Early Childhood Case Study: Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development

Greater Owensboro has a longstanding tradition of community collaboration aimed at addressing challenges and enhancing residents’ quality of life. A coalition of committed citizens formed the Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development (GOPED) to focus on the vital role of early childhood education (ECE) in creating opportunities and benefits for all. GOPED’s mission is to increase access to high-quality early care and education, laying a strong foundation for children’s academic and life success.

In 2021, GOPED identified significant gaps in kindergarten readiness and third-grade reading proficiency among children in Greater Owensboro. Approximately 49% of students entered kindergarten unprepared, with even higher rates among economically disadvantaged students (59%), students with disabilities (76%), and English learners (75%). Furthermore, 46.9% of students did not reach reading proficiency by the end of third grade, with similar disparities among disadvantaged groups. Only 20% of children under five had access to ECE services, highlighting a critical need for more resources and support.

The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence received a multi-year grant from the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro (PLFO) to fund high-level early childhood policy and practice work through 2025. PLFO’s investment provided resources for the creation of a five-year strategic plan aimed at developing a high-quality early childhood ecosystem in Greater Owensboro capable of providing all children the opportunity to thrive in school and life. This strategic plan, outlined in the January 2022 executive summary report titled “Igniting Owensboro’s Can-Do Spirit: An Action Plan for Community-Driven Early Childhood Education,” aims to bolster kindergarten readiness for children aged 0-5 and improve reading and math proficiency for children aged 5-8.

GOPED has been implementing six key recommendations from the executive summary:

1. Launch a public advocacy campaign for quality Early Childhood Education.

2. Implement talent development strategies for the Early Childhood Education workforce.

3. Establish employee-based childcare partnerships.

4. Expand access to childcare subsidies and public preschool.

5. Enhance childcare center quality and clear waiting lists.

6. Utilize data to monitor educational outcomes.

Working groups composed of community stakeholders formed with the technical assistance of the Prichard Committee have identified specific goals, strategies, and deliverables, laying the foundation for transformative change. In July 2023, GOPED established leading and lagging indicators to comprehensively monitor progress towards the recommendations, providing a holistic framework for evaluation. In October 2023, PLFO provided an update on GOPED’s progress, highlighting milestones like the successful implementation of the Ready4K program and the initiation of a branding campaign for early childhood education.

Despite these achievements, challenges such as workforce recruitment, barriers to access, and issues with quality persist. High-quality early childhood education is essential for closing achievement gaps and ensuring long-term academic success. Children who participate in early learning programs are better prepared for kindergarten and more likely to achieve proficiency in reading and math by third grade, which significantly reduces the likelihood of high school dropout. Access to ECE also supports the current workforce by enabling parents to work, thus contributing to the local economy.

In response, GOPED outlined three key areas of focus for 2024: Public Advocacy, Access, and Quality. Action plans have been formulated to advance initiatives such as the Ready4K program, employee-based childcare partnerships, and workforce development strategies. Moreover, GOPED has underscored the importance of data-driven decision-making, with plans to develop a comprehensive Data Dashboard to monitor progress and inform strategic interventions.

Advocacy efforts include a public campaign to raise awareness about the importance of high-quality ECE and tracking data to ensure continuous improvement. To increase access, GOPED aims to expand child care partnerships, increase enrollment in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), and raise eligibility thresholds. Improving quality involves developing and retaining ECE talent and enhancing child care center quality ratings.

Collaboration with stakeholders, including the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro, the Prichard Committee, and various community organizations, educational institutions, and local government representatives, remains integral to GOPED’s success in establishing a thriving early childhood ecosystem that nurtures every child’s potential.

Overview

Greater Owensboro has a strong heritage of joining together to solve challenges and build better lives for its citizens. It is a community rich in opportunity and poised for growth in the years and decades ahead because of its can-do spirit. In its quest to make Greater Owensboro the best place to learn, live, work, and play, a coalition of committed citizens took to heart what the research says – the path to opportunity and benefits for all begins with the start that Owensboro provides to its youngest children.  The Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development (GOPED) examined its current reality and forged a vision and a roadmap to increase access to high quality early care and education and to lay a strong foundation for its children to thrive in school on a path to a larger life.

The Problem or Challenge

‍
When the GOPED coalition met to examine the data in the early care and education ecosystem in 2021, they found the following:

1. There were significant gaps in kindergarten-readiness for children throughout Greater Owensboro.  
   • On average, approximately 49% of Greater Owensboro students arrived at kindergarten unpreparedⁱ.
   • On average, approximately 59% of economically disadvantaged students, 76% of students with disabilities, and 75% of English learning students arrived at kindergarten unprepared in Greater Owensboro.  

2. Greater Owensboro students who scored below the kindergarten readiness level had a strong likelihood of failing to reach proficiency on the 3rd grade reading test.
   • On average, 46.9% of Greater Owensboro students failed to reach reading proficiency by the close of 3rd grade as reported by 2018-2019 K-PREP scores.  
   • On average, approximately 55% of economically disadvantaged students, 69% of students with disabilities, and 63.5% of English learning students failed to reach reading proficiency by the close of 3rd grade in Greater Owensboro.  
   • Students who did not score Ready on the kindergarten readiness screener had a weaker likelihood of scoring proficient or distinguished on the 3rd grade reading test.

3. Only about 20% of Greater Owensboro children under age 5 had access to ECE services.
   • There were about 6,773 children under 5 in Greater Owensboro.  
   • Across Greater Owensboro:  
     1. 267 children received care in self-contained Head Start or Early Head Start programs.  
     2. 383 children were served through Head Start and public preschool or in full day, five-day-a-week blended programs.
     3. 700 children were served in a half-day, four-days-per–week public preschool program.  
     4. Of 6,773 children in Greater Owensboro, only 1,350 are enrolled in the above ECE services.
     5. In 2021, there were 39 licensed child care centers that served children under the age of 5, as well as one certified family child care home in Greater Owensboro, collectively licensed for no more than 3,787 child care seats.  Actual enrollment was likely below this number.
     6. In 2021, 613 Greater Owensboro children received support through the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in 2021, representing only 18% of the 3,434 children under 6 living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level.
   • Although Daviess County is not technically a child care desert, certain areas in the northwest part of the county are likely child care deserts.
   • On average, Daviess County families’ annual early care and education costs were about $7,800 for infants, $6,670 for toddlers, and $7,280 for preschoolers.
   • In Kentucky, the lack of high quality and affordable early childhood education for working families accounts for $573 million in lost earnings, business productivity, and tax revenue.  

4. High-quality early care and education services were not universally available in Greater Owensboro.
   • Daviess County had 8 child care providers (including Early Head Start and Head Start) rated at four or five stars on Kentucky All STARS, the state’s quality rating improvement system.
   • Fourteen public preschool programs (half-day four days a week) were rated at 5 stars.

5. A lack of ECE workforce and inadequate ECE workforce pay contributed to gaps in access to quality ECE services.
   • An estimated 650 individuals with at least a high school diploma were employed as child care workers in Owensboro and earned a mean hourly wage of $10.21.
   • Head Start and Early Head Start required all teachers to have bachelor’s degrees and all assistants to work towards a Child Development Associate.
   • Public preschool teachers were required to have a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE) in order to serve children with comprehensive and special educational needs, and they earned the same salaries and benefits as other public school teachers in Owensboro.

The Solution

• Access to early childhood education is critical to the success of Greater Owensboro. Exposure to high quality early childhood education has shown to close gaps in achievement for all children throughout their educational and life experiences. Children who participate in early learning arrive at kindergarten prepared, ultimately increasing their likelihood of securing proficiency in reading and math by the close of the third grade. Such gains in early learning mean that these same children are 40% less likely to drop out of high schoolⁱⁱ.
• Providing early childhood education access builds the future workforce of the community, while supporting Greater Owensboro’s current workforce. The lack of available early childhood education has substantial annual costs in lost earnings, business productivity, and tax revenueⁱⁱⁱ.
• Investments in high-quality early childhood education result in higher rates of educational attainment, a reduction in health costs, a reduction in the incidence of crime, less demand for social welfare services, and a more competitive local economy for Greater Owensboro^iv.

Key Components

The GOPED coalition originally proposed a six-point plan, which was more recently organized into three major buckets of work to address the challenges to equitable access to high-quality ECE services in Owensboro:

Advocacy

• Public advocacy campaign for community-wide education and support for high quality ECE
• Track data on continuous improvement of ECE outcomes

Access

• Employee-based child care partnerships
• Increase enrollment in CCAP and increase threshold for CCAP and preschool eligibility

Quality

• ECE talent development and retention strategies
• Improve child care center quality ratings to 3 stars or higher

Key Stakeholders

For nearly two decades, the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro (PLFO) has supported broad and meaningful citizen participation in community decisions and public policy and supporting the efforts of citizens who want to make a difference, especially in early childhood education. As the key stakeholder, the PLFO, in partnership with the Prichard Committee, established the Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development in 2020 and continues to shepherd the work of the coalition to improve early learning outcomes in Owensboro.

The following community stakeholders were represented in the original GOPED coalition or have joined since and remain engaged to this day:

• Audubon Area Community Services (Head Start grantee)  
• BLDG  
• Brescia University  
• Building Stronger Families  
• CASA Ohio Valley
• Catholic Charities of Owensboro
• The Center of Owensboro-Daviess County, Inc  
• Daviess County Schools
• EM Ford
• Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce  
• Green River Area Community Foundation
• Green River Area Development District
• Green River District Health Department  
• Hager Educational Foundation
• HL Neblett Community Center
• Kentucky House of Representatives District 7 and 13
• Kentucky Wesleyan College
• Ohio Valley United Way  
• Owensboro Community and Technical College
• Owensboro Family YMCA
• Owensboro Health
• Owensboro Parks and Recreation
• Owensboro Public Schools
• The Prichard Committee  
• Public Life Foundation of Owensboro
• Settle United Methodist Church
• Western Kentucky University

Factors Driving Success

The progress yielded by the GOPED work over the first half of the project’s life have been buoyed by many positive factors:

• Shared Goals and Values. The GOPED coalition invested in intentional time and effort on shared knowledge-building among key stakeholders through an analysis of the current early childhood landscape in Owensboro.  This collective understanding laid the foundation for determining shared goals and values for Owensboro’s children, families and economic prosperity. ‍
• Data-Driven Decision Making and Accountability. Community conversations were held to collectively examine the data and what research says about the impact that access to high-quality early care and education can have on current and future generations of Owensboro residents.  Leading indicators to turn the curve on kindergarten readiness were identified. ‍
• Strong Leadership. Every effective coalition of stakeholders depends upon ongoing stewardship.  For GOPED, multiple key leaders invested time in collaboration to ensure continued momentum for the work. ‍
• Strategic Partnerships. Existing relationships among individuals and key organizations have been leveraged to form strategic partnerships focused on GOPED’s goals.  For each of the six, and later three, workgroups, key players with existing knowledge and resource assets were identified and invited to participate.   ‍
• Asset Mobilization. More than just financial resources, relationships, manpower, expertise and experiences were capitalized upon to arrive at strategies for collective impact. ‍
• Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Representation of early care and education providers, business and industry, public service agencies, and the school systems was intentionally sought after to ensure the perspectives and needs of diverse constituents were centered in the work. ‍
• Community Engagement and Empowerment. One of the first strategies actionized by the coalition is Ready4K, a public advocacy campaign designed to bring community-wide awareness of the importance of early childhood education, and to help equip parents with the knowledge and skills to support early development.

Contextual Challenges

The challenges to implementation of GOPED’s action plan mirror those of other communities that are likewise attempting to improve early education outcomes, because many of these factors speak to systemic and cultural issues that emanate and are dependent upon the larger national and state early care and education contexts.

• Policy and Funding Barriers. While state investment in early care and education (ECE) saw a significant boost in the recent 2024 legislative session, the level of funding is not adequate to meet the need for universal access to high quality ECE across the state, including all eligible children and families in Owensboro.   ‍
• Fragmented Systems. The ECE ecosystem is made up of disparate components under the authority of different agencies, unlike the K-12 education system. Communication and coordination amongst the various stakeholders take intentional, concerted and sustained efforts for those like GOPED that desire to turn the curve for ECE outcomes in Owensboro. ‍
• Limited Coordination and Collaboration. For collective impact to be realized, collaborative relationships must be forged between key stakeholders. While GOPED has made great headway in this endeavor, it continues to encounter more opportunities for systematic collaboration as it deepens its work in the ECE space in Owensboro.  For example, connecting EC career pathway programs in the public high schools to potential placement opportunities in the ECE field may benefit from continued cultivation of additional partnerships in the community.  ‍
• Workforce challenges. One of the most significant challenges in Owensboro’s ECE landscape, as it is in most jurisdictions, is the shortage of ECE professionals and providers due to meager pay and competition with other jobs and industries. GOPED seeks to implement strategies to make the profession more attractive to young people, and to make visible to prospective and current ECE workers are more robust pipeline and pathway for advancement within the field. ‍
• Equity and Access Issues. The cost of child care is approximate to that of a college education, which makes quality care unaffordable for many Owensboro families without state subsidies.  Owensboro has also seen an influx of immigrant populations in recent years, and first-language communication with families, as well as access to child care and other services for families with young children, is of concern to GOPED.   ‍
• Lack of systematic information dissemination. Dissemination of information that impacts access to quality ECE services has been fragmented at the local level. For example, local employers and businesses know little about state programs such as the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership, and prospective ECE professionals and providers do not know much about the state’s early childhood scholarships and apprenticeship programs.  GOPED is working to create structures to improve communication flow among relevant partners and sectors of the community.

Timeline  

2016: PLFO commits $4 million to improve access to educational resources for children

January 2021: PLFO awards $500,000 multi-year grant to the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. The grant funds high-level early childhood policy and practice work throughout the coming years.

April 2021: As a result of PLFO grant, Prichard Committee’s first Director of Early Childhood Education & Practice is hired

May 2021: Prichard Committee begins initial work on the Owensboro ECE project, meeting with representatives from PLFO and community members in Owensboro

August 2021: PLFO & Prichard host event to present “Building a Template for Early Childhood Success in Daviess County, Kentucky,” a landscape analysis of Owensboro’s existing early childhood ecosystem.  

August 2021-January 2022: In response to this data, The Public Life Foundation of Owensboro asked a broad array of local stakeholders to join the Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development, which over an eight-month period:

• Partnership meets seven times for in-depth discussion and review of early childhood education (ECE) research;

• Examined Greater Owensboro’s ECE landscape and access to ECE programs for children from birth to age;

• Considered opportunities, challenges, and costs to re-imagine the early childhood ecosystem of Greater Owensboro;

• Discussed lessons learned from other communities with innovative ECE models; and

• Developed recommendations to significantly expand access to ECE programs over the next 5 years, creating a pathway forward for all Greater Owensboro children to have the opportunity for quality early learning to thrive in school and life.

January 2022: PLFO and Prichard release “Igniting Owensboro’s Can-Do Spirit: An Action Plan for Community-Driven Early Childhood Education,” announcing the Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development.

January 2022—Present:

• Greater Owensboro Partnership for Early Development meets 14 times;

• Working Groups for the six areas of strategic focus formed, and meet 22 times;

• Launch of 40 Days to Kindergarten Campaign in July 2022;

• Launch of Ready4K family engagement program in April 2023;

• Checkmarks Public Advocacy Campaign developed in early 2024, with launch planned for early summer 2024;

• February 2024: GOPED identifies Advocacy (Checkmarks), Quality, and Access as near-term strategic priorities.

Results

Coalition

• Number of community partners engaged with GOPED  – 40
• Number of community sectors engaged with GOPED – 16
  • Primary/Secondary Education (Owensboro Public Schools, Daviess County Public Schools
  • Higher Education (WKU, OCTC, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Brescia University)
  • Public Preschool (Hager Preschool, Head Start, DCPS Preschool)
  • Private Child Care Providers (YMCA, Settle Preschool)
  • Business Owners  
  • Business Advocacy (Chamber)
  • Child Care Advocates (Child Care Aware)
  • Social Services (Audubon, The Center, HANDS, )
  • Nonprofit (Neblett Center, YMCA, Building Stronger Families, Greater Owensboro Leadership Institute)
  • Philanthropy (Hager Foundation, PLFO, Green River Area Foundation)
  • State Government (Suzanne Miles, DJ Johnson)
  • County Government (Judge/Executive Castlen, Commissioner Chris Castlen)
  • City Government (Mayor Watson, City Manager Nate Pagan)
  • Faith Community (Catholic Charities)
  • United Way of Ohio Valley
  • Healthcare (Owensboro Health, Green River District Health Department)
• Number of coalition meetings – 14
• Number of workgroup meetings – 22
• Number of projects launched –3
• OK Go 40 Days to Kindergarten Campaign
• Ready4K
• Checkmarks

Advocacy

• Media engagements:  GOPED featured in two nationally screened films with the Alliance for Early Success and New America’s Better Life Lab
• 40 Days to Kindergarten Campaign: 500 families engaged digitally with daily activities and weekly on-site community partner events prior to the beginning of kindergarten
• Ready4K: One of the first key strategies to be implemented is launching the Ready4K text messaging application to provide families in Greater Owensboro with information about the importance of supporting their children’s early development, and specific tools and strategies to do so.
  • Goal: 500 families enrolled
  • Ready4K Enrollment: 1,316 enrolled, 123,287 messages, 2,065 custom messages
  • Ready4K Surveys:
    • Have Parent Powered texts helped children learn and grown?  
      93% of respondents said Yes
    • Do parents find Parent Powered texts helpful?  
      97% of respondents said yes
    • How often do families use Parent Powered strategies and activities?  
      89% said at least once per week
• Checkmarks: GOPED and PLFO contracted with BLDG, a marketing firm credited with the Read Ready Covington campaign.  With input from key stakeholders, Checkmarks was developed and is expected to be launched by June 2024.  Checkmarks will provide information and visibility for ECE issues within the Greater Owensboro community on the importance of ECE and hopes to engage families and the larger community in standards-based strategies for promoting healthy child development and early education.

Access

• A key strategy to increase access is to support efforts to increase enrollment in ECE services through CCAP, state preschool and Head Start participation.  GOPED is planning for implementation of an ongoing coordinated enrollment system that will reach families in different communities to provide information and technical assistance for online enrollment in ECE programs and other initiatives that support health, nutrition and other social services for young children and their families.
• The YMCA is exploring opportunities and partnerships to expand ECE seats which will increase access to high-quality ECE services in Greater Owensboro.
• Another strategy to promote increased availability of child care seats in the community is strengthening the ECE workforce to recruit, support and retain ECE professionals and ensure they are equipped to address the developmental and readiness needs of young children.  GOPED is working on a partnership to connect key stakeholders to develop a local pipeline for high school students and other non-traditional candidates to careers in ECE.  

Quality

• GOPED’s developing partnership with the YMCA to develop a professional development hub for ECE providers and professionals and will also leverage existing state resources and technical support to implement a registered apprenticeship program, promote EC apprenticeships and scholarships, and build capacity to improve EC provider quality across Greater Owensboro.

Values

Equity

• Access to high quality ECE services is a gateway to kindergarten readiness, which leads to a greater likelihood of school success.  GOPED is seeking to address a lack of available and affordable early care and education seats for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in Greater Owensboro.  Developing the workforce pipeline, promoting family-friendly child care benefits and policies, supporting expansion or creation of seats, and increasing take up of the CCAP program in the community will improve access and affordability especially for Greater Owensboro families who need it the most.
• For ECE services to yield the long-term benefits to life outcomes such as physical health, social well-being and economic mobility, these services must be of high quality and sustained throughout the early years of life.  GOPED seeks to increase the overall quality of ECE services by supporting high quality professional growth, injecting momentum into ECE pipeline development and promoting EC apprenticeships.  

Engagement

• One of the greatest accomplishments of GOPED is to harness the assets of the Greater Owensboro community, capitalize on its independent spirit, and create sustained synergy around the need for locally-driven solutions to the ECE challenges.
• Six workgroups worked diligently for two years to draft actions to address each of the six recommendation areas.
• The PLFO continues to convene key stakeholders as appropriate to amplify progress and garner support for next steps.
• Key partners have been involved in the conceptualization and development of the Checkmarks public advocacy campaign.  The city’s public entities like the Owensboro Parks and Recreation Department and the Daviess County Public Library, as well as private entities like the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital and the Chamber of Commerce, have been engaged in planning for implementation and have been very supportive.

Innovation

• A hallmark of the solution-making process has been an openness and a desire of the PLFO to support innovation and new ideas.  
• The Checkmarks program can transform the process of socializing the importance of ECE in Owensboro through tangible experiences and greater visibility within the community.
• One of the avenues being explored to engage the business community in exploring family-friendly workplace strategies is through collaboration with key role groups within the business and industry sector.
• The Owensboro Family YMCA, a 4-star rated care provider, is taking a leadership role in becoming a professional development hub for ECE professionals and is exploring with state agencies a partnership to promote EC apprenticeships by becoming a registered EC apprenticeship program and partnering with Owensboro high schools to promote the EC career pathway.
• The Center of Owensboro, a respected non-profit service agency in Owensboro, is exploring an innovative partnership to bring coordinated enrollment services to all Owensboro communities for CCAP and other family programs and services.

Excellence

• GOPED and the PLFO have exercised due diligence in ensuring that proposals brought forth by partners are driven by standards for high quality implementation.
• Proposals to provide professional development to improve the quality of ECE services include opportunities to see high-quality EC professionals in action, and to provide high-quality job-embedded coaching and technical assistance for educators and directors of EC programs.
• The development of the Checkmarks program was accomplished in phases with feedback from stakeholders along the way, and with refinements made to ensure