Our Actions on the Early Learning Front

Executive Perspective

For my entire career in education, I have been a proponent of early childhood education. It began while a college student when I worked full time in a Head Start program. I observed how the students in our classes were better prepared for kindergarten than those students lacking the experience.

During my years as a superintendent, all my school districts offered pre-K and full-day kindergarten. At that time, I was not even aware of recent studies such as the one done in 2016 by the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California showing a 13 percent return on investment, producing $6 for every dollar spent in early childhood programs.

Educators have recognized this, and we have seen a growth in funding in recent years and thus the growth in the number of 4- to 8-year-old students participating in early childhood programs. By 2017, enrollment in state-funded preschool topped 1.5 million students. Yet by comparison to other countries, we still have a long way to go. As of 2017, the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school in the United States, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was 54 percent compared to an OECD average of 83 percent. Of the 37 countries studied, the U.S. ranked fourth from the bottom.

A Committed Cohort

AASA is committed to the growth of early childhood programs. More than three years ago, we formed the Early Learning cohort, spanning the nation with members from Washington state to Maryland. It is a group of dedicated superintendents, central-office administrators, principals and other educators who have met numerous times since the cohort’s inception. Prior to the pandemic, they were able to meet in person in districts offering early learning programs where classrooms were observed, and the participants offered feedback and had robust discussions on best practices and innovative strategies.

Initial support for the cohort came from an expansion grant that was awarded to the Waterford Institute to expand early learning in rural areas. As a result, superintendents from five western states received scholarships to join the cohort. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic put an end to the in-person meetings, but the members have continued their professional learning in monthly videoconferencing sessions.

Cohort members have gained access to some of the most knowledgeable thinkers in early learning, such as Nell Duke, an authority on early literacy development at University of Michigan, and Karen Mapp, a faculty member at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Equity has been the focus with participants committed to the postulate that “Early Childhood Matters Most!” I could not agree more.

There are 35 educators from 18 states participating in the cohort. 

A year ago, AASA entered into a partnership with the Office of Head Start, which also had a relationship with the National Association for Elementary School Principals to ease the transition for families and students as they make their way from Head Start to kindergarten. I was fortunate when I was the superintendent of the Fairfax County Schools in Virginia that we ran the county’s Head Start programs, which were located in our school buildings. There, the transition was seamless.

Often, that is not the case when a strong relationship does not exist between Head Start and the school district. Even when Head Start classes are housed in school buildings, an emerging issue during the pandemic has been the concern that Head Start classrooms might be displaced as school districts needed more room to create the social spacing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.

A Measuring Tool

Just as AASA has been working with college presidents to establish greater collaboration between K-12 and higher education, we also are attempting to reduce the barriers between preschool and K-12. The Early Learning cohort has established three action commit-tees that focus on (1) advocacy/policy, (2) research and tool development, and (3) communications and presentations. They have assisted in the creation of the Early Learning Program Assessment Tool, which allows districts to determine whether their early-learning birth through age 8 programs are developmentally appropriate and based on current research.

Another AASA partner, Standards For Success, has made the ELPAT available nationally and hopes the instrument will assist in the collection of valuable birth to age 8 program data.

During the pandemic, AASA’s cohort pivoted to monthly Twitter chats, webinars and a National Early Learning Equity Symposium last October. If you are interested in becoming an Early Learning cohort member, click here. As we pursue equity for all our students, we recognize it has to start early.