Creative Grants
Thirty-seven Creative and Innovative/Experimental grants have been awarded to schools and school districts - totaling $250,000, to experiment with creative approaches to education. The grants were available to public schools and school districts for experiments in developing instructional methods, curriculum, staff training, staff evaluation, and/or alternative forms of staff compensation. Applications cannot exceed $10,000 and must be developed by faculty and submitted to their local school district administration and then forwarded to the State Department of Education. A total of 109 proposals were submitted, and 37 were funded or partially funded.

Idaho Council for Technology in Education
The Idaho Council for Technology in Education announced the recipients of more than $2 million in federal funding for technology projects. The Council received 82 applications from school districts across Idaho for the competitive federal grants for the 1998-99 school year. The proposals varied from providing more teacher training in technology to a plan to create a virtual field trip to a national monument. Twenty-three projects were selected.

Idaho Children's Trust Fund
Provides grants to communities to support child abuse prevention programs for high-risk families with children of all ages. Three local programs have been funded in 1997.

J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation
J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation is funding more than $110 million in grants to energize Idaho education programs. The largest portion of the grants is a nearly $80 million for its Technology Initiative, which is then divided into four parts. 1) $28 million in one-time noncompetitive grants to school districts for computer equipment and educational technology for teachers. 2)$11 million over three years to support teacher training in the use of technology and how to apply technology to better teach students. 3)$23 million over three years to support innovative and enhanced approaches to teaching with technology. 4)$18 million to help equip professional technical academies.

Early Childhood Education Initiative:
In March, 1998 the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation - Early Childhood Education Program launched four major components to foster the increased learning and development of Idaho's young children from birth to age eight years old.

1. Promoting high quality early childhood environments that support children's learning.
The Foundation has awarded grants to the following four organizations, each covering designated regions in the state to promote accreditation using National Association for the Education of Young Children standards:

• Child Care Connections (Southwest)
• College of Southern Idaho (South Central)
• Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency ­Child Care Resource and Referral - SEICAA(Southeastern)
• Mountain States Early Head Start in the North

2. Engaging parents and families in their children's education at home and in early childhood programs. Introducing and Implementing the Parents as Teachers (PAT) Program in Idaho.

3. Providing a high level of professional development opportunities for those teachers responsible for young children's education and development.
The Foundation, with partner organizations/agencies, is planning and implementing the T.E.A.C.H project and a professional early childhood educator web site in Idaho. This statewide project, being accessible to all early childhood education professionals will foster important professional objectives in all aspects of the early childhood education profession---accreditation, career lattice development, status/recognition, public policy issues, etc.

4. Linking families, early childhood educators, community resources and schools into a coordinated system so that children's learning and development are reinforced from every side.
Through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the Foundation selected four, two-year demonstration projects. Individual grant recipients will receive an annual award of up to $187,500 through the year 2000.

• Boise Community Justice (North Central-Boise County) - This project ties early childhood with preventative community justice efforts in rural areas---assisting families in preparing children for school and the school prepared to meet the needs of the children.
• Mountain States Group (Ada/Valley County) ­ A collaborative community effort to teach young children skills in peaceful conflict resolution and problem solving.
• Gritman Medical Center (Latah County) ­ A coordinated community effort to provide a unified, accessible system of services to families of young children.
• Madison School District (Madison County) - To address the needs of children from birth to age eight years old, this collaborative community effort uses the framework developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to focus on literacy and language and other child development areas.

Reading Initiative:In May, the Foundation began a three-year, $27 million effort to improve student reading performance in Idaho.

Part I: Read to Children - Nurturing young children¹s emerging literacy is the focus of Part I of the initiative. Two partners are involved: the Idaho State Library and Idaho Public Television. The Idaho State Library will work with five libraries and community partners like Head Start and local school districts to provide outreach activities to help parents understand the importance of reading aloud to their children. Funds will also be used to develop a core collection of books for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The five libraries selected are:

1. Boundary County District Library (Bonners Ferry)
2. Jerome Public Library
3. Kootenai-Shoshone area libraries (Hayden)
4. Clearwater Country District Library (Orofino)
5. Nampa Public Library

Part 2: Early Reading Programs ­ Individualization and intervention at the kindergarten level is the focus of Part II of the reading initiative. Hundreds of Idaho kindergartners will spend 15 minutes a day using the Waterford Reading Program to practice reading readiness skills. They will also be able to practice at home with help from their parents, using books and videos supplied through the program. Waterford is a computerized reading program that supplements instruction. The Foundation has capped off Part II of the reading initiative, funding approximately 300 kindergarten sites (public and private) this year. Future funding will be considered after looking at data from these initial sites.

Part 3: Reading Diagnosis and Assessment ­ This part of the Reading Initiative focuses on training teachers to assess children's reading readiness levels and to identify learning impediments. The Lee David Pesky Center will provide such workshops to more than 1,200 K-4 grade teachers over the next three years. Teachers who complete the workshops will be assisted by mentors in their districts.

Part 4: Supplements to Reading Program ­ Increasing opportunities for children to improve and practice their reading skills is the focus of Part IV. The Foundation has approved funds for Idaho elementary and middle schools not already funded to use Accelerated Reader, a computerized reading program to supplement instruction and track student progress.

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Building Stronger Families
    www2.state.id.us/dhw/hwgd_www/famcomsv/fcs/1998-BSF.pdf

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
    www2.state.id.us/dhw

Idaho Department of Education
    www.sde.state.id.us/Dept

Idaho Early Childhood Information Clearinghouse
    www2.state.id.us/dhw/hwgd_www/ecic/home.htm

Idaho Education Association (IEA)
    www.idahoea.org

Idaho Head Start Association
    1-800-574-2008, (208) 345-1182

Idaho Infant Toddler Interagency Coordinating Council
    www.uidaho.edu/~tcavi/icc.html

Idaho Resource Guide - Community/Youth Connection
    www.abcyc.org/guide

Idaho Resource Guide for Early Childhood Resources
    www.nwrel.org/cfc/idaho/index.html

Idaho State Page
    www2.state.id.us

North Idaho Communities On-Line - Child Care Net
    www.nicon.org

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Community Resources for Families
Putting Crisis Intervention in the Schools

Community Resources for Families (CRF), a partnership between Idaho's Family and Children's Services (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Region IV) and the Boise Independent School District, grew out of the realization that neither the agency nor the schools could meet the increasing demands for crisis services for families alone. A joint, preventive effort would produce more effective and efficient results for families in emergency situations.

CRF in Idaho is unique because it provides needs identification and service provision through the school setting. CRF partnership members believe reducing stress in families early on can lead to multiple benefits for children, including:

• A reduction in child protection complaints
• A reduction of the number of children entering foster care
• Improved school attendance, behavior, and academic performance
• Overall reduction in high-risk factors for the children served

Referrals for the program come from teachers, counselors, and principals. CRF delivers family-centered services. An assessment, which is done in partnership with the family within 30 days of referral, focuses on family strengths. Families identify their own needs, and all family members may receive services. Family participation is voluntary; families may decline any services offered or identified in an assessment. Family needs may include food, clothing, housing, utilities, medical care, childcare, behavior problems, school attendance or academic needs, among others.

Key elements of the program are case management and linking the families to resources in the community, including the child's school. The Community Resources Workers (CRWs) join with families in a partnership where the goal is to strengthen families and to help children have a positive school experience. Case management is provided in a variety of settings including the school, the family's home, or other agency settings in the community. CRWs have the responsibility to coordinate information, as appropriate, to school staff. They have a comprehensive knowledge of resources for families that are designed to help families become more self-sufficient and reduce future stress that may lead to such outcomes as school failure, child abuse and protection complaints, or homelessness. Efforts are made to utilize the "natural" or informal supports of the family and community such as family members and friends, churches, food banks and other local helping organizations.

The CRWs practice professional teamwork and are a resource to the schools and for colleagues in other schools. Each CRW strives to become an integral part of the school that he/she works in. Close relationships are developed with the principals, counselors, teachers and other members of the multi-disciplinary team. This multidisciplinary school team works together on each family case.

Cases are open for a maximum of 90 days and program standards allow only 10 cases per caseworker, and paperwork is minimal. A Clinical Supervisor, from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, supervises the Community Resources Workers, while the school personnel are supervised by the social workers as a team. Even though the project is schoolbased, it runs year-round. Summer months are a time for community work, staff development and services and follow-up with families. Staff meetings are conducted regularly, and eight meetings per year are held with partner agency administrators and school principals.

Funding
Federal Title IV-A emergency assistance funding, an optional component to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), provides payments for emergencies and essential needs to prevent the need for removing children from their home and placing them in foster care. Funding from substance abuse prevention sources pays for the prevention specialist who serves all seven schools.

What are Collaborators Learning?
An evaluation component was built into the program, and an outside evaluation was completed by Boise State University. Data were collected over a 10-year period for child protection complaint referrals for 69 families who received CRF services and a comparison group of 69 families who had not received services, matching the social and economic characteristics of the CRF families, and including students age- and gender-matching.

When the group receiving services was compared with the control group, the treatment group demonstrated significant improvement in grades and significant decreases in school absences. School performance improved according to teachers. Child protection complaints dropped dramatically during and following intervention. Families seem to be using resources to help improve parenting skills. Family satisfaction surveys rated services very high, and school principals indicated high levels of satisfaction with the program.

Reasons for referral were grouped in eight categories: behavior, health and physical wellness, attendance, academic, financial, supervision, care, and other. Seventy-seven percent of the program expenditures were for basic needs, such as rent, clothing, food, medical needs, and utilities. Nearly all families received case management services for the 90 days their cases were open.

The severity of cases varied. For instance, a single-parent mom with five young children was severely depressed and near homelessness. With appropriate mental health treatment from a private provider, case management services, and financial assistance, the mother was able to keep her family together and begin job training. In another case, an aggressive 10-year-old boy was helped when his family's financial stress was reduced. Through the CRF program, they were given opportunities to become more closely connected to the school, and the child attended anger management groups.

Some cases require brief interventions: an eight-year-old who was failing in school needed only to be connected to community resources to arrange for eyeglasses, which the family could not afford by themselves.

In addition to these findings, a preliminary evaluation suggests that Federal Title IV-A emergency funds intervention is a cost-effective alternative to child-protection investigations and placements. In the population studied, it is not uncommon for a child-protection investigation to cost up to $5,000. Elementary-age children who come into custody average 18 months in foster care at a cost of $23,000 or more. However, the average cost of services to a family in the CRF program is only $1,566.

The approach to assessment and case planning is strength-based. Family needs and strengths assessments focus on personal and environmental strengths and address issues that reduce stress caused by emergency needs, connecting families to the community resources and supports where appropriate. The evaluation has demonstrated that the program provides a concrete way to strengthen families and have children experience success in school.