(A) The South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees shall establish internal evaluation policies and procedures for local partnerships for an annual review of the functioning of the partnership, implementation of strategies, and progress toward the interim goals and benchmarks. In instances where no progress has been made, the Office of First Steps to School Readiness shall provide targeted assistance and/or the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees may terminate the grant. An independent evaluation of each prevalent program investment using valid and reliable measures must be completed and published by the First Steps Board of Trustees no less than every five years. The First Steps board shall adopt a cyclical evaluation calendar including each major program investment no later than June 30, 2015. After publication of a baseline report for each major program investment as defined in § 59-152-25, subsequent reports will be published no later than five calendar years from the date of each prior publication. In addition to the independent evaluation of each prevalent program, an evaluation of the progress on the initiative’s goals and purpose must be completed by November 1, 2014, and every five years thereafter by an independent, external evaluator under contract with the South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness Board of Trustees. The purpose of this evaluation will be to gauge First Steps’ progress in meeting the goals established in § 59-152-20 and § 59-52-30.

(B) Local partnerships must agree to participate in such an evaluation in order to receive a First Steps grant. Subsequent grant approval and grant allocations must be dependent, in part, on the results of the evaluations. If an evaluation finds no progress has been made in meeting local goals or implementing strategies as agreed to in the First Steps grant, the grant may be terminated.

(C) The purpose of the evaluation is to assess progress toward achieving the First Steps goals and to determine the impact of each strategy in supporting improved school readiness as defined in § 52-152-15. The impact assessment shall include, but is not limited to, school readiness measures; benefits from child development services; immunization status; low birth-weight rates; parent literacy; parenting skills; parental involvement; transportation; and developmental screening results. During the course of the evaluation, if an evaluator determines that any state agency has failed to comply with the coordination and collaboration provisions as required in this chapter, the final report must reflect that information. Each program evaluation report must be reported to the General Assembly no later than three months after conclusion of the evaluation. Local partnerships shall cooperate fully in collecting and providing data and information for the evaluation of their funded strategies.