Help Needed! Early Milestones Colorado Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Industry

Early Milestones Colorado is conducting a research study to understand the impact of the pandemic on the early childhood sector in Colorado and they need your help to get a strong response to surveys of child care providers, early childhood educators, and families!

Here’s how you can help:

1. Send emails to all the providers, early educators, and families in your network letting them know that our surveys are coming and encouraging them to participate
2. Use the attached website/social media content to communicate about the survey with your audiences

To help, Early Milestones Colorado has drafted email language and created website/social media content that you can use with your constituents.

Sample Survey Recruitment Email Language

Social Media Recruitment Graphic (pdf)

Social Media Recruitment Graphic – Square (jpg)

Social Media Recruitment Graphic – Rectangle (jpg)

Additional information for survey respondents can be found below.

PROVIDERS

The provider survey was sent directly to the emails of all licensed and Head Start/Early Head Start providers the week of June 15th and will be open for approximately three weeks. The survey asks open/close status and capacity, operations & instructional adaptations providers are making in response to the pandemic, health precautions they are taking, and their use of/need for supportive resources. All providers who participate are eligible to win one of fifteen $100 gift cards.

WORKFORCE

The workforce survey to early childhood teachers and caregivers registered in the PDIS system was sent the week of June 22nd. It will also be open for approximately three weeks and will be available in English and Spanish. We will send individualized survey links directly to the emails that teachers and caregivers have in PDIS. To get responses from workforce not in PDIS, we will have an anonymous link they can use to take the survey. The survey asks about employment status, financial well-being, and needed instructional, health, and operational supports for those who are back in the classroom. Workforce survey participants will receive credit hours in the Professional Development Information System and be eligible to win one of ten $100 gift cards.

FAMILIES

The family survey will be ready for distribution the week of June 29th  and will be open for 3-4 weeks. It will be available in English and Spanish. We will need to use a number of different avenues to reach families, including all of your networks, Bright by Text, and distribution by providers to the families they had enrolled prior to March 2020. The family survey will ask about child care needs, COVID health precautions their providers are taking, financial well-being, and use of family support services, in addition to basic demographic information. Families will be eligible to win one of twenty $100 gift cards.

Early Milestones Colorado hopes to have as many voices and perspectives as possible to help inform policy and funding decisions, and future efforts to sustain the sector, and appreciates your help to let providers, educators/caregivers, and families know how they can be heard.

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Meg Franko, PhD at mfranko@earlymilestones.org.