Olympia — The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) recently released a report which shows that engaging in economic mobility coaching with parents correlates with future success in school for their children.

ECEAP families who received Mobility Mentoring^® coaching, a platform designed to strengthen opportunities for low-income parents and their children, saw powerful results not only in outcomes for parents but also for their children. 

In 2018, 3,098 low-income families participated in DCYF’s Mobility Mentoring^® pilot program. Participating parents showed significant improvements in metrics such as decreasing conflict and debt or increasing parenting skills and healthy lifestyles. Children of those parents attainted significantly higher scores on their evaluations of literacy, math, cognition and social-emotional development.

ECEAP launched the pilot program in 2015 in connection with Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath), a Boston-based nonprofit working to improve delivery of human and social services. The program is an adaptation of EMPath’s trademarked model, Mobility Mentoring^®, which provides one-on-one coaching based on behavioral and neurosciences. 

“We are grateful to our partners and families for their collaboration in the development of this innovative approach that partners with families, increases their self-reliance and improves outcomes for all participating ECEAP families and children,” said Jody Becker, DCYF Deputy Secretary of Programs for Children and Families.

ECEAP is a program in Washington state focusing on the well-being of the whole child by providing comprehensive education, health and family support services to three and four-year-old children furthest from opportunity. The program is overseen by DCYF, and is a key strategy in achieving the goal of 90 percent kindergarten readiness regardless of race, ethnicity and family income.

“We are thrilled with the outcomes experienced by these families. For years, we have worked closely with ECEAP to develop this approach for the needs of Washington families,” said Elisabeth D. Babcock, President and CEO of EMPath. “This data affirms what we’ve always suspected: the best way to help children in low-income households succeed is to help their parents achieve economic mobility.” 

Statewide implementation of Mobility Mentoring^® began in the 2018-2019 school year. ECEAP plans to continue to improve this approach by convening two workgroups whose functions are to ensure culturally responsive and equitable delivery of service.

Learn more about the three years of ECEAP’s Mobility Mentoring^® pilot implementation in the following research reports:

• ECEAP Family Support Pilot Report Year One: 2015 – 2016
• ECEAP Family Support Pilot Report Year Two: 2016 – 2017
• ECEAP Family Support Pilot Report Year Three: 2017 – 2018