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The National Black Child Development Institute has created a prek-3^rd grade framework which includes six areas critical to the positive growth and development of black children. The framework gave me an insight about how to provide all children with high quality educational experiences and support.

 

What is a PreK-3rd Grade framework?
The PreK-3rd terminology encompasses a variety of efforts dedicated to improving systems for children birth through age 8; ensuring continuity for children and families through child care, Pre-K and K-12; and seamlessly connecting high-quality early childhood and Pre-K programs with high-quality elementary schools. The Foundation for Child Development has identified major components of a successful PreK-3rd strategy, comprising a loose “framework” which includes, at a minimum: voluntary full-school-day Pre-K and required full-school-day Kindergarten; standards, curriculum, instruction & assessment that are aligned within and across the early childhood to early grades continuum; curriculum that integrates academic and social skills; teachers who are qualified to teach Pre-K to Third grade; and families, schools, and communities who share accountability for student
 

The core of the PreK-3rd framework is built on the critical importance of instructional quality within and across the PreK-3rd grade continuum. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that “high-quality instruction has special significance during the PreK-3rd years, when children master foundational skills and concepts, develop attitudes towards school, and form ideas about themselves as learners.”vi Our collective understanding of the importance of instruction has been manifested at the highest levels – in 2010, when President Obama and the Department of Education released their Blueprint for Reform, to guide the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, they placed strong emphasis on the need to “measure, develop and improve the effectiveness of teachers, leaders and preparation programs.”

 The PreK-3rd movement aims to change that, having developed a loose framework of core elements that provides ongoing research, evidence and guidelines for states, districts and schools to strengthen teaching and learning across these critical years. In both theory and practice, this framework can be a meaningful one for Black children, families and communities, because it is designed to establish a context for strengthening instructional practices by building on strengths and recognizing cultural patterns. While primarily understood as an agenda to enhance the alignment and coordination of standards, curricula, instruction and assessments across ages and grades, when successfully implemented, the broad PreK-3rd grade framework includes the following six areas that are critical to the positive growth and development of Black children:

 Effective and Aligned Instruction Across Consecutive Years

 Positive Relationship Development Between Children and Teachers

 Strong Family and Community Engagement

 Importance of Social-Emotional Development

 Access to Full-Day, High-Quality Pre K and Kindergarten

 Successful, Supportive and Seamless Transitions

Achieving High-Quality Classroom Instruction

Several components of the PreK-3rd grade framework are dedicated to reversing this trend and promoting effective teaching and high-quality instruction across consecutive years, by advocating for a PreK-3rd grade certification and license; ensuring that all teachers and assistant teachers are considered highly-qualified, with appropriate degrees; building joint planning time for teachers within and across grades to align their instruction and curriculum; and promoting professional development around instructional practices that includes a focus on early education and child development principles.

In addition, high-quality classroom instruction must be based on a foundation of aligned standards across grades; curricula that connect to those standards; and assessments that inform the instruction of those standards and the implementation of the curricula, all of which are integral pieces of the PreK-3rd grade framework. Yet the agenda reaches deeper, having identified four characteristics of what high-quality instruction looks like in PreK-3rd:

1. Teachers observe and respond to individual children’s development over time

2. Teacher provide emotional support to individual children

3. Teachers foster engagement in learning activities and keep classrooms running smoothly

4. Teachers support higher order thinking and advanced language skills

This framework model the NBCDI has established can be implemented  for culturally diverse classrooms to help all children reach their full potential and get the support needed from their teachers.