Key Ingredients for Scale Up and Sustainability

Our analysis shows that to do this work school districts and community organizations need leadership and funding. They must be resourceful to ensure they get the most from every dollar. Foundation funding can kickstart and encourage districts to get these line items into their budgets, but alone this funding is unsustainable and insufficient. Much bigger changes will be necessary in order to sustain and scale up this work and ensure that it moves beyond philanthropic investments in just a few places.

People we interviewed are eager to grow their models across their entire communities, instead of existing in small pockets. The central challenge all three communities face is how to expand reforms so they make a real difference for all the children of these communities and eventually for California as a whole.

Some key ingredients include:

• Administrators to coordinate the programs
• Coaches to support teachers in changing their practice
• Resources to pay for substitutes for teachers and assistants so teachers can be absent from the classroom during the school day for professional development and for classroom supplies, venues, and materials
• Senior leadership who see early learning as a key part of children’s education and who can advocate for dedicated and sustained resources for this work
• Community and early care partners to work alongside school districts
• City and state leaders to provide these dedicated and sustained resources