| Session Title: Building an Effective Early Childhood System: Factors Facilitating and Inhibiting Systems Change Strategies |
| Multipaper Session 814 to be held in Avila B on Saturday, Nov 5, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM |
| Sponsored by the Systems in Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Pennie Foster-Fishman, Michigan State University, fosterfi@msu.edu |
| Abstract: There is a growing recognition that communities need to develop a quality early childhood system in order to ensure that all children are ready to learn by the age of five. Under the leadership of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, every community in Michigan has developed a multi-stakeholder collaborative and a parent coalition to promote this systems change. Together these two entities work collaboratively to build a more responsive community context and develop a more integrated and effective early childhood system. This session will describe the evaluation of these efforts to date and highlight what we have learned about the factors facilitating effective system change pursuits within the early childhood arena. |
| Effective Systems Change Strategies for Developing an Integrated and Responsive Early Childhood System |
| Pennie Foster-Fishman, Michigan State University, fosterfi@msu.edu |
| Under the leadership of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, every community in Michigan has developed a a multi-stakeholder collaborative that is charged with building an effective early childhood system and a Parent Coalition that is responsible for promoting public will and grassroots mobilization around the early childhood agenda. To examine the effectiveness of this joint collaborative/community organizing approach, survey data was collected in 2010 from 2137 collaborative/coalition members and key outside community members across Michigan. This paper explores the key findings from our HLM analysis of the multi-level factors related to the development of a more responsive community context and a more integrated and effective early childhood system. Findings highlight the importance of service delivery network structure, readiness for change, advocacy and policy change, collaborative capacity, and partnership development. |
| Multilevel Evaluation of an Early Childhood System Building Initiative: Theoretical and Practical Implications for Aggregating Data to Higher Levels of Analysis |
| Charles Collins, Michigan State University, colli443@msu.edu |
| David Reyes-Gastulum, Michigan State University, reyesgas@msu.edu |
| Goran Kuljanin, Michigan State University, gkuljanin@gmail.com |
| Pennie Foster-Fishman, Michigan State University, fosterfi@msu.edu |
| Evaluation projects are increasingly employing data collection across multiple ecological levels, especially those that adopt a systems perspective. Due to this, evaluators are tasked with making decisions regarding the level at which data should be presented. These decisions have important implications for evaluation design, data collection, and analysis. Of particular importance are the ways in which data aggregation to higher levels of analysis can increase model misspecification. Taking a "levels" perspective, this presentation will first discuss conceptual issues of multilevel data aggregation including the assumptions, typologies, and properties of aggregated data. Second, utilizing evaluation data from a statewide early childhood system building initiative, we will provide examples of data analyses at multiple ecological levels and highlight how those data can provide unique insights while emphasizing the importance of attending to the issues and assumptions of data aggregation. This presentation will provide attendees with theoretical and practical implications of multilevel evaluations. |
| Understanding Perspective: The Importance of Disparate Stakeholder Viewpoints in Systems Change Evaluation Data |
| David Reyes-Gastulum, Michigan State University, reyesgas@msu.edu |
| Charles Collins, Michigan State University, colli443@msu.edu |
| Goran Kuljanin, Michigan State University, gkuljanin@gmail.com |
| Pennie Foster-Fishman, Michigan State University, fosterfi@msu.edu |
| Gaining multiple perspectives in the evaluation of a system building initiative can provide diverse insights into system functioning. Specifically, by collecting evaluation data from service providers, clients, and the broader community evaluators can gain a wealth of information regarding everything from internal functioning to community building activities. However, this can add to the complexity of data analysis due to group differences. This presentation will provide insights into the ways in which multiple groups can differ with regard to evaluation responses. Utilizing data from the evaluation of a system building initiative, we will give examples of group differences in stakeholder perspectives at multiple levels of analysis and how these differences were incorporated into the analysis. Moreover, we will highlight the importance of utilizing multiple points of view in evaluating a systems building initiative. We will conclude by providing insights gained from utilizing multiple stakeholder perspectives and the implications thereof. |
| Predicting Network Exchanges in Early Childhood Service Delivery Networks |
| I-Chien Chen, Michigan State University, |
| While early childhood systems change efforts have prioritized the development of integrated and coordinated service systems, the desired level of coordination and collaboration has not yet been realized. This paper will explore the degree of exchanges, the factors influencing network characteristics, and the extent to which network characteristics are related to child/family outcomes in 55 early childhood collaborative structures in Michigan. Inter-organizational network data were collected using online and mail surveys in 2010 from organizations (N=1107) participating as members in 55 multi-stakeholder early childhood collaborative in Michigan. Organizational representatives were asked to provide their frequency of referral, information, and resources exchanges with all other member organizations on a six-point scale ranging from "Never" to "Daily. Results of the study will be discussed in terms of their implications for evaluating systems change efforts. |