To improve early learning programs nationwide, policymakers and funders are investing in curriculum, professional development, and assessments. However, ensuring educational partners are well-prepared to deliver them remains a crucial step.
With a new grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Michigan’s Education Policy Initiative (EPI) will create a new tool to measure key factors that make a school or early childhood center successful in implementing a curriculum in the early grades. The project, "Measuring Implementation Readiness in Pre-K to 2nd Grade," will provide baseline measures to understand in what areas a school may need additional supports.
“We know high-quality curriculum is a key ingredient in getting children off to a strong start in school,” said Christina Weiland, co-director of EPI and the Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. “What we lack is a tool that can systematically pinpoint at baseline which classrooms need additional supports to implement new curriculum and deliver on high-quality experiences for children. Our tool aims to fill that gap.”
Led by Weiland, the project brings together a multifaceted team of researchers from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and the Marsal Family School of Education, Northwestern University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Stand for Children, and MDRC. The project will begin with an extensive literature review to identify critical factors that impact the ability of educational partners to implement high-quality curricula, such as teacher education and training, coaching, and prior curricula implementation experience. The team will also analyze readiness measures and assessment tools already integrated in exemplar sites, conduct site visits, and interview teachers about their experience implementing new curriculum. These insights will inform the development of the readiness tool tailored for early childhood educators.
The final readiness tool will assist funders and product developers in understanding the preparedness of school districts, community based organizations, and individual schools to adopt and implement new curricula aimed at enhancing early learning quality.
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