Summary of Client’s Challenge
The legislative branch in the state of Florida identified a need to build and demonstrate competency for child care workers throughout Florida and codified this info law. In order to determine the impact of the legislative requirement to develop and deliver legally defensible exams that would ensure a common skill set in caring for children under the age of six in day care centers and other child care locations, the FL Department of Children and Families hired Change by Design to conduct a thorough policy analysis to determine various impacts, including on personnel, costs, etc.
Areas of Consideration in the Policy Recommendations Study
Change by Design conducted a policy recommendations study / analysis for the Florida Department of Children & Families Child Care Services Office on the implementation of a statewide certification test for Child Care workers. This policy was approved in the state legislature on the issues surrounding around this new policy, as well as the ramifications of this new policy to the agency and other relevant stakeholders. This six-week project required intensive effort to achieve the desired results, which included the following areas of consideration:
Centralization or contracting of test-related activities
Role recommendations for state-level administrators and district-level administrators
Trainer and proctor rules and responsibilities
Written guidance in the forms of: State Testing Handbook; Test Administration Manual; Test Preparation Booklet
Test scoring issues
Test accommodations
Test registration, frequency of testing, and test administration logistics
Implementation of a regular testing and scoring schedule
Handling of test results
Communication-related issues
Bench-marking of relevant state-level testing entities to identify best practices
Annual costs broken down by different approaches
Recommended procedures governing all testing effort
Test administration issues, such as accommodations, procedures, administration cancellation
Sequence of the Study
During this six-week project, Change by Design:
1. Synthesized and analyzed information from legal sources
2. Conducted extensive research on testing issues
3. Interviewed and analyzed training coordinators
4. Bench-marked several types of high-stakes testing, including:
FL Bureau of Departmental Regulation licensure exams
DCF competency-based pay test
General Education Diploma (GED)
Each Friday we delivered a progress report to the Child Care Services department that detailed all activities performed. It also provided the opportunity to present the next week’s planned activities.
Final Deliverables
The primary deliverable was a 48-page report that provided a number of recommendations guiding the Office of Child Care in adjusting their organizational approach and plans to align with the new policy. The second deliverable included several appendices. See below.
Click To View Report PDF
We also separately produced a 145-page appendix that included:
Appendix A: important summarized testing concepts and standards as found in the APA, AERA, and the NCME.
Appendix B: Relevant federal and state legislation, synopsized as background legal reference and a guide for future rule-making.
Appendix C: Exhaustive listing of possible disabilities related to testing and recommendations for accommodations.
Appendix D: Summary of relevant case law.
Appendix E: Factual synopsis and analysis of interviews with training coordinators.
Appendix F: Rough estimate of number of child care workers who would take the competency-based test annually.
Appendix G: A list of proposed Florida test sites.
Appendix H: A list of all test taker rights and responsibilities.
We leave no stone un-turned. If you are a local government, state agency, federal department, non-profit organization, or association dealing with new legislative policy, contact Change by Design to learn how the comprehensive recommendations in our policy analysis solutions can help you overcome difficult challenges and chart a sustainable path forward.