Recommendations for Schools and Districts

Take a proactive approach to reaching students ages zero to five and their families

A key theme that emerged from the schools and districts studied in this report is the importance of forming relationships with children and families as early as possible, preferably several years before kindergarten entry. Building a trusting relationship between families and schools is something that takes time and starting that work as early as possible makes it more likely that such a relationship will become a reality. When financially possible, schools and districts should make it a priority to hire staff whose primary responsibility is finding and connecting with families with children under the age of five and helping them access needed services. This is the job of the P–3 coordinators in Portland as well as the Early Childhood Resource Coordinators in Multnomah County, Oregon. These staff members also make it a priority to establish relationships with early learning providers throughout the community to learn more about possibilities for collaboration.

Establish cross-grade, cross-school learning communities

Breaking down the historic barriers that have existed between early learning providers and the formal elementary school system is difficult work that takes time. Traditionally these two areas of education have existed in separate silos with little communication between them and changing this requires overcoming several challenges, including distrust between the two groups of educators and the difficulty of finding a regular meeting time that works for all parties involved. But both Cincinnati and Chicago offer examples of the benefits that are possible when time is regularly set aside for educators from different grades and schools to become more familiar with each other and discuss the alignment of instruction and curricula. For example, the early childhood committees established in several Cincinnati schools have helped to strengthen communication and instructional alignment between early childhood providers and kindergarten teachers, resulting in a smoother transition to kindergarten for students and families. Even a cross-grade, cross-school group that is only able to meet sporadically throughout the year would help to establish helpful lines of communication between early learning providers and elementary school educators.

Use ESSA dollars to fund transition activities

With the passage of ESSA, states and districts now have greater flexibility to invest in early learning. Under Title I of ESSA, federal funds can be used to assist pre-K students in the transition from early childhood education programs to elementary school programs. Title I plans must specifically include a description of how local education agencies will “support, coordinate, and integrate” Head Start services to enable smooth transitions between Head Start and elementary school programs. ESSA requires that districts reach agreements with Head Start programs and encourages districts to also include other early education programs. These agreements should include plans to organize joint transition-related training between child care providers and kindergarten teachers and specific instructions regarding the transfer of student records.

Establish a local system for sharing student data between pre-K and kindergarten

While the schools and districts studied in this report are taking innovative approaches to ensuring a smooth transition to kindergarten, many people we spoke to noted that there is still work to do when it comes to establishing a clear system for sharing student data between pre-K and kindergarten. There are several challenges involved in accomplishing the seemingly simple task of passing data from a student’s current school and grade to her next school/grade, including privacy issues and different data systems between grades and schools. Schools, districts, and community-based child care providers should dedicate the time and resources necessary to overcome these obstacles since an effective system for sharing student data would enable kindergarten teachers to begin the school year with a much clearer idea of the unique needs of each student. States can also play an important role here by working to build early childhood data systems that connect early learning to K–12 longitudinal data.