In Washington, DC for a meeting with Preschool Development Grant and Early Learning Challenge grantees. Jim Lesko of AEM discusses the rationale for Birth–3rd approaches:
- Eliminates artificial distinction between early childhood and early elementary education.
- Supports continuity, coherence, and support for children
- Promotes intentional and collaborative professional development
- Promotes cross-pollination of knowledge about development leading to sustaining efforts to support children’s learning gains
He adds that a coherent and aligned Birth–3rd system:
- Focuses on the whole child
- Provides seamless transition across components
- Includes aligned and comprehensive standards and curriculum
- Uses comparable instructional practices
- Enables communication and data-sharing across the entire assessment
- Establishes durable and long-lasting family, community, and school partnerships
- Supports PreK–3rd teachers participating in joint professional development opportunities
- Reduces the achievement gap among children in families at risk
First 10 
This is great! Could we get his slides?
Sure. You can find all of the slides from the grantee meeting here: https://elc.grads360.org/#program/annual-grantee-meeting. Jim’s slides are from the session on Alignment of Practices on the Birth to 3rd Grade Continuum.