Adding technology to any learning program will not immediately translate into improved student outcomes. However, technology, when used with physical educational materials, has the potential to add tremendous value to classrooms. 

At Sprig we leverage the latest technological innovations to develop holistic and inclusive early learning programs that help teachers support a classroom full of diverse learners.

Technology can assist early childhood educators gather meaningful insights through innovative assessment, or manage a classroom full of diverse learners with personalized learning systems. But the actual off-screen lessons and activities, whether in school or at home, still remain of utmost importance. 

Sprig Learning is very much aware of this fact, which is why it puts a special emphasis on physical books, print material and educational resources into its early years programs.

For example, reading a storybook remains the single most important activity in early childhood education. Reading words from a page, without distraction, builds both concentration and attention span. Children who have more books at home and who learn to read by grade 1, have increased success in school.

Having said that, technology use in classrooms has been on the rise for many years now. Only four years ago, almost 60% of K-12 teachers used educational apps in their classrooms. With the pandemic, that number has likely surged. 

It is good to be cognizant of all the latest technology advancements that are being introduced in early learning. 

With Sprig’s mission to provide every child a fair shot at success, it’s important that the playing field is leveled by ensuring all students across North America are benefiting from the latest innovations.

One of these new innovations is augmented reality (AR). Educators and students use AR apps to access media and objects that appear in three dimensions (3D) on the screen! AR presents an enhanced, interactive version of reality with added visuals that actually appear to be a part of the scene displayed on the screen.

It is more than a trend, as it is set to become very common in the future. A few years back, over 80% of public school teachers in the US saw value in using digital technologies such as AR.

This article covers AR’s place in early childhood education, its numerous benefits, and a case study from Sprig Learning. 

 

Augmented Reality Produces Results

Introducing AR in pre-kindergarten classrooms has been effective in the growth of motivation and rapid letter naming among kids. In a study conducted by the University of Texas, students who received an AR version fared better than those who received a two dimensional (2D) version of the same material. 

In a study from the State of Kuwait, AR apps improved the engagement rates of kindergartners in their English alphabet lesson, which had a significant correlation with their alphabet test scores.

The 3M corporation conducted research to show that human beings process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Using AR in the classroom greatly enhances the ability of the educator to offer another learning style for students who may otherwise struggle to learn a concept. 

Of course, every student is unique. There are many learning styles, all which require differentiated instruction in the classroom. The teacher is able to customize content, process, assess and environment according to the learning needs of the student. With AR, the teacher’s toolbox for differentiation expands.

 

Benefits of Augmented Reality

 

Complements Books for Fast Learning

Books can be read with AR-based applications. The animations in the story come to life, certain words can be accompanied with sounds, and immersing into a story can be simplified. 

These AR features can enrich the young learners’ reading experience. AR applications have the potential to enhance oral language development and build the foundational skills strong and confident young readers need.  

 

Enhances Understanding of Concepts

Books, blackboard and screens offer a 2D screen. Only real life has three dimensions. 

Normally, it’s difficult for educators to explain certain math concepts maneuvering the 3D environment. It helps if these concepts are demonstrated in a 3D fashion on a 2D screen, which is what the AR experience is. 

Also, the multisensory experience of hearing sounds, and getting closer to an environment on a screen helps develop mental dexterity in students. It is very conducive for understanding concepts, which requires the mind to process multiple things at once. 

 

Provides Room For Interaction

For educators, the joy of teaching is in the interaction with students. Teachers have both physical and digital educational materials to assist in this process, but they do not replace the actual one-to-one or one-to-many interactions with students that happen in the classroom. 

Large classrooms can sometimes prevent all students from getting the attention they need. AR can help replicate those direct connections where the students can, for example, interact with certain characters using AR, alongside interacting with teachers. By listening, touching and observing, the AR experience can become more meaningful. 

 

Promotes Inquisitiveness

For early childhood education, inquiry-based learning is a very effective way of teaching. It is very similar to play-based learning, or experiential learning. 

Concepts taught using AR help to fuel curiosity in young children, where they have questions or want to learn more, creating a situation where they are receptive to more knowledge. Real-world experience is always the first choice, but in times when it’s not possible, AR capability can provide an effective secondary option.

 

Easy to Set Up and Operate

Remote learning is not an ideal, long-term solution for early childhood education. Young learners require the opportunity to be taught in an in-person setting.  

But it helps to have an effective option when and where in-person learning is not possible. In such scenarios, an AR experience can be delivered by downloading an app!

Whether in school or at home, the app, a tablet and internet are the only requirements. The tablet can be provided or subsidized by schools that want to implement a digital program. The internet is only required for downloading the app, after which it can be used without a web connection. 

 

Cost-Friendly

One of the primary motivations for technology in the classroom is its cost-saving potential. Technology can help educators become more efficient and can ultimately cut certain operational costs. 

AR adds to the cost-efficiency of technology. Certain interactions with the environment which are necessary for learning can be replicated by AR. For example, when certain field trips are canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, they can now be realistically virtualized. Or imagine being able to immerse students in faraway locations where they would otherwise not be able to visit.

 

Augmented Reality in Action

Sprig Learning is working on adding AR to its early learning programs. The developed app can be used by itself, acting as a 3D animated storybook for young learners. But it can also be used as a complementary resource in a learning program. 

Educators provide input in creating certain scenarios where the reality of teaching can be augmented by characters, depictions, objects on the screen. 

Early literacy is marked by high-quality learning experiences that promote speaking and listening. AR is an interactive tool that allows educators to offer a stimulating lesson to their students and support the creation of sound reading behaviours.

In the picture at the beginning of this section, Antle, a character from Sprig’s Indigenous Stories series, sees his father playing the drums. 

The simulation can be projected on any surface using an iPad. Different angles can be accessed by moving the iPad around. The images are dynamic and move in the scenery, and as one zooms in, the noise of the drums gets louder, providing a realistic multisensory experience. Students can interact with the story and the characters, learn to pronounce certain words, work on their oral language skills and, in this case, learn to speak Indigenous words.

It’s very important to state the educators’ integral role in all of this. With their expert guidance and usage of AR capabilities, students will acquire the maximum benefit from such technology.

Currently, less than 10% of schools use AR in classrooms. But that can change very quickly as AR education apps become more prevalent and available. As this innovation expands, it’s important to ensure that all children get the same opportunity to experience AR.

As the world changes, it’s important to teach young learners the foundational skills and concepts using the latest innovations at our disposal. If you have an AR idea that you want to implement in the classroom, or are interested in producing an AR educational series, please get in touch.

 

The core values of Sprig Learning align well with the ethos behind using the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds.

ESSER is a type of fund which is non-competitive and state-administered. Every school entitled to receive federal funding is also eligible to receive the ESSER funds. ESSER released three stimulus packages, with the allotted funding increasing in each round. 

The Every Students Succeed Act (ESSA) is the main act that governs ESSER and all public education policy in the US.

To truly understand the basis of ESSER funding, it’s important to understand the principles of ESSA.

ESSA says that all students have access to an equitable and excellent education. 

These values of inclusivity, equity and excellence are thus reflected in the allowable usage of the ESSER funds.

It is precisely Sprig’s mission, to bring high-quality and equitable early learning to all young students from every community, being responsive to any cultural or linguistic differences. 

This article recommends the best usage of ESSER funds, by briefly reviewing its allowable usages and then looking at some examples of states who are appropriating the grant money to their educational institutions. It concludes with two specific recommendations on how to best use ESSER funds.

 

Allowable Usage of ESSER Funding

From coordination of response efforts, to addressing the unique needs of children, to training and professional development, there are in fact multiple allowable usages of ESSER funding. 

It’s what makes a needs assessment so crucial. Several uses of the grants are permitted, but their best use depends on the particular school or school district, or the priorities of the state.

Here are some statements that describe the essence of what the funds are being used for. Each statement is followed by what Sprig is able to offer.

The ESSER funds are widely used to acquire or purchase three types of assets. Infrastructure, evidence-based programs and technology. 

Sprig Learning offers early literacy and numeracy programs that can be implemented in classrooms. These programs include classroom resources such as books and puppets, but also technology by which educators can assess students and personalize learning. It’s an example of an evidence-based program that uses technology for assessments and instructional support. 

The ESSER funds are meant to advance equity in education. Any disadvantaged or marginalized student from any community is meant to receive the same high-quality education that gives them a fair chance at succeeding. 

Equity in education is something Sprig Learning is very familiar with, as its brand promise is to provide every child a fair shot at success. Sprig’s raison d’être is to help every child succeed by implementing our holistic approach to assessment and learning to uncover and support each child’s unique learning strengths, needs, and interests. 

The ESSER funds should be prioritized towards solutions that improve outcomes for all students.

Sprig Learning programs were designed to meet all early learning milestones, the effect of which is strongly associated with achieving both academic and social outcomes in later grades. 

In fact, the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) states how focus on early childhood is a great ESSER investment. It writes that “high-quality preschool programs and exposure to a rigorous and engaging curriculum from Pre-K to grade 3 reduce the achievement gap and avoid more costly interventions in later grades.”

Meeting early literacy and numeracy benchmarks are significant markers for success. Sprig allows educators to personalize learning for all students with activities that are designed to work on all relevant learning domains. 

In early literacy for example, there are several language- and print-related activities such as storytelling, answering questions, nursery rhymes and drawing.

All the learning domains overlap and are interrelated. However, there are learning milestones that must be met at each phase (i.e., infant, toddler, preschooler, kindergartner, all the way up to grade 3).

 Sprig Learning programs allow the educator to see the level of the student at each phase.

 

What Is a Great ESSER Investment?

ESSER makes it abundantly clear where the funds are to be used. Refer to the table and the paragraph that follows it in this page for a breakdown of ESSER I, II and III funds. ESSER I and II are very similar in what is covered, and ESSER III is a cumulative version of what precedes it, with a special focus on learning loss. 

A great ESSER investment fulfills a particular need of the school that falls within the allowable usages of the fund. It helps to see some examples of how the funding can be used.

 

Examples of ESSER Funding Usage

 

Recommendation from Edtech Magazine.

EdTech says data analytics programs are a great ESSER III investment. 

By data analytics, it refers to tools that can show all student data such as grades, test scores, GPA, and attendance on a dashboard. It gives educators and administrators the ability to see where learning loss occurs. 

It also acts as a great time-saving tool for educators where they don’t have to manually add data to spreadsheets.

Indeed, a dashboard is a must-have for any educational program these days. Sprig Learning has a dashboard that is accessible on both PC browsers and mobile apps where educators can interact with the learning portfolios of students in their classrooms.

Delaware

The Delaware Department of Education uses ESSER funds to provide digital books to students in all grades. It focuses on the acceleration model instead of remediation for literacy.

Monica Gant, the associate secretary of academic support for the Delaware Department of Education emphasizes unfinished teaching and learning versus learning loss.

She says “Learning loss indicates a deficit for students, where unfinished teaching and learning means that they haven’t had that opportunity yet for a variety of reasons”. 

Sprig also holds the view that rather than focusing on “learning loss”, it’s better to assess and uncover a child’s strengths and interests.  This holistic approach to assessment can be used to personalize instruction for every student. 

Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Dept. of Education lists the following allowable uses of ESSER II and III funds:

• Expanded classroom libraries so every child has access to books.
• Homework programming and support to assist students.
• Digital applications to improve parent, student, and educator communication.
• Professional development and support with integrating educational services into online learning environments.
• Transitional support for students (early childhood to elementary, elementary to middle, middle to high).

All of the above uses are extremely relevant to the overall learning outcome of every child. 

Some quick reflections:

It’s best if a learning platform enables a connection between school and home, ensuring supports for parents and learning in the home . Active parental engagement is preferred, of which there are 4 kinds.

Sprig Home is a standalone app that can be used by parents to educate their kids independently or in collaboration with educators. 

It’s great if libraries are expanded, even in the form of digital or animated storybooks. For example, new stories are always added to the Sprig Library app.

The use of funds to facilitate transition between grade configurations is also highly encouraged. Indeed, one unified view of the complete learning history of a student is needed, so their circle of support can best help them throughout the different phases of school life. 

Tennessee Department of Education

Reading 360 is a program that helps support early literacy development in the state of Tennessee. It helps students develop strong phonics-based reading skills by supporting districts, teachers, and families. 

Part of the program will involve administering an approved universal reading screener to all students in grades K-3 each school year, and report data to the state department.

It signifies the importance of the yearly summative assessment, apart from the ongoing formative assessments. Sprig Learning’s annual holistic assessments serve the same purpose, where it ensures that all prerequisite learning needs are met before new concepts and skills can be taught to the student.

 

Best Use of ESSER Funds

Close to $200 billion have been promised in the three rounds of ESSER funding. With the purchase of technology, it’s possible to give a massive boost to educators to teach large classrooms full of diverse learners. 

It is time-saving, it enhances the quality of instruction by maintaining individual learning profiles of each student, and it elicits engagement from parents if used to communicate with them.

Given the numerous benefits of a technological aspect of learning program, the ESSER funds cover the purchase of education technology, including software, that promotes and facilitates substantive education interactions between students and classroom instructors. 

Sprig conducts holistic assessment using a touch-enabled classroom puppet. It allows students to freely and comfortably answer questions. Along with these answers, the perspectives of parents, the community and the educator are also considered in what is a 360-degree view of learning. 

Such a holistic approach to learning enables us to measure learning in school, in-home and in the community. It provides a true measure of early learning outcomes for every child.

 

Two uses of ESSER funding stand out in particular.

Regular Assessments to Measure Learning

In the US, approximately 70% of educators do not use or have access to high-quality standards-aligned curriculum. It’s important that curriculums are aligned to a state’s academic standards and have embedded assessments to track progress.

There is a need for high-quality instructional material, but also a regular assessment process by which learning is measured for students. 

Culturally Responsive Educator Backed Learning Material

In a randomized study, it was found that improving the curriculum was 40 times more cost-effective than reducing class sizes. 

Demographic and social factors are beyond the scope of control for education leaders, but responding to students’ needs is very much doable. To this end, it’s good to implement programs that are endorsed by educators and which are adaptable to different kinds of learners from all communities.

 

To learn more about how Sprig Learning fits the bill to accomplish the two objectives above, please reach out to us. 

As another year draws to an end, Sprig Learning would like to thank all of its educational partners, schools, teachers and well wishers for their continued support. As a purpose-built company, our goal at Sprig is to ensure every child receives a fair shot at success.

Here is a look back at the things we have accomplished this year to help us achieve our goal.

 

App Features

Our Sprig Language and Sprig Math programs were fortified with the latest best-in-class features on our iPad apps. Teachers can now track classroom progress straight from the dashboard on their Sprig app. The dashboard allows any educator to view their student’s assessment results, their level of proficiency in language or math, and their learning activity completions. 

Additionally, educators are now able to view, search, save, filter and complete personalized activities on their app with the students in the classroom. This allows for a level of customization that was previously only available to teachers online.

Currently, we are busy introducing augmented reality in some of the featured stories in our programs. Stay tuned!

 

Sprig Home

Sprig Home was launched in the summer of 2020, to help parents support early learning at home. When schools were closed because of the pandemic, Sprig wanted to support any potential missed learning opportunities by supporting parents with at-home learning ideas through the Sprig Home app. Parents were able to support fundamental early literacy and numeracy concepts and skills through easy-to-understand, at-home learning activities that fit into parents’ daily routines.

Sprig Home was made freely available for download until the beginning of the school year, so parents had a chance to teach their kids during the summer learning slide, a phenomenon that exists every year, with or without the pandemic.

You can find the Sprig Home available on the App Store today!

 

Sprig Math Game for Kids

We are working on the development of a Sprig Math Game (name to be decided)  iOS app, focused on interactive, teacher-developed math activities that allow students to engage and learn the fundamental math concepts required for young learners.

The app will allow children to explore and master the necessary math concepts needed to be successful in Grade 1. Sprig is looking to launch the first version before Summer 2022. We are working in partnership with math specialists from Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, the Faculty of Education at Saint Francis Xavier University, and the Nova Scotia Ministry of Education, Nova Scotia.

 

Greater Reach

Sprig’s early learning programs are now fully aligned to the curriculums of the following provinces in Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Yukon and Alberta. It’s a great feeling to be able to design holistic learning experiences that fulfill all the curriculum criteria set by different jurisdictions.  We are also actively working with schools and organizations in the United States to align to many local and state curriculums. 

We have added over 200 new activities to our Sprig Language and Sprig Math programs. We will continue to add more, as we give educators, parents and other caregivers the opportunity to nurture the roots of young students. 

We are very pleased to welcome Elsipogtog and Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick as the newest Sprig schools. By creating high-quality early learning programs, we believe we are restoring education equity in all parts of Canada.

 

Videos for Language Revitalization

We are always adding new Indigenous stories to our Language Revitalization program. By collaborating with Indigenous Elders, narrators and speakers, we are creating engaging learning resources that can be used in schools to educate young students about Indigenous languages and cultures. Animated stories are a big part of this learning experience.

Some of these animated videos have been uploaded to YouTube for all to see!

 

Sprig Library

We now have English, Tsu’utina and Mi’kmaw languages in the Sprig Library app! The interactive flip-book pages provide a realistic experience for readers, while hidden sounds and animation help early readers stay engaged in the story. Coming in 2022, these stories will also be available in Cree, Dene and French languages.

Furthermore, we are also working on developing decodable texts for emerging readers. These text passages are a crucial part of a structured literacy approach which contain words made of letter-sounds.

 

The Sprig Store

We launched the Sprig Learning Store in November. This was part of Sprig’s response to help bring increased awareness to Indigenous cultures and languages across North America. 

We wanted to make the Indigenous-theme resources, developed with Indigenous educators and Elders,  publicly available for purchase for other school districts and educators across Canada and the US.

 

An Eventful National Indian Education Association 2021

We attended and presented at the 52nd annual NIEA Convention & Tradeshow in Omaha, Nebraska in October. It was a wonderful event, with many participants who gathered together to discuss Indigenous education. The theme of the event was Indigenous sovereignty in education. 

Blaire Gould, Executive Director of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, and Sprig presented the topic on Friday, Oct. 16 , Holistic Assessments: Improving Early Literacy Outcomes. It was very well received and later presented in a webinar on it on the same topic. The recorded presentation is available to all those who registered, but could not attend. If you are interested in streaming it as well, contact us and we will provide you with a private link.

 

Relaunched Newsletter

We relaunched our brand newsletter, Root to Fruit. Root to Fruit curates early learning industry news with original perspectives on issues that matter in early childhood education. 

In addition, it provides blog roundups from the insightful Sprig Blog. We present the latest and greatest information on early learning from four different lenses: school innovation, teachers, parents and indigenous education. 

If you have not subscribed yet, you should definitely consider doing so.

We are going to improve it further in the new year to add even more value for our readers.

 

A Message from Our CEO

It’s one thing to write an annual review on behalf of the whole team, but we would be remiss without talking to our CEO, Jarrett, about his opinions on where things are and where things are going. So we asked him:

 

How was the year 2021 for Sprig Learning and what does the future hold?

While our team at Sprig has long been committed to ensuring all early learners have an equal shot at success in school and in life, this last year has changed the context in which we do our work – now and moving forward.  

At Sprig Learning, we adapted and innovated to continue to  provide the tools and resources needed for our students, teachers and caregivers. We collaborated and innovated to ensure our holistic learning programs could be delivered and effective in any learning environment, whether that be in-school, remote or hybrid.

We are fortunate to have incredible partners and we are grateful for all the ongoing support you continue to bring. In 2022, Sprig will continue to innovate to support all educators to be champions for early learning and to ensure all students have a fair shot at success both now and in the future.

Parents are busy. We have jobs, homes to run, and children to take care of. 

It can be quite overwhelming to manage everything, and so it is quite natural to welcome any and all help that is offered. Either by a family member, a friend, or an organization.

In early childhood education, there is lots of help available for parents. 

In Head Start Programs in the US, preschools are free for parents. These programs take a two-generation approach which educates the child while nurturing the well-being of the parent. Greater parental involvement in these programs has proven to increase cognitive stimulation in early learners. 

There are also home-based options where visitors come once a week to the home to support parents and kids and co-develop strategies to help the child learn. 

There are also parent training programs that are designed to reduce family stress. They provide instruction in areas such as  discipline strategies, positive involvement in a child’s life, skill encouragement, and problem solving. Basically, the programs aim to cover everything that a parent should know as they raise and educate their young children. 

The Canadian Child Care Federation provides high quality resources for early learning and child care. They promote the children’s emotional, social, cognitive, ethical and creative development. They offer tips on parenting, such as strategies for dealing with challenging behaviors, enhancing self-esteem and strengthening communication skills. 

Indeed, there are many facets to learning at a young age, and greater parent involvement ensures that the whole child is being supported. Sprig Learning takes a holistic approach to learning that focuses on the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development of the child. 

In this article, Sprig Learning covers four significant ways parents can become involved in their child’s education.

 

Parental Involvement or Family Engagement?

There is a difference between parental involvement and family engagement.

There is no doubt that school districts, organizations and education companies are trying to do their part in what is called family engagement. 

Start Early, an  early childhood research organization, defines family engagement as “partnering with families to build mutually respectful, goal-oriented relationships that support strong parent-child relationships, family well-being and ongoing learning and development for both parents and children.” This definition is from the perspective of institutions and how they can enhance engagement.

Parental involvement on the other hand, is defined as the “active participation of a parent or caregiver in the education of the child.” This perspective focuses on the parent initiating engagement—a regular and ongoing commitment of the parent to their children and to their school.

Help from educational institutions like daycares, preschools or school programs is available for a good reason. They help to reinforce the practice of positive parental involvement. They also create a support system for learning with facilitators and other parents.

In addition to the support from schools and other organizations, there are some absolute necessities of parental involvement, which the more parents know sooner, the better. 

If the following four categories of parental involvement are practiced in advance, then any family engagement received will bear results faster.

When family engagement from schools meets parental involvement halfway, the most impactful early learning occurs.

 

The 4 Categories of Parental Involvement

Based on our research, we discovered there are four categories of activities parents can engage in to better support their child’s education. Here they are along with some practical examples.

 

Attend Events

Parents should attend school events, whenever possible. During the pandemic, many schoolevents were either cancelled or held virtually. While text, email and other social networks can be good tools for initial communication, there is nothing like building a partnership with the school or an educator in person. 

These events can be in school, or in the community. 

Examples: Attend parent-teacher meetings, conferences or briefings. Attend other school activities such as plays, tournaments, class presentations, chaperone school field trips.

 

Visit Places

Visiting signifies taking the initiative to take your child somewhere, rather than just attending what someone else has organized. It’s a crucial part of home learning, where the child uses their inquisitive nature to learn about the world around them.

Examples: Plan educational trips such as to the library, museum, or neighborhood park.

 

Do Things At Home

“Doing” is the other half of home learning that can happen indoors, at the comfort of one’s own residence. Rather than going to a place, the parent can partake in any number of educational activities with their child inside the home. 

Sprig Learning developed Sprig Home so parents can access teacher-created activities to do at home. It helps parents to teach their kids while also familiarizing themselves with the school curriculum. It’s an app that can be downloaded and used to educate children independently of any schools as well.

During the formative years, learning never truly stops, it just takes on many forms such as play-based learning or active learning. So it’s important to extend learning outside the classroom.

It’s really important to show interest in an early learner’s school work. Whether it’s sharing excitement over successes or providing encouragement during a difficult phase in learning, being involved by doing is essential.

Examples: Do teacher-recommended activities at home. Reading with children, or reading storybooks to children, are perhaps the most famous examples to illustrate this category. 

 

Communicate with Educators

Communicating refers to actively corresponding with educators on what help they might need or receiving advice on how to best support the child’s needs at home. Educators have an extremely demanding job, especially when it contains administrative duties as well on top of teaching. 

When parents pitch in to help relieve the workload from educators, it allows teachers more time to personalize the  education for the children in their classes. 

Examples: Monitor homework. Discuss school days and events. Volunteer to help in school with time or resources.

 

Benefits of Parental Involvement

Teacher-initiated interventions lead to improved attendance, better grade-level reading proficiency and reduced behavioral problems. The same is true for parental involvement.

Greater parental involvement, by itself, or by way of greater parental engagement can lead to all of the following:

Improved Academic Achievement 

A review of 41 documents showed a significant increase in student achievement when parents were more involved. 

In particular, active forms of parental involvement, asking how the school day was, had a stronger effect on student achievement versus passive forms, such as waiting for an issue to arise. Active parental involvement is also known as parental engagement. 

Especially meaningful for early learning, it was found that the earlier on the involvement started, the more likely was the possibility of higher student achievement. 

Improved Teacher Performance

Greater parental involvement has shown to increase performance amongst teachers. Through greater communication with the parents, educators are better able to differentiate instruction for students. 

Improved Behavior

Apart from higher school attendance, higher grades and higher scores, student behavior is also improved by greater parental involvement. Classroom conduct, self-esteem and motivation are all factors that increase with more parental involvement. 

Although socio-economic background is a key part when it comes to looking at data on education inequity, it has been shown that more involvement from parents in the child’s education increases the child’s likelihood to succeed in school with fewer behavioral problems, regardless of income or background.

 

Positive Parental Involvement—The Right Way

The benefits listed above clearly demonstrate that parents are an important part of the early childhood learning process. That’s why Sprig considers it essential that parents are consulted when students are being assessed about their current learning situation. 

An important reminder that, when talking about parental involvement, it is positive involvement that is the focus. At the other end of the spectrum, there is such a thing as too much involvement where kids become too reliant on parents. Taking these four categories into account should help achieve an effective balance for educators, parents, and, most importantly, students.

Sprig Learning is committed to providing every child a fair shot at success. Part of that commitment lies in identifying and addressing the main challenges in early learning—those systemic challenges from which all other challenges arise. 

This is a follow up to our last post 5 key challenges faced by schools and programs in early learning where we identified the challenges. In this post, we review  one solution for each of those challenges. 

The research and real-world results unequivocally say that high-quality early learning is an exceptional investment that leads to improved learning and life outcomes. 

Despite how deep-rooted each challenge is, it’s not an insurmountable task to uproot them. What we do know is that the payoffs are worth it.

 

Challenge: Lack of Time for Educators

Educators often have to wear many hats. Especially in early learning, they often have to serve the role of both the teacher and caretaker. When non-classroom management administrative duties are mandated for health and safety reasons, the core teaching activities often get pushed to the periphery.

 

A Solution: Prioritize Planning Time Over All Else

There is only so much time in a given day, and ECE educators want to teach students more than anything else. Afterall, it is why they chose the profession in the first place.

Eileen Merritt, assistant professor at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, and former elementary school teacher says “the time that I had each day for planning in my elementary classroom had a direct effect on the quality of my teaching”.

When teachers are asked what would have the greatest positive impact on their ability to help their students, more planning time during the school day is the top choice. Lack of planning time reduces educators’ ability to implement evidence-based practices, which all districts intend on using to ensure the success of every student.

In a study of large school districts in the US, over half of elementary school teachers stated they received 45 minutes per day for planning, 16 percent of the districts gave their teachers an hour, whereas 4 percent of them only gave their teachers 15 minutes. 

The fact that such discrepancy exists is troubling. When setting blocks in an educator’s daily schedule, it’s best to ensure that there is sufficient time reserved for planning. Using intuitive technology to monitor each student can save time from keeping handwritten notes or paper files. 

Planning includes both individual planning and collaborative planning with other teachers. In our Unrivaled Guide to Introducing Differentiated Instruction in Early Learning, we discuss at length on the importance of collaborative planning.

 

Challenge: Lack of Pay in Early Childhood Education

The lack of pay in ECE stalls career progression, where educators can lack motivation to continue in the midst of facing all other challenges. There is also a scarcity of institutions which offer affordable high quality programs for professionalization. But things are slowly changing.

 

A Solution: Use Quality as a Driver For Pay

Thankfully, wage increases for early childhood educators are on the radar of policy makers. The Government of Saskatchewan in Canada recently announced a $3 per hour wage increase for early childhood educators. In British Columbia, front-line ECEs working in licensed child care facilities will receive a wage increase of $4 per hour.

In the US, the Build Back Better framework proposes increasing wages and creating a salary ladder for early educators across the board. 

Trying to address something like a lack of pay is challenging. Devoting more funds in one area often means cutting costs in another, which can reduce the overall quality of the early learning program. 

It could also mean passing the cost down to the end beneficiary, which is the child’s parents in this case. But affordability of early education is an important issue in its own right.

Thus, the only way to ensure staff are compensated adequately is to increase the size of the overall budget. From the examples cited before, it’s good to see that more funding is being earmarked for developing a high-earning and happy ECE workforce.

But one thing that’s true for both public and private schools is that the quality of early learning cannot be sacrificed, which would make it even more difficult to justify any sort of rise in budget, and thus a pay rise. We’ve covered what a high-quality early learning program looks like in a previous post.

There are new early learning centers, and community colleges who offer specialized programs for those who want to have a career in ECE. This has the potential to increase the qualification for those joining the workforce, and also upskill incumbents who are in the workforce. But schools can join the effort too.

Superintendent Jerry Weast of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, formed an early-learning-focused collaborative involving the district, county agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. It’s purpose was to reinforce the district’s comprehensive professional development system. 

It’s important to brainstorm with all institutions in the community as to how quality can be ensured and maintained in a certain district.

 

Challenge: Lack of Professional Development and Training

This is potentially the most pressing issue in early learning. Professional development (PD) needs to be ongoing and educators feel they could be better supported in their time at schools. Even if they had more time, and were paid better, educators would ultimately need the right support to deliver the best learning experience to young students.

 

Solution: Have An Alignment Plan Between Early and Primary Learning

Having a plan for the youngest learners, how their learning transfers over to elementary school, and from there to secondary school, is of the utmost importance. 

Grier Park Elementary School in Lansing, MI used several strategies to ensure integration between their preK classroom and the rest of the primary school to create a preK-3 structure that was optimized for early learning.

They used professional learning communities to create opportunities for educators across grade levels, provided strong PD for preK teachers to match that of K-3 teachers, and planned for the preK to kindergarten transition during staff meetings. 

SchoolFirst, an initiative of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, favors a consolidated curricular approach for students in preK-3. The approach is said to provide a seamless brand of education and best supports early learners as they gain foundational knowledge in literacy, math and other areas. The consolidation of preK-3 into one school building is not necessary, but the integration between the two grade configurations is vital. 

A frequent challenge to preK–3 alignment is the disconnection of preK from primary grades due to its curricular materials and processes. But when you have a uniform plan in place that connects the two, there is better PD due to the increased degree of collaboration between teachers in planning and reviewing different instructional strategies.

In Nooksack Valley School District, Superintendent Mark Johnson brought together preK and elementary school teachers to collaborate on the district’s instructional core. They focused on the key interactions between the teacher, student, and content that form daily instructional routines.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that coordinating preK–3 standards, curricula, instructional practices, assessments, and teacher PD is more likely to set young students on a positive development path. 

Certain technologies can ensure that the students’ learning profiles are carried over from preK to kindergarten, so their learning gaps can be identified and addressed at the right time.

 

Challenge: Battling the Early Learning Slide

In the early formative years, particularly from birth to age 8, learning is gained through achieving certain age appropriate milestones. There are many theories on the best way to achieve this, but if such milestones are not met, then progress in future years is impeded.

 

Solution: Have Achievement Indicators at Each Grade Level

As literacy is the building block of so many crucial academic milestones, it’s important to use measurements of key literacy skills when setting the district’s preK-3 goals. 

In Bremerton School District, the short-term goals included raising the percentage of entering kindergarteners who could identify all the letters of the alphabet. Superintendent Bette Hyde oversaw an increase of 62 percentage points in eight years, of kindergartners who knew their letters upon admission. 

In Montgomery Public Schools, a combination of a state kindergarten-readiness assessment and its own standards-based literacy assessment was used. With over 141,000 students, Montgomery County Public Schools boosted 90 percent of existing kindergartners ready to learn and 89 percent of third graders reading proficiently.

Montgomery County’s key objective was that 80 percent of its students leave high school college-ready. The district connected this end outcome to evidence-based indicators at each grade level all the way back to preK!

Whenever there are measurable outcomes in place, the superintendent can show community partners the value of preK-3 efforts in preventing any learning slides. Be it the summer learning slide, a pandemic induced learning slide, or any other form of learning slide.

 

Challenge: Lack of Resources

As the population grows, and inflation rises, funding for public early learning schools and programs can be difficult to acquire, unless there is some strategic bottom-down planning. 

There are always grants available which makes it possible to acquire the necessary resources. But it’s not just about adequate funds. It’s also about spending it in a way that ensures a sustainable long-term advantage and reduces dependency on funding policies that could change in the future.

 

A Solution: Attract Residents to Your Community

When early learning is not well integrated into the overall educational framework of the district, it provides an additional headache for parents. Whether the districts are funded on a per-pupil formula or through different taxes in that community such as property taxes, both are dependent on people wanting to move into the neighborhood. It requires a certain upkeep of reputation. 

A study in California showed that 17 of 25 school districts are involved in some type of preK-3 alignment work. But this work was on a single dimension of alignment such as curriculum, standards, assessment or PD. Clearly, there is much room for improvement when it comes to incorporating early learning into the primary school system. 

There is a strong case to be made about having the right vision and commitment to that vision. Districts that engaged in alignment work gave interviews that suggested a stronger belief in the value of PreK compared to districts who did not. The latter interviews suggest that they saw PreK as something totally different from the elementary level.

The PreK director, or other relevant early learning role placed in the district’s administrative structure, is indicative of the seriousness of commitment. 

Only 3 of 25 preK directors in districts studied were part of the superintendent’s cabinet. The remainder attended district leadership meetings but were not involved in the district’s central decision-making structure. 

The needs of the youngest learners in the community will receive its fair share of attention, when the right people are involved. It will strengthen the community’s desirability in the mind of potential residents.

 

Overcoming Early Learning Challenges with Solutions

The solutions presented in this article are not exhaustive. But they are specific and have proven to deliver results. It’s possible that taking a systematic approach to implementing some of these solutions could have surplus benefits addressing any unmentioned challenges. Thus, each solution’s importance cannot be overstated. 

Sprig Learning works with educators, school leaders and parents to design holistic early learning programs that consider a wide range of factors. If you need help on any particular challenge, we are here to help.

 

Early learning is not the same as secondary learning or post-secondary learning. Pre-K to grade 3 is a unique period in the lives of students during which there is the greatest impact on a child’s development

Most brain development happens during this formative stage of life, as well as life changing experiences that can psychologically influence a child’s personality. Both of these things can determine the future academic and social success of a child. 

Given its importance, it’s essential to look at the major challenges faced by schools during early childhood education.

Education is one of those areas where all the major environmental forces play a role in shaping discourse. The political, economic, societal and technological climate all influence what we know as early childhood education.

Sprig Learning is committed to educational equity and ensuring every child has a fair shot at success. Part of upholding such a commitment involves looking at the current early learning landscape and identifying its biggest challenges. 

In order to bring equity to education, these systemic challenges, for  early learning in schools and programs, need to be examined.

 

What is Early Learning Anyway?

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines early learning as the period between birth and eight years of age. Both formal and information education provided to children during this period is referred to as early childhood education. The National Association for the Education of Young Children agrees with this definition, and promotes high-quality early learning during this stage of life. 

There are government preschool programs like Head Start and other private nurseries that are entrusted to prepare children for school. Once in kindergarten, early education continues up to grade 3, which roughly corresponds to age eight for most children.

 

The 5 Major Challenges in Early Learning

The criteria for picking five challenges strictly came down to the ubiquity of their existence. Often, they are root causes for all other challenges. Before addressing anything else, it’s important to recognize the issues that are an impediment to the advancement of accessible high-quality early childhood education.

Only by acknowledging the existence of these 5 challenges, will it be possible to think of innovative solutions that deal with them in the short term, and develop the necessary acumen to deal with them in the long term.

 

Lack of Time

Teachers in preschools, kindergarten and the earlier elementary grades have some of the most strenuous jobs. This is especially the case in preschools, where they are tasked with teaching concepts and skills that are brand new to children. Furthermore, many children have not yet learned the necessary social skills to cooperate with other young learners. 

It’s possible to identify the critical goals for childhood development in certain educational areas. But given the state of affairs, more often than not, such goals take a back seat to more immediate health, well-being and safety concerns.

Consider the Greater East Texas Community Action Program (GETCAP) Head Start program in Nacogdoches, Texas. Rosa Gonzales, a teacher working in the program, talks about the mandate of disinfecting all playing areas and the designation of children into smaller groups for safety during the pandemic. With programs such as Head Start tending to children, cleanliness is as big a priority, the responsibility of which is passed down to the educators.

Smaller groups also make it more difficult to tend to the needs of every child. Educators feel overworked in being burdened with more administrative duties, such as cleaning and management. Not being able to devote as much time as they wanted to teaching, they can get disheartened, leading to burnout in the long run.

Weldon Bread, the director of the GETCAP Head Start program, describes how they have invested in a contact tracing program to keep track of those going in and out of the classrooms. It’s again a case of doing absolutely whatever it takes to keep everyone healthy and safe. 

As important as operational investments are, it’s reported that there are little to no virtual learning devices in Head Start programs. Educators who feel overburdened with administrative duties could make use of more education related resources that would optimize their schedules. Greater priority on educational investments would allow educators to devote more time to teaching.

 

Lack of Pay

EdSurge conducted many interviews with early childhood educators and found that the lower pay grade in comparison to k-12 educators (already considered an underpaid group), had many adverse effects. It contributed to lack of well-being, reduced longevity in the profession, and lowered the educational quality offered in courses for ECE careers. 

Cindy Decker of Tulsa Educare was stumped by the low staff-to-child ratio, which prevented the program from committing to any new strategic decisions. Most of the energy and focus was spent on ensuring the functioning of the day-to-day operations. 

It’s a vicious cycle, where the lack of pay discourages people from entering the ECE sector. Fewer personnel leads to more work for those who do join. This is a major hurdle, especially considering the lack of paid planning time, where teachers have to work outside of school hours to plan lessons. 

Noticing such undesirable working conditions, even fewer people are motivated to join the early learning workforce. This in turn does not create any pressure to increase pay because no one lobbies for the profession. Thus the cycle continues.

 

Lack of Professional Development and Training

The lack of professionalization and affordable higher education options for educators is a big reason why there is a teacher shortage. As with any other professions, educators want adequate qualifications to enter the workforce and progress in their careers.

There aren’t enough educators who attend university courses related to teaching, present at workshops or make observational visits. For early childhood educators, the absence of such activities is even more pronounced as it doesn’t require the same level of qualification as a k-12 teaching job. 

For example, some states in the US require you to have an associate degree to teach a preschool, but many others require no training at all.

It’s the school districts that often have to cover the gaps when it comes to insufficient pre-service training. But even in schools, educators entering the workforce do not always feel that they have an established career path.

A significant share of teachers report not receiving key support in their first year such as “regular supportive communication with principals and others”, “observation and feedback on their teaching”, “seminars for beginning teachers”, “common planning time”, etc. In high-poverty schools, it’s a higher share of teachers who report not receiving such support.

Schools and postsecondary ECE programs have to work together to establish ongoing training for educators, where there is ample opportunity for them to improve their craft, and advance their careers.

 

Battling The Early Learning Slide

There are concerns that there are unmet learning milestones due to lengthy school closures caused by the pandemic. However, all hope is not lost. There is an opportunity to identify student learning gaps and rectify them early in a child’s learning journey. 

Whether there is a “learning loss”, or missed “learning opportunities”, it’s possible to unblock the learning pathways. It’s possible to begin the road to recovery using the level of learning that was previously retained as a starting point. 

Teaching students how to read, write, add and subtract are some of the fundamental blocks of early learning. These are absolutely essential skills that serve any student for their remaining school years.

Thus, it’s important that the teaching strategy not only focus on completing a particular curriculum, but rather emphasize the assessment of young learners to discover the above unmet learning needs.

 

Lack of Resources

The US public school system was reported to have a funding gap of $150 billion annually. School districts with a higher percentage of low-income and minority populations often bear the brunt of this underfunding. 

Things are slowly changing. The Build Back Better Act, passed earlier this November,  is a legislative package aimed at expanding preschool access across the US, among many other things. Over the first three years, $18 billion will be available to states that want to establish or expand their pre-kindergarten offerings for 4 and 5-year-olds who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten. This means that 20 million underprivileged children, who would otherwise be left out of the system, would now be privy to a high-quality education.

But providing access  is only half the battle. Ensuring high-quality learning requires making strategic investments in resources, people, processes and technology.  

There is unprecedented funding available to invest in such resources, but it’s important that early learning schools and programs strategically evaluate their needs to choose the resources that maximize support for their educators and student body.

 

The Solutions To These 5 Challenges

The challenges presented are systemic. Two of them deal with the needs of educators, all of them deal with the needs of children, and one of them deals with needs of education programs. 

In the next blog post, Sprig Learning will do a deep dive on each challenge, and the solutions available to address them. By identifying the biggest challenges, it’s possible to set the vision to address them.