Cultivate Learning at the University of Washington has an exciting new resource, the Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) Toolkit, which is dedicated to improving equitable access to high-quality pre-K.
The PPI Toolkit was developed over the course of a five-year collaborative learning strategy between states, research organizations, and advocacy groups, supported by Cultivate Learning, Alliance for Early Success, and Start Early (formerly the Ounce), and generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The PPI Toolkit guides state early learning agency leaders, researchers, and advocates from the initial stages of building partnerships and creating a shared vision for high-quality equitable pre-K through securing the resources and policies needed to design and implement specific, effective, and measurable continuous quality improvement efforts. The Toolkit is organized into three phases of system improvement:
- Engage Stakeholders and Build Partnerships focuses on identifying and strengthening cross-sector partnerships among pre-K state leaders, researchers, and advocates who can work together to garner resources and support for equitable pre-K programs that provide positive early learning opportunities for every child.
- Assess the System uses the Implementation Development Map (IDM), an interactive self-assessment, to evaluate the state pre-K system using defined essential elements of high-quality pre-K.
- Implement, Improve and Advocate provides tools that support continuous quality improvement efforts with a strong focus on equity.
The creation of the PPI Toolkit is especially timely given recent national attention on early learning. With President Biden’s American Families Plan, the importance of early learning for children’s positive development and readiness for kindergarten is garnering more attention, support, and resources nationally. The PPI Toolkit aims to help states meet the needs of a changing field, providing a path forward to support this important vision of affordable pre-K for all eligible children with fair compensation for early learning professionals.
11/12/2021 University of Washington
