Incorporating Early Learning Strategies in the School Improvement Grants (SIG) Program: How Three Schools Integrated Early Childhood Strategies into School Turnaround Efforts to Improve Instruction for All Students

A significant body of research shows that achievement gaps evident in persistently low-performing schools, in many instances, manifest prior to children entering kindergarten. High-quality early learning programs have proven to demonstrate positive effects on closing academic gaps both for individual children and in the aggregate for the school. Further, research indicates that the impact of high-quality pre-kindergarten (PK) on children's development is sustained when children experience a high-quality, aligned early elementary experience. The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) and the Center on School Turnaround (CST) collaborated to develop case studies of three selected schools receiving SIG funds that have, with the support of their districts, promoted the use of early childhood programming (PK-3) as a key strategy in their schools' turnaround models. The goal of this document is to increase the awareness and understanding of how to effectively embed PK-3 strategies in school turnaround efforts within the SIG program. Through a review of data on all elementary schools that received SIG funds to implement interventions beginning in school year (SY) 2010-11, three sample schools were selected for this report (Orchard Gardens K-8 School in Boston, Massachusetts; Horace Mann Elementary School in St. Louis, Missouri; and Elliott Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska). The practices implemented by these three elementary schools were examined through research literature and school data reviews, combined with interviews with school, district, and state leaders from both early learning and school improvement offices. The findings from the resulting case studies underscore that the principles of good practice in school turnaround may look different from grade to grade and in different contexts, which vary by state, district, and school.