1. family and parenting
2. children

FACT
SHEET
What is SPARK DC?
SPARK DC is a project to help communities prepare children ages 3-6 to be ready for school.
SPARK DC will also work to make schools ready for children.
SPARK DC will work to improve coordination and align programs and services for young children.
Who will benefit?
1 SPARK DC will enroll 1000 children ages 21/2 to 3 in
Wards 1,7 and 8.
2 Each child will get a health and developmental
screening.
3 SPARK DC will work to improve coordination
between parent, school and community.
4 SPARK DC will work to improve the quality of the
childcare setting.
Is this Head Start?
No, Head Start is a comprehensive program for children with family incomes below the poverty line. SPARK
DC will focus on vulnerable children, but there is no
income test. We will work with all kinds of child care and
early education providers- family child care homes, kith
and kin care, parents caring for their own children, as
well as Head Start. We will work to improve the linkages
and coordination among those programs, schools and
communities.
What do parents have to do?
1 Join SPARK when their child is age 3
2 Allow SPARK DC to follow their child’s progress for
five years
3 Participate in training to help parents be education
advocates for their children
4 Let SPARK DC know what you need to help your
child be ready for school
Does SPARK only work with children in childcare centers?
No, SPARK wants every child to be ready to succeed
in school. Children in family childcare, relative care or at
home can join SPARK. SPARK respects the childcare
choices parents make.
How will parents benefit?
1 Parents will be assigned a family support worker.
2 Parents will receive training on helping their children
get ready for school.
3 Parents will receive support on helping their child
move from child care or home care to school.
Will only SPARK DC children benefit?
No, SPARK will work to improve the quality and coordination of early childhood programs and services in
every community over the long term.
What difference can alignment and coordination make?
The District of Columbia has an early childhood population with tremendous needs and limited revenue
sources. SPARK DC can help government agencies
and community-based programs improve coordination to
make the most of limited resources.
SPARK DC with work with local schools and early
care and education providers, parents and community
leaders to develop practices that help parents and children feel welcome and supported in school. We will help
teachers learn more about the early education programs
in the school’s community and early education providers
learn more about schools and school readiness.
This newsletter and the SPARK DC initiative are made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. www.wkkf.org
National Black Child
Development Institute
1101 15th Street, NW
Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
March 2004
SPARK DC Leadership Team
Evelyn K. Moore, President
National Black Child Development Institute
Bobbi Blok, CEO
Georgetown Children’s House Endowment to
Promote Quality Early Childhood Education
Sygrid Caudle, Education Supervisor
DCPS Head Start Programs
Annie L. Frazier, President
New Family Child Care Providers Association
Brenda Galloway, Chief
Office of Educational Services
DC Department of Parks and Recreation
Mary Gill, Chief
Citywide Early Childhood Initiatives, DCPS
Willie Hagans, Principal
Kenilworth Elementary School
Beverly R. Jackson, Director
Head Start State Collaboration, OECD
Barbara Ferguson Kamara,
Executive Director
Office of Early Childhood Development
Department of Human Services
Rozita Green LaGorce,
Executive Vice President
National Black Child Development Institute
BB Otero, Executive Director
Calvary Bilingual Multicultural Learning Center
Marcia Parker, Principal
Turner Elementary School
Florence Ross, Director
Kenilworth-Parkside
Marilyn Seabrooks Myrdal
Maternal and Child Health Officer
Department of Health
Maurice Sykes, Executive Director
Early Childhood Leadership Institute
Sadia White, Principal
Tubman Elementary School
Andrea Young, Project Director, SPARK DC
Vice President, National Black Child Development
Institute
SPARK DC Team
Lindsey Allard, SPARK Program Associate
Ward 1
Carolina Espinal, Program Coordinator
Honey Morales, Family Support Worker,
Ward 7
Annette Winston, Program Coordinator
Ronald Lee Newman, Family Support Worker
Ward 8
Nefertiri Smarr, Program Coordinator
Isha Foster-Lee,Family Support Worker
The National Black Child Development Institute,
founded in 1970, exists to improve and protect the
quality of life for children and their families.
The SPARK DC Newsletter is published by NBCDI.
Editors: Andrea Young, SPARK Project Director and
Lindsey Allard, SPARK Program Associate.
We invite your comments.
NBCDI
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
202-833-2220 • 202-833-8222 • www.nbcdi.org
Press Event
Kicks Off
SPARK DC
O
n the morning of October 9,
2003, the Frederick Douglass II
Head Start Campus was bustling
with families dropping off their children to
school, teachers organizing the day’s
lesson plans, and the beginnings of a
new project that will be launched in the
District of Columbia, SPARK DC—
Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready
Kids.
This multi-site initiative, funded by the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, awarded four
million dollars to the National Black Child
Development Institute to implement a five
year collaborative initiative to assure
ready kids, ready schools and ready
communities.
The children, parents and teachers
came from centers and schools located in
Wards 1, 7, and 8, the three wards that
will be the focus of SPARK DC. As they
began pouring out of buses and onto the
campus, the children were directed, along
with their teachers, to a number of activities that had been organized in conjunction with a press event that brought
together the city’s leaders around a crucial issue, school readiness for the
District’s youngest children.
Mayor Williams addressed the crowd
and committed himself to strengthening
early childhood opportunities for all of the
District’s children. Ward 7 Councilmember
Kevin Chavous and Dr. Elfreda Massie,
representing the District of Columbia
Public Schools, made inspiring remarks.
Dr. Marvin McKinney, representing the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation presented
Evelyn Moore, President of the National
Black Child Development Institute with a
check to support he SPARK initiative in
the District of Columbia.
The children’s activities demonstrated
various elements of school readiness and
quality early learning experiences. During
their morning at Frederick Douglass II, the
children were given hearing, vision and
dental screenings, administered by the
Department of Health, Maternal and
Family Administration and the Lions Club
volunteers.
The children attended a safety workshop, hosted by the District Department
of Transportation, enjoyed a USDA
Dr. McKinney presents grant award to Evelyn Moore.
approved snack, listened to stories told by
seasoned teachers, and engaged in
active play on the expansive playground
at Frederick Douglass II. Particpants also
received free books, courtesy of First
Book. The children returned to school
having enjoyed a fun filled morning where
they had the opportunity to learn and play,
and most importantly, were provided with
many of the comprehensive services that
are imperative in a quality early childhood
program.
The purpose of the event was intended to kick off the SPARK DC program, as
well as garner public will and support in
the ongoing efforts to strengthen the
District’s provision of early care and education programs, involve families in their
children’s education, and create a seam-
SPARK DC
less transition process for children.
PARK DC (Supporting
Partnership to Assure Ready
Kids) is part of a national initiative
of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The
goal of the initiative is to improve learning outcomes for young children
through the alignment of programs for
children ages 3-6 and transition
between school and preschool experiences. The touchstone of this initiative
is that children should be ready for
S
small family child care homes, other
child development centers and children cared for at home or in kith and
kin near the anchor sites. Each
SPARK DC anchor site has been
staffed with a program coordinator and
family support worker. SPARK DC will
directly impact 1000 children.
However, the indirect impact and effect
of system changes deriving from
SPARK DC should benefit every
young child in the District of Columbia.
“Early childhood is a critical investment, as studies
prove that for every dollar spent on early childhood
programming, seven dollars are saved by taxpayers.”
Mayor Anthony Williams
Washington DC
school and schools ready for children.
The National Black Child
Development Institute is the lead
agency. SPARK DC is led by a
Leadership Team comprised of diverse
leaders who focus on early care and
education. Members include representatives of the District of Columbia
Public Schools, the DC Department of
Human Services’ Office of Early
Childhood Development (OECD), the
State-Head Start Collaborative, the DC
Department of Parks and Recreation,
the DC Department of Health Maternal
and Family Health Administration, the
New Family Child Care Providers
Association of DC, the Early
Childhood Leadership Institute at
UDC, the Washington Child
Development Council (WCDC), and
the Calvary Bilingual Multicultural
Learning Center. The kick-off was the
culmination of a yearlong planning
process that engaged hundreds of
stakeholders. The design of the initiative reflects the priorities and concerns
of the stakeholders and of the
Leadership Team.
The SPARK Leadership Team
selected three of the city’s eight wards
for their SPARK DC work—Ward 1,
Ward 7, and Ward 8. An anchor site
was identified in each of these wards.
While each anchor site is a large child
development center, the additional
intent of SPARK DC is to work with
Each anchor is paired with an elementary school. These pairs of schools
and child development programs will
adapt and implement transition strategies. In addition, each anchor will be a
site for parent advocacy and education.
Coordinators in each SPARK DC
site will engage the surrounding community in a conversation around school
readiness. This effort is a continuation
of the community outreach conducted
through the Child Care and
Development Block Grant public hearings and the Universal School
Readiness Conference. The
Department of Health, Office of
Maternal and Child Health will pilot
new data software at SPARK DC
anchor centers and schools to improve
the delivery and documentation of
comprehensive health services. The
District’s Early Learning Opportunities
Grant to promote early literacy is also
coordinated with SPARK communities.
The elementary schools in SPARK DC
communities will receive small grants
to enhance parent engagement activities in the schools. Schools will conduct a self-study through a national
accreditation process.
SPARK DC strives to promote
ready kids, ready schools and ready
communities. We believe that every
“Working together for this city’s
children, we can develop models
of collaboration that improve outcomes for children. We can set
an example for the nation”
Evelyn K. Moore
President, NBCDI
child can learn when given the
appropriate support by adults. Quality
early learning experiences are an
essential element of that support.
SPARK DC will work to improve the
transition and coordination of adult
Program Achievements
■ SPARK DC partner, the Office of Early Childhood Development was awarded an Early
Learning Opportunities Grant to promote early Literacy. Early literacy training will be provided
to early childhood providers, parents and communities in SPARK DC sites. The SPARK DC
Project Director will chair the committee overseeing the implementation.
■ The Superintendent of Schools created the new position of Chief of Early Childhood
Initiatives.
■ SPARK sites will help the Office of Maternal and Child Health pilot a new health data management system. Because of SPARK DC, childcare sites will be included in the pilot.
■ SPARK DC partner, the Office of Maternal and Child Health received a grant to promote
Maternal and Child Health — Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems. This will support
early childhood partnership, planning and alignment.
■ SPARK DC was a cosponsor of the first annual citywide school readiness conference in the
District of Columbia.
■ SPARK DC Project Director, Andrea Young, was appointed to the Mayor’s Advisory
Committee on Early Childhood Development.
Early Education Lights the Fire Within Every Child to Succeed in School
efforts to improve early learning
experiences for children
Universal School Readiness
and Out-of-School Time
Stakeholders Group
The stakeholder group is working on
a number of exciting activities to
improve the standard quality of early
care and education in the District of
Columbia.
Two of the major activities currently being undertaken by the stakeholder group are:
1) Reaching consensus on local definition of school readiness, based
on the National Education Goals
Panel indicator, Ready to Learn.
2) Developing learning standards for
all four-year-old students, across
seven domains of learning, in
order to ensure that all children
enter Kindergarten ready to learn.
The National Education Goals
were established in 1990 by the
President and 50 state governors. The
first education goal is that “by the
year 2000, all children will start school
ready to learn.” The three objectives
outlined for this goal were:
1) “All children will have access to
high quality and developmentally
appropriate preschool programs
that help prepare children for
school;
2) Every parent in the United States
will be a child’s first teacher and
devote time each day helping his
or her preschool child learn, and
parents will have access to the
training and support parents need;
3) Children will receive the nutrition,
physical activity experiences, and
health care needed to arrive at
school with healthy minds and
bodies, and to maintain the mental
alertness necessary to be prepared to learn, and the number of
low-birthweight babies will be significantly reduced through
enhanced prenatal health systems.”
Comprehensive early care and
education addresses the complex
needs of children and their families,
SPARK partner principals Ms. Parker, Mr. Hagans and Ms. White.
equipping families and communities
with the tools needed to successfully
address the various areas of learning,
health and well-being. Proponents of
comprehensive care have proven that
addressing the three objectives
named under the National Education
Goal for ready to learn is the only way
to have children who are truly ready
to learn.
Collaborations around
School Readiness Policy
SPARK DC has been working as a
collaborator on a number of efforts
focused on improving funding and
overall quality of early care and education in the District of Columbia.
These collaborations include working
with DC Action for Children on the
recent report Quality Early Care and
Education in the District of Columbia:
Making the Case for an Increased
Local Investment. In addition, SPARK
DC is working with DC Agenda to
develop a strategy to increase business involvement in early care and
education. The following are key
points supporting universal access to
quality early care and education:
Early care helps children have
greater school readiness.
Early care improves scores on primary grade testing.
Early care increases high school
graduation rates.
Early care preschool is costeffective.
Center for Social and
Emotional Foundations for
Early Learning/ Center for
Evidence Based Practice
The National Black Child
Development Institute is a partner with
CSEFEL and will be exploring how to
best provide training and resources on
social-emotional development to
SPARK participants. For more information on and access to helpful information on social-emotional development in young children, please visit
the National Black Child Development
Institute’s website www.nbcdi.org and
click on the button for Center for
Social and Emotional Foundations for
Early Learning.
Early Childhood
Comprehensive Systems
Grant
The Early Childhood
Comprehensive Systems Grant,
awarded to the Department of Health,
Maternal and Family Health Bureau
by the federal Department of Health
and Human Services, is designed to
help the District of Columbia plan,
develop and ultimately implement collaborations and partnerships that support families and ensure that all children are healthy and ready to learn at
school entry. ECCS is aligning with
SPARK DC, as is the Early Learning
Opportunities Act Grant awarded to
OECD to improve the issues of early
literacy and school readiness in the
District of Columbia.
La Educación Pre-Escolar Prende la Luz en Cada Niño para que Tenga Exito en La Escuela