In this two-part interview, David Jacobson describes the First 10 Approach and offers examples of First 10 work.
David Jacobson describes the three core design principles of innovative communities nationwide that are reinventing early childhood education: connecting early years and early grades, deepening partnerships with families, and strengthening communities.
Over the past decade, David Jacobson has had the opportunity to research and work with communities that are attempting to bridge the divides thwarting efforts to improve outcomes for low-income children and their families. Read about four strategies that can help get the first 10 years of children’s lives right.
In many cities and towns across the United States, elementary schools are forging deeper partnerships with families and community organizations well before children arrive at kindergarten. The aim of this work is to improve children’s experiences and family engagement and support along the entire continuum from prenatal care through grade 3 and beyond. This potent combination of educational supports and family services is the single best strategy we have to address pernicious opportunity gaps and raise achievement for low-income children. Communities such as Cincinnati, Ohio; Omaha, Neb., and Multnomah County, Ore., are embracing this approach to tackle persistent poverty, family instability, the hollowing out of the middle class, and the demand for a more highly skilled workforce.
Education policy has become as polarized as the rest of American politics. In the new administration, disagreements over standards, funding, school choice, and students’ civil rights are sure to intensify. Yet despite this polarized state of affairs, liberal and conservative education priorities are converging in a number of important respects, driven in part by mounting research findings. Common ground is emerging where conservative commitments to character formation, strong families, and local solutions meet liberal commitments to services that help low-income families overcome obstacles to improving their quality of life. Borrowing a term from the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, David Jacobson suggests that a number of educational priorities, described below, are “purple”—they resonate with both red and blue constituencies. Further, these priorities animate a powerful reform movement that is spreading across the country.
Montgomery County, MD and Union City, NJ are building high-quality early education systems that align services from birth through age 9.
