Smart Beginnings Greater Roanoke

Analyses done as part of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation Innovative Partnerships-FY17 grant. The Roanoke Data Partnership began meeting in 2011 to pave the way for systematic data collection, shared analysis, and feedback. In 2017, partners included the Child Health Investment Partnership (CHIP) of Roanoke Valley, City of Roanoke, Roanoke City Library, Roanoke City Public Schools (RCPS), Smart Beginnings Greater Roanoke (SBGR), Star City Reads (Roanoke’s response to the national Campaign for Grade Level Reading), Total Action for Progress (TAP) & TAP Head Start, United Way of Roanoke Valley, and Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. The collaborative data-driven approach has led to measurable improvements in Roanoke’s school readiness, summer learning, and 3rd grade reading benchmarks, and helped the city garner 7 All-American City Awards.

Central to the success of Roanoke’s data partnership has been the willingness of Roanoke City Public Schools to share data on child demographics, child attendance records, and child PALS and SOL scores

using a secure server with limited access by authorized personnel only to conduct matching across programs and data analysis. Future data analysis projects include prediction of 3rd grade reading from child and family characteristics, Pre-K program participation, and PALS scores, as well as partner specific analyses.

Matching of student records in Smart Beginnings Greater Roanoke (SBGR) (Virginia Quality Sites) with Fall 2016 PALS-K records at Roanoke City Public Schools (RCPS)

Analyses comparing four sub-groups of students who attended kindergarten in RCPS in Fall 2016 (SBGR only, SBGR+ Head Start, Head Start only, and all other RCPS students) suggest that SBGR children are better prepared for kindergarten than the other groups. There are significant differences in total PALS K scores by group, F (3, 1063) = 5.43, p = .001. This only looks at enrollment in the program, and analyses taking child characteristics and child PALS PK performance will continue in the summer of 2018. The fewest number of children met benchmark on “Concept of Word: Pointing” and “Concept of Word: Word Identification.” The Concept of Word subscales are the most difficult at Fall of Kindergarten. Lower case letter identification and Letter Sounds have the most children meeting benchmark in all settings.

Preliminary findings from longitudinal analysis of 2 cohorts of children at RCPS from pre-K to 3rd Grade

Analysis of longitudinal data sets identified 2 cohorts of children with information from PALS Pre-K to 3rd grade SOLs 5 years later (296 kids in pre-K 2010-2011, and 313 kids in pre-K in 2011-2012). Both cohorts showed significant (p < .001) medium to large correlations between PALS Pre-K and SOL reading scores in 3rd grade, meaning 18-29% of 3rd grade SOL scores were explained by Spring Pre-K PALS scores. Similarly, 3 cohorts with PALS K to 3rd Grade Reading SOL (590 kids in K 2010-2011, 722 kids in K 2011-2012, and 751 kids in K in 2012-2013) showed significant, large correlations (p <.001).

Data submitted to the Grade Level Reading Campaign

RCPS data from the last 4 years was analyzed by Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) and reported for the 2017 All-America City Award. These show the result of collective action made to strategically address key indicators over the years:

• Between 2012 and 2016, Fall PALS-K pass rates improved for 9 of the 14 Title I schools. 4 Title I schools demonstrated exceptionally large gains in Fall PALS pass rates for kindergarteners of at least 10% since 2012.
• 3rd Grade SOLS at all RCPS elementary schools improved from 2012-2013 to 2015-2016. Title I schools gain (10.1%) was higher than RCPS gain overall (9.0%). 4 Title I schools showed particularly high levels of progress, with gains of at least 17.5%.