Implementing Needs Assessments and Strategic Plans
The purpose of a needs assessment is to serve as the rationale for a state’s strategic plan. The assessment should indentify areas that need to be strengthened to maximize the availability of high-quality early childhood education options for families with low-incomes.
This page offers a wide range of guides, webinars, and other resources to help each state design and conduct a comprehensive needs assessment and use that assessment as the basis for an impactful, enduring strategic plan.
Needs Assessment Resources
The following resources provide information about needs assessments.
Needs Assessment Guidance and Crosswalk
These resources support PDG B-5 grantees in conducting a periodic, statewide birth through five (B-5) needs assessment.
Needs Assessment Community of Conversation Part 1 Webinar
This conversation included questions from grantees, grantee experience with needs assessment work to date, and PDG B-5 needs assessment submission process information.
Needs Assessment Community of Conversation Part 2 Webinar
This webinar includes questions from grantees, grantee experience with needs assessment work to date, and PDG B-5 needs assessment submission process information.
PDG B-5 Fundamentals of Data Integration
This series focuses on the Fundamentals of Data Integration specific to PDG B-5 grantee teams, and includes information on data governance, single IDs, data privacy, and data integration.
This webinar covers key factors for defining a count of children, for states to use in answering questions for PDG B-5 comprehensive needs assessments.
Using IDEA Part C and 619 Data in the PDG B-5 State Systems Needs Assessments Webinar
This presentation highlights the types of data collected by states IDEA 619 and Part C and where the data is located.
Strategic Planning Resources
PDG B-5 grantees are required to develop or revise a strategic plan that supports collaboration and coordination among existing ECE programs in a mixed delivery system with a state or territory. The plan will focus on establishing and maintaining an ECE system designed to support all children and their families, but particularly those identified as most vulnerable by their state or territory. Each state or territory's PDG B-5 Strategic Plan will identify goals and action steps to directly address the specific areas for improvement identified in the needs assessment and reflect a comprehensive systems-plan approach. Grantees have the opportunity to create their strategic plan in a way that best fits their needs, and should establish the strategies that fit the needs of the participants involved in the work and invested in the outcome.
These resources were created to support PDG B-5 grantees in creating strategic plans for comprehensive, mixed-delivery system for children and families.
Strategic Planning Guidance and Crosswalk
These resources were created to support PDG B-5 grantees in creating strategic plans for comprehensive, mixed-delivery systems for children and families.
Guide for Communicating the Strategic Plan for a Comprehensive, Statewide ECCE System
This guide provides guidance for PDG B-5 state leads and teams for using the evaluation of the strategic plan to communicate to external audiences about progress and goals.
Strategic Plan Community of Conversation Part 1 Webinar
This conversation included questions from grantees, grantee experience with strategic planning work to date, and PDG B-5 Strategic Plan submission process information.
Strategic Plan Community of Conversation Part 2 Webinar
This conversation reviewed Strategic Plan guidance, discussed participant questions, and explained the Strategic Plan crosswalk and submission process.
The Role of Strategic Plans in Comprehensive ECCE Systems Building
This webinar provides information about states with successful, enduring processes in place that result in an ongoing strategic plan for their early childhood system.
Using the Strategic Plan for Comprehensive Systems Building
This webinar provides resources and examples from other states on updating, communicating and using the strategic plan to communicate to external audiences about progress and goals.