Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) received a $6.5 million preschool development grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to assist Missouri in laying the foundation for building a comprehensive, coordinated statewide system of early childhood services (birth-age 5).
Partners on the project include MU’s Center for Excellence in Child Well-Being, UMSL’s Community Innovation and Action Center, UMKC’s Institute of Human Development, and Social Grove, Inc.
IPP will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of the grant as well as evaluating the performance of the grant components, which include conducting a statewide needs assessment of early childhood services, updating Missouri’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan, piloting the Quality Assurance Report initiative, maximizing parent choice and knowledge of early learning programs, providing early childhood providers with trauma training, and improving the quality of early childhood programs through technical assistance. The award will run through December 31, 2019.
This project is supported by the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five Initiative (PDG B-5), Grant Number 90TP0048-01-00, from the Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Impact
Missouri will use the results from this development grant to apply for further funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a multi-year grant to implement the revised strategic plan and other system-level changes needed to strengthen Missouri’s system of early childhood services, thereby increasing the well-being of Missouri’s young children and their families.