Bridging the Early Years and Early Grades to Reduce Learning Loss

During this webinar, one of a series focused on the Learning Loss Recovery Challenge, a panel of district leaders and their partners introduced three innovative approaches that are strengthening connections between schools, early learning strategies and families to align educational services and promote early school success.  Dr. Marina Merrill of Children’s Institute moderated as the panelists explained how their efforts, all three of which are grounded in a focus on equity and quality, have boosted their work to prevent learning loss during recent school closures.

Karen Twain of Children’s Institute and Don Grotting of Beaverton School District described the Early School Success initiative and shared how Children’s Institute is partnering with four Oregon school districts to create high-quality early learning programming that is school-connected and aligned. Twain shared how this initiative recognizes the importance of bidirectional alignment between preschool and K–3 as partners are working to ensure that best practices from preschool are integrated into the early grades and that coaching, high-quality professional development and other strengths of the K–12 system are brought to early learning. Grotting explained the steps his district has taken to expand access to and increase the quality of preschool programming. As a part of the Early School Success initiative, the district has focused on strong instructional leadership, teacher collaboration and promotion of developmentally appropriate practices in the early grades, empowering teachers to integrate play, inquiry-based learning and social-emotional development into their classroom practices. During the pandemic, the district has been deepening its efforts to develop strong partnerships with families while Children’s Institute has been using its partnerships with districts to advocate for the supports that families need.

Lisa Roy of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and Mark Adler of Ralston Public Schools described the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan, explaining how this unique and comprehensive approach is seeking to reduce opportunity gaps across metro Omaha for children from birth through third grade. With guidance provided by Buffett Early Childhood Institute, the plan emerged from state legislation passed in 2013 and extends across 11 school districts in the two-county metro area. Roy shared how the plan enables schools to function as a hub to support children and families from birth through third grade with home visiting for young children, transitions into high-quality preschool and aligned preK–3 teaching and learning. With customized assistance to each of the 11 districts and professional development for educators along that birth-through-third-grade continuum, the plan is focused on shifting practice and changing culture, seeking to increase principals’ understanding of early brain development and encouraging families to view their community school as an asset and resource as soon as their child is born. Adler explained how his team is implementing this approach in the Ralston Public School District, including additional research and professional development, deepened family and community engagement and increased early childhood workforce development to ensure early learning educators are compensated appropriately. During COVID-19, the district has deepened its focus on social and emotional support for children and families and worked to ensure that families’ basic needs are being met. They have also increased communication to keep students and families informed and engaged during the school closures and are developing a learning recovery plan to meet students where they are when school starts back in the fall and provide them with the building blocks they need to move forward. Roy explained how the Buffett Early Childhood Institute has continued to support districts during the pandemic, helping them address food scarcity and deliver technology and parental support while also aligning and adapting the “Growing Great Kids” curriculum to support virtual learning.

Anya Hurwitz of Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) and Linda Montes of Redwood City School District introduced the SEAL model and explained how this English Learner-focused approach is being implemented in a growing number of California schools. Hurwitz explained how SEAL is an age-appropriate, coherent and articulated preschool-through-third-grade program designed to prepare English-language learners for academic success in elementary school and beyond. SEAL promotes language development through an integrated thematic curriculum that embeds rich, powerful, precise and expressive academic language. This comprehensive change strategy includes teacher professional development and collaboration, family partnerships, a systems-change approach and a focus on student achievement. Hurwitz shared how students in schools using the SEAL approach are outperforming their peers statewide. Montes described what this comprehensive approach to learning looks like in her district, explaining how cross grade-level teams are learning together and teachers are creating integrated units that connect language, culture and cognition. She also shared a brief video in which educators delivered course material virtually during COVID-19 school closures. Both Montes and Hurwitz described the increased focus on family engagement during the pandemic as well as social-emotional learning and trauma-informed approaches.