Think Small

Early Childhood Quality: Increase and retain the number and percentage of licensed family and center-based child care providers participating in Parent Aware in the seven-county metro area. • Increase percent of programs that have earned a three or four star Parent Aware rating • Decrease the number of programs closing that have earned a three or four star Parent Aware rating • Decrease the number of programs hesitant to participating in Parent Aware Early Childhood Access: Fully optimize all financial assistance funds Think Small administers. • Controlling/managing/reallocating administrative costs in order to optimize available funding for children and families • Educating eligible families on the most efficient use of funding supports to cover the costs of high-quality early care and education • Identify other pots of money to braid with early learning scholarship funds Parent Engagement: Parents and caregivers of children under five and expecting parents are supporting and preparing their children for kindergarten. • Think Small will advance and develop innovative ideas that allow us to educate, engage and empower parents and caregivers so they have the information and resources they need to prepare their children for kindergarten • Think Small will commit to fostering meaningful engagement with parents and caregivers by applying a ‘parent engagement’ lens to our work throughout the agency Policy: Create and change legislation to support increases in access to quality early learning opportunities that meet the needs of families and increase the number of high-quality slots. • Fully fund early learning scholarships • Increase Parent Aware participation • Ensure CCAP funding meets all CDBG re-authorization requirements and is tied to quality • Ensure families have robust high-quality early care and education options, including LFCC and CCC, that meet their needs • Every child receives a school readiness assessment during transition to kindergarten • Provide strategic leadership in early childhood efforts as applicable • Engage Think Small staff in policy strategy plan

We are skilled at meeting the early learning workforce where they are and supporting them in building their quality to support school readiness of the children they serve. We serve the entire state of Minnesota as experts and leaders in early learning. We are managed by a board of directors who are knowledgeable community leaders with a wide range of backgrounds from corporate business, non-profit management, academia and policy. Think Small has has almost a 100 outstanding employees, 86 full-time and 11 part-time who speak English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Oromo, Amharic, and Karen. Finally, Think Small is supported by three cultural Advisory Committees (Somali, Southeast Asian and Spanish) with 30 members to help guide our work. Think Small provides a wide range of programs and activities based on research and best practice from the early childhood field. Our direct services are focused on families and providers in Minnesota, and Redleaf Press publications serve customers around the globe.

Early Childhood Quality How Much: • Increase the percent of programs who have earned a three or four star Parent Aware rating from 15% (July 2018) to 20% (Jan 2020) • Monitor and analyze Parent Aware star rating reports every 6 months How Well: • Effectively analyze data to reduce number of child care providers leaving Parent Aware and/or closing • Effectively analyze data to increase number of child care providers participating in Parent Aware Difference Made: • More child care providers will earn a three or four star Parent Aware rating resulting in more opportunities for young children to receive the skills and knowledge to be ready for school and life Early Childhood Access How Much: • Think Small will ensure 97% of state early learning scholarship – Pathway 1 (PW1) dollars are spent each biennium in Hennepin and Ramsey counties • Monitor and analyze Parent Aware star rating reports every 6 months How Well: • 90% of children newly-awarded an early learning scholarship (PW1) in Hennepin and Ramsey counties will enroll in a program • Children newly awarded an early learning scholarship (PW1) who chose a program will enroll within 25 days of award date Difference Made: • An increased number and percent of income eligible children (185% of poverty or below) in seven-county metro area will enter kindergarten with at least one year of high-quality early care and education programming Parent Engagement How Much: • Think Small will make 200,000 parent engagement connections • Monitor and analyze Parent Aware star rating reports every 6 months How Well: • High Touch: Direct connection with parents/caregivers with impact/results seen | Goal: 15,000 ‘High-Touch’ connections (includes texting enrollments) • Medium Touch: Targeted connection with parents/caregivers made, although unclear if information/resources provided are used | Goal: 25,000 ‘Medium-Touch’ connections (parent outreach events) • Low Touch: Indirect connection to parents/caregivers to reach out and inform | Goal: 160,000* ‘Low-Touch’ connections (social media) Difference Made: • Parents and caregivers have the information and resources to prepare their children for kindergarten Policy How Much: • Increase the amount of money available statewide for early learning scholarships by $75M • Increase the percentage of Parent Aware participating programs in the seven-county metro area from 25% (July 2018) to 30% (Jan 2020) • Increase the percentage of children receiving a school readiness assessment during their transition to kindergarten from 10% to 20% How Well: • Efficient utilizing all of the state early learning scholarship dollars allocated by the legislature • More effective transitions for programs moving from one star to four stars Difference Made: • An increase in the number and percentage of children will have access to and attend high-quality early care and education prior to entering kindergarten

If children have access to high-quality child care with sufficient dosage they will be ready for kindergarten. We stand on the result of being ready for kindergarten. Think Small’s contribution is to ensure high-quality early care and education is available and accessible. Think Small’s mission is to advance quality care and education of children in their crucial early years. This mission statement describes our purpose and answers the fundamental question “Why does Think Small exist?” To achieve this mission, Think Small must embrace a continuous improvement process in which we seek to answer the question: “How do we advance quality care and education of children in their crucial early years?” Accumulating evidence shows that access to quality early childhood experiences will result in positive outcomes for young children, both in regards to kindergarten readiness and lifelong success. There is a robust set of research findings, both locally and nationally, supporting this conclusion. Minnesota currently utilizes Parent Aware, the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), to measure quality early childhood experiences. As a QRIS, Parent Aware is unique in that it is developed and implemented through the lens of kindergarten readiness. In order for us to make progress on our population level result, we are aware that we must address issues of racism and equity to eliminate barriers to opportunities and achievement for our youngest learners. This includes the use of dis-aggregated data, whenever possible, to track our progress in closing the opportunity gaps that are persistent in Minnesota.