Lending a Hand to Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia

19 Nov Lending a Hand to Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia

Earlier this year, Engagious donated some time and expertise to help out the Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia (CSFP). Our team conducted two focus groups for the privately-funded program whose mission is to provide children from low-income Philadelphia families with financial access to quality, safe, K-8th grade, tuition-based schools, thereby increasing their long-term economic and social success. CSFP currently serves about 5,200 children enrolled at over 170 private and parochial schools.

For this research, our main focus was their recently introduced Parent Ambassador (PA) program. PAs are current CSFP parents selected to represent CSFP within their school communities. They help build relationships with other CSFP families within their child’s school and assist with questions about CSFP’s scholarship program, such as registration requirements, deadlines, and events. Our first group consisted of CSFP parents of children attending a school that has had a PA for at least one year, while our second group consisted of CSFP parents who have children attending a school that will have a PA starting this upcoming 2018-2019 school year. In connection with a grant CSFP received, the PAs will also help with educating low-income families on how to evaluate and locate quality pre-k options. Therefore, we also explored with respondents the factors they consider when choosing an early childcare program for children ages 3 – 4, their familiarity with pre-k rating and accreditation systems, and which organizations influence their decision-making with regard to high quality early education options.

Some highlights from our research include:

• Respondents had very little familiarity with CSFP’s Parent Ambassador Program. Interestingly, half of respondents who have had a PA in their school for at least one year were unaware of that.
• CSFP parents who will have a PA in their child’s school starting this month were excited about it. They thought that it would be good to have someone to talk to, and they expected to learn about scholarship opportunities.
• The most important factors when choosing an early childcare program for children ages 3 & 4 were: safety, highly rated in quality/quality certified or accredited, educational/academic program/school-based pre-k, class size, and affordability.
• The least important factors for choosing a pre-k was whether it is religious or faith-based and referrals by friends and family.
• Overall, a slight majority (14 of 24) of respondents have considered changing schools or changed schools since entering the CSFP scholarship program. For most, the reasons focused on the quality of their child’s educational experience rather than issues of affordability.
• The pre-k rating or accreditation system that respondents were most familiar with—by far—is Keystone STARS. Interestingly, fewer than one-third of respondents (seven of 24) knew that the highest STARS-rating possible to attain is four stars.
• School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the organization that the most number of respondents overall (13 of 24) told us influenced their decision-making with regard to high quality early education options, but when probed, it appeared that the reason was that SDP was not quality and respondents were looking for something better.
• The best way for CSFP to get in touch with parents to notify them about an issue relating to their child’s program is to send an email to them.

This information will help CSFP plan the upcoming expansion of the PA program in multiple ways, including at the most basic level, knowing the best way to communicate updates and information to its scholarship parents. CSFP will also use this information to prepare materials about how to evaluate quality pre-k options for distribution to low-income parents and the public. Engagious was proud to be part of data-driven solutions that will help Philadelphia families struggling to find easily understood information about quality educational opportunities.

If you’d like to learn more about the fine work of CSFP, please visit: https://www.csfphiladelphia.org/.