Building Learning Pathways from ECE to Elementary Schools

Formal education is generally organized in three broad, autonomous configurations: 1) early childhood; 2) kindergarten through high school; and 3) post-secondary. Legislation, education code requirements, policies, regulations, and funding streams typically support one specific educational configuration. Even though there are obvious benefits to ­tailoring policies to specific settings, this practice creates a disjointed learning pathway from preschool through post-secondary education. We argue that more integrated approaches will likely support students’ development over time by providing continuity in learning and sustaining early educational benefits. In this article, we outline four ­strategies that we developed at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco, California, to lay the foundation for continuity between the onsite pre-kindergarten program and K-5 classrooms. The focus of this project was to strengthen and more fully integrate our PreK program with the elementary school in order to establish a stronger continuity of learning.

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