2023 Progress Report: South Carolina's Birth through Five Plan

David Morley, Chair

Governor’s Designee

Shelley Canright, PhD

Vice Chair

Early Childhood Educator

Representative Terry Alexander

SC House of Representatives

Representative

Shannon Erickson

SC House of Representatives

Senator Greg Hembree

SC Senate

Senator Gerald Malloy

SC Senate

Mary Lynne Diggs

SC Head Start Collaboration Office, Director

Matthew Ferguson

SC Department of Education, Deputy Superintendent

Member Agencies

Constance Holloway

SC Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Interim Director

Robert Kerr

SC Department of Health and Human Services, Director

Michael Leach

SC Department of Social Services, Director

Edward Simmer, MD

SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, Director

Sue Williams

Children’s Trust of SC, Chief Executive Officer

Jacque Curtin Business Community

John Hayes, MEd

Early Childhood Educator

Timothy Holt Business Community

Jesica Mackey

Parent of a Young Child

Janie Neeley

Parent of a Young Child

Alexia Newman

Medical / Child Care Development Provider

Roger Pryor Jr.

Child Care Provider

Amy Williams, DNP

Medical Provider

Wes Wooten

Child Care Provider

Georgia Mjartan

Executive Director

Introduction

In February 2022, the South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) released For Our Future: South Carolina’s Birth through Five Plan. This strategic plan serves as a roadmap for optimizing the state’s early childhood system and working towards a shared vision of success for every child. The plan represents the collaboration of numerous state agencies, input from dozens of leaders, and the voices of thousands of parents and caregivers.

As we mark the first year of the plan’s implementation, the ECAC is pleased to offer a report on our progress and outlook. This yearly progress report is a crucial part of our dedication to maintaining focus on the needs of young children and their families. Additionally, it offers us an opportunity to improve and update the plan, ensuring that it remains an adaptable and evolving tool that accurately reflects the current strengths and needs of our state.

This report is structured into three main sections. The first section highlights key findings from an assessment of early childhood needs in South Carolina, focusing on early childhood programs and services. In the second section, we celebrate recent successes for young children, families, and the early childhood system as a whole. Finally, the third section outlines the priorities and shared accountability of the ECAC for the upcoming year. Through this report, we reaffirm our commitment to enhancing the lives of South Carolina’s youngest citizens and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Needs Assessment

The Early Childhood Advisory Council recognizes the importance of continuous feedback from families and providers of early childhood programs and services. With funding from the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5), the Research, Evaluation, and Measurement Center (REM Center) at the University of South Carolina’s College of Education conducted a series of needs assessments from 2020 through 2023 to gather insights from families, early childhood educators, and other stakeholders. These assessments are a crucial part of the plan’s iterative nature, which requires continual improvement based on community feedback.

To understand the needs of young children and their families, the REM Center conducted an online survey with a total of 2,727 parents and caregivers from all 46 counties in South Carolina. The findings provide insights into the most pressing needs of families across areas of health and wellbeing, family support and community, and early learning and development. Large percentages of survey participants expressed a need for “some” or “a lot” of help in:

75% Knowing what to do for my child to be ready for kindergarten

73% Finding community programs or services that support early learning

73% Finding resources or materials to help my child learn at home

71% Paying for high quality early care and education programs

For the full report and all needs assessment results: earlychildhoodsc.org

Key Accomplishments

Over the past year, South Carolina has seen a number of successes in improving outcomes for young children and their families. Each state agency and public entity represented in the Early Childhood Advisory Council, as well as its Interagency Collaboration Committee, has taken action to advance the goals outlined in South Carolina’s Birth through Five Plan. The following is a list of noteworthy achievements that have had a statewide impact, affected a significant percentage of the population, and improved accessibility or effectiveness of services for parents. While not exhaustive, this list highlights important accomplishments achieved in the last 12-15 months.

Improved Health Care Access for Children

• Extended Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days to 12 months postpartum. This change, which is projected to affect up to 5,000 families each year, ensures access to necessary health monitoring, care coordination, and treatment for new mothers, and supports the healthiest possible start for infants.

• Increased referrals to BabyNet, South Carolina’s interagency early intervention system for infants and toddlers under three years of age with developmental delays or conditions associated with developmental delays. There was a 23% increase in referrals to the BabyNet program from FY 2020 to FY 2021, and a projected 15% increase from FY 2021 to FY 2022. At this pace, the BabyNet program is on track to receive over 21,000 referrals this year. Generally, 45-48% of referred children are eligible for BabyNet services.

Increased Access to Early Care and Education

• Expanded state-funded, full-day four-year-old kindergarten through the Child Early Reading and Development Education Program (CERDEP). Now, all eligible children across the state may participate, regardless of where they reside.

• Launched First Steps 4K+ to automatically qualify siblings of First Steps 4K students for child care scholarships through the Department of Social Services.

• Increased child care scholarship eligibility to families earning up to 300% of poverty.

• Increased payments to child care providers to reduce the difference between market and subsidy rates.

Streamlined Services for Parents and Families

• Launched First Five SC, including information about more than 60 early childhood programs and an interactive form that checks a child’s eligibility for 44 of these programs. In its first year, First Five SC attracted over 100,000 unique visitors. Of those who completed the eligibility screener, 78% qualified for at least one program available in their community.

Priorities for the Year Ahead

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2023, the Early Childhood Advisory Council has identified a set of priorities that will substantially impact the lives of young children and their families. These priorities are both ambitious and essential, requiring the active participation and collaboration of the ECAC and its partners to be fully implemented. By improving and enhancing the infrastructure of the early childhood system, these priorities have the potential to create lasting and positive change for South Carolina’s children.

Increase participation in publicly funded preschool programs.

According to the Education Oversight Committee (EOC), over 50% of four-year-olds living in poverty did not receive services from state-funded, full-day 4K or Head Start during the 2021-22 school year, and this trend is expected to continue in the current year. This underscores the gap that persists between eligibility and enrollment in high-quality early education programs statewide and presents an opportunity to increase school readiness for children living in poverty.

Increase availability of quality child care, particularly in high need areas. A range of initiatives are underway to create opportunities for families to find the early care and education their children need. These projects include addressing workforce shortages through substitute teacher pools and bolstering capacity by offering grants to new and existing providers.

3

Recruit and retain early education professionals. The provision of quality child care depends on the availability of skilled teachers and related professionals. Recruitment and retention efforts will include bonuses, scholarships, credentialing opportunities, and other compensation incentives. To facilitate access to higher education, efforts will be undertaken to expand and update articulation agreements between higher education institutions. Early educators will also be supported in their work through training, coaching, and consultation.

Provide families with the ability to apply for publicly funded programs at times and in ways that meet their needs.

Streamlining processes for eligibility determination and enrollment of children and families into services helps families navigate mixed-delivery systems. A key initiative in this area is the development of a new application portal on first5sc.org, which allows families to apply at once for programs across multiple agencies, state and local entities, as well as funding sources.

Integrated early childhood program data helps stakeholders make informed decisions and target resources to meet the needs of South Carolina’s youngest children and their families. Data sharing initiatives will make aggregate-level data publicly available, while maintaining privacy and security of individual-level data.

Collect, integrate, and share data to better understand who is served, where service gaps exist, and where to target resources and services.

As part of the ongoing effort to optimize South Carolina’s early childhood system, an amendment to For Our Future: South Carolina’s Birth through Five Plan is included in this report. This amendment addresses a specific area that was identified during a review of the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) plan completed in 2019, which was a requirement of the grant. While the ECAC plan approved in December 2021 built upon the PDG B-5 plan and the plans of individual ECAC agency members, a review of the two plans revealed a difference related to transportation services.

The PDG B-5 plan includes an objective to expand transportation services for families, which was not addressed in For Our Future. To ensure that the strategies outlined in For Our Future align with the objectives of the PDG B-5 plan, an amendment has been made to Objective 2.4 and a new strategy, 2.4.5, has been added to address transportation services specifically.

GOAL 2: South Carolina’s youngest children are actively supported by their families and communities.

OBJECTIVE 2.4

South Carolina’s communities provide children with healthy environments, enriching opportunities, sufficient transportation, and community resources like libraries, schools, outdoor learning environments, community centers and museums.

2.4.5

Expand transportation services for families so they can access services and enriching experiences.

These changes were approved and adopted by the Early Childhood Advisory Council on April 20, 2023, and reflect the ongoing commitment of the ECAC and its partners to improving the lives of young children and their families across the state of South Carolina.