Inequities start at birth. Investing deeply and broadly in early education, especially in underserved communities, is a critical lever in giving children an equitable start, improving their K-12 outcomes and their chances at future prosperity.
However, scalable solutions in early education are notoriously challenging to achieve. The community-based nature of most programs means they lack sufficient infrastructure to support scale. They are also often under-resourced and too urgently stressed to deliver daily outcomes to children and parents alike to focus on program growth or development. Meanwhile, governments are often limited in using their quality improvement dollars to successful effect. They’re generally compliance-driven, risk-averse, and behind the current research and new techniques that truly support program quality.
New Profit’s solution is to bring private capital to the early education and care field. We designed the Early Childhood Support Organizations initiative: a four-year, $1816M public-private partnership between New Profit and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Early Education and Care.
Early Childhood Support Organizations (ECSOs) are expert intermediary organizations that provide quality supports grounded in professional development, curriculum, collaboration, assessment, and instructional excellence to early education programs. ECSOs build stronger learning environments and outcomes for underserved childcare programs and children.
Working with three hand-selected ECSO partners in 81000 programs across Massachusetts, the initiative directly improves the early education experiences of over 16,000 children by supporting more than 100 program leaders and 1200 teachers to strengthen instructional practice and use of effective curricula in early childhood classrooms. Built into the initiative are an independent Impact Evaluation and Implementation Study, which collect and synthesize findings and data that are fed back into the ECSOs and early education programs to further define, refine, and improve ECSO program models. Our ultimate goal is that the initiative will serve as a national model.
The effects of the ECSO initiative have been powerful. In ways that have not been seen before, educators are participating in the life of their programs and decision-making about instruction and support for children’s progress curriculum and new ways to engage with parents. They’re working with a better-scaffolded curriculum and learning new ways to engage more deeply with their kids and many are working with a better-scaffolded curriculum. And their directors are getting more closely involved at the classroom level, supporting educators in their practices and providing constructive, informed feedback. The ECSO initiative also brings program directors into a networked community of leaders who can share their experiences, which helps scale the most valuable resource—knowledge.
“We’ve heard incredibly positive feedback from participating programs,” says New Profit Partner Julie Asher, who leads New Profit’s early learning strategy. “The ECSO partnership has become a cornerstone of (the state’s) their professional development approach. One of the leaders said it was the best professional development experience they’d ever had, and the State of Massachusetts has the intention to continue the program in the long run. We’re demonstrating that a new way of working is possible with existing dollars from the federal government. Having private philanthropy to accelerate this process and push the envelope with the government has made all the difference.”