united way of san antonio and bexar county texas … antonio sustainability... · texas school...

United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County TCCSR Sustainability Plan

United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County

Texas Community Campaign for School Readiness Sustainability Plan May 31, 2013

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Background of the Community

San Antonio, Texas is the nation’s seventh largest city. We are a community of low-

skilled, low-wage families who will live increasingly marginalized lives in a rapidly changing

global workplace. Our face resembles the future face of the nation: a Hispanic-majority

population of primarily young, under-educated workforce. We have a poverty rate of 19.1%

(and child poverty rate of 24%), home ownership rate of 62.55%, a dropout rate approaching

39%, adult illiteracy rates of more than 25% and only 23.7% of the population is college

educated. Education and literacy levels in San Antonio remain lower as compared to other

cities.

There are 15 school districts within the city limits of San Antonio. Given the density of

the families with young children in poverty in these districts, the San Antonio EDI Coalition set

out to focus on the following four school districts for the purpose of this grant, with the

expectation to add all school districts over the next 5 years:

o Edgewood ISD (11,947 students)

o Harlandale ISD (14,800 students)

o Northside ISD (98,110 students)

o San Antonio ISD (55,116 students)

Gathering Districts and Stakeholders

Although San Antonio is home to many nonprofit agencies and collaborations working to

better the community, we still struggle with early childhood data measurement and data sharing

primarily since we have fifteen different school districts, and a familial population that relies on

family, friends, and neighbors to care for young children not yet in school. Furthermore, San

Antonio’s date driven effort needed help in addressing population level data. Our efforts were

typically on an individual level basis, utilizing program performance, but EDI has provided us

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crucial data about our students and families. We realized early on that if our collaborative and

efforts wish to make a difference on a population level basis, population level data is needed.

The specific partner stakeholders that were gathered to implement the EDI are: United

Way (including the Children’s Issue Council, Family-School-Community Partnership, and

Eastside Promise Neighborhood), CI-Now, P16Plus Council of Greater Bexar County, SA2020,

the Mayor’s Office, Avance of San Antonio, Texas School Ready! Project, Family Service

Association, San Antonio and Bexar County Head Start Program, Pre-K 4 SA, the City of San

Antonio, Edgewood ISD, Harlandale ISD, Northside ISD, and San Antonio ISD.

Community Information Now (CI:Now) has been a crucial data partner throughout this

grant. CI: Now is a partnership of over 25 public, private, governmental, educational and

healthcare organizations working together since 1998. The United Way of San Antonio and

Bexar County serves as fiscal agent. CI-Now was well equipped to lead the data-sharing

component because it was already sharing data with and receiving data from local school

districts and many other entities. Through working with CI:Now, we have taken the data a step

further by creating interactive maps that allow multiple demographics and population level data

to be combined with EDI data. CI-NOW created an aggregation infrastructure that unrelated

computer systems can contribute to using an existing data warehouse at Rackspace Managed

Hosting, and has maintained the expanded, longitudinal data system, monitoring use, authorizing

and training users and generating cross-site as well as resident-produced reports.

Before United Way was awarded the EDI grant, Edgewood ISD, Harlandale ISD, and

San Antonio ISD had already agreed to be partners in the initial pilot of gathering population

level data. Once awarded, United Way met with the Superintendents and Board Members to

explain the data collection process and responsibilities of the district. Next, we met with the

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elementary school principals for each district to review the expectations of kindergarten teachers,

stipends for participation, and upcoming training dates. After meeting with the principals,

training dates were set for each district and kindergarten teachers were trained and given a

timeline for completion. For year 2 of data collection, the same process was followed for

Northside Independent School District.

One issue that we did not foresee happening was that although it was difficult enough to

gather and train four school districts, we have had other districts in San Antonio asking when

they can participate in data collection. Although we did not anticipate this happening, it leads us

to believe that we will not have difficulty gathering more districts within the next few years to

participate.

Corporate Partnerships

We have been fortunate throughout this grant to have corporate sponsors. IBM has been

a long-time supporter of early childhood education initiatives. Thanks to a generous grant from

IBM, we raffled off 36 KidSmart Young Explorer Computers to kindergarten teachers in the

three school districts who completed all of the assessments for their class in Year 1. Each

computer came with math and literacy programs and activities and has a bench that can fit two

student to encourage sharing and collaboration. For Year 2, we were fortunate to receive another

grant of 40 KidSmart Young Explorer Computers to be raffled off between teachers in the four

districts who completed all assessments. The students and teachers really enjoy the computers

and they serve as an excellent learning tool in the classroom to enhance technology, math, and

literacy skills.

Another corporate sponsor has been JPMorgan Chase Foundation. The JPMorgan Chase

Foundation focuses on Community Development and Education, while investing in programs

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that have a local impact through measurable results. In May 2012, the JPMorgan Chase

Foundation awarded United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County with a $40,000 grant to help

expand our EDI efforts to include Northside Independent School District. Through their grant,

we secured the funding for training materials and teacher stipends for the district.

Sharing Year 1 Results

When we received our Year 1 results and maps, we gathered our stakeholder group to

discuss the population level data and determine if there were any surprises. Our original

saturation goal for Year 1 was 50% and 80% for Year 2. Year 1 exceeded expectations with a

62% saturation rate. Both Edgewood ISD and Harlandale ISD had a saturation rate of 100%,

while San Antonio ISD only assessed half of the students the first year and ended up with a

saturation rate of 47%. Early childhood experts were not surprised to find that language and

cognitive development was the domain that had the highest vulnerability across the three

districts. Teachers are consistently reporting that language and cognitive skills are lacking when

students enter school and they spend a lot of class time trying to catch the students up to where

they need to be. Although we knew that many students were not “very ready” for kindergarten,

the stakeholder group was surprised to find that only a third of students were very ready on most

domains. The surprise was due to the fact that the assessments were completed in January and

February of 2012 and the student were already halfway finished with their kindergarten year, but

still not showing up as ready.

As a way to show the importance of this data and release it to the community, we

schedule a news conference with Mayor Castro, the superintendents, the stakeholder group,

parents, and corporate leaders in San Antonio. Instead of having United Way or an early

childhood expert present the data, we worked with local high school juniors from our Promise

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Neighborhood to share the results. The students were given background information about the

grant and the assessment, and then presented with the summary of EDI results chart and map

(both below). Rather than telling the students what it means, we asked if they could explain

what is happening in early childhood based on the chart and maps. The conversations were

insightful and more than we could have expected. For the news conference, the high school

students drew in their own early childhood experiences and related everything back to success in

school, high school graduation, and college/career readiness. The news conference gained a lot

of media awareness around the EDI assessment and the state of early childhood education in San

Antonio. All major news stations attended as well as Texas Public Radio.

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Summary of EDI Results by Developmental Area – San Antonio (2012)

EDI Developmental Area Percent of children

developmentally vulnerable

Percent of children very ready

Physical Health and Well-being: Physical readiness for school work, physical independence, gross and fine motor skills

11% 34%

Social Competence: Overall social skills with peers, respect and responsibility, independence and adjustment, readiness to explore new things

11% 29%

Emotional Maturity: Pro-social and helping behavior, anxious and fearful behavior, aggressive behavior, hyperactive and inattentive behavior

10% 34%

Language and Cognitive Development: Basic literacy, interest and memory, complex literacy skills, basic literacy and numeracy

15% 30%

Communication Skills and General Knowledge: Storytelling ability, communication with adults and children

11% 34%

Percent of children who fall at or below the 10th percentile are considered “developmentally vulnerable,” while children who score at or above the 75th percentile are considered “very ready.”

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After receiving the grant, through working with CI:Now, we created a website to have a

place to store all data, training videos, news conferences, and any other pertinent information

(www.kinderreadysa.org). This website serves as a great place for all EDI and early childhood

data and is updated and maintained by CI:Now with input from local early childhood experts and

the community.

Lessons Learned from Year 1

Many lessons were learned in the first year of collecting data, which gave us an

opportunity to make adjustments for the second round of data collection. We learned very early

on that involving the superintendent and principals was crucial to data collection and success of

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http://www.kinderreadysa.org/


the project. Additionally, we learned that having one central contact for the district, a district

coordinator, made the training and data collection process much easier. By working with a

coordinator from each district, all information could go through one contact and scheduling was

streamlined. The district coordinators have also been great representation for stakeholder groups

and data distribution. We also learned that given the amount of work that the coordinators put

into this project, it was an added incentive to offer them a stipend. Teachers who complete all

assessments for their classroom received a stipend of $100 and each district coordinator received

$250.

Other lessons that we learned in Year 1 were that teacher work in service days, although

preferred, were not always an option for the training date. When districts could not use a teacher

in-service day for the training, substitutes were brought in and other dates were selected. The

City of San Antonio and our local P16 Plus Council covered the costs of substitute teachers so it

would not be a burden on the district. We did find that the teachers who schedule time for

training and EDI completion all in the same day had high overall completion rates and teachers

felt that their time was valued. Finally, during our first year of implementation, we worked with

a local partner to develop a training video in case any teachers missed the scheduled training for

their district. The training video has served as a great alternative to a make-up in person training

and as a refresher to teachers who may have forgotten the steps to complete the assessment.

Another unanticipated outcome from this project has been the ability to connect teachers

and students to other resources. Numerous teachers have reached out to United Way for various

resources for their students and families. Although this was not anticipated, United Way has

become a resource for the teachers who may have not previously known about how to get

connected to services.

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Using the Data

The expected outcome of this project was to demonstrate the value of using population-

level school readiness data to engage communities and mobilize assets on behalf of young

children. In the long-term, the expected outcome is to establish a periodic school readiness

assessment, mapping and community engagement and improvement process that can be used in

all San Antonio school districts. United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County is currently

working with several early learning and early childhood strategy partners for the use of data and

further implementation of this project. United Way will continue to utilize its existing

relationships with Board members, Eastside Promise Neighborhood, and the City of San Antonio

to also market and advertise to neighborhood leaders, parents, and key partners in the

community.

Community members and partners have had access to the data through a variety of

mediums, including utilizing the CI-Now website and our website for this initiative:

www.kinderreadysa.org. Through the use of periodic data dashboards, maps and other products

will be offered during the regular learning board meetings, school board meetings, P16 Council

meetings, and through the Eastside Promise Neighborhood Advisory Council’s board and

community meetings. Additionally, some of the designated school districts have existing data

discussions, called data round tables, where families and school administrators discuss school

data and determine possible solutions or strategies to address any vulnerability.

There have been several ways that the EDI data has been integrated within existing

programs. The Department of Education has approved the Eastside Promise Neighborhood’s use

of the EDI data as a school readiness measurement. The EDI data collected last year, during the

first year of the Promise Neighborhood Implementation, will serve as a baseline for school

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readiness for the next four years of implementation. Additionally, for our annual Kids Day in the

Park, United Way added in the EDI domains as required components for booths. Kids Day in

the Park is an annual free event during Child Abuse Prevention Month that typically has about

8,000 attendees and over 80 non-profit and school district booth providers. This year, each booth

had to provide a children’s activity based on one of the 5 EDI domains. EDI data was shared

with the planning committee and community participants in increase awareness around early

childhood education and actions that can be taken to improve the results.

One of our current strategies is implementing Reach Out and Read clinics in a few of the

areas that collected EDI data. Then, we will overlay the EDI results with the locations of the

clinics around San Antonio to determine if the Reach Out and Read program is having a positive

impact on the children in the highly vulnerable areas. After we received our Year 2 data, we will

have the ability to implement more programming and specific tools to address the five domains

and areas of highest vulnerability since our assessment numbers will more than triple the

numbers collected in Year 1.

Financial and Practical Sustainability

United Way is a consistent source of match funding for initiatives for which we are the

applicant and for those in which we are a partner. Currently, United Way is a principal match

source for the Promise and Choice Neighborhoods Grants, dedicating over $1million in matching

funds. These resources are under the purview of our three Issue Councils. Our Board of

Directors has endorsed the provision of match dollars for key community initiatives that meet

unmet needs as a vital component of our annual fund distribution process. Further, each year we

elect to sustain multiple community endeavors that began as grant-funded programs. United

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Way’s stewardship and accountability processes help to ensure that valuable community

resources receive the funding necessary to launch and continue.

As this initiative grows and gains momentum, we want to have the capacity and funding

available to grow with it. United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the P16 Plus Council,

and the City of San Antonio are dedicated to this effort financially and programmatically, to

expand it to all 15 school districts. The United Way Children’s Issue Council has agreed to be

the financial sustainability for this project with other grants coming from the City and local non-

profit and corporate sponsors. In order to grow in a meaningful way, the stakeholder group will

take the 2013-2014 school year to deeply evaluate the data and determine which districts to

expand to next, as well as a timeline for expansion of all districts. Throughout the next year of

planning, United Way will also work to secure more funding sources for this initiative.

Planning to Action

We firmly understand that for programs to improve children’s school readiness we cannot

base the action only on EDI results, but also on data gathered from other sources, and in

collaboration with the many partners involved in children’s education in the targeted

neighborhoods and city-wide. Our current partnership with the early learning and early

childhood initiatives and strategies committed to using the EDI as a focal point to enhance the

efforts of leaders already actively involved with young children in our community. United Way

and our partners have started to layer the EDI data with other available information generated by

CI: NOW, SA2020, the P16 Plus Council, our Eastside Promise Neighborhood, and the Westside

Making Connections work, to develop a comprehensive plan for young children. The P16 Plus

Council, United Way Board, and Mayor’s SA2020 have provided ready access to key

community leaders and policymakers. Furthermore, we will engage with non-traditional early

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learning/childhood partners, such as business owners, other funders, and the faith community to

utilize the assessment at a community-wide level.

The Year 2 population level data will be helpful to move forward on early childhood

discussions. Through the Year 1 data, 3,500 assessments were completed in three school

districts, but for Year 2 at least 13,400 assessments (a 95% saturation rate) were completed in

four school districts. This added data will provide us with a larger scope of the city’s kinder

readiness levels and a comparison to how students are doing in different areas of San Antonio.

Once Year 2 data has been received, the stakeholder group will determine if committees should

be created for each developmental domain or if collectively, we want to tackle one at a time.

The data will help guide this decision. If there are any domains that show up as outliers for areas

of very high vulnerability compared to the others, then it will be addressed first by putting

programs and materials in place. On the other hand, if the domains are all fairly even on

vulnerability, then it will be more beneficial to have committees that will work on each domain

individually to determine which programs or materials would effectively help increase the levels

of readiness.

Evaluation of Impact

Texas’ demographics continue to be a reflection of what the country will look like within

the next few decades. In addition, Bexar County and San Antonio have been in the forefront of

moving from planning to action, to invest in early childhood education with initiatives such as

Pre-K 4 SA. Pre-K 4 SA was a vote that passed in 2012 to use $.08 sales tax toward pre-

kindergarten education for low income families who do not have access to subsidies and do not

qualify for Head Start. The Pre-K 4 SA data collected in the next few years will be a

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compliment to the EDI and help to determine where there are gaps in services and which needs

still should be addressed.

United Way and the stakeholder group will evaluate the impact of the EDI needs

assessment on improving school readiness by continuously collecting assessment data. Once full

saturation is reached and all 15 school districts are participating, the stakeholder group will

determine if data should be collected every year, every other year, or every third year based on

the frequency of changes in data from previous collections. Through working with CI:Now,

United Way we will look at changes in demographics and see the role that early childhood is

playing in the city as programs such as SA2020 and Pre-K 4 SA continue to grow. Additionally,

United Way’s Issue Councils focusing on children, education, families, parent engagement, and

financial stability will continue to evolve and measure the impact of programs and assessments

throughout San Antonio.

Continuous Measurement of Early Childhood Needs

Once we can achieve complete saturation and have all 15 districts participating in this

initiative, we will have a baseline measurement for early childhood. Unfortunately, we do not

currently have a single measure across all districts that show us kinder readiness. Instead, each

district has their own assessments and we are not able to compare them to one another, making it

difficult to determine effective strategies. This community wide measurement will provide a

much needed assessment tool for San Antonio and will help guide early childhood education

efforts.

United Way and the stakeholders will continue to stay engaged through meeting at least

quarterly with other early education providers, parents, corporations, and the City of San

Antonio. The early childhood network established has been strengthened through the EDI work

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and continues to grow and gain more participants. By keeping parents engaged, we hope to have

input on effective strategies that are useful for parents with young children and to strategize ways

to connect with parents to distribute data and materials.

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