New series advances comprehensive P-3 approaches

UW College of Education

Apr 2 2018

We’ve designed this publication to be a helpful tool for people working to create meaningful and tangible change in communities.

Kristie Kauerz

The University of Washington’s National P-3 Center is launching a new publication series to provide practical organizational- and system-level strategies and guidance for creating high-quality and comprehensive approaches that support young children’s learning.

“Framework in Action” draws on the latest research in early learning practice and policy said Kristie Kauerz, research assistant professor and director of the National P-3 Center, and is designed to support administrators and practitioners at all levels who are implementing comprehensive P-3 approaches across birth-to-five programs and elementary schools. It expands on the “Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating P-3 Approaches” co-authored by Kauerz five years ago and currently in use across the nation.

“Our first goal is to make the ‘Framework’ more usable by breaking it into smaller parts and highlighting what this work looks like in the real world, while also providing research justification for why this work matters,” Kauerz said. “We've already received some really wonderful feedback from folks in the field—people at the district/local level like the practicality of it, while people at the state level see the usefulness for writing ESSA [Every Student Succeeds Act] plans and for providing research-based evidence about P-3 reform.”

The first publication in the series, “Framework in Action: Administrator Effectiveness,” addresses the important roles and responsibilities of elementary principals, early care and education directors/managers (including Pre-K, Head Start and child care), and other district or program-level administrators.

“Much attention, both positive and negative, has been paid to administrators’ effectiveness in supporting young children’s learning and in building alignment between the traditionally disparate systems of birth-to-five and K-12,” Kauerz said. “We’ve designed this publication to be a helpful tool for people working to create meaningful and tangible change in communities.”

Each “Framework in Action” will focus on one of the eight buckets of alignment effort identified as essential to high-quality and comprehensive P-3 approaches. New publications corresponding with each of the remaining seven buckets will be released throughout the remainder of the year, with the next scheduled for release on April 13.