Guiding Framework: How Policy Can Help Meet the Needs of Young Learners

As we move past the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers will need to consider numerous factors as they develop transition plans this fall, revise them throughout the year, and strengthen them for the next year and beyond. The nine areas discussed below provide a framework for states and local leaders to implement in order to create an effective system of transition that will meet the needs of SY 21-22 and beyond. Thoughtfully addressing the following questions through the planning process described in section 6 can help guide policy development and create an opportunity for continuous improvement to ensure that the lessons of COVID-19 are embedded in policy and practice.

Promoting Equity:

• How can schools and districts use transitions as a lever for advancing equity through increased opportunities, removal of barriers, and distribution of support for children from families with low incomes, children of color, children experiencing homelessness, children with disabilities, and dual language learners?
• How can we ensure any new dollars are used equitably to tailor strategies for children to remove barriers or increase opportunity to appropriately meet young children’s needs given the influx of federal dollars?
• What disaggregated data (e.g. chronic absenteeism, suspensions, remote vs. in-person learning, etc) are needed to understand and address the experiences of children from families with low incomes, children of color, children experiencing homelessness, children with disabilities, and dual-language learners?

Understanding Funding and Enrollment Needs:

• What additional funding may be necessary to address the needs of young children and their families moving into pre-K, kindergarten, and early elementary classrooms?
• What other funding streams (including those targeted for COVID-19 relief) can be leveraged to support the needs of children moving into early elementary classrooms?
• Are ECE eligibility levels set too restrictively to ensure enough children qualify for services?

Supporting the Educational and Social and Emotional Needs of Children and Adults:

• How will educators accurately assess where children are academically, socially, and developmentally?
• How can educators be supported to ensure that children who need the most support are getting it?
• How can schools, programs, and communities better help teachers thrive?
• What are ways to support program alignment (e.g. curriculum, assessment, learning environments, teaching strategies) across child care, pre-K, and kindergarten?
• What tools, assessments, health information, and other data are necessary to understand the needs of children entering school?
• How will educators address gaps with grade-level expectations? How can methods such as differentiation, grouping, tutoring, after school programs, and summer programs be used?

Understanding How Facilities, Staffing, and Schedules Impact Children, Families, and Teachers:

• Will expanded facilities, staffing (teachers and paraprofessionals), and classroom or school schedules be needed?
• How will stakeholders ensure that community-based early education facilities are sufficient and not crowded by expanding elementary school facilities?
• How will stakeholders ensure that the community-based early education workforce is not negatively impacted by staffing changes in the public school system (i.e. community-based early educators leaving to be paraprofessionals in public schools)?
• Do schools or districts need to increase investments in mental health consultants or other professionals equipped to support children and staff who have experienced trauma?
• If an LEA chooses to extend the school day or year, what are the implications for facilities, staff, and schedules?

Using Data to Drive Decision-Making:

• What information is needed to enable district and state leaders to answer questions about children and families’ experiences (both as individuals and as an incoming cohort) during the 2020-21 school year and make investments to address needs that will likely be different from previous years?
• How is data used to understand the experiences available to young children prior to entering K-12?
• How can child attendance data be used in a supportive way to address barriers families may have?
• What data is needed on school staff and teacher wellbeing to ensure they have access to support?
• What data do community-based organizations already collect?
• What are best practices for collecting, sharing, and using data to support transitioning children?
• Is data used for continuous improvement?
• Do states have data systems that show what programs individual children have enrolled in that transfers from early childhood through K-12, higher education, and the workforce?
• How are states, schools, and communities understanding teacher and family experiences and needs and using that information to shape policy choices?

Identifying Needed Resources, Professional Learning Opportunities, and Other Supports for Educators:

• With new challenges for teachers, what are the implications for equity, classroom management and climate, instructional strategies, curriculum, assessment, learning environments, and professional learning?
• Particularly in 2021, how will districts support teachers in classrooms with wide kindergarten readiness disparities?
• Is professional development appropriately geared towards the needs of educators working with young children?
• Are stakeholders equipped to collect and use data effectively?
• How are districts and schools addressing educators’ wellbeing?

Incorporating Family Voice and Creating Opportunities for Engagement:

• What is needed for schools to rebuild trust with families, understand their needs, and include them more meaningfully as partners in students’ learning and development?
• What strategies could be used to understand family perspectives, engage them in school decisions, and build stronger relationships?
• Are resources for families available in simple language, translated into multiple languages, and accessible to families who are unable to read them?
• Is there a plan to reach families that the school has lost contact with and reconnect?
• Do staff have adequate time and resources to engage with families in a meaningful, authentic way over the course of the year?
• Are there ways to leverage the deeper engagement that parents played in their children’s education during the pandemic going forward?

Adopting a Whole Child Approach:

• What additional investments and resources will be needed to address children’s social and emotional needs and physical development, build supportive relationships in the classroom and school, and establish partnerships with community organizations to meet families’ health and economic security needs?
• What guidance is needed at the state and local level to ensure that the full range of children’s needs are supported?
• How are teachers, caregivers, and other staff at the school and community supported to understand and respond to children’s needs?
• How can state and local agencies (including human services, health, public benefits, job training, and family support) work together to more effectively use funding and program supports to encourage healthy child development across the full range of developmental domains?

Including Out-of-School Time in Planning:

• What scheduling shifts, strategies, and additional investments will be needed in the summer or after school to better support children and families and address individual learning needs?
• How can out-of-school programs be used as an opportunity to get resources to students who need individualized support?
• In what ways can districts form new partnerships to support children outside the classroom?
• How can schools and ECE programs collaborate with museums and libraries to provide programming for children and engagement opportunities for families?

Planning for the Future

• With the first day of 2021–22 school rapidly approaching, it is no surprise that most local and state leaders are focused on preparing for it, especially given the scenarios discussed in the previous section. Educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, are unlikely to be limited to the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years. When businesses and workplaces closed, schools moved to virtual instruction, and child care and Head Start programs closed or reduced their capacity in spring 2020, life changed dramatically for everyone, including for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. They were, for the most part, much too young to understand what was happening. While the pandemic is subsiding 18 months later, we still face uncertainties. For children under four, a significant chunk of their lives has been during this particularly rocky time.
• Given what we know about the impact of stress on young children and the importance of trusted caregivers in mitigating this impact, it is critical that we enact and continuously improve policies supportive of the whole child, that strengthen family wellbeing and economic security, and that elevate community needs and voices.
• There will be much to learn from, analyze, and act on over the 2021–22 school year. Our goal, though, should not be to “return to normal,” but instead to use this moment of crisis, the attention on early education, and the burst of federal dollars, to strengthen the coordination of ECE and K-12 education systems that support effective transitions and set children up to thrive later in school and life.