This resource page highlights research and policy reports on how to support the learning environments of young children before they enter school and up through third grade – those critical years of early childhood that build a solid foundation for success in school and life. Topic categories include PreK-3rd models and system development; funding and partnerships; teachers and administrators; family and community; standards, curriculum and assessment; data collection and use; and English language learners. To join a discussion about these and other relevant topics, join our "Before Birth & Up Through Third Grade" LinkedIn Group. To watch the recording from our 2011 policy forum on the same topic visit here.

PreK-3rd Models & System Development

• Building and Supporting an Aligned System: A Vision for Transforming Education Across the Pre-K-Grade Three Years (National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation Task Force on Early Learning)
• Double Jeopardy: How Third Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation (Donald J. Fernandez for the Annie E. Casey Foundation)
• Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters (Annie E. Casey Foundation)
• Education Reform Starts Early: Lessons from New Jersey’s PreK-3rd Reform Efforts (Sara Mead)
• FirstSchool Design Guide (FPG Child Development Institute, UNC-CH School of Education, and Perkins Eastman)
• Lessons for PreK-3rd from Montgomery County Public Schools (Geoff Marietta)
• Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools: A Report on Policy Insights from the Governor's Forum Series (Prepared for W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Education Commission of the States)
• A Next Social Contract for the Primary Years (Lisa Guernsey and Sara Mead)
• On the Cusp in California: How PreK-3rd Strategies Could Improve Education in the Golden State (Linda Jacobson)
• PreK-3rd: How Superintendents Lead Change (Geoff Marietta)
• PreK-3rd: Putting Full-Day Kindergarten in the Middle (Kristie Kauerz)
• PreK-3rd Map: A Work in Progress (Foundation for Child Development)
• QRIS and P-3: Creating Synergy Across Systems to Close Achievement Gaps and Improve Opportunities for Young Children (Kristie Kauerz & Abby Thorman)
• Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future (Pre-K Now)

Funding & Partnerships

• Financing A Birth to Five Program: The Appleton Area School District Model (Hannah Matthews)
• Making Pre-Kindergarten Work for Low-income Working Families (Rachel Schumacher, Katie Hamm, and Danielle Ewen)
• Tapping Title I: What Every School Administrator Should Know About Title I, Pre-K and School Reform (Pew Charitable Trusts)

Teachers & Administrators

• 21st Century Teacher Education for FirstSchool: A Model of Collaborative Inquiry (Rebecca S. New, Sharon Ritchie & Harriet Boone)
• Building A Strong Infant-toddler Workforce (Zero To Three)
• Degrees in Context: Asking the Right Questions about Preparing Skilled and Effective Teachers of Young Children (Marcy Whitebook and Sharon Ryan)
• Forging a New Framework for Professional Development. A Report on the Science of Professional Development in Early Childhood Education: A National Summit (Georgetown University Center on Health and Education and Zero To Three)
• Getting in Sync:Revamping Licensing and Preparation for Teachers in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and the Early Grades (Laura A. Bornfreund)
• Preparing Teachers of Young Children: The Current State of Knowledge, and a Blueprint for the Future (Marcy Whitebook, Deanna Gomby, Dan Bellm, Laura Sakai, and Fran Kipnis) - link 1, link 2, link 3
• PreK-3rd: Principals as Crucial Instructional Leaders (Sara Mead)
• PreK-3rd: Teacher Quality Matters (Rima Shore)
• The Road Less Traveled: How the Developmental Sciences Can Prepare Educators to Improve Student Achievement (NCATE)
• Staff Preparation, Reward, and Support: Are Quality Rating and Improvement Systems Addressing All of the Key Ingredients Necessary for Change? (Lea J.E. Austin, Marcy Whitebook, Maia Connors, and Rory Darrah)
• Transforming Teacher Education Through Clinical Practice (NCATE)
• Watching Teachers Work: Using Observation Tools to Promote Effective Teaching in the Early Years and Early Grades (Lisa Guernsey and Susan Ochshorn)

Family & Community

• FirstSchool Learning Environments Supporting Relationships (Sharon Ritchie, Gisele M. Crawford, and Richard M. Clifford)
• Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement (Margaret Caspe, M. Elena Lopez, Ashley Chu, & Heather B. Weiss)

Standards, Curriculum & Assessment

• The AppleTree Approach to School Readiness: A Case Study Using A Longitudinal Population-Referenced Evaluation Framework (Craig T. Ramey and Nancy Crowell)
• Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What And How (Catherine E. Snow and Susan B. Van Hemel, Editors)
• A Guide to Assessment in Early Childhood; Infancy to Age Eight (Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction)
• Moving Forward With Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Efforts: A Position Paper of the Early Childhood State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (Council of Chief State School Officers)
• Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality (The Report of the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force)
• A series of reports on Quality Rating & Improvement Systems (Office of Planning Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families) Child Care Quality Ratings and Improvement Systems: Approaches to Integrating Programs for Young Children in Two States, Defining and Measuring Quality: An In-depth Study of Five Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems and Measuring Quality Across Three Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: Findings from Secondary Analyses

Data Collection & Use

• 10 Fundamentals of Coordinated State Early Care and Education Data Systems: Inaugural State Analysis (Early Childhood Data Collaborative- ECDC)
• Attendance in Early Elementary Grades: Associations with Student Characteristics, School Readiness, and Third Grade Outcomes (Attendance Works and Applied Survey Research)
• Many Missing Pieces: The Difficult Task of Linking Early Childhood Data and School-based Data Systems (Laura A. Bornfreund and Maggie Severns)
• Workforce Information: A Critical Component of Coordinated State Early Care and Education Data Systems (Fran Kipnis and Marcy Whitebook)

English Language Learners

• Effectively Educating PreK-3rd English Language Learners (ELLs) in Montgomery County Public Schools(Geoff Marietta and Elisha Brookover)
• Preschool Education: Delivering on the Promise for Latino Children (Erika Beltrán, National Council of La Raza)
• PreK-3rd: Raising the Educational Performance of English Language Learners (Dale Russakoff)
• Starting Early with English Language Learners: First Lessons from Illinois (Maggie Severns)