PPI provides grant writing, needs assessment, and evaluation services to improve early care, K-12, and post-secondary service delivery and outcomes. The following project examples illustrate the breadth of PPI services in early care and education.
PPI completed a long-term implementation and outcome evaluation of Zero to Five Montana’s multi-strategy initiative designed to build child care provider business capacity and expand child-care access. The evaluation described outcomes related to the growth and stabilization of the early care ecosystem across multiple levels, including providers, communities, and the Montana early childhood system as a whole.
Birth to Five Statewide Needs Assessment
In partnership with Bloom Consulting, PPI recently completed the Strengthening Montana's Early Childhood Systems Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The Needs Assessment assessed early care access and quality throughout the state and among key vulnerable populations. It also assessed existing early care workforce capacity, and identified key findings related to system coordination, family engagement and governance.
Idaho Preschool Development Grant Needs Assessment
Needs assessments in humans services provide critical information on service needs and system gaps, which inform effective program design and service prioritization. In partnership with Marzano Research and Parsons Consulting., PPI collaborated on a comprehensive statewide and local-level landscape analysis of early care and education services in support of the Idaho Preschool Development Grant Birth Through Five Needs Assessment.
South Dakota Foundational Study of Preschool Services
Foundational studies can provide important contextual information that support policy-makers in making data-informed decisions. In partnership with Marzano Research and Parsons Consulting, PPI conducted data collection, analysis, and presentation of secondary early care and education data to support the South Dakota Foundational Study of Preschool Services.
Evaluating Programs and Strategies to Improve Postsecondary
Education Access and Success
Participation in dual enrollment courses offer students college credit while in high school and can support students' post-secondary access and outcomes. PPI supported a design and feasibility assessment in partnership with Abt Global to identify measurable strategies to increase access to and success in dual enrollment programs among first-generation students as a critical tool to advance post-secondary success.
