The REL provided the New Jersey Department of Education practical, research-based information to build strategies, tools, and training for educators so they can engage parents and families in students' learning and development. REL staff worked directly with the department's Division of Early Childhood Education through a series of coaching sessions. Check out the handouts for families and educators created through this partnership, available in English (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/midatlantic/app/Docs/technicalassistance/FamilyActivityHandout_English.pdf) and Spanish (https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/midatlantic/app/Docs/technicalassistance/FamilyActivityHandout_Spanish.pdf).

Supporting School Transitions for Young Learners Fact Sheet (693 KB)
This REL fact sheet highlights promising practices and research-informed strategies that districts and schools can use to successfully and equitably transition young learners to the next school year.

The REL provided coaching to Delaware staff on recommendations to improve early childhood teacher education and compensation, as well as the successes and challenges other states have had implementing education and compensation initiatives.

Tips for Supporting Elementary Writing Skills at Home (1.4 MB)
The REL developed a tip sheet to help families and caregivers support children’s elementary writing skills at home.

The REL conducted a systematic evidence review on the effectiveness of play as a teaching practice for young children in pre-kindergarten through third grade using the ESSA non-regulatory framework for evidence. Read more here.

The REL coordinated and collaborated with staff from the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning to (1) determine what constitutes a strong or weak evaluation study according to the ESSA framework for evidence, and (2) identify existing evidence on the effectiveness of play as a teaching strategy for young children, communicate the evidence to school leaders and teachers, and determine prospects for expanding the evidence on the effectiveness of teaching strategies of interest. Read the memo here.

The REL conducted a study for the MSDE to address a critical need to better understand its schools’ contributions to student learning in the early elementary grades as a part of its accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The early grades lay an important foundation for students’ future academic success. Yet, as is the case for nearly every state, MSDE lacks a measure of how well its schools are supporting the academic growth of its youngest students, from kindergarten to grade 3. A K–3 school-level growth measure was estimated and examined. The research team identified some concerns about the measure’s validity and precision that suggest it should be used for accountability with caution. Other key report findings include:

• The overall Kindergarten Readiness Assessment score performs about as well in predicting grade 3 achievement as combinations of kindergarten readiness subscores.
• Schools’ grade K–3 growth estimates are likely less valid than schools’ grade 3–4 growth estimates but have a similar level of precision.
• K–3 growth estimates are more precise for larger schools than for smaller ones.
• Administering the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment to a subset of students in each classroom (as opposed to all students) greatly reduces the precision of schools’ K–3 growth estimates.

View the report here.

Using kindergarten entry assessments to measure whether Philadelphia’s students are on-track for reading proficiently (284 KB)
The REL developed a fact sheet summarizing our work with the School District of Philadelphia on school readiness indicators.

In May 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill requiring schools with high chronic absenteeism rates to develop a corrective action plan to improve attendance. Under this new regulation, K–12 public schools must examine their absenteeism data and formulate strategies to decrease chronic absenteeism rates that are specific to their student population and community. REL staff worked with staff from the New Jersey Department of Education’s Division of Early Childhood Education to develop a resource compendium to help districts and private early childhood programs understand and address absenteeism in early years. The resource compendium includes a cohesive guidance document and a set of companion presentation slides for New Jersey state officials, district and school leaders, private pre-kindergarten program administrators, teachers, parents and families, and community stakeholders. The resource compendium can be found here.

REL Mid-Atlantic partnered with the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning to develop an indicator of school readiness at kindergarten entry that could measure intermediate progress towards Philadelphia's goal of increasing the percentage of grade 4 students who can read on grade level by 2020. Key report findings include:

• Higher Kindergarten Entry Inventory scores predicted grade 3 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment proficiency
• The study identified a threshold that accurately predicted the actual grade 3 proficiency rate

View the report here.

Delaware is working to refine its quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early childhood care and education settings to ensure consistency in quality within each level, distinguish quality between levels, and ensure the validity of the ratings. This workshop provided research-based coaching to inform the QRIS redesign efforts and changes to its tiered reimbursement structure. The workshop discussed research evidence to inform decisions about the issues with which the redesign team is grappling and provide information on the experiences other states face in modifying their QRIS. View the archived event resources to view recordings from the workshop presentations.