Learning from Leading Edge Comprehensive P–3 Initiatives

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Developing comprehensive 0-8 systems: aligning ECD and primary school education and care

Proposal

There is a growing movement in the United States to align ECD and K-12 education while improving the quality of the full range of programs and services that serve young children from before birth through age 8. Known as the P–3 (prenatal through grade 3) movement, this reform effort is a response to high rates of child poverty, uneven quality in preschool and primary school classrooms, and the fragmented state of education, health, and social services for young children and their families. While many P–3 initiatives focus on the educational alignment of preschool in the early grades of primary school, the most advanced initiatives are multi-pronged in nature and aim to make significant improvements in three domains: teaching and learning, family engagement and partnership, and comprehensive supports for children and families.

This presentation reports on the results of a qualitative implementation study of these more comprehensive, leading edge P–3 initiatives. After consulting with a range of national leaders and interviewing 19 communities, the author conducted site visits to 7 of those communities. Key findings include:
• Two models of comprehensive P–3 initiatives have emerged: one in which primary schools function as hubs for families with young children and for early childhood providers, and another in which local education authorities and early childhood programs form community-wide partnerships to coordinate services.
• Both models include a focus on improving teaching and learning in classroom for 3 to 8-year-olds in addition to the coordination of health and social services.
• The most advanced comprehensive P–3 initiatives have developed a range of new staffing arrangements, organizational structures, and strategies to further P–3 improvement, which in effect provide a range of design options for communities interested in developing similar initiatives.
• States, provinces, and counties can support local P–3 initiatives by aligning standards and policies, facilitating networks and professional learning, and providing resources for pilot projects to test implementation strategies and serve as models of learning for other communities.

Several leading edge communities have documented early evidence of effectiveness, and in these communities evaluation efforts are ongoing. Other communities are working to develop more robust evaluation approaches and seek to learn from the experiences of other communities and from other relevant interventions.

Comprehensive P–3 initiatives in the US suggest a number of lessons learned, including:
• The potential effectiveness of combining the school as P–3 hub and community-wide partnership models.
• The role of strategic plans, implementation benchmarks, and continuous improvement processes in promoting effective implementation.
• The need to strengthen the evaluation of comprehensive P–3 initiatives.
• The development of networks of comprehensive P–3 initiatives to promote innovation and the exchange of implementation strategies.

Author

• David L Jacobson, Education Development Center (EDC)