Start Early

Start Early provides high-quality early childhood services for low-income children, birth to age five, and their families as well as services to pregnant women, through a multi-site network of Early Head Start and Head Start directly-operated programs, and partner and delegate agencies, in high-needs communities throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. In fiscal year 2022, Start Early directly operated two programs at the Educare Chicago school and one program (Healthy Parents and Babies) at 33 W Monroe Street, and subcontracted with ten agencies at 17 geographically and racially-diverse sites, serving more than 2,200 young children, pregnant women, and their families.

See Schedule OThe national policy team and Educare learning network (ELN) extend the impact of Start Early's extensive early childhood knowledge and expertise in states across the country through consultation and technical assistance on program, public policy and systems work; research and evaluation; organizational capacity building; and philanthropic engagement strategies. The ELN is a multi-state collective of Educare schools that provides and promotes high-quality, outcomes-based learning environments for vulnerable children, birth to five, and their families. The ELN also shares expertise with educators, researchers and policymakers so they can strengthen their own communities. An avenue used to share expertise is through the Essential Practices of Educare training, which is a professional development series that provides practical instruction to make it easier for center- and school-based program leaders, teachers and family engagement staff to focus their time and resources on cross-cutting practices that lead to improvement at the individual child, classroom and program levels. Start Early Consulting provides consulting services in an effort to offer our decades of experience and research in early childhood programming to benefit as many children and families as possible. We offer consulting services and deep early childhood expertise to local and state early childhood government leaders and advocates seeking to build high-quality, equitable systems.sult in improved classroom quality and outcomes for children.

Start Early's Home Visiting and Doula Network annually reaches approximately 1,900 at-risk young children, pregnant women, and their families through our statewide network of home visiting and Doula services. Home Visiting and Doula Network conducts specialized training and technical assistance for 200 early childhood professionals working in 28 community agencies across Chicago and throughout Illinois.

The Quality, Solutions, and Impact programs connect early childhood professionals with the tools and knowledge they need to deliver strong child outcomes. Our portfolio of solutions translates field-tested approaches to training early childhood educations into research-validated professional development offerings. From our decades of experience supporting teachers, leaders, and home visitors across Illinois, and the nation, we have designed a portfolio of in-person and online training programs to help early childhood professionals deliver high-quality learning experiences. The Essential 0-5 Survey (formerly known as Early Education Essentials) is an evidence-based measurement system that acts as a catalyst for program improvement delivering transformative results among staff, families, and children. The Essential Fellowship (formerly known as Lead Learn Excel) is an individualized, immersive training experience for early educational leaders. The Essential Practices of Educare (formerly known as Educare Best Practices Training) pass on the knowledge and practices from Educare's best-in-class early childhood programs to educators and communities across the country.

Professional Learning Network & Washington State

First Five Years Fund

Illinois Policy Team

Knowledge Navigator

Research-Practice Partnership

Early Learning Lab

National Center

Every Child Ready Chicago

Learning Hub

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