For early childhood state agencies, implementing professional development programs and quality initiatives is a gargantuan task:
- Funding streams must be allocated.
- Buy-in at the county level must be secured.
- Alignment with wider K-12 goals in the state must be established.
In Ohio, state leaders successfully pulled it off. They did it with LENA Grow, an evidence-based professional development program for infant, toddler, and preschool educators. In a new case study, we describe how.
At the heart of the successful statewide launch was collaboration between the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY). OCCRRA has been the central coordinating entity for the state’s seven child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) since 1989. And DCY was created in 2023 to support the governor’s Bold Beginning Initiative.
Program launch
OCCRRA first met with LENA in the spring of 2022 to learn more about how LENA Grow works and the evidence behind its effectiveness. By September, a program agreement had been signed. LENA’s Partner Success team was leading kickoff sessions with coaches from each CCR&R. And on October 31, the first of what would become hundreds of LENA Days took place in two preschool classrooms.
“This was a really energizing initiative to roll out,” said Todd Barnhouse, OCCRRA’s CEO. “The data that comes about with the tool is huge, and almost instantaneous.”
Year #1, and future projections
The first year of the program was funded with one-time COVID-relief dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). To sustain the program for the next several years, OCCRRA worked with DCY to write LENA Grow into the state’s Preschool Development Grant (PDG) funds.
In the program’s first year, more than 2,000 children and 350 early educators participated in LENA Grow through OCCRRA. By September of 2025, a projected 7,600 additional children in more than 850 classrooms will have completed the program.
Teacher and child outcomes
Initial results show that children who started the program experiencing the least interactive talk saw a 68 percent increase in conversational turns by the end of the program. This brought them above the national median of 15 conversational turns per hour. We know from large LENA datasets that far too many young children experience far too little interaction with their teachers in early care and education settings.
After completing the program, teachers shared their feedback and report on their experience with LENA Grow:
- 95 percent would recommend the program to other teachers.
- 90 percent feel more confident in their teaching abilities.
- 88 percent report increased overall job satisfaction.
- 81 percent report increased communication with families.
- 89 percent saw changes in children’s language development.
“They had those ‘a-ha’ moments,” said Kelly Slade, Professional Development Coordinator with OCCRRA. “When they see this real-time data, it opens their eyes to the potential for what could be happening and the kinds of conversations, interactions, and attachment that could be happening with those children.”
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