B6.07 - Approve the Memorandum of Agreement with The Children's Board of Hillsborough County (Children's Board) for the Supporting and Empowering Educational Development Services (SEEDS) Project (Climate and Culture)

The SEEDS project is a multi-disciplinary intervention team composed of schools, community, and family representatives. The Children's Board is the main funder of this $2 million project in partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). The Children’s Board distributes the funds to the lead agency, the Children’s Home Network, who leads the SEEDS program. The primary goal of SEEDS is to provide support for children ages birth through third grade and their families so that:

• Children are ready for kindergarten,
• Children are promoted to the next grade level, and
• Children are reading on level by third grade

These outcomes contribute to the Children’s Board result areas of:

• Children are ready to learn and succeed, and
• Children are developmentally on track

This is accomplished by working together with the family to support the developmental, educational, and social needs of the child so he/she is able to function more successfully at home, in school, and in the community. The SEEDS project combines the strengths of the family, school system, community services, and existing family supports to achieve goals established by the family in conjunction with the SEEDS team. HCPS pays for salaries for family support coordinators (case managers).  In strength-based planning, the family, school system, and community service providers link assets across systems to establish a collective force to reduce or eliminate barriers faced by the child and family. In the 2018/2019 school year, SEEDS served 724 students in 131 elementary schools and 19 charter schools.  

District data indicates that there is a gap in learning and system barriers that lead to children not being prepared for kindergarten. This gap further leads to students falling behind in reading and being at risk of retention. Based on data from the beginning of the 2019/2020 school year, the District’s kindergarten readiness rate was 52.4 percent, which meant 47.6 percent of children coming into kindergarten needed more support. District reading data also indicates there is a need for support in the primary grades in order to increase the reading proficiency of students in 3-5 grades. Based on the 2018/2019 English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessments, our achievement schools had 31.5 percent of students scoring a level 3 and above in reading for grades 3-5, while our non-achievement schools had 61.3 percent of students scoring a level 3 and above in reading for grades 3-5. While promotion rates for elementary school last year were 97.6 percent for students in grades K-5, achievement schools had a promotion rate of 89.8 percent, which indicates there are still barriers facing students and families that impact school performance.

HCPS has supported the SEEDS program in collaboration with the Children’s Board since 2012. Children's Board staff members meet quarterly with the SEEDS administrator and select staff to review service levels, performance, and status of the outcomes. The Supervisor of School Social Work Services serves on the SEEDS Leadership Council with the SEEDS administrator and select Children's Board staff members to review service outcomes and make changes and modifications, if identified. A survey is distributed to select educators about participating students to determine impact on academic performance (for example: submitting homework, class participation, attendance, getting along with peers, etc.) as well as parent participation in school activities including conferences with educators. The Children’s Board’s data report demonstrates positive outcomes for students and families participating in the SEEDS program (see attached report). 

Students and families served by the SEEDS program will continue to make positive gains and barriers to academic success will be addressed. SEEDS will continue to focus on kindergarten readiness, promotion to the next grade level, and reading proficiency by third grade. Strength based family planning and team collaboration will continue to be the model utilized in order to maximize resources and promote student academic success.  

* Improve the high school graduation rate

* Provide a student-centered learning environment that engages every child

Approve the Memorandum of Agreement with The Children’s Board to support the SEEDS program for the 2020/2021 school year. 

Myrna Hogue, Supervisor, School Social Work Services, Myrna.Hogue@sdhc.k12.fl.us, (813) 273-7090
Holly Saia, Ed. S., General Director, Student Services, Holly.Saia@sdhc.k12.fl.us, (813) 273-7136
Tracye H. Brown, Chief of Climate and Culture, Tracye.Brown@sdhc.k12.fl.us, (813) 272-4879

HCPS will pay for salaries not to exceed $160,000.  Funds will be available in the General Fund.