Below are resources for early childhood professionals and those serving the early childhood community.
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) has provided analysis of appropriations in state-funded pre–k programs for the past several fiscal years. Review our reports from 2012–2013, 2013–2014 and 2014–2015.
The Initiatives from Preschool to the Third Grade: A Policymaker’s Guide serves as a reference guide for policymakers, members of the media, and others on the most commonly requested topics to the ECS Information Clearinghouse on early learning.
State Pre-K Funding for 2015-16 Fiscal Year: National trends in state preschool funding, a new analysis from Education Commission of the States, highlights an increase in these early learning programs for the fourth straight year. The report includes several state examples and an overview of the pre-k programs states have in place.
Developmental Screenings is a tool used by community collaborations to engage, educate, and refer to services. Communities across Illinois are leading groundbreaking initiatives for achieving universal child development screening for young children.
A webinar titled “Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Opportunities for Early Learning“ will be held February 18 at 2 to 3:30 p.m. BUILD invites attendees to take part in a webinar discussing the new federal education law – Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and its new provisions as it relates to early learning and young children.
A webinar titled “PreK–3 Continuum: Your Role in Creating Seamless Transitions“ will be held April 13 at 1 p.m. The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and the National Association of Elementary School Principals will host a webinar about strategies and tools to foster alignment among preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary programs. This webinar will look at new evidence from recent surveys around organizational dynamics of the preK–3 transition period.
Early Childhood Policy team at the Center for American Progress (CAP)
- The Early Childhood Policy team at the Center for American Progress (CAP) analyzed the consistency of children’s access to effective teachers in its new report, “Examining Teacher Effectiveness Between Preschool and Third Grade,” finding that the access varies between the years and that African-American, Hispanic, and low-income children access at lower rates.
- CAP also highlighted alignment in “A Different Way of Doing Business: Examples of Pre-K to Third Grade Alignment in Practice.” Common practices included a unified vision of goal that articulates the connection to alignment, supportive leadership and buy-in, and streamlined approaches.
- Finally, CAP published “Examining Quality Across the Preschool-to-Third-Grade Continuum,” answering to what extent are children accessing high-quality early education and two does the experience in the early grades build on that earlier instruction.
BUILD Initiative new e-book: Rising to the Challenge: Building Effective Systems for Young Children and Families, a new e-book by the BUILD Initiative, shares learnings from initial implementation through trends and lessons of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. The e-book produced experiences from states through interviews with state leaders.
Continuity of Care Policy Brief: The Ounce of Prevention Fund National Policy Team published “The Importance of Continuity of Care: Policies and Practices in Early Childhood Systems and Programs,” a policy brief that provides a review of the research that articulates the importance of continuity of care for young children and families. Additionally, it highlights opportunities to support policies and programming that help young children develop secure relationships, including in the context of state Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) plans.
Early Learning Network: With an investment of $26 million in grants over the next five years, the Institute of Education is creating the Early Learning Network to examine school readiness and transition from preK to elementary school factors.
Education Week’s Christina Samuels reviews the ESSA changes related to early childhood education-increased clarity around use of funds and collaboration between early childhood and K–12, as well as, the establishment of a revised Preschool Development Grant (PDG) program under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
