Executive Summary

Background

Camp Fire First Texas has been committed to serving young children, their families, and the North Texas Community for over 100 years. Two prominent avenues for strengthening early childhood services and supports that Camp Fire First Texas has pioneered are the Camp Fire School Readiness Program (CFSRP) and Camp Fire Early Education Apprenticeship Program (EEAP). Through these initiatives, children and educators access highquality programming and support. CFSRP aims to strengthen child school readiness (i.e., literacy, developmental, and social-emotional growth) through educator professional development and individualized mentoring. EEAP provides a career and educational pathway for early childhood educators by offering financial incentives, professional development, individualized incentives, and connection to higher educational institutions.

Report Structure

This report includes evaluation of both CFSRP and EEAP. Each program is treated separately, allowing readers to examine the results of each program separately, or to consider their results jointly. Evaluation of each program addresses specific questions for the 2021–2022 school year:

School Readiness Program

To what extent did the CFSRP…

1. Implement professional development, stipend allocation, and mentorship activities as intended?

2. Improve the percentage of children demonstrating ageappropriate developmental, early literacy, and social-emotional skills during the 2021-2022 program year?

3. Impact children’s growth in developmental, early literacy, and social-emotional skills during the 2021-2022 program year?

4. Enhance the quality of teaching, classroom management, and centers’ family engagement practices during the 2021-2022 program year?

5. Impact CFSRP children’s school readiness and academic success as they enter prekindergarten and kindergarten and progress to the third grade?

Early Education Apprenticeship Program

1. What differences in participant retention and success are evident?

2. How did EEAP components collectively support educators’ knowledge and skills?

3. To what extent are EEAP participants attaining (and maintaining) portable child care credentials and wage increases?