Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Alignment

Defining P-3 Alignment

P-3 alignment includes both horizontal and vertical alignment and coherence across grades and systems to improve coordination of policies and practices in preschool, across transitions to Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten, and through third grade and beyond. The CDE’s P-3 alignment effort stems from a belief that gaps in children’s opportunities and learning outcomes demand system-level reform at the state, county, district, school, and community level to disrupt inequities, address bias, and promote equitable opportunity.

Successful P-3 alignment requires cross-sector work, joint administrator and teacher professional learning opportunities, aligned instructional tools and learning environments, data-driven decision-making, engaged families, and continuity of pathways.

• National P-3 Center P-3 Framework
• P-3 and State Policy
• Equity in the Early Years
• Pre-K to 3 Alignment: Challenges and Opportunities in California

Inclusion and Equity

High-quality Preschool

A large body of research on contemporary high-quality preschool programs finds attendance leads to significant benefits for children, especially among children from low-income families, children with disabilities, and dual language learners. The potential of high-quality preschool to improve the outcomes of California’s young children is clear—especially when those programs capitalize on the strengths of children and their families. The CDE is focused on ensuring all children are given the opportunity to learn in an inclusive, integrated environment that meets their individual needs.

CDE Resources

• Child Development
• Elementary Education
• Special Education
  
  

Supporting Research

• Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness: Insights for Policymakers
• The Current State of Scientific Knowledge on Pre-Kindergarten Effects
• Investing Early: Taking Stock of Outcomes and Economic Returns from Early Childhood Programs
• Getting Down to Facts: Early Childhood Education in California
  
  

Inclusion

In CA and nationwide, children with disabilities and their families continue to face significant barriers to accessing inclusive high-quality preschool programs that can provide needed services early and remediate the need for more intensive (and expensive) services later. Too many young children with disabilities are only offered the option of receiving special education services in settings separate from their peers without disabilities. This practice is out of step with the research which clearly supports the benefits of inclusion for young children with and without disabilities. Creating policies, programs, and practices that utilize this flexibility would lead to larger impacts for all children and would support equity.

• Imperial County Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPA) Improving Outcomes for English Learners with Disabilities

Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design is one approach that can support educators in preschool, Transitional Kindergarten (TK), and Kindergarten and Grades One through Three (K-3) settings to create environments that are designed to support all children’s success. By utilizing universal design in all programs and classrooms from preschool through third grade, educators and administrators can ensure that children with disabilities, children with delays or unidentified needs, and all other children are optimally supported to engage with instruction.

• Implementing Universal Design for Learning (PPTX)
• Universal Design for Learning through the Preschool Learning Foundations

Transitions

The transition from preschool to a TK/Kindergarten classroom is an exciting and important time for all children and their families. For children with disabilities, transitions from preschool into the Kindergarten and Grades One through Twelve (K-12) system are particularly challenging and critical to their continued success. Family engagement, and ensuring teachers and administrators support families as partners in the transition process, is key to promoting successful transitions for all children.

• Senate Bill 75

Addressing Bias and Eliminating Exclusionary Discipline

One barrier to high-quality early learning opportunities, especially for children of color, is the prevalence of suspension and expulsion in preschool and the early grades. The CDE is committed to disrupting inequities to address implicit and explicit bias and promote equitable opportunity for California’s young children. One strategy to achieve these goals includes eliminating the use of exclusionary discipline practices in the early years.

The CDE embraces policies and practices that support safe and fair environments for children. One approach lies in training for educators and administrators-- training on implicit bias and counteracting racism, school climate, classroom management, and identification of developmental delays (which can manifest as challenging behaviors) as well as access to services to meet the needs of all children in inclusive settings.

• Implicit Bias in Preschool Classroom
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tony Thurmond on disrupting the school to prison pipeline
• SSPI Tony Thurmond’s Initiatives

Supporting Dual Language Learners (DLLs)

California is home to the largest population of DLLs (termed English Learners (ELs) in the K-12 system) in the nation. More than 2.3 million California public school students speak a language other than English at home. Many of these children struggle in school, because California has yet to adopt a comprehensive approach to supporting multilingualism and multiliteracy across the early years and grades.

Like other opportunity gaps, the academic challenges that some DLL/ELs face are best addressed early. Research has demonstrated positive impacts of preschool that are as strong or stronger for DLLs and children of immigrants than for other children, especially when those early learning experiences are high-quality and intentionally support home language development. Given the specific challenges and opportunities faced in school by DLL/EL students, preschool programs and early elementary practices may impact them even more than their English-only speaking peers.

• English Learner Roadmap

Individualized Instruction through Assessment and Observation

In order to align learning opportunities from preschool into Transitional Kindergarten (TK) or Kindergarten and beyond, sharing information between educators and schools about children’s strengths and challenges is critical. In California State Preschool Programs, teachers conduct assessments, using the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP). Teachers in Kindergarten and Grades One through Three (K-3) classrooms track children’s progress but often do not get information about the children that are entering their classrooms, and the assessment tools they use may be misaligned with DRDP. In order to ensure K-3 instruction builds on, rather than repeats, knowledge and skills that children have already mastered, assessments and observations must be better aligned and data must be shared in a comprehensive, state-wide approach.

Achieving this vision will require taking steps towards establishing an integrated data system from Cradle to Career.

• Desired Results for Children and Families
• California Cradle to Career Data System
• To Provide High-Quality Early Learning, California Must Invest in Its Early Learning Assessment System

Professional Learning Opportunities to Support All Educators

With sufficient and up-to-date knowledge, skill, and experience, early educators play a critical role in supporting each child’s potential and identifying areas where additional support is needed. However, historically, the early childhood workforce, in particular, has been under-valued, especially in terms of compensation and benefits; under-supported with few educators receiving the coaching, professional learning, and critical planning time; and too often under-prepared by a higher education system that is not designed to meet their needs. Recruiting and retaining a diverse pipeline of qualified and effective early educators and special education teachers, and supporting them with high-quality professional learning opportunities, is central to ensuring the effectiveness of California's (CA’s) preschool programs and laying a strong foundation for alignment across the early grades.

Concepts that children have learned during their preschool experience are too often retaught in kindergarten due to a lack of curriculum alignment, difficulty transferring and utilizing preschool assessment data, and disparate professional learning opportunities among teachers of young children. Professional learning opportunities that bring together preschool and Kindergarten and Grades One through Three (K-3) teachers can help communities build a shared understanding of best practice and a shared sense of mission around supporting all children to succeed. Teachers who are well-prepared and supported are better equipped to provide inclusive, individualized instruction and sustain the gains of all young children.

Building Leaders with P-3 Expertise in Early Childhood and Transitional Kindergarten and Grades One through Twelve (TK-12)

CDE seeks to support state and local leaders, including directors, administrators, school board members, and others in bridging preschool, special education, and multilingual support systems in an effort to break down silos and create cohesion across the early years and grades that supports optimal development and learning for all children.

Preschool administrators and elementary school principals, alongside school board members and key leaders at county offices of education, in school districts, and other community organizations, can play an invaluable role in supporting P-3 alignment efforts. In order to ensure efforts to align P-3 instruction, assessment, curriculum, transitions, professional learning and other best practices succeed, leadership at all levels need to be engaged and committed to improving the opportunities provided to children through intentional partnership across the early years and early grades. Like their teacher-level counterparts, these leaders may need professional learning opportunities to instill basic knowledge about what high-quality early learning looks like, why it may look different from classroom experiences in later grades, and how to support teachers and families in both early learning and elementary schools.

• A Principal's Guide to Early Learning and the Early Grades (Pre-K to 3rd Grade)

Vision and Definition of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM)

STEAM is the purposeful integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. In preschool through third grade (P-3), STEAM learning promotes student collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, agency, and joy through playful, authentic, and active learning experiences.

We envision a shared and improved understanding of STEAM throughout California where the Arts is more purposefully integrated in STEAM to support learning of both foundational and applied skills and concepts across content areas. STEAM learning should also expand implementation across a variety of setting types, whether it be in a family childcare home, a community-based organization, library, classroom, after school setting, or at home.

Overall, successful STEAM teaching builds a robust and equitable foundation of instructional practices and content knowledge for school leaders, educators, families, and students to apply in future educational experiences and their lives.

Additional Resources and Initiatives

Below is an alphabetical list of P-3 California resources and initiatives for implementing STEAM. Not all resources listed cover all aspects of STEAM, but we hope that more of these resources and initiatives begin to integrate other “letters” of STEAM as they grow and evolve.

Resource/Initiative	Description	Audience
AIMS Center	Supports playful approaches to teaching and learning mathematics and science, and policies and practices that are culturally relevant	Prekindergarten through grade twelve (PreK-12) educators
California Mathematics Council (CMC)	Provides regional conferences and awards to support professional learning in math education	K-12 educators and administrators
California Mathematics Project (CMP)	A kindergarten through college (K-16) network that supports curriculum implementation and professional learning aligned to the California Mathematics Standards and Frameworks	K-16 educators
California Science Project	Supports professional learning, technical assistance and collaboration among educators in building science content knowledge and pedagogical approaches	K-12 educators
California STEM Network	Network dedicated to connecting and supporting various science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) champions across the state	K-12 policymakers, advocates, and administrators
California STEAM Symposium	A gathering of statewide STEAM practices organized by the Californians Dedicated to Education (CDE) foundation	K-12 educators and administrators
Computer Science Equity Project	Out of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), this project focuses on addressing structural inequalities with access to computer science	K-12 educators, administrators and students
Count Play Explore	An initiative that promotes math and science (including computer science) outcomes among children from birth to third grade via professional development, communications, resources for those who provide training and coaching, and family and community engagement	Families and educators of children birth through age eight
California Preschool Instructional Network (CPIN) Math, Science and Visual and Performing Arts Trainings	CPIN develops trainings aligned to domains of the Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF), which includes trainings on math, science, and visual and performing arts	Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten (TK) educators
Create California (CA)	Advocates for access to high-quality arts education for all students, including providing resources	K-12 families, educators, administrators, advocates, and policymakers
Computer Science (CS) for CA	Advocates for access to high-quality computer science education for all students	K-12 families, educators, administrators, advocates, and policymakers
Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education (DREME) Network	Out of Stanford University, this website provides resources and activities to support young children’s math development	P-3 educators, teacher educators, and families
FabLab	Out of San Joaquin County, the Fab Lab is an engineering classroom that includes field trips, events, and summer camps where students learn engineering design standards and apply math, science, and technology to invent something new, solve a problem, or compete with others	K-12 educators and families
P-3 Learning Progressions	Resource available in both Math and Science that demonstrate alignment between the PTKLF and the kindergarten through third grade (K-3) Common Core State Standards	P-3 educators and administrators
Rural Math Collaborative	Supports communities of practice and professional learning for educators and administrators in mathematics education aligned to the California Mathematics Framework	K-12 educators and administrators
San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) Early Math and Science Integration Prototype (PPTX)	Developed by curriculum coordinators at the SDCOE, this prototype provides a possible path of integrating science and math using essential understandings or big ideas as a place of intersection	TK through grade five (TK-5) educators
Technology Enhanced Arts Learning (TEAL) Project	Supports educators in providing integrated and culturally relevant, integrated arts education which centers social and emotional learning	Kindergarten through grade six (K-6) educators
The California Arts Project (TCAP)	A collaborative statewide network to promote professional learning and leadership in arts education	PreK-12 educators and teacher educators

P-3 Learning Progressions

The Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Learning Progressions show the correspondence between the Preschool-Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations and California Common Core State Standards. This resource includes the knowledge and skills children develop over the P-3 continuum and in practice examples that illustrate how educators can use playful, inquiry-based teaching practices to engage children in developmentally appropriate learning experiences. 

• Introduction (PDF)
• Language and Literacy Development (PDF)
• Social and Emotional Development (PDF)
• Math (PDF)
• Science (PDF)
• Approaches to Learning (PDF)
• Table Views (PDF)

Additional Resources

Additional resources for disrupting inequities and promoting equitable access in P-3 are provided below.

Webinars

Webinars are a vital way for CDE to share foundational knowledge and engage in growth and learning with the field on implementation of P-3 alignment strategies.

June 3, 2021 – Building Back Better: Using P-3 Strategies that Support the Whole Child (Video; 1:30:19)

During this session, the first in a P-3 Webinar Series to work with and support our stakeholders as they consider, plan for, and implement P-3 strategies at every level, Opportunities for All Branch leadership was joined by National Expert Kristie Kauerz, Director of the National P-3 Center for a discussion of how state and district leaders can utilize unprecedented investments at the state and federal level to address the short-term needs associated with the pandemic and implement long-term structural changes that will strengthen P-3 alignment through explicit P-3 strategies to support students, teachers, and schools.

Policy Resources

• The Master Plan for Early Learning and Care
• National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) Universal Preschool Plan
• National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in States Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE):
  NAECS-SDE Policy Statement on the Power of Kindergarten (PDF)
• P-3 and State Policy
• Universal PreKindergarten Teacher Pipeline Resource Compendium (PDF)
• Universal PreKindergarten Teacher Pipeline Resource Compendium 2022-23 (PDF)
• The Early Education Teacher Development Grant Program Request for Application
  Early Education Teacher Development Grant

Supporting Research

• Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness: Insights for Policymakers
• The Current State of Scientific Knowledge on Pre-Kindergarten Effects
• A Nation of Readers Report
• Equity in the Early Years
• A Restorative Approach for Equitable Education
• Pre-K to 3 Alignment: Challenges and Opportunities in California
• Investing Early: Taking stock of Outcomes and Economic Returns from Early Childhood Programs
• Getting Down to Facts: Early Childhood Education in California