Connecting ECE and Elementary Administrators to Build a Strong P-3 Continuum

As part of the Early & Elementary Education team’s ongoing work on strengthening the policies that enable strong transitions into school in partnership with EducationCounsel and NewAmerica’s work on ECE principals and center directors, we asked Greg Barrett of GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students to tell us about the P-3 Leadership Fellows program, a collaborative effort led by GEEARS.

In a 2017 state-wide study, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students found that center directors and elementary school principals held some interesting common views. They agreed that leaders from both early childhood education (ECE) sites and elementary schools are critical to the development of children ages zero to eight. They also noted that they rarely had an opportunity to work together.

In response to the findings, GEEARS joined forces with leaders from local ECE centers, the Atlanta Public Schools district’s Office of Early Learning, and the state’s Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL). With support from a local foundation, these partners developed a training series that would bring together center directors and elementary principals.

The period between birth and age eight presents a huge opportunity to set children on a path to school readiness and success. And, decades of research have shown that high-quality early education has an outsized impact on young children, from short- and medium-term benefits like classroom behaviors and language acquisition, to long-term effects like health and career outcomes. Helping building leaders across the early learning continuum make the most of this period in children’s lives is good for centers, schools, children, and society at large.

The training series, better known as the P-3 Leaders Fellowship (Fellows) has become an opportunity for early and elementary educators to come together, learn, and collaborate on P-3 projects of mutual interest. GEEARS convened the first Fellows cohort in 2019 with two dozen directors and principals from the City of Atlanta.

Over the course of the school year, P-3 Fellows attend four, morning sessions, either virtually or in person, depending on what the community has chosen. These four sessions have multiple learning objectives, but generally cover:

• the definition of P-3 systems
• how sites serving young children operate
• what teaching and learning looks like across these sites
• what these leaders can do in their local context to improve experiences for children, families, and educators across the P-3 system

Each session features expert guest speakers, activities, and conversations between P-3 Fellows. In between sessions, our Fellows build relationships and knowledge by completing small joint projects with other P-3 leaders in their area. At the end of the P-3 Leaders Fellowship, these small teams create action plans addressing a range of topics from professional development to family engagement activities to organizing cross-sector events focused on P-3 priorities. These joint projects help propel the P-3 Fellows to working together even after graduation from the fellowship.

One example of an action plan came from a team that took on family engagement. They specifically focused on using transition activities to support engagement. The leaders were part of the same cluster team, meaning their buildings are near each other. Because of this, they thought they likely shared children and families from the community. Together, the center director and elementary school principal planned events over the summer to bring families together to learn about the elementary school experience, and for those who had or knew younger children to learn about a nearby early learning center. The team worked with the district to learn how to best blend resources and funding to make the event as robust as possible for attending families. Events like this are a great encapsulation of how P-3 efforts take two groups of leaders to best serve a common community.

Through the leadership program, Fellows have seen the benefits of principals and center directors working together as a key to aligning and strengthening the systems that serve our youngest learners. And, as the program continues, we expect that the more leaders actively engage in this work, at all levels in a community, the better the outcomes will be for children, families, and educators.

Though our program is young, we’ve already had several wins. In a series of feedback surveys, P-3 Fellows told us that the content was useful, the experience with their peers was enriching, and the facilitation was clear and user-friendly. About two-thirds of alumni shared that they still communicate with each other several times a year. Some are even in touch every few weeks.

We’ve also seen some of the action plans come to fruition, even as these leaders move on from the fellowship structure. One interesting plan will happen this fall. It’s called a “P-3 Summit” and it will bring together several site-level leaders and some of their staff members to address different P-3 topics.

In addition, this year, two new communities—Clayton County and Gwinnett County—have followed in the City of Atlanta’s footsteps and begun their own cohorts of the P-3 Leaders Fellowship. GEEARS works closely with early learning and school district leaders to ensure that the facilitation and content match the local context. GEEARS is prepared to train facilitators from any Georgia community who want to conduct a cohort in the future and will offer technical assistance to support both the local facilitator and the educational leaders who enroll in the program.

Our Fellows have been willing to work across systems to ensure that children, families, and educators get the best support they can. They apply for the fellowship because they already see themselves as agents of change. When they graduate they feel empowered to build a more supportive and aligned P-3 pipeline across their buildings, share their expertise, learn from others, and create plans to strengthen P-3 systems in their broader communities.

Greg Barrett is Project Manager of Leadership & Learning at GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. GEEARS is always happy to share our experiences and learn from those of others. If you’d like to connect about P-3 topics, please reach out to Greg at gbarrett@geears.org.

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