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Early Childhood Education and Community Schools Linkages Project: Implementation study
Geiser, Kristin E., 01 October, 2012
Stanford, CA: Stanford University, John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities.

A study of efforts to develop collaborative practices and continuity across early childhood education programs and elementary schools in Multnomah County, Oregon; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Tulsa, Oklahoma, based on 135 key informant interviews, site visits, and a review of project documents

Reports & Papers

Head Start State Collaboration Office needs assessment: State of Washington: 2010-2011 survey results
Washington Head Start-State Collaboration Office, December, 2011
Olympia: Washington Head Start-State Collaboration Office.

An assessment of Washington State Head Start program challenges and strengths in the collaboration, coordination, and alignment of services in 11 designated priority areas, based on survey responses from 23 Head Start programs

Reports & Papers

Linking early childhood to the early elementary years to improve student outcomes and reduce the achievement gap
Michigan's Children (Group), November, 2012
Lansing, MI: Michigan's Children.

A discussion of the benefits of a coordinated birth through third grade approach to early and elementary education in Michigan

Fact Sheets & Briefs

North Dakota Head Start State Collaboration Office needs assessment: 2011-2012 survey results
Danielson, Ramona (Ramona Ann), February, 2012
Bismarck: North Dakota, Department of Human Services.

An assessment of the cooperation, coordination, and collaboration of North Dakota Head Start programs' services in 11 designated priority areas, based on survey responses representing 13 Head Start programs

Reports & Papers

Prek-3rd: Getting literacy instruction right
Lesaux, Nonie K., May, 2013
(PreK-3rd Policy to Action Brief No. 9). New York: Foundation for Child Development.

A discussion of approaches to literacy instruction in prekindergarten through third grade education models

Fact Sheets & Briefs

Tying early childhood education more closely to schooling: Promise, perils and practical problems
Halpern, Robert, January, 2013
Teachers College Record, 115(1), 1-28

Purpose/Objective: One specific framework for bringing ECE and schooling closer together is "prek-3rd." The broad goal of prek-3rd is to encapsulate formal learning experiences in the 3-8 years age period and create a distinct, coherent whole out of them. In this article, I use prek-3rd as a vehicle for exploring the implications of more closely linking ECE and schooling, focusing especially on philosophical and practical issues raised by this objective. I will examine the reasoning of proponents and raise questions about their assumptions. Research Design: Analytic essay. Conclusions/Recommendations: The example of prek-3rd suggests that there are many positive aspects to the idea of bringing ECE and early schooling closer together. These include an extended time frame for holding on to a developmental orientation; a complex view of the child, and sensitivity to individual differences; the longitudinal perspective on learning and mastery; the balance in attention to teaching and learning; and the broadened time frame for considering the transition to school. Yet, at least in the American context, it is not such a good idea to bring ECE and schooling closer together. Initiatives like prek-3rd will provide one more opening for downward pressures on early childhood providers. The schools (as a whole) have a history of failing to respect the integrity of other institutions that join them in efforts to better meet children's needs. Thus far, all that has been accomplished by tying ECE more closely to schools making ECE less early-childhood-like. The needs of schools are just too powerful and end up overwhelming the identity of institutional partners. Ultimately, the risk in binding ECE and schooling more closely together derives from a set of related cultural problems. The first can best be described as losing the present to the future--the very problem with school readiness as the central goal of ECE. The second problem is a misunderstanding of the processes at the heart of child development. Children are not raw human capital to be carefully developed through schooling to meet the demands of a globalized labor force. Americans urgently have to rethink how they wish to account for children, the virtues that are important to nurture, and the role of adult institutions in the process. There is a clear risk in extending the line that already connects schooling to global competitiveness down into early childhood, asking ECE to address not only the achievement gap but the global achievement gap as well. (author abstract)

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