Bringing the Vision to Life: Early Learning

At the Eighth Annual Vision Coalition Conference on Education, six dedicated action groups (corresponding to the Six Core Areas found in Student Success 2025) worked together to develop a list of priorities for the next six to 18 months.

The Early Learning action group was led by Dawn Alexander, preschool expansion coordinator for the Colonial School District; Madeleine Bayard, co-chair of the Delaware Early Childhood Council, and vice president of policy and practice for the Rodel Foundation of Delaware; Kathy Moore, administrator for Parents and Children Together at Tech (PACTT); and Mary Kate Mouser, executive director of Nemours Health & Prevention Services.

The action group discussed the recommendations of Student Success 2025, identified progress underway, developed and discussed action steps for successful implementation, and identified work that can be done in the next six to 18 months to make the recommendations a reality.

Here are the six to 18-month Recommended Action Steps for the Early Learning action group:

• Invest state funding to sustain early learning initiatives, including tiered reimbursement, supports for professionals, mental health consultants, readiness teams, and follow-ups to screenings
• Educate the community on early learning—the importance in investing in the early years, good work underway, and recommended curriculum—including with school boards, superintendents, empowering teachers and providers to be advocates
• Develop strategic professional development plan, which would include articulating credits toward degrees
• Strengthen data collection and collaboration—and begin to build comprehensive data system

For a full recap of the conference, click here. Check out all the photos and collaborative work from the Early Learning action group on our Facebook gallery.

To find a few ways to get involved in this particular issue, click here.