Taking a Comprehensive Approach to Children’s First 10 Years

Today in partnership with the Education Development Center (EDC), we’re publishing, “Building Systems in Tandem: Maine’s State and Local Initiatives to Improve Outcomes for Children,” by David Jacobson. Maine is using Jacobson’s First 10 framework to guide and structure its work to improve the quality and coordination of early education for young children and their families. I wrote the following foreword for the paper to elevate the importance of comprehensive approaches to foster children’s learning and development:

Decades of brain science shows that the early years are critical to children’s long-term health and success. What they learn and understand about the world around them, the relationships they build, and the interactions they have with adults and other children lay the foundation for all future learning. At the same time, we know that more than 1 in 5 young children are living in poverty. Science tells us that high-quality early learning experiences and stable, nurturing relationships with adults can mitigate the harmful effects of poverty. Yet the children who benefit most from high-quality learning opportunities in their earliest years are the least likely to receive them.

While K–12 education has long been referred to as the great equalizer, the quality of children’s education is highly dependent on where they live. Children from families with low incomes and children living in communities of color have the least access to well-resourced public schools. Further, across the country, kindergarten and the first to third grades lie in a “policy dead zone,” meaning states and school districts pay too little attention to the quality of teaching and learning experiences during these critical years of children’s schooling. As a result, many children attend school in early grade classrooms where learning environments and instruction are not in tune with how young children learn best.

Addressing these challenges was difficult before the COVID-19 pandemic. During this crisis and after it, doing so will be even more important and also more challenging. As states and school districts plan for the future and a new normal, ensuring the well-being of young children must be a priority. In addition to the learning loss school communities are concerned about addressing, many children will also need redoubled attention to their social-emotional health, with some experiencing trauma and loss due to the pandemic. Furthermore, as the U.S. becomes increasingly aware of the urgent need to end persistent racial injustice, public schools must examine and strengthen their role in disrupting and addressing disparities in how children of color are disciplined, encouraged, instructed, and represented throughout their education journey, beginning in early childhood. In order to significantly improve outcomes for children, federal, state, and local education agencies need to take a comprehensive, coordinated, and seamless approach to early and elementary education. This means enacting policies that bring together efforts to ensure equity, strengthen teaching and learning, partner more closely with families, and provide services and resources that families say they want and need.

One approach was introduced by David Jacobson of Education Development Center in 2019. His paper, All Children Learn and Thrive: Building First 10 Schools and Communities, offers ideas on policies and practices states and local communities can put in place to implement these actions. In the new paper that follows, Jacobson details his work with the state of Maine to implement his First 10 framework at the state and local level.

While the work took place before our current crises, it is an example of the actions needed to take a more comprehensive approach to children’s early and elementary education, which will be crucial going forward.

For more on other strategies and ideas see New America’s 2020 paper, “Supporting Early Learning in America: Policies for a New Decade.”

Interested in staying up to date on education and workforce policy? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on the latest from our experts.