P&P December 2015

ALEXANDRIA continued from page 23

Chart 1: ECEW Strategic Framework

„ „ Equitable: Every child and family deserves high-quality services that eliminate disparities in life opportu- nities and allow all of Alexandria’s children to succeed today and tomorrow. The work of the ECEW is guided by a set of principles that underpins the way we work together collectively: „ „ Children and families are at the heart of everything we do „ „ This is a community-wide effort „ „ Everyone values and respects the other’s contributions „ „ Commitment to results is crucial Strategic Framework Achieving the ambitious mission of the ECEWwill require active coor- dination among the many parts of Alexandria’s early care and educa- tion system, and more specifically, investing in targeted projects that col- lectively enable the system to better serve our children and families. Projects will be organized according to the elements in the framework shown to the right. While the elements all have a specific purpose and scope, they also complement and build on the other’s work (see Chart 1). Measuring Our Progress There are three main types of outcomes that the ECEWwill track in order to measure progress and impact. One of the key ingredients will be working together differently, with better coordination among all actors across Alexandria’s ECE system. This will help to foster a better early care and education system for families, providers, and the community. These foundational steps will lead to the ultimate outcomes the ECEW seeks: better outcomes for children in Alexandria across several dimensions of well-being (health, academic, and socio-emotional). The visual in Chart 2 highlights some of the main outcomes that the ECEW will use to measure progress against over time in each of these three areas. The ECEW is also in process of finalizing a detailed learning and

Chart 2: ECEW Main Outcomes

The Alexandria Early Care and Education Work Group (ECEW) is a cross-sector group of stakeholders from the public and private sectors in Alexandria, Virginia. Reference Notes 1. See http://www.fsg.org/approach-areas/ collective-impact 2. See http://www.ltgov.virginia.gov/ini_ childhoodsuccess.htm

evaluation plan that will ensure effec- tive processes and procedures are in place to measure progress on an ongoing basis. The benefits of this collective impact approach will be demonstrated in the long-term and real gains have already been felt through increased collaboration, communica- tion, and commitment to reaching our goal: Every child in Alexandria has a strong start in life and in school.

Image courtesy of Alexandria Early Care and Education Work Group

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