The Institute on
Community Integration:
An Overview by Laura Bloomberg
Over 6 million individuals in this country have substantial
disabilities in learning, sensory and physical functioning, and
social adaptation that require lifelong services and support.
Still others are at risk of developing long-term disabilities as
a consequence of neglect and limited opportunity during
childhood. The growing commitment to addressing the needs of
persons with disabilities is demonstrated by the provisions of
the Americans With Disabilities Act. This landmark legislation
affirms the right of citizens with disabilities to have equal
opportunity to learn, participate, and experience full and
productive lives in our communities. The Institute on Community
Integration (ICI), a University Affiliated Program on
Developmental Disabilities, shares that commitment. Housed in the
College of Education at the University of Minnesota, ICI is
dedicated to preventing and reducing the limiting educational,
vocational, social, and economic effects of disabilities.
The mission of ICI is to apply its resources to improve the
quality and community orientation of professional services and
social supports available to individuals with disabilities and
their families. This mission is carried out through an array of
programs based on the belief that persons with disabilities
should experience the benefits of family and community living
while receiving services necessary to fully develop their
potential. The Institute serves as an umbrella organization for
over 30 centers and programs, providing professional training and
continuing education, technical assistance, applied research, and
information dissemination. Programs organized around the
provision of services to individuals with disabilities, or those
at risk of developing disabilities, across the life span are:
Early Intervention and Prevention Services, Inclusive Educational
Services, Youth and Adult Services, and Health Services. Three of
these are discussed below.
Early Intervention and Prevention Services. Under
ICI's umbrella are several programs identifying and implementing
early intervention and prevention strategies for youngsters with
disabilities and those who are at risk. They provide technical
assistance to school districts and other service providers across
Minnesota on topics including social and educational inclusion,
evaluation of early intervention models, and prevention of
challenging behaviors in preschoolers. Also, a major research
effort is underway to study the social and psychological effects
of prenatal exposure to cocaine, alcohol, and other damaging
chemicals. These early intervention projects are the focus of
this issue of Early Report.
Inclusive Education. ICI provides short- and
long-term technical assistance to school districts across
Minnesota as they begin to assimilate learners of all ages in
regular educational settings, including individuals with the most
severe disabilities. In addition to supporting inclusion efforts,
ICI is studying the long-term effects of inclusion on students
with disabilities and their classroom peers.
Health Services. Too often, health
professionals, having received inadequate disability-related
training, are ill-prepared to provide appropriate treatment or
support to individuals with disabilities and their families. ICI
is seeking to remedy this problem by providing interdisciplinary
and family-center training in disability-related issues to
University of Minnesota students in the departments of
pediatrics, public health, and social work. Pediatric interns
take part in a four-week rotation during which they meet children
with disabilities and their families in school, at home, and in
residential settings. Public health and social work students are
now required to take coursework on contemporary service delivery
models for persons with disabilities. Many students also intern
in a disability-related service setting.
For more information about the Institute on Community
Integration, contact: Laura Bloomberg, Assistant Director,
Institute on Community Integration (UAP), 40 Education Sciences Building, 56
East River Road, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, 612/625-0502.
Early Education: Which
Path to Inclusion?
by Mary A. McEvoy, Carla
Peterson, and Scott McConnell
Early childhood special education is at a crossroads. Over the
past few years we have seen rapid expansion in services to young
children with disabilities. In fact, the mandate for services is
nearly nationwide for children ages three to five. Further, we
have an array of programmatic options and models for serving
these children in integrated settings. Finally, researchers in
the field are exerting unprecedented efforts to evaluate and
refine these program features and models to ensure maximally
effective services in the least restrictive environment for all
young children with disabilities. As school districts and parents
consider classrooms and programs that serve children with and
without disabilities as a first placement option in meeting the
spirit of "least restrictive environment," the question
arises: What is the best model for assuring successful placement
in integrated programs?
Clearly there is no one best model. However, it appears that
there are a number of "best practices" that should be
used when designing and implementing integrated programs. Five
best practices that individually have been shown to be important
components of successful integrated programs are:
- Use of environmental and organizational design
principles.
- Social integration of students with/without disabilities.
- Inclusion of families.
- Use of a transdisciplinary team approach.
- Use of a functional data-based instructional curriculum
that can be applied in variety of naturalistic and
instructional settings.
While not an exhaustive list, attention to these components
will assist in designing effective integrated options based on
any mode.
A model for integration must also be flexible. In particular,
program directors and others are faced with questions like: How
can models be adapted to serve different children in different
types of integrated settings? What model best prepares students
for successful placement in regular education kindergarten and
grade school? How can services be created or expanded in ways
that meet the legal and programmatic requirements of diverse
agencies? These questions present real challenges to
professionals charged with program development and must be
thoughtfully addressed.
While important, the development of an adaptable model is not
enough. It is necessary to identify and overcome other barriers
to integration including:
- Philosophical differences among personnel and parents about the
value of educational integration of children with special needs.
- Lack of support services in the mainstream to allow
modification of curricula to meet individual needs.
- Lack of administrative support.
- Minimal involvement of general educators in the
educational planning of intervention methods for children
with special needs that are effective in larger groups.
Specific barriers to integration will vary by state, district,
building, and child. For example, certification requirements in
one state may not be considered a barrier in another state.
Similarly, transportation may be a major obstacle for one child
in a district and not a problem for other children. What is
needed is a way for districts and teachers to evaluate policies,
logistical arrangements, in-service training needs, or other
barriers to integration, and develop appropriate approaches to
respond to and alleviate these barriers. This explicit attention
to program implementation is a new direction for model
development activities.
Unfortunately, even with a commitment for high-quality,
integrated programming for all children with disabilities,
teachers, parents, administrators and others need effective
strategies for producing integrated outcomes. Knowledge of
effective programs is not sufficient; solid guidance is needed in
the implementation of these programs. In fact, it appears that
policy, not practice, may be the most significant limiting factor
to increasing the variety of integrated programs for preschool
children with disabilities. Individuals trying to create
integrated options for preschoolers with disabilities often face
questions about transportation, locations and licensure of
physical plants, administrative organization of centers, staff
qualifications and licensure, and assurances for program quality
and due process. It is clear that we must begin developing,
implementing, and evaluating integrated early childhood special
education programs that help people decide what to do and how to
do it.
Despite the development and implementation of appropriate
models for integration, the question remains: Is inclusion in a
program that serves typically developing children the "least
restrictive environment" for all young children with
disabilities? Perhaps not. Obviously, each child's individual
abilities and needs must be considered. Unfortunately, for many
children with disabilities, participation in an integrated
program is often either dismissed immediately without opportunity
for the child to even participate at some level in the classroom,
or is attempted without appropriate support. In essence, the
child is set up to fail. Inclusion does not mean the child is
merely placed in a classroom, but means that support for the
placement (i.e. special education or related services assistance)
is an integral and critical part of integration.
These issues are critical, and additional research is needed
to address them. In short, local school districts need well
thought out, realistic, and proven systems for deciding what to
do in integrated classroom programs for young children with
disabilities, and how to do it. Also, they need to assure that
every child has an opportunity to participate at some level in
programs that serve children with and without disabilities.
In a presentation for day care providers in southwest
Louisiana in 1990,* Lisbeth Vincent noted that in the 1970s we
developed a tolerance for persons with disabilities. Legislation,
among other things, forced us as parents and professionals to
consider ways to "include" young children with
disabilities in our communities and schools. In the 1980s we
began to accept children with disabilities and noted the benefits
of including them in our programs. For example, we noted that
typically developing children had more positive attitudes about
persons with disabilities, and we no longer needed to teach
children about individual differences through the use of puppets
or simulations. These children had opportunities to learn about
accepting differences by interacting with or observing children
with disabilities in their classrooms, on their playgrounds, in
their grocery stores, and so on. Dr. Vincent believes in the
1990s we will learn to cherish persons with disabilities and
learn from them as they learn from us. Clearly, including all
children regardless of their individual differences in programs
to meet their individual and unique needs is a goal that we all
must cherish.
Reprinted with permission from Impact, feature issue on
Inclusive Education (Preschool-1st Grade), Summer 1991, published
by the Institute on Community Integration, a University
Affiliated Program at the University of Minnesota.
Inservice Training and
Technical Assistance Model Project
to Prevent Challenging Behavior in Preschool Students
by Dina Deno
Drs. Mary McEvoy and Joe Reichle direct an inservice training
project to assist educators in the treatment and prevention of
severe challenging behavior in preschool children. In
preschoolers, severe challenging behavior can be aggression,
self-stimulation, self-injurious behavior, eating problems, or
social interaction problems. Children with such problems may or
may not have other handicapping conditions; for instance, some
children may have cognitive delays, while others may be
cognitively normal or advanced.
This Institute on Community Integration project develops and
trains technical assistance teams within school districts that
can provide educators with the intense on-site assistance needed
in dealing with these children's unique needs. The teams are made
up of professionals from different disciplines determined
primarily on the child's individual need. They could include an
early childhood special educator, a speech and language
therapist, a physical or occupational therapist, a school
psychologist, a preschool teacher, and/or social worker.
The Technical Assistance Teams provide ongoing consultation,
assessment, and program implementation assistance to the child's
educators and family. Team members collaborate to identify
appropriate assessment procedures and design a broad range of
intervention programs for students. One team member then assists
the child's educational providers or family with the
implementation of the intervention program.
Traditional school interventions have focused primarily on the
consequences for behavior and/or crisis intervention. In this
approach, the Technical Assistance Team tries to identify
behaviors leading to the problem behaviors and design
interventions that enable children to acquire alternative, more
effective behaviors for controlling their environment. They
specifically address the social/communication function of the
challenging behavior and aim toward helping the child to acquire
prosocial adaptive skills. Successful use of such new skills is
desirable because the effects are usually more long lasting than
typical interventions.
The ICI project staff trains Technical Assistance Teams about the
use of positive behavioral interventions that are empirically
based. One important factor is the use of interventions that are
the least disruptive to the child and classroom and integrated
into the natural environment as much as possible. The trainers
and technical assistance staff work together to design effective
strategies to help decrease challenging behaviors. Once the team
becomes proficient in designing and implementing positive
behavioral support programs for children, the project staff
functions on a consultative basis. By the third year of
involvement, the Technical Assistance Team is expected to be
virtually independent (with only occasional consultation) and can
train others in the school district.
For additional information contact Joe Reichle
at 612/624-7879.
Case Management for
Self-Determination and Empowerment
Parent Case Management Program
by Marijo McBride
"The Parent Case Management Program gave me the knowledge
and power to realize I am in charge of my child's case
management. Although I was doing it all along, this program has
made it official and let me know that I have the right to
approach professionals and tell them what we should do rather
than them telling me."
--A Parent Case Manager
"Case management is, inherently, a simple
service--finding out what a family needs and helping them get
it." --Morton, 1988, p. 13
In the past, management of services for persons with
developmental disabilities was largely left to professionals. The
"clients" and their families followed the lead of
"experts." Today, most families and persons with
disabilities want to be involved in determining their own needs,
desires, goals, and supports. There is growing recognition that
people with disabilities and their families are the true experts
about their own situations.
Parents often know what is needed but are frequently placed in
the position of having to depend on others to access the
services. The problems in getting appropriate services can
involve several issues. 1.) Many parents don't know what services
are available to them. 2.) They may not know their legal rights
regarding specific services. 3.) Often parents of children with
disabilities don't have the skills or perseverance to advocate
for the appropriate service in a complicated administrative
system. The Parent Case Management Program addresses these issues
by providing tools to help families take an active role in
determining the services they need and the way those services
will be delivered.
"Empowerment means assisting individuals to learn how to
make choices, creating an environment in which those choices will
be honored, and giving individuals and families control of
resources."
Minnesota Governor's Planning Council on Developmental
Disabilities (1991). Leadership for Empowerment [draft concept
paper] (pp.2-3). St. Paul, MN.
The ICI program seeks to empower persons with developmental
disabilities and their families to participate more fully in
their own case management. The training includes skills in
effective use of resources, maintenance of appropriate records,
procedures for effective meetings, and identification of needs,
functional goals, services, and resources. There is a commitment
to building on the unique capacities of each family in order to
enhance their active participation in determining their own needs
and directions.
Participants in the Parent Case Management Program receive
training, support, and consultation which enables them to develop
knowledge and expertise in the following areas:
- Case management procedures, responsibilities and
strategies
- Civil rights of persons with developmental
disabilities
- Data privacy
- State-of-the-art service delivery and philosophy
- Quality indicators in health care and other
services
- Transition planning and implementation
- The importance of being a part of your community
- Technology
- Case management rules and regulations
This kind of program is based upon the understanding that
families of children with developmental disabilities are
significant members, if not the most important members, of any
case planning team. Given this premise, an important part of this
program is to help professionals view families in a new way, to
challenge and invite families to understand empowerment and take
charge.
The Parent Case Management Program is a joint effort of the
Institute on Community Integration and the Minnesota Governor's
Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities. For five years it
has conducted training sessions throughout Minnesota, provided
monthly informational packets, and given ongoing consultation to
participants. This year, the program is training facilitators to
implement and continue the program. If you are interested in
receiving further information about the program or training and
consultation from a facilitator, contact Marijo McBride,
University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration
(UAP), 103 Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN
55455, 612/624-6830.
Kyle's Success Story
by Linda Horkheimer
Kent had a broken finger from football practice, Stacey broke
her arm falling off her bicycle, and Tracy had a broken foot from
flying through the air off the top bunkbed, "just like
Wonder Woman, Mom!" This all occurred within a six-week
period. I don't know why it came as such a shock when the doctor
announced (rather smugly, I thought): "Congratulations!
You're approximately 12 weeks pregnant!" I don't remember
his exact words, to be honest. I was slightly comatose at the
time. I do remember thinking of some evil ways to wipe that smile
off his face. But, then I decided I'd save them for my husband
when he got home from work...
Well, time passed and each of the children's injuries healed.
In March, I gave birth to a beautiful son, whom we named Kyle
Patrick. He was by far the best baby I'd ever had. He was so good
natured that he never cried, not even to eat in the middle of the
night. It wasn't long before I began to suspect something was
wrong. He was progressing far too slowly. The doctors kept
reassuring me that I must not compare Kyle to his brother and
sisters and that each child is different and develops at his/her
own pace. Kyle began seizuring when he was nine months old (so
much for their advice). His diagnosis included epilepsy, cerebral
palsy, autistic behaviors, and developmental delays. I remember
asking my husband whatever happened to the good old days of
broken bones, chicken pox, and unexpected pregnancies?
The next 18 months are really just a blur of hospital rooms,
doctors' offices, more hospital visits, and more tears than I'd
cried since I was a child. Kyle was about three years old when
Marijo McBride of the Parent Case Management Project called and
asked me if I'd be interested in participating in the program.
I'm always eager to learn new things, especially in the
disability-related field, so I agreed. Little did I realize at
the time the positive effect the program would have, not only in
Kyle's life, but on our entire family!
I learned about family subsidy, the Waiver, and TEFRA. Believe
me, that eased a lot of financial stress! But I was still feeling
terribly frustrated with Kyle's education. He was attending a
segregated preschool program. Common sense told me that a child
with no speech, no social skills, and virtually no awareness of
his surroundings did not need to be kept segregated, but rather
needed to be around his typical peers so he could have
appropriate behaviors to mimic, or at least respond to. Alas, I
had little self-confidence and felt I had no right to argue with
educated professionals. So, I didn't until after I'd humiliated
myself for the umpteenth time by bursting into tears at yet
another unsuccessful IEP meeting. Then, it finally registered. I
was just as educated as everyone else in the room. I knew P.L.
94-142 from top to bottom. I knew the school district's
responsibility to Kyle, and I knew what I was asking was not
outrageous.
I was no longer "just a mom," I was Kyle's parent
case manager, and I wanted more for him than the segregated
special education class, and I said so. The school and I began to
work together. It was no longer "we" and
"they," it was "us." The team was no longer
focused on Kyle's disabilities, but on his capabilities, and
wonderful things began to happen!
Kyle is presently attending a typical first grade classroom in
his neighborhood school. He is following directions, is very
aware of what's happening around him, is eating one meal a day
orally, is experiencing less difficulty making the transition
from one activity to another, and hasn't bitten his arm in
months. Most importantly, Kyle has made many friends! One little
boy calls him on the telephone, even though Kyle has no speech
(what are mere words among friends?).
Kyle hasn't been the only one to benefit from his presence in
a regular class. His classmates have learned to accept human
differences. They've certainly learned to be patient and
tolerant! If Kyle tries to take someone's pencil, they'll say,
"That's my pencil, here is yours." If he's making
inappropriate noises they'll tell him to be quiet so they can
hear. When the teacher is questioning the class, they will raise
his hand and answer for him. They try to include him in games and
activities, and they're so proud when he throws away his own art
scraps and puts away his glue and scissors. They even wipe the
drool from his chin. The children are all learning together and
it's been exciting! As two of Kyle's friends pointed out,
"We would never be mean to Kyle because we love him too
much." And, "Kyle isn't different, he's the same as us
on the inside!" How far we've all come since I received that
one brief phone call!
Linda Horkheimer lives in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, with her
husband Richard, her son Kyle, and three other children.
Reprinted with permission from Impact, Feature Issue on Family
Support, Summer 1990, published by the Institute on Community
Integration, a University Affiliated Program at the University of
Minnesota.
Ecobehavioral
Programming for Individual Children
by Richard J. Spicuzza
One ICI early intervention effort incorporates an
ecobehavioral perspective on child development. In contrast to
traditional assessment where the focus is on one child, an
ecobehavioral perspective examines not only the specific behavior
of a child but, at the same time, considers the situational or
ecological variables that occur in relationship to that child's
behavior. Using an ecobehavioral perspective provides the
necessary framework to link assessment and educational
interventions by enhancing understanding of the relationship
between a child's behavior, his/her environment, and the behavior
of others within the classroom.
ICI and the St. Paul Public Schools are collaborating on
Ecobehavioral Programming for Individual Children (EPIC), a model
demonstration preschool classroom. EPIC was funded by the U.S.
Office of Special Education Programs to design and demonstrate a
comprehensive, empirically evaluated system for developing
effective, functional, and socially valid classroom programming
for young children with disabilities. The program goals include:
(a) providing instruction via goal-directed developmentally
appropriate, functional, and play-based activities; (b)
maximizing children's interactive involvement in classroom
activities; (c) using continuous, ecobehavioral assessment data
to determine optimal learning environments for individual
children and their specific needs; and (d) maximizing teachers'
resources through efficient and effective program planning and
record-keeping procedures.
The recent pressure to provide preschool services via more
inclusive settings has highlighted some stark contrasts between
early childhood education and early childhood special education
practices. For example, early childhood instruction has been
typically activity based, group centered, and child directed.
Traditional early childhood special educational programming has
been more skills based, individually focused, and teacher
directed. As inclusive education for children with identified
disabilities becomes a reality, it is important to bridge these
instructional differences. If early childhood special educators
are to provide services across a wide range of classrooms and
activities, as well as all areas of suspected need in ways that
promote optimal development for all enrolled children, there must
be changes in the system.
They must be provided with procedures and resources that allow
them to maintain accountability and responsibility for tracking
and providing for each child's individualized education plan
(IEP). One option is to maintain a close link between assessment
and treatment to ensure that each classroom activity addresses
the developmental needs of all participating children.
Specifically, teachers need assessment information that
highlights ecobehavioral interactions that promote engagement and
development, as well as guidelines on how to use this information
in the selection and evaluation of classroom activities.
For this project, we have drawn upon an assessment tool,
Ecobehavioral System for Complex Assessments of Preschool
Environments (ESCAPE), developed by Carat, Greenwood, &
Atwater, in 1990. ESCAPE assesses three major categories of
variables: ecological, teacher, and student variables. This
provides a rich source of information about the specific
treatment in place, how teacher and child variables interact, and
whether or not these interactions last over time. In this way we
can determine the precise elements responsible for producing
programmatic effects. For example, observations using ESCAPE may
show that a specific child during small group tends to use
pretend play materials in child initiated activities and talks to
peers. When the same child is engaged in fine motor activities,
usually with a teacher giving one-on-one instruction, he may
exhibit no verbal behavior.
This description of child behavior in relation to the context
of where it occurs may provide a "missing link" for the
design of intervention programs that target a wide range of
children's needs within the context of activity-based
interventions. To meet this challenge, our efforts are focused on
three important areas: (a) ecobehavioral assessment and
evaluation; (b) classroom programming; and (c) the adaptation of
a computerized data management system.
In the second area of concern, classroom programming, we focus
on the development of an instructional system that provides
"high-intensity" special education within the context
of play-based activities. To accomplish this objective, teachers
in the St. Paul district selected eight core themes that actively
engage children in learning through play-based activities to run
throughout the entire school year. Themes were selected based on
the following criteria: (a) goals directed, (b) related to a
child's IEP, (c) functional, (d) play based, (e) developmentally
appropriate, and (f) fun. A theme is set up within the classroom
(e.g., House Corner, Doctor, Grocery Store, etc.) and run for
six-to-eight weeks with five activities written to accompany each
theme. Activities provide opportunities for children to practice
skills that cut across multiple developmental domains, move from
simple to complex skills, and increase in intensity over time. In
addition, suggestions on how to meet specific IEP objectives
within the context of a play-based activity have been provided.
Finally, to help manage the wealth of data created by an
ecobehavioral perspective, a computer data management system
allows easy access to a multitude of information within minutes.
This computer system logically links different "banks"
of data in order to provide educators with a list of traditional
assessment descriptors, developmental checklists, learner
outcomes, themes and play activities, and instructional
suggestions on how to meet IEP objectives within minutes.
Ultimately, this program will allow teachers to access activities
from either instructional goals that need to be addressed for an
individual child or for an entire classroom, based on a classroom
matrix depicting the unique as well as common needs of children
within any given classroom.
Currently, EPIC is in the second year of a three-year grant to
create a system for translating individual children's
developmental goals into activity-based group lessons and
procedures for optimizing interactions between children and
adults. Future activities will involve replication of the
classroom programming across the St. Paul Public Schools and
evaluation of child outcomes to ensure the efficacy of this
project. For further information on this project contact Richard
Spicuzza, project coordinator, or Scott McConnell, principal
investigator, at the Institute on Community Integration,
624-5547.
Evaluating Success by 6
by Theresa Rounds
The purpose of primary prevention efforts in the early
intervention field is to prevent developmental delay by enhancing
environments in which children grow and develop. One example of
primary prevention is the Success by 6 initiative, an effort
aimed at making the community a better place for all children.
The United Way of Minneapolis Area has provided leadership in the
development and support of Success by 6 by encouraging
collaboration among individuals from government, education,
business, and nonprofit sectors. The program is dedicated to the
concept that all children, by the age of 6, will have the
necessary mental, physical, social, and emotional skills to
successfully embrace educational and social opportunities.
The action agenda for Success by 6 was developed in 1988 by
two committees convened by the United Way which identified five
barriers to the healthy development of children:
- Unrecognized Crises Facing Young Children: General
population lacks awareness of problems and potential
solutions available.
- Poverty: Increases the likelihood that children will be
inadequately prepared for future learning and
developmental opportunities.
- Inaccessible Information: Knowledge about what young
children need for healthy development is not readily
available or being adequately communicated.
- Limited Cultural Understanding: Designers and providers
of services often have insufficient understanding of
cultural and economic differences among families they
serve, resulting in less effective early childhood
development services.
- System Fragmentation: Lack of consensus optimal system
structure, insufficient coordination among organizations
providing services, and gaps in services inhibit parents
from locating and obtaining quality early childhood
services.
To address these barriers, project goals and action strategies
have been formulated and continue to be implemented. Three goals
have guided the Success by 6 committees: 1) Build community
awareness and understanding: Obtain widespread community
understanding of the crisis and community commitment to healthy
development of young children. 2) Improve service access for all:
Increase participation and improve service access for all
families. 3) Expand collaborations: Expand public/private
collaborative efforts that develop an integrated and culturally
sensitive system of services.
Evaluation of Success by 6 was considered critical in
determining the impact of the program's activities. The Institute
on Community Integration was commissioned to conduct an external
evaluation, and in consultation with United Way staff and Success
by 6 committees, determined strategies which guided evaluation
activities during 1990 and 1991. ICI is currently developing a
plan for future evaluation and technical assistance efforts.
The Success by 6 program has sponsored a wide variety of
activities. Some examples and evaluation strategies for these
activities are summarized here.
Activity
To address the first goal, an extensive public
education campaign was developed and carried out to build
community awareness. The campaign to communicate the importance
of early development included posters, billboards, and public
service announcements which were aired nationally during Super
Bowl XXVI. The public education committee developed and widely
distributed a parent directory and parent activity cards
describing adult-child activities.
Evaluation
Questions were included in the Minnesota Center
for Survey Research poll to measure awareness of Success by 6 and
child development issues. The results will be used to guide
future work and will serve as a baseline to judge future public
education activities.
Activity
The Tools for Success project was designed to
address the second goal--improving service access. $250,000 was
allocated to 10 community agencies to design and distribute
parent support materials targeted to parents who do not use
reading as their primary source of information. Materials
included videotapes, public service announcements, and books with
audiotapes. Many of the tools are now being distributed
nationally.
Evaluation
All of the tools were evaluated by panels of
early childhood professionals and parents, and feedback was
provided to the agencies that developed the tools.
Activity
To address the third goal, the Success by 6
cultural diversity committee sponsored a series of four cultural
diversity training workshops which were well attended by social
service professionals.
Evaluation
Feedback from the first set of workshop
participants was elicited and used to plan for the second series.
Plans for evaluation of the long-term impact of these workshops
are underway.
This description does not fully illustrate the scope of
Success by 6. The program has organized hundreds of volunteers to
work together and has received national attention for its
efforts. A number of communities across the country are working
to replicate the model. Recently, the Minneapolis United Way's
Success by 6 received the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award.
This national award is presented in recognition of the
outstanding impact that Success by 6 has made on children and the
community as a whole. As the Success by 6 project continues to
evolve throughout the year, the Institute will continue its
commitment to facilitate evaluation and provide technical
assistance.
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Spring 1992, Volume 19, Number 3