What is happening in Nevada?

Nevada TACSEI is a statewide initiative designed to create a sustainable, statewide system that promotes social emotional development in young children, using the Pyramid Model.

The Pyramid Model is a framework for intentionally supporting the social emotional foundations for early learning. It is a tiered prevention and intervention model designed to prevent and address children’s challenging behaviors. For more information, go to the Pyramid Model section of the website.

Nevada TACSEI’s Statewide Leadership Team is comprised of members from a variety of agencies, programs and services who are committed to supporting social emotional development and preventing challenging behavior.

  Mission Statement

Our mission is to collaborate with families, community partners, and policy makers to create a sustainable, statewide system that promotes social emotional development in young children, using the Pyramid Model.

Our Vision

Young children in Nevada will have stable and healthy relationships, be ready to learn, and successfully navigate their social environment. Families will be supported in nurturing their child’s social and emotional growth.

To achieve this mission and vision we have created a Master Cadre of experienced trainers, coaches and technical assistance providers for the Pyramid Model located throughout the state. The Master Cadre members provide training and can work directly with programs to support implementation of Pyramid Model practices.

Programs who commit to program-wide implementation of Pyramid Model practices can move through the Phases of Implementation and work toward Nevada TACSEI Model Demonstration Site status.

This website will house resources for Nevada TACSEI trainers, coaches and model demonstration site staff as well as serve as a communication tool for parents and the early childhood community. Browse this website to learn more about our vision, mission, leadership team, model demonstration sites and training opportunities.

History

Nevada was selected as one of only two states in 2010 to partner with the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI). The purpose of this partnership was to build state capacity to develop, implement and sustain a comprehensive system of training and technical assistance for supporting social emotional competence and addressing challenging behaviors in young children at-risk for or with identified developmental delays in Nevada. A primary goal of this partnership was to enhance the ability of the early care and education (ECE) workforce to address the social, emotional and behavioral needs of all young children birth to 5-years. The plan was to embed Pyramid Model training into existing Nevada ECE professional development initiatives.

The Pyramid Model promotes evidence-based practices that support positive social emotional skills for young children, such as recognizing emotions in self and others, learning rules and expectations, self-regulation, and positive social interactions with peers. Research confirms a strong link between social emotional competence in young children and later school success. It also shows the negative consequences of untreated behavior problems including risk for school failure, delinquency in adolescence, and adult incarceration.

To achieve the broad goal of implementing a comprehensive system of training and technical assistance to support children’s social emotional competence, national TACSEI staff worked with Nevada on the following activities:

• A statewide interagency early childhood leadership team was convened to develop policies and procedures to implement, evaluate, and sustain this initiative. This team has met monthly since October 2010.
• A Master Cadre of 14 trainers and coaches were recruited and trained to build the capacity of the ECE workforce to implement the Pyramid Model with fidelity. The kick-off training was held March 21-24, 2011.
• Five model demonstration sites located around the state and representing a variety of early childhood setting were selected and trained to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Pyramid Model and practices.