Planning & Implementation Team

Invest in the Palouse will be lead by 2 Team Leaders: Marci Schreiber in Latah County and Sue Kreikemeier in Whitman County. In order to achieve the goals outlined above, Team Leaders will develop an Invest in the Palouse Planning and Implementation (P&I) Team of 30 - 40 members with representation from each County. The P&I Team will serve as both guide to the process and conduit to community needs and resources and will include parents, kindergarten teachers, preschool teachers, child care providers, community leaders, county staff, and at least one Commissioner from each county. P&I Team members will commit 15 hours of time from December 2003 to July 2004 to Invest in the Palouse project. This time commitment involves 4 P&I Team meetings and 5 interviews with families or educators in the community regarding early childhood and school readiness.

Investing in the Palouse Report

At the end of the Investing in the Palouse project, a report will be created to summarize the findings of the group and the priorities identified for early learning and school readiness. This report will be distributed to all P&I Team members as well as the community in general. At the of this project, community members will be able to determine the similarities and differences that exist between counties and identify shared goals and collaborative ventures regarding early childhood and school readiness.

Funding

Investing in the Palouse is funded by a grant from the National Association of Counties (NACo), a full-service organization that provides legislative, research, technical, and public affairs assistance to county governments, by a grant from the Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Early Learning Opportunities Act, and by many generous community partners.

The Investing in the Palouse project will raise the awareness of the

needs of young children and provide a catalyst for future action on behalf of young children and families across the Palouse.

Invest in the Palouse Project Timeline

Invest in the Palouse is a year long project that will extend through July 2004. The following is a timeline of expected activities for the remainder of the grant period:

Month	Activity
September – November 2003	Team Leaders recruit P&I Team Members, identify consultant, and prepare structure of the year long Invest in the Palouse project.
December 2003	P&I Team Meeting 1 – Introduction and Orientation to Project and Identification of School Success Factors (2.5 hours). Team Leaders will review the purpose, scope, and timeline of the project. P&I Team will identify essential components of school success and school readiness appropriate for the Palouse region and identify sources of quantitative school success/readiness data.
December 2003 – January 2004	Team Leaders and consultant will synthesize school success and school readiness information into a working description, identify and analyze data statistical data related to school readiness, prepare presentation to the P&I Team, and develop a survey instrument and training session for P&I Team members to use to gather qualitative data.
Early February 2004	P&I Team Meeting 2 – Data Collection Training (2.5 hours). Team Leaders will present working description of school readiness and success for the Team’s approval and will review statistical data related to school readiness. Consultant will train P&I Team members and other interested parties on a standard tool to use to interview families and educators regarding school readiness on the Palouse.
February – March 15, 2004	P&I Team members will interview families and educators from across the community and return results to the consultant before March 15, 2003. Consultant and Team Leaders will review and analyze results of survey data and synthesize with quantitative data already collected.
Mid April 2004	P&I Meeting 3 – Review of Data & Development of Countywide Priorities (2.5 hours). Review results of survey, identify resources and barriers and identify priorities for school readiness across the Palouse.
May 2004	P&I Team Meeting 4 – Implementation: County Wide School Readiness Advisory Boards (2.5 hours). Based on the previously identified priorities, P&I Team members will develop action steps to address school readiness priorities. Team members will identify strategies to continually monitor priorities and improve county wide and region wide coordination of early care and education.
June – July 2004	Team Leaders create the report for Investing in Early Childhood and School Readiness on the Palouse: Resource Assessment and Strategic Planning project and distribute throughout the Region.

For More Information

Marci Schreiber, Latah Team Leader Sue Kreikemeier, Whitman Team Leader

(208) 883-6454 (208) 332-4420

marcis@ycfprograms.org suek-els@pullman.com