Duncan: Early Ed Can Get Schools Out of ‘The Catch-Up Business’

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the fullest picture yet of his vision for a birth-to-8 education system in remarks yesterday at the opening of the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

In a wide-ranging speech that emphasized the importance of “raising the bar” on the quality of early learning environments, Duncan said that early childhood advocates now face two challenges. One, he said, is the need for better transitions and “follow through” between pre-K and the K-12 years. The other is what he sees as a necessary shift in thinking about how to measure quality — moving from “inputs” like teacher qualifications and child-to-staff ratios to “outcomes” that indicate whether children are developing and learning well.

Duncan praised the NAEYC, the nation’s largest membership organization of preschools, child care centers, kindergartens and public elementary schools, for its insistence that to close the achievement gap, we must prevent the gap through high-quality early learning experiences.

“I want our schools to get out of the catch-up business,” he said. “To prevent the gap,” he continued, “we must be ready to dramatically improve outcomes for our children.”

Later in his speech he provided more context for how he might define “outcomes,” noting that measures of “school readiness have historically been treated as if they are apart from a child’s social and emotional development.” Today, he said, “We recognize that a child’s ability to engage in self-regulation and cooperative play are critical to school readiness success … It’s time to recognize that they are inextricably linked.”

Duncan did not address how those outcomes might be measured and used. Here at Early Ed Watch we see this question as critical and expect to be digging into it over the coming year. We agree that without indicators of children’s progress – without measures of “outcomes” – we will never have a full enough picture of how well an early learning environment is meeting their needs.

We also agree with the need for “follow through” into the K-12 years. His remarks regarding the need for “better transitions” were especially encouraging.

“The best early learning system is of little use,” he said, if a child ends up in “an inadequate or lousy elementary school.” He added: “We cannot diminish the importance of K-12 reform.”

As longtime readers of this blog know, we strongly support PreK-3^rd strategies that align curricula, standards and assessments from pre-K to kindergarten and on up through the third grade. Instead of educators focusing on the divide between early childhood community and the K-12 world, children would be far better served by a system that makes no distinctions, providing children with rich instruction, content knowledge and social interactions that are aligned and build on each other throughout each year of their early lives.

Duncan briefly mentioned the prospect of new public funding for early education in the proposed Early Learning Challenge Grants, the Race to the Top initiative and the Investing in Innovation, or i3, Fund. He also spoke about the Education Department’s relationship with the Department of Health and Human Services (which administers Head Start). He said he sees a “new sense of partnership” between the two agencies, adding that Jacqueline Jones, senior advisor for early learning in the Ed Department, and Joan Lombardi, deputy assistant secretary of the HHS’s Administration for Children and Families, work together daily.

The secretary also gave voice to some of the obstacles to creating high-quality environments by describing what he called the “iron triangle” that affects publicly funded preschools and child care centers. On one side, providers are being asked to open more slots for more children, otherwise known as “increasing access.” On another side, providers are being asked to “boost quality,” by paying higher salaries that attract more qualified teachers and investing in professional development. And on the third side, they are being asked to cut costs and show savings.

He did not offer step-by-step guidance on how to break free of this iron triangle, but he did commend several states for making progress. He singled out Oklahoma for “showing it’s possible” and praised Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey for being leaders in building high-quality early learning systems. He also singled out the Harlem Children Zone and the CLASS observational assessment developed by Robert Pianta at the University of Virginia.

Nor did Duncan’s speech answer the toughest questions in early childhood — such as how to improve teacher compensation, how to do appropriate assessments and how to use assessment data, and where states should look for sustainable funding streams. But he was interrupted by applause throughout his remarks and the audience of thousands — sitting amid rows and rows of chairs in the cavernous Washington Convention Center — gave him a standing ovation. As the NAEYC meeting goes into full swing over the next several days it will be interesting to see how preschool teachers digest the many details in his speech. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open, and we encourage you in the blog comments below to give us your take on Duncan’s vision.

UPDATE 11/19 1:35 PM: The full text of Duncan’s remarks is now available on the Ed Dept web site, and J.M. Holland over at Inside Pre-K has posted an audio recording.