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Early Childhood Education
Equity starts early. High-quality early education programs can improve outcomes and narrow achievement gaps for all kids, particularly children from low-income families.
State chiefs renewed their commitment to the importance of early learning in Equity Starts Early. This policy statement outlines the actions states can take to increase access to high-quality early learning programs for all children. To support states in these efforts, CCSSO is focusing on the following key areas:
-School Readiness and Transition to Elementary School
-Accelerating Improvement and Innovation in Early Learning Programs
-Family and Community Engagement
-Advocating for Expanded Access to High-Quality Early Childhood Programs
-Building a Unified Early Education Workforce
Early Childhood Education Collaborative
Early Childhood Education Collaborative
The ECE Collaborative is dedicated to supporting the work of state education agencies on issues of standards, instruction, assessment, data systems, and program design and accountability for children from birth to grade 3.
We urge you to consider joining the Early Childhood Collaborative (formerly Early Childhood Education SCASS) which provides the major opportunity of state early education specialists to join a professional and leadership opportunity solely designed to support and enhance the capacity of early educators at state departments of education. This year’s focus will be on specific perspectives of the Birth/PreK to 3rd-grade alignment, a policy area that many of you are working on. The meetings of the Collaboratives is always an exciting opportunity to engage in peer exchanges, share your work with those from your agency who attend other collaboratives, and feel re-energized when you return to the office.
If interested, please complete the membership form or work with the colleague of yours who coordinates your Department’s registration process for the CCSSO Collaboratives. Feel free to reach out to Rolf.Grafwallner@ccsso.org for more information.
Improvement Science
Early Learning Network Improvement Community (NIC)
As a result of information gleaned from an early learning workgroup that concluded in 2017, CCSSO identified a problem of practice (PoP) that is common across several states: “To increase the effectiveness of instruction and student achievement in early grades, states need to study the effectiveness of current policy and test the impact of innovative strategies to increase teacher knowledge and capacity to deliver evidence-backed instructional practice in math and literacy in PreK through third grade classrooms.” To tackle this PoP and work deeply with states around early literacy and early math instructional practices, CCSSO formed an Early Learning Network Improvement Community (NIC) for states interested in advancing policy in the area of early learning in PreK through third grade. CCSSO has embarked on a second phase of this work to move four states (New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, and Nebraska) into implementing high-quality, evidence-based instructional methods based on improvement science to achieve greater outcomes for students and teachers in early literacy and math. Recommendations and conclusions based on the first phase of this work are outlined here.
Improvement science deploys rapid tests of change to guide the development, revision, and continued fine-tuning of new tools, processes, work roles and relationships, and is explicitly designed to accelerate learning-by-doing. It's a more user-centered and problem-centered approached to improving teaching and learning. To learn more about this approach and methodology to policy, please check out the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Chiefs Promoting High-Quality PreK
Chiefs Promoting High-Quality PreK
Through the launch of the Chiefs Promoting High-Quality Prekindergarten Network, the Council supported chiefs and their lead staff to promote the consistent implementation of high-quality prekindergarten at a time when many states were expanding access to prekindergarten programs. Quality benchmarks from the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER), supported by latest research, suggested improved effects on mitigating the achievement gap by third grade.
Throughout the course of this project, CCSSO worked with nine states, and two territories to leverage their role as state K-12 leaders to improve the funding, access, and policies that supported state-funded preschool programs for all students. The network included the following states/territories: Colorado, Delaware, DoDEA, Guam, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
An invaluable part of this project was the establishment of a Teacher Practitioners Advisory Board of six outstanding prekindergarten and early childhood teachers who were named or nominated for National Teacher of the Year. These state teachers of the year advised the state teams on effective teaching practices in PreK and served as spokespeople for other prekindergarten teachers across the country. The board members were:
- Georgia - Nathan Leatherwood and Jodi McNamara
- California – Ginger Brown
- DODEA- Sarah Loomis
- New Jersey- Mark Mautone
- Maine – Vicki Grotton
An additional component of this network were the opportunities to visit programs of excellence in order to gain insights on program implementation with high standards. States reported site visits were very useful, and as team members were able to see high-quality practices taking place in a classroom it helped bring alive the quality components discussed in theory and research throughout the network meetings. The programs that the network visited included:
- May 2018: Cornerstone Montessori Elementary School, Minneapolis, MN
- October 2018: Curtis Guild Elementary School and Curley K-8 School, and Wonder of Learning Exhibit: Boston, MA
- March 2019: Marie Reed Elementary School and Brent Elementary School, Washington, DC
These site visits were made possible by Trust for Learning.
A final report on state progress and policy implications was published in September 2019. To read more about the outcomes and impact of this Network, please check out the report here.
State Consortium on Family Engagement
State Consortium on Family Engagement
The imprint of socialization and early learning is greatly influenced by a child’s family, community, and surroundings. State and federal education agencies recognize the importance of family engagement in the educational process. State policies on parental involvement and support structures for families are prevalent, as is federal policy through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Currently there are 18 states in Cohort I and Cohort II that will be implementing family engagement strategies, espcially in low-income communities. These states will be elevating the outreach to early childhood providers and local districts by developing a Birth to Grade 12 Family Engagement Framework, which will offer a strategic approach to engaging families with early childhood providers and schools.
The Consortium’s key partner is the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) as the fiscal agent of the Consortium activities. In addition, the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE), the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc. (MAEC), and the Campaign for Grade Level Reading (the Campaign) support the Consortiums' activities, providing ongoing technical assistance to states. The Policy Equity Group, LLC serves as a key advisor to the project.
Cohort I
In June 2017, CCSSO established the first cohort of seven states:
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
Cohort II
In May 2018, CCSSO established a second cohort of eleven states:
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Wyoming
Below, Jessica Solano, 2017 Florida Teacher of the Year, speaks to Cohorts 1&2 about her family engagement practices within the classroom during the joint convening of both cohorts in Salt Lake City in September 2018.
Early Care and Education Policy Academy 2.0
Early Care and Education Policy Academy 2.0
This project seeks to provide state education chiefs and their staff with expert assistance and advice regarding enhancing the quality of their early childhood education (ECE) workforce, Birth to Age 8 and designed to help strengthen or transform state policy agendas related to the workforce. In partnership with the National Governor's Association, ten selected states have received support to develop and carry out action plans focused on one or more specific state policy priorities related to improving their ECE workforce.
The NGA Center for Best Practices Education Division’s project provides technical assistance and grants support for the development of a policy agenda to Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana and North Carolina. CCSSO received funds to provide technical assistance and grants for the four additional states: Michigan, Maryland, California and Pennsylvania.
Together, these states will receive support to develop and carry out action plans focused on one or more specific state policy priorities related to improving their ECE workforce.
