DC Action for Children promotes innovative and successful policies and programs to ensure that all children in the District have a strong start in life from birth to age eight.

Our focus is on building a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success by expanding access to quality early care and education from birth. But the reality is that development begins in utero, which is why we also support child and maternal health, beginning in the early prenatal stages. And recognizing that a child's development is affected by the context in which she or he lives, we support efforts to strengthen families and communities, and to break the cycle of poverty that can span generations.

To date, efforts to improve outcomes for children in the District have focused on K-12 and PreK reform. There is now an effort to expand this focus to comprehensive birth-to-three programs.

DC Action for Children believes children can benefit most from an even broader approach that supports them from infancy through the transition to school with a seamless web of services and education through age 8, or approximately 3rd grade. This is a critical point at which students are first tested. Research is clear that children who lag behind in the 3rd grade often never catch up.

Ensuring that every child is prepared at these earliest stages is a proven strategy to bolster the odds of success much later in life, even in college.

DC Action for Children works to advance the creation of a Birth to Eight framework through three concrete strategies:

1. Leadership development to build new champions for a Birth to Eight policy agenda;
2. Coalition building to ensure partnership and collaboration; and,
3. Research and policy analysis of the issues impacting the health, well-being and early education of the District’s youngest children.

A comprehensive Birth to Eight early education framework is based on the following operating principles:

Alignment

• Standards, curricula and assessments are connected across child care, PreK-3rd grade, and all sectors—community-based organizations, charter schools and District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)
• Standards, curricula, instruction and assessments across all levels and sectors focus on social competencies and academic outcomes.

School Organization

• Programs from community-based organizations, charter schools and DCPS provide executives, principals and teachers with ongoing professional development and planning time to ensure alignment.
• Community-based organizations, charter schools, and DCPS executives and principals foster teamwork among PreK-3rd grade staff that strengthens alignment.
• Principals in elementary schools connect families to child care and PreK programs in their communities.

Qualified Teachers

• Classroom staff has access and support to obtain a bachelor's degree with relevant specialized training.
• Teachers are capable of assessing students' achievement and assisting each student to make progress based on regular assessments that inform instruction.

Classroom Instruction

• Instruction balances child-centered approaches with teacher-directed approaches.
• Well-qualified teachers are in community-based organizations, charter schools and DCPS classrooms.
• Student-teacher ratios allow each child to receive individualized curriculum and instruction to foster strong relationships with teaching staff.

Accountability to Parents and Communities

• Teachers and families work to set educational goals for children.
• Schools are responsible for reporting students' progress to families and communities.

(Based on components of P-3 Foundation of Child Development)