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An Opportunity for Advancing Knowledge and Practice: The Intersection between Early Childhood Education and Community Schools

Research shows that children experience a smoother transition into elementary school when there is coordination among schools, early childhood education programs, and families. The Early Childhood Community School Linkages Project (the Linkages project) supported three regions with a strong community school platform to improve the quality and continuity of practice across community school and early childhood settings (e.g., centers, providers) and systems (e.g., regional leadership, funding, and policy structures). At the conclusion of three years of planning and implementation, the Linkages project has supported concrete changes in discourse and practice, elevated the importance of improved linkages, and fostered improved capacity to sustain and scale improved linkages within the project’s demonstration sites. While schools in more advanced stages of community school development embraced norms and structures that facilitated improved linkages, the findings are relevant to all who are interested in supporting vulnerable children and families to thrive in their transition to elementary school.