Policy Ideas

These policy ideas are organized by state and localities and grouped into themes:

• Alignment, coordination, and collaboration
• Transition planning and technical assistance
• Guidance, evaluation, and resources

These themes are a useful way to organize the policies most important for transforming how children enter pre-K and kindergarten and move through the early grades. In this uncertain moment, as we begin to move beyond the global COVID-19 pandemic, there are additional considerations and strategies (discussed earlier) that should take precedence in the next three-to-five years to best meet children’s immediate needs:

• Prioritize investment, planning, and guidance to address the scenarios that are pressing for the state or local community (see section 4) and in response to the guiding questions (see section 5).
• Distribute funding equitably to communities most affected by COVID-19 and engage local community leaders and diverse stakeholders (see section 6) in determining the needs not currently being met, and planning for how funds should be spent.
• Work across silos to support children and their parents or guardians and to strengthen family economic recovery and security.

Both state and local leaders can lead on transition and alignment efforts. ESSA requires LEAs to form coordination agreements with Head Start programs and also applies this requirement to coordinating with other early childhood programs, if feasible. The federal law specifies the areas which these agreements must cover at a minimum: data and record sharing; joint professional development; staff communication; parent-teacher connections; and educational services. Although it is LEAs that must establish these agreements, states can facilitate, educate, and encourage LEAs to do so. States can also provide oversight by holding LEAs accountable if they don’t develop the agreements.

States can support local education agencies and communities in ensuring effective and supportive transitions in three main areas: facilitating alignment, coordination, and collaboration; supporting transition planning; and providing guidance and resources.

Alignment, Coordination, and Collaboration

• Identify an office at the state level that has responsibility for transition. (Possible funding stream: PDG B–5)
• Establish an interagency working group to guide state-level transition efforts. (Possible funding stream: ESSA)
• Work with county/community agencies to partner to streamline the registration process between federal Head Start and state and local pre-K programs (Possible funding streams: ESSA, Head Start)
• Remove barriers and provide incentives for establishing data-sharing agreements across ECE, elementary schools, child welfare, and health systems. (Possible funding stream: PDG B–5)
• Fund cross-grade, cross-sector ongoing professional development opportunities that are focused on post-COVID needs: social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, accelerated learning, developmentally appropriate practice. (Possible funding stream: ESSA)
• Provide resources to bring together school leaders and licensed child care centers and family child care homes. Encourage opportunities such as virtual or in-person joint professional learning opportunities, meet-and-greet activities, participation on planning councils, and coordination of activities as part of funding applications. (Possible funding streams: ESSA Title I and II, CCDBG, PDG B–5)
• Share data across early childhood and elementary school settings. (Possible funding streams: PDG B–5, Head Start, ESSA Title I)
• Pass legislation to require kindergarten for all children, require districts to provide kindergarten for the same length of time as first grade, and fund it at the same level as first grade. (ARP)

State Examples

• Illinois established a Kindergarten Transition Advisory Committee to review kindergarten transitions in the state and make recommendations for improvement. The committee was made up of lawmakers, state agency personnel, educators, administrators, and advocates.
• Oregon's Early Learning Kindergarten Readiness Partnership and Innovation grant program (KRPI) was designed to establish models for P-3 alignment at the local level, with a focus on shared professional development for early learning providers and kindergarten teachers. The grants have enabled hundreds of educators to participate in cross-grade, cross-sector PD, with a focus on understanding the experiences and expectations of children in pre-K and kindergarten.
• Through a partnership with Child Care Aware of Washington, Washington is promoting early learning collaboration between elementary schools and child care providers. Principals can fill out a data request form to receive a list of local child care providers and connect with Child Care Aware regional offices. The regional offices provide follow-up services and resources to build collaboration between local child care providers and elementary schools.
• West Virginia requires all districts to offer a full-day kindergarten program that is equivalent in length of day to first grade. Kindergarten programs are funded through the same funding formula used for first grade through 12th grade.

Transition Planning and Technical Assistance

• Include transition activities—such as detailed community-wide plans, connections with community providers, and review and use of data—in monitoring protocols used by the state department of education. (Possible funding streams: Head Start, ESSA Title I)
• Establish a grant program to encourage districts to develop local plans to prioritize transition and alignment activities. This is one way to encourage LEAs and local communities to work together on a key state priority, to learn what works and what does not and for whom, and to develop a plan for sharing and expanding successful strategies across the state. A grant program like this could also be used to focus on prioritizing equity in transition and alignment planning and activities. (Possible funding streams: ESSA Title I, Title II if focused on educators, CCDBG quality funds, state pre-K dollars)
• Require LEAs to develop district transition strategies with the participation of stakeholders that include representatives from Head Start and other early childhood programs, teachers, parents, representatives from relevant district offices, and principals. These strategies should pay attention to populations such as children with disabilities, children from low-income families, children in tribal communities, homeless children, and dual language learners. (Possible funding streams: Head Start and ESSA Title I)

State Examples

• In North Carolina’s MOU guidance, the state requires LEAs to confirm that a set of activities have been addressed in the agreement. These include data sharing, coordination, and transition— all of which are important for effective and supportive transition.
• The Oregon state legislature established and funded the Early Learning Kindergarten Readiness Partnership and Innovation grant program (KRPI). This program included four priorities, one of which is focused on transition and another on increasing alignment, connection, and collaboration.
• In West Virginia counties are required to establish transition teams that develop local plans. These teams must include a set of diverse stakeholders. There is a similar structure at the state level.
• The District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent has created an MOA that is designed to be used with school districts, Head Start programs, and other early childhood programs. It lays out plans for coordination and collaboration in data sharing, communication, family engagement, joint professional development, and standards, curriculum, and instruction.

Guidance, Evaluation, and Resources

• Develop guidance for LEAs and schools to strengthen transition efforts and deepen alignment, coordination, and collaboration across the PreK–third and even B–third continuum. States can foster opportunities for these diverse early learning leaders to come together for joint professional development and discussions of how to better connect pre-K, kindergarten, and the early elementary grades. (Possible funding streams: CCDBG, ESSA)
• Gather information on models of effective transition practices (with special attention to immigrant families, English learners, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, and children in tribal communities) at the local level that can be shared with school and community leaders across the state. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, PDG B–5, Head Start, CCDBG, ESSER)
• Include transition policies and activities in state-level planning committees, such as a State Early Learning Council. (Possible funding streams: PDG B–5, CCDBG, ESSA)
• Develop state professional learning modules for teachers, child care providers, and school leaders that include specific activities that support transition with a focus on equity concerns, implicit bias, and effective and authentic family engagement practices. (Possible funding stream: ESSA)

State Examples

• In Connecticut, the State Department of Education and the Office of Early Childhood convened a PreK to Kindergarten Transition Workgroup, which created a guidance document detailing how districts and school leaders can implement successful transitions. It includes information on coordinating professional development across settings, meaningfully partnering with families, leveraging existing resources, and improving communication across settings and with families.
• Kentucky’s Early Childhood Advisory Council included developing an early childhood transitions framework as a key goal in the state’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan. The transitions framework is meant to improve children’s and families’ experiences transitioning from one early childhood setting to another, across the B–third continuum.

Local education agencies and communities play a critical role in the implementation of state transition policies, but also in organizing community partners, school-level leaders, and parents to ensure that transition activities are responsive to locally identified needs and priorities.

Alignment, Coordination, and Collaboration

• Go beyond the ESSA requirement to establish agreements with Head Start programs and extend agreements to other early childhood programs serving children likely to attend district schools. The ESSA requirement (Section 1119) in fact requires such agreements with other early childhood programs, if feasible. These agreements, which are specified in ESSA, should include elements such as data sharing and joint professional development and plans to align curricula, teaching strategies, discipline practices, family engagement strategies, and ways to meet community needs. The Head Start Act also requires coordination with school districts on these and other transition points, including addressing facilities and transportation issues. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, Head Start)
• Create opportunities to build elementary school principal knowledge of early childhood education and how to support PreK–third teachers. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, CCDBG, Head Start)
• Get to know organizations supporting Head Start and other early childhood programs, and come up with strategies for connecting principals, program administrators, and teachers to build relationships across pre-K and the early grades of elementary school. This should become a two-way learning opportunity. School districts could also work with regional child care referral offices to establish processes for connecting schools and early education programs. (Possible funding streams: local school funding for staff capacity, ESSA)
• Take steps to ensure children are able to transition into kindergarten at the elementary school parents have chosen for pre-K. Work to establish feeder relationships and agreements with other community-based pre-K programs within a school’s attendance zone. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, Head Start, CCDBG)

Transition Planning and Technical Assistance

• Develop strategies needed to encourage collaboration across pre-K, kindergarten, and the early elementary grades to share information and data, and to align discipline approaches, instruction, environments, curricula, and other areas as needed. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, CCDBG, Head Start, IDEA)
• Establish community transition teams with working groups to identify areas of need. Ensure that families representing underserved populations are included and compensated for their time. (Possible funding stream: ESSA)
• Provide joint professional development on aligning routines and expectations for pre-K, kindergarten, and early elementary teachers. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, CCDBG, Head Start, IDEA)

Guidance, Evaluation, and Resources

• Direct funds to ensure there is an ECE-trained paraprofessional/assistant teacher in each kindergarten and first grade classroom. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER)
• Provide bonuses/stipends for kindergarten teachers who engage in home visits. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER)
• Provide grants to child care providers to implement innovative curriculum around kindergarten expectations. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER)
• Gather information from families about children’s previous ECE experiences on enrollment and registration forms. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, CCDBG, IDEA, McKinney-Vento)
• Develop guidance for LEAs and schools to strengthen transition efforts and deepen alignment, coordination, and collaboration across the PreK–third and even B–third continuum. States can foster opportunities for these diverse early learning leaders to come together for joint professional development and discussions of how to better connect pre-K, kindergarten, and the early elementary grades. (Possible funding streams: ESSA, ESSER, IDEA)

Local Examples

• The City of San Antonio’s Pre-K 4 SA program provides professional learning grants for elementary school principals to participate in the New Teacher Center’s (NTC) Early Learning Leadership Program, a year-long training and coaching initiative to help elementary school leaders better understand early childhood systems and pedagogy.
• The Brunswick, MO R-II School District will create opportunities to improve coordination between and across early childhood and early elementary grades by establishing data teams that include the preschool teacher, kindergarten teacher, Title I Reading teacher, federal programs representative, school counselor, an administrator, and parents. The plan requires teams to meet throughout the year to analyze data and help design transition plans.
• Portland Public Schools in Maine offers pre-K classrooms in both Portland Public Schools buildings and in partnership sites, with a goal of identifying a slot for every child that enters the pre-K lottery.
• The Ready Freddy program, an initiative between Pittsburgh Public Schools and the University of Pittsburgh, provides technical assistance and resources to local transition teams to help prepare children, parents, and schools for the start of kindergarten. Teams supported by Ready Freddy support enrollment and transition activities and are made up of kindergarten teachers, early childhood educators, principals, community agencies, and parents.