Date post: | 16-Dec-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | garrett-morcom |
View: | 219 times |
Download: | 5 times |
Full-Day Kindergarten: An Advocacy Guide is a resource for NEA leaders, members and staff who are advocating for full-day kindergarten in states across the country.
It includes:
• Research that shows why full-day kindergarten is an effective strategy for closing achievement gaps between students and boosting overall student learning, and why teachers and parents support it.
• Recommendations for mapping state-level policies and the political landscape pertaining to full-day kindergarten.
• Resources for planning an effective legislative strategy.
• Policy priorities and sample legislation created by NEA to inform state-level proposals and campaigns.
• Examples of effective practices and stories of how coalitions in New Mexico and West Virginia passed full- day kindergarten legislation in their states.
The full-day kindergarten advocacy guide was created through:• An examination of scholarly research.
• Interviews with the publication’s Advisory Group members: Kindergarten teachers, experienced NEA state-level staff and elected leaders.
• Extensive review of drafts by Advisory Group members, as well as NEA staff and leadership.
NEA has embarked on a broad-based initiative to close achievement gaps in American public education.
Why is full-day kindergarten an important strategy for closing gaps and boosting overall student achievement?
Research shows that:• Children in full-day kindergarten classes show greater reading and mathematics gains than those in half-day classes.
• Full-day kindergarten can produce long-term educational gains, especially for low-income and minority students.
• Full-day kindergarten offers social, emotional and intellectual benefits to kindergartners.
• Five-year-olds are more than ready for the longer school day, and do better in a setting that allows them to learn and explore activities in depth.
Also:• Investments in quality early childhood programs generate returns of 3-to-1 or even higher.
• Full-day kindergarten provides an essential bridge between prekindergarten programs and more structured learning in first grade.
• In full-day kindergarten classrooms, teachers have more time to get to know kids and identify and address their learning challenges early.
• Teachers prefer full-day kindergarten.
• Parents prefer full-day kindergarten.
For children to reap the benefits of full-day kindergarten, they need more than just additional time in school. NEA has developed a set of policy priorities that should be included in legislation to ensure that kindergarten programs offer young students the best possible learning experiences.
NEA’s Full-Day Kindergarten Policy Priorities
• Mandatory full-day attendance.
• Teacher Certification.
• Class size of about 15 students.
• Professional development opportunities for educators.
NEA’s Full-Day Kindergarten Policy Priorities (cont.)
• Full funding of full-day kindergarten programs.
• Well-rounded curriculum that addresses full child development.
• Age-appropriate assessments that inform classroom teaching and learning.
First step:
Developing a keen understanding of the political terrain as it relates to full-day kindergarten.
What should you consider?
Current Context:• How full-day kindergarten relates to early education and prekindergarten.
• The status of kindergarten in your state.
• The price tag of full-day kindergarten.
• Ways to pay for full-day kindergarten.
• What it would take to develop a legislative strategy.
Resources:• Organizational commitment to the campaign.
• Examples of effective full-day kindergarten programs in your state.
• What other states have done.
People:• Potential coalition partners.
• Parents.
• Kindergarten and other teachers’ views.
• Education support professionals.
• Your opposition.
Build the coalition.• Identify the groups you want and need to work with.
• Begin reaching out to group representatives.
• Get buy-in and support, perhaps using a memorandum of agreement.
• Decide who will do what.
Launch the campaign.• Work with partner groups to conduct additional research and finalize a policy proposal.
• Develop a plan and timeline for implementing your proposal.
• Develop key messages to support your campaign, and to address the oppositions arguments.
• Put together a communications plan that keeps everyone on the same page, and the press actively involved.
Other tools included in the advocacy guide include:• State stories from New Mexico and West Virginia.
• Talking points for advocates.
• Common arguments against full-day kindergarten, and counterarguments for advocates.
• Model legislation developed by NEA.
To download Full-Day Kindergarten: An Advocacy Guide, visit:
www.nea.org/earlychildhood/resources-earlychildhood.html.
For hardcopies of the guide, e-mail Darlene Brooks at [email protected].