Summary Report, Good Start, Grow Smart, State Early Learning Guidelines Roundtable
From Blueprint to Reality: Early Learning Guidelines Implementation
Index: Preface, About The GSGS Initiative, Overview of the GSGS Roundtables, Summary of Key Points: Effective Collaboration; Infrastructure for Support; Dissemination of Information; Integration of ELGs into the Professional Development System; Assessment and Evaluation, Conclusion/Acknowledgements, Appendix: Agenda, Participant List, Work Group List |(This document is also available in
PDF format.)
ABOUT THE GSGS INITIATIVE
In April 2002, the Bush Administration announced the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative to help States and local communities strengthen early learning for young children. As a companion to the No Child Left Behind legislation, the goal of GSGS is to ensure that young children enter kindergarten with the skills they will need to succeed at reading and other early learning activities. GSGS provides a framework for a stronger Federal–State relationship to focus on school readiness within early childhood programs.
The GSGS initiative cuts across the domains of several Federal agencies and includes specific mandates for States. The key priorities or goals of GSGS include:
Partnering with States To Improve Early Childhood Education. Federal agencies are working in partnership with States to strengthen early learning in child care and other early childhood programs. GSGS calls on States to develop voluntary guidelines on early literacy and early math concepts that align with State K-12 standards. In addition, States must develop professional development plans and plans for coordinating early childhood programs. Spurred on by GSGS, many States have taken steps toward this goal:
- 48 States, the District of Columbia, and three territories have drafted early learning guidelines (ELGs). Two States ( North Dakota and Alaska ) and two territories ( Virgin Islands and American Samoa ) are currently developing drafts of content domains for public review.
- 37 States and one territory are implementing their guidelines through dissemination, training, and/or embedding the guidelines in their professional development system.
- All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and many of the territories have created partnerships with at least four key early care and education programs in their States, as suggested in GSGS, and are coordinating with these stakeholders in the establishment of their professional development systems.
Strengthening Head Start: The Head Start program has developed a new accountability system known as the National Reporting System (NRS) to ensure that every Head Start center assesses student learning in language, early literacy, and premath skills. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) implemented a national training program that used a train-the-trainer approach and mentoring to reach all Head Start teachers with techniques to promote prereading skills.
Providing Information to Teachers, Caregivers and Parents: To close the gap between the best research and current practices in early childhood education, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) initiated a broad public awareness campaign for parents, early childhood educators, child care providers, and the public. In summer 2002, the First Lady and Education officials hosted Early Learning Summits and Early Childhood Educator Academies . In addition, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the HHS Administration for Children and Families, and the Institute of Education Sciences and other ED offices collaborated on a 5-year, multimillion dollar research agenda to identify language and early literacy curricula and teaching strategies.