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Benefits of high-quality early learning programs are clear, particularly for the country’s neediest children. For one, research into brain development shows that the period between preschool and third grade is critical for learning language skills, developing the ability to self-regulate behavior, and being able to work with peers. For another, there is the alarming number of children not proficient in reading by the end of third grade—a benchmark increasingly considered important. Further, fewer students are referred to special education programs when they receive proper early learning backgrounds, and research indicates a significant association between a poor early child educational experience, and dropping out of middle or high school.

That’s why the National Association of Elementary School Principals has championed early learning issues for years. However, as the organization notes, the nation “has yet to fully commit and align policy, funding, and practice” for early child education. Recognizing this problem, with support from the ING Foundation, in 2010 NAESP convened a Task Force of leading researchers, advocates, policymakers, and practitioners to determine what efforts are most likely to provide high-quality learning experiences for our young children. They recently released a white paper—“Building & Supporting an Aligned System: A Vision for Transforming Education Across the Pre-K-Grade Three Years”—reflecting this research effort and outlining 10 action steps for bettering early child learning in America.

It’s difficult to dispute that the national context warrants greater effort toward alignment for early childhood education. As the report puts it, “[t]he current state of pre-K through third grade education reflects a complicated web of federal, state, and local policies and practices.” Pre-K programs are voluntary (and so they are unevenly implemented) and lack a coherent structure of governance, funding, and implementation. The availability of full-day Kindergarten is also highly variable (and is increasingly on the chopping block amid budget cuts)—and in many cases, parents have to pay out-of-pocket for the full day option. Further, the report notes that federal policy and funding is housed in various different federal agencies—which contribute to a lack of cohesion.

To address these issues in part, the report calls for the revision of legislation including ESEA (along with virtually everyone else in the education community)—which lacks a focus on early years, IDEA—which has some divisions that can exclude children with needs from receiving developmental care they need, and Child Care and Head Start statutes and regulations.

Problems on the federal level are largely mirrored on the state level, with the exception of a few states (the report lists Maryland, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and North Carolina) that have made early childhood learning a major priority, and have begun to break down silos between it and education for older children.

To achieve their goals, in the report the task force recommends 10 action steps for policymakers and other stakeholders. In addition to better federal, state, and local alignment and funding, action steps include:

• Leverage and integrate private funding with public resources.
• Create an aligned continuum of research-based, age-appropriate standards and assessments for young children that include all important aspects of early child development and learning—not just the subjects covered by standardized tests.
• Develop and support an effective, well-compensated work force with high-quality teacher and administrator preparation programs, professional development, and continuing education.
• Develop state and local longitudinal data systems that include pre-K student and program information.
• Evaluate models of early learning integration and alignment through research.

Though action on the part of legislative policymakers is critical in creating a better early learning system, NAESP task force member Lisa Guernsey (of the New America Foundation) pointed out in a report briefing that principals (and school board members) can also make a huge difference, which is why the action steps strive to support principals. Principals of schools serving young children can work with teachers and make connections with community early learning programs and organizations to improve their schools. Principals of schools serving older children can collaborate with principals of feeder preschools and early grades to better understand the students coming into their school—their backgrounds, their strengths and weaknesses, and the types of progress achieved in their early learning programs.

Lisa emphasized, however, that we do need a change in the system, and that we can’t expect superhero principals to carry all the responsibility. A recent Edweek article notes that states are starting to push new laws and initiatives for early education—a promising indication of shifting priorities to this issue. Let’s hope these efforts are planned and implemented well, using the sorts of considerations outlined by the NAESP recommendations, rather than the too-frequent quick-and dirty, one-size-fits all education policies with good intentions we’ve seen in the past.

7/13/2011 Update: The audio for a report briefing on the NAESP paper is up here.