Media Advisory
Kaylen Tucker, NAESP
703-518-6257
ktucker@naesp.org

Expert panel discussed the report’s recommendations, including a call for federal, state, and local policy integration and the principal’s role in developing a common strategy for early learning

Alexandria, VA—July 6, 2011—Aligning federal, state, and local policies to create an infrastructure that aligns early learning with the primary grades; maintaining ongoing, fruitful discussions about enacting successful alignment; and legislating funding that will support a system for early learning are among the recommendations that were reiterated during today’s briefing on the NAESP Foundation’s new report, Building and Supporting an Aligned System: A Vision for Transforming Education Across the Pre-K-Grade Three Years.

The report—developed by NAESP Foundation’s Task Force on Early Learning—recommends 10 steps that address funding, federal, and state policy integration, workforce development, and standards and assessments for young children to guide the process of aligning early childhood and elementary education. The report was commissioned by the NAESP Foundation with generous support from the ING Foundation.

The briefing included a policy and research perspective from Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation; a practitioner perspective from John Welsh, principal of the Naval Avenue Early Learning Center in Bremerton, Washington; and organizational perspectives from NAESP immediate past president Barbara Chester, also a principal in the David Douglas School District in Portland, Oregon, and Gail Connelly, NAESP Foundation president and NAESP’s executive director. Guernsey and Welsh are members of the Task Force on Early Learning.

“Pre-K to grade 3 education requires an approach that puts children’s learning first,” Connelly said “If we as a nation are serious about reducing the appalling—and costly—dropout rate, we must provide the steady support children need when they are 3 and 4—not waiting until they’re 13 and 14 and in deep academic trouble.”

Guernsey expressed the critical need to have numerous voices from all sectors involved in the process of aligning pre-K-3 learning because “people need to see themselves as a part of the pre-K alignment.” Welsh put forward that principals, especially, are key in ensuring that multiple stakeholders are collaborating on this issue because they serve as a bridge between the early learning and K-12 community to achieve significant and sustainable gains in student achievement.

NAESP has long been an advocate of building a continuum of learning from pre-K to grade 3 and will continue to work to strengthen federal policies that support professional development for principals in early childhood education.

The following resources are offered as a part of NAESP’s long-term commitment to investigate the challenges and barriers to successful pre-K-3 alignment, identify strategies and solutions to those barriers, and serve as a resource for stakeholders and educators at the local level.

• Building and Supporting an Aligned System: A Vision for Transforming Education Across the Pre-K-Grade Three Year
• Task Force on Early Learning
• Leading Early Learning Childhood Communities: What Principals Should Know and Be Able to Do

###

Established in 1921, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) serves elementary and middle school principals in the United States, Canada, and overseas. NAESP leads in the advocacy and support for elementary and middle-level principals and other education leaders in their commitment to all children. The NAESP Foundation, founded in 1982, is the charitable arm of NAESP and is dedicated to securing and stewarding private gifts and grants that benefit NAESP. www.naesp.org