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Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Grant Competition

In 2018, the District of Columbia won a $10.6 million Preschool Development Grant, Birth to Five Grant (PDG B-5) from the Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services. This funding, administered by OSSE on behalf of the District, will be strategically used to create a more efficient, responsive and coordinated B-5 mixed delivery system that particularly meets the needs of vulnerable children and families. The PDG B-5 funded work has centered around five areas of work and an evaluation: a District-wide needs assessment and District-wide strategic plan, maximizing family choice and knowledge, sharing best practices and improving quality. Collectively, these efforts will improve the quality of early learning environments by strengthening and aligning evidence-based practices used within the B-5 cross-sector early childhood mixed-delivery system.

Needs Assessment

In 2019, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), with collaboration from other District agencies, strategically used PDG B-5 funding to better understand family awareness, access and utilization of early care and education benefits, programs and services throughout the mixed-delivery system by conducting a comprehensive needs assessment. The needs assessment report included qualitative and quantitative data from:

  • 32 family listening sessions;
  • 21 key informant interviews;
  • 23 professional focus groups;
  • Analysis of administrative data;
  • An online and print family survey with 2,099 respondents; and
  • An inventory of existing pilot and demonstration projects in the District.

OSSE would like to acknowledge and thank the families, District agency partners, community-based organizations, advocates, early childhood educators and administrators who shared their experiences, expertise and perspectives in the needs assessment.

Please note that the needs assessment research was conducted as part of PDG B-5 and completed in 2019. Therefore, the research does not incorporate nor address questions, feedback and specific needs related to coronavirus (COVID-19) nor the District’s recovery efforts.

For more information on the results and recommendations in the District’s PDG B-5 Needs Assessment, view the condensed document: English | Español | Amharic (አማርኛ)