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.)
Summary of Key Points: Infrastructure for Support
In addition to collaboration, a key factor in the success of ELG implementation is developing and maintaining a strong infrastructure for support. This means garnering support from the early childhood learning community, as well as from the legislature, businesses, the general public, and key leaders. It is important not only to identify the “champions” of early childhood development and more specifically ELGs, but also to create new committed leaders through strong, persuasive communication. Key recommendations that emerged from State discussions include:
- Identify and develop champions. States indicated that one of the strongest ways to build momentum for ELG dissemination and implementation is to engage people in positions of power and authority in the legislature and business community who believe in the vision and will take a leadership role in promoting public awareness. In Oklahoma, for example, the Early Learning Team convened the business community to review brain development research in order to demonstrate how young children’s development and later school success could be tied to a strong future workforce and economic development. Subsequently, the business community persuaded the governor to convene a taskforce on early education and school readiness. In West Virginia, the Secretary of the Department of Education and the Superintendent of Public Schools made a joint statement to the legislature about the importance of early learning, contributing to legislative support for improving the early care and education system.
- Align internal efforts with external forces. West Virginia has a legislative mandate for universal prekindergarten to be implemented by 2012. Each county must submit a yearly plan to indicate how it will reach this goal. Each county also must provide evidence that every 4-year-old, and every 3- and 4-year-old with special needs, in the county has access to a high-quality prekindergarten program. These external forces prompted the revision of the core knowledge and competencies and alignment with ELGs. The Departments of Health and Human Services and Head Start also jointly developed a credit-bearing course for use at the undergraduate and graduate level on curriculum implementation in early childhood education. The course was piloted with 40 participants from diverse backgrounds (public school, special education, Head Start, preschool, higher education, etc.). The course design includes representatives of all stakeholders as lecturers. Feedback received upon completion of the course indicated that participants benefited from seeing collaboration modeled by the lecturers. This approach was a successful strategy for extending to the local level the uniform philosophy and collaborative approach modeled at the State level across different early childhood groups.
At least one State mentioned that State courts had mandated education reform in a way that buttressed ongoing efforts to develop State ELGs. An example of another type of alignment is found in California, where the First 5 California initiative brings $600 million through a tobacco tax to enhancing early childhood development. In some efforts the First 5 Commission leads the way in terms of establishing programs (e.g., universal prekindergarten in Los Angeles) and in other efforts the Commission works in partnership with State agencies, such as the Department of Education. Another outside force that can support the development of ELGs is press coverage of an early childhood issue.
In Oklahoma, the Department of Education conducted a survey of kindergarten teachers showing that 25% of children are not ready to succeed in school when they enter kindergarten. This study garnered extensive media coverage and helped drive public support for early care and education, including ELG development and implementation. |
Continuing challenges identified in the area of developing an infrastructure for support are:
- How can States and local communities best engage members of the business community and legislature?
- What information or evidence is most useful and effective to present when cultivating an infrastructure for support?
- How can States and local communities strategize around the likelihood of limited resources?