Building Your System - Plans & Tools

Introduction

This page contains information and resources that will help you build your PreK-3rd grade system. In the Resources set of tabs below, you will find valuable resources and tools aimed at design, implementation and evaluation. Then, in the next set of tabs, Organizations, you will find information/guidance from various organizations, like the publication, Educational Alignment for Young Children: Profiles of Local Innovation, from the National Governors Association. The last set of tabs, States, focuses on PreK-3rd grade efforts in other states.

To learn more about what is happening in Minnesota, or to find more Minnesota-specific resources, go to the Minnesota-PreK-3-Programs page.

Resources

Collective Impact

Five Conditions (information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_impact)

Initiatives must meet five criteria in order to be considered collective impact:

Common Agenda: All participating organizations (government agencies, non-profits, community members, etc.) have a shared vision for social change that includes a common understanding of the problem and a joint approach to solving problem through agreed upon actions.

Shared Measurement System: Agreement on the ways success will be measured and reported with a short list of key indicators across all participating organizations.

Mutually Reinforcing Activities: Engagement of a diverse set of stakeholders, typically across sectors, coordinating a set of differentiated activities through a mutually reinforcing plan of action.

Continuous Communication: Frequent communications over a long period of time among key players within and across organizations, to build trust and inform ongoing learning and adaptation of strategy.

Backbone Organization: Ongoing support provided by an independent staff dedicated to the initiative. The backbone staff tends to play six roles to move the initiative forward:

  1. Guide Vision and Strategy
  2. Support Aligned Activity
  3. Establish Shared Measurement Practices
  4. Build Public Will
  5. Advance Policy and
  6. Mobilize Funding.

Links

Collective Impact Forum
Click Here, or http://collectiveimpactforum.org/

Resources

Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work
Click Here, Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer (2012), Stanford Social Innovation Review

Organizations

Community Schools

Building Blocks: An Examination of the Collaborative Approach Community Schools Are Using To Bolster Early Childhood Development
Case Studies
Cincinnati, Ohio: Cincinnati Community Learning Centers
Evansville, Indiana: Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
Multnomah County, Oregon: Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Community Schools
Tulsa, Oklahoma: Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative (TACSI)
Click Here

Understanding Community Schools as Collaboratives for System Building to Address Barriers and Promote Well-Being
Click Here, Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, March 2011

States

Maryland

Effectively Educating PreK-3rd English Language Learners (ELLs) in Montgomery County Public Schools
Click Here Foundation for Child Development

Evaluating Lasting Effects of Full-day Prekindergarten Program on School Readiness, Academic Performance, and Special Education Services
Click Here, Montgomery County Public Schools

Lessons in Early Learning: Building an Integrated Pre-K-12 System in Montgomery County Public Schools
Click Here

Preschool for All in Maryland: Recommendations of the Task Force on Universal Preschool Education
Click Here, Maryland State Department of Education

Links

Montgomery County Public Schools: Division of Early Childhood Programs and Services
Click Here