First Principles: Designing Effective Education Programs for Early Childhood Development - Digest

The early childhood period (defined developmentally as ages 0–8, with subgroups of ages 0–3, 4–5, and 6–8; Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development [Consultative Group], 2001) is a critical foundational moment in human development. Brain development is at its fastest and most complex during this time, and the neural pathways that support and facilitate later learning and growth are largely defined in these early years (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Shore, 1997). Indeed, research indicates that early childhood experiences worldwide notably influence later life outcomes, including success in education, lifetime employment and income, overall health and welfare, and social integration (Nores & Barnett, 2010). High-quality interventions in the early years can significantly enhance life chances, particularly for those who are least advantaged.

Development occurs simultaneously in multiple domains (physical, intellectual, psychosocial, and creative). The best early child programming integrates multiple domains simultaneously to encourage comprehensive development. Health, nutrition, education, community mobilization, and livelihoods development programs all have an impact on child development, and efforts that cut across these sectors have the greatest impact.

10 Key Principles in Developing Early Childhood Development Programs

For many people, references to "early childhood programming" evoke images of preschool or kindergarten classrooms designed to prepare young children for school entry. Indeed, early childhood development (ECD) within education programming typically focuses on International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) Level 0, or pre-primary programming, for ages 3–5. Nevertheless, early childhood programs can be remarkably diverse. They encompass such activities as parent and caregiver support and education programs for prenatal to school-age children, direct services to children from birth through the age of 8, support for teachers and administrators, advocacy and outreach work in communities on children's rights, and efforts to develop or change policies to meet the needs of the early childhood age group. Moving beyond early childhood education to early childhood development necessitates even greater diversity as programs incorporate health, economic development, or other elements. A core principle, then, of efforts to develop and implement programs that benefit young children is to realize that no single "best" approach or point of intervention exists.

However, research does indicate that the quality of an early childhood intervention is highly correlated with its impact on children's development (Karoly, Kilburn, & Cannon, 2005). Something is not necessarily better than nothing. Therefore, quality must be central to the development and implementation of ECD programs operating in the education sector.

Given these core assumptions about diversity and quality, the following principles apply:

1. Set standards for ECD quality, and train and support stakeholders to meet them.

A range of indicators for assessing quality in areas such as teacher/caregiver preparation and support, curricula, environments, learning resources, policy, and system performance are available (Christina, 2010; Consultative Group, 2001; Kagan & Britto, 2005) and should be considered when planning a program. A particular focus is needed to ensure that programs include appropriate training and support that will enable caregivers, teachers, community outreach workers, and other key stakeholders to maintain quality. Training should be specific to the needs and capabilities of the children targeted by ECD programming, rather than a simple extension of the training for primary or secondary school teachers to those working with younger students.

2. Understand the true costs of ECD interventions, and design programs to maximize cost-effectiveness and encourage sustainability.

The early childhood period (defined developmentally as ages 0–8, with subgroups of ages 0–3, 4–5, and 6–8; Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development [Consultative Group], 2001) is a critical foundational moment in human development. Brain development is at its fastest and most complex during this time, and the neural pathways that support and facilitate later learning and growth are largely defined in these early years (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Shore, 1997). Indeed, research indicates that early childhood experiences worldwide notably influence later life outcomes, including success in education, lifetime employment and income, overall health and welfare, and social integration (Nores & Barnett, 2010). High-quality interventions in the early years can significantly enhance life chances, particularly for those who are least advantaged.

Development occurs simultaneously in multiple domains (physical, intellectual, psychosocial, and creative). The best early child programming integrates multiple domains simultaneously to encourage comprehensive development. Health, nutrition, education, community mobilization, and livelihoods development programs all have an impact on child development, and efforts that cut across these sectors have the greatest impact.

The costs of ECD programming vary dramatically with the kind of service provided. ECD programs that incorporate out-of-home care or education components can be among the most expensive because of their high recurring salary costs for teachers or caregivers. These costs can be prohibitive for governments to assume once a donor-funded project has ended. Nevertheless, even out-of-home programs can be developed and sustained relatively inexpensively. Innovative approaches such as using radio and interactive, prerecorded audio can effectively deliver quality programming to marginalized populations at low cost (Education Development Center, 2009; Sanchez & Evans, 2005; Menjivar, 2010).

3. Start with services for the most marginalized.

ECD programs can contribute to leveling the playing field for children who are socio-economically and otherwise disadvantaged (including orphans and vulnerable children). Research indicates that the benefits from quality early childhood experiences are greatest for those who are most marginalized (Barnett, Belfield, & Nores, 2005; Campbell, Ramey, Pungello, Sparling, & Miller-Johnson, 2002; Heckman, 2006). To maximize this effect, programs should focus first on the neediest and build to scale by gradually expanding to serve families and communities that have more resources.

4. Involve community stakeholders in designing, implementing, and assessing ECD programs to increase demand and foster accountability.

Beginning with participatory assessment and moving through the design and implementation of programs, stakeholder inclusion develops the livelihoods of community members by providing work in areas that also directly benefit children; improve the parenting and care of those children who are not among the project's direct beneficiaries, such as younger and older siblings and community peers, by raising awareness; maximize resources by leveraging social and material assets in support of programming; incentivize participation; and create demand (Lucas, Jitta, Jones, & Wilczynska-Ketende, 2008).

It is particularly important to identify and work with key community members who will be able to advocate for programming, because interventions by entities outside the family in the earliest years of a child's life can be politically and socially sensitive. These advocates may be local educators, religious or political leaders, prominent businesspeople, existing nongovernmental organization actors, or members of influential families who can use their positions and leverage to engage and motivate their peers and others in their communities (Cabanero-Versoza & Elaheebocus, 2008). Parallel work within the various government agencies responsible for ECD (depending on context, these may include ministries of education, social affairs, health, and women's affairs and/or cross-governmental bodies such as national committees on motherhood) to raise awareness of the importance of work with young children and leverage political support for local and national efforts is also crucial to success and sustainability.

5. Assess the community's strengths relative to the needs of young children, and build on those strengths in developing and implementing programming to meet those needs.

Programs that assume that some basis for strong child development exists within communities are more sustainable and effective than those that operate from a deficit perspective. Even when significant challenges or threats to child welfare and development are present, ECD approaches that explore, expand on, and integrate local languages, cultural resources, traditions, structures, and systems are more likely to address those challenges successfully (Evans, 2000).

6. Focus on critical early years transition points, and ensure that programs contribute to smoothing them.

Movements from the home to out-of-home care or preschool, from preschool to early elementary school, and from early elementary school to upper grades are key transitions in young children's lives (Arnold, Bartlett, Gowani, & Merali, 2006). These points of change create new expectations for skills and behaviors, demand new routines, and change relationships with family and community members in significant ways. They are also key moments influencing loss (both drop out and push out) in the education system: children's success at managing these transitions affects both their ability and their desire to continue in school. ECD programs in the education sector should incorporate an awareness of the transitional challenges that their target populations face and address them specifically wherever possible.

7. Seek out opportunities to link education-sponsored ECD programs with efforts in other sectors.

Research shows that integrated ECD programs provide the best results. Feeding combined with early stimulation dramatically increases children's outcomes (Alderman & Engle, 2008). Center-based programs that include an element of parent outreach stimulate broader support for good child development practices (Rich-Orloff, Khan, & Juma, 2007). Meals offered through child care centers address the physical needs of children that may affect their performance in cognitive and other domains (Karoly et al., 2005). Programs that train young people to provide high-quality ECD as small businesses stimulate the local economy and engage youth while supporting children's development. Education programming for ECD should acknowledge and, wherever possible, link to efforts in health and economic development to increase impact (Evans, 2000; Vegas & Santibanez, 2010).

7 Steps in Developing Quality Early Childhood Development Programs

1. Conduct a participatory assessment of children's needs, community assets, and stakeholder priorities.

As noted, community engagement significantly increases the likelihood of a program's success and sustainability.

This engagement should begin with participatory assessment processes that allow both communities and other representative stakeholder groups to have their say in the process of analyzing needs and prioritizing responses. An assessment should also begin a dialogue on the value of ECD programming and the existing cultural, structural, material, and other assets on which programs can draw. An appreciation for the resources already available to support a better quality of life for children, along with a transparent discussion of the barriers to that quality of life, lays a foundation for practical, relevant solutions in a given context. As with any data collection activities, attention should be paid to ensuring that traditionally marginalized voices are included; risk is minimized; and cost-effective, transparent processes are used.

2. Define the problem and set concrete goals.

Assessment data should support prioritizing the problems to be addressed and setting program goals. The selection of target groups (e.g., children ages 0–3, 4–5, or 6–8; parents and/or caregivers; teachers or other educators; communities at large; decision makers) and target issues should flow from the findings of the assessment and match community priorities, bearing in mind the availability of resources and the potential for sustainability.

3. Select strategies and modes of intervention.

The selection of modes of intervention should respond directly to the goals set in step 2, bearing in mind the multiplier effect on impact of integrated, cross-cutting programming (see Christina, 2010). Evans (2000) suggests a framework of complementary programming strategies:

• Delivering services to children
• Supporting/educating caregivers
• Promoting child-centered community development
• Strengthening national resources and capability
• Strengthening demand and awareness
• Developing national child and family policies
• Developing supportive legal and regulatory frameworks
• Strengthening international collaboration

The first three strategies are those most typically included in education programming and are the most directly child focused. Their modes of service include developing home day care, center-based ECD programming, formal and nonformal pre-primary and early elementary schooling, distance education (such as interactive radio instruction), parent education, home visiting, family life education, literacy programming for adults, child-to-child programming, and supportive networks for caregivers.

4. Develop an appropriate, inclusive accountability framework linked to a staged and manageable implementation plan.

Managing expectations and ensuring that program implementation includes and learns from data collection and analysis are essential. Accountability frameworks (see Christina, 2010; Consultative Group, 2001; Kagan & Britto, 2005) should be transparent and responsive to stakeholder concerns, allow stakeholders to participate in the learning process, and include capacity development that will enable the sustained use of data for decision making once external support has ended. Monitoring indicators should be clear and concise, fully aligned with the implementation plan, and indicative both of progress (or lack thereof) by specific subgroups and of overall outcomes.

5. Measure progress and share results.

Regular monitoring and reporting on program progress are essential for building confidence in the intervention and for increasing the demand for successful programming. Sharing results can also encourage the development of related supportive programming; ensure the best use of resources across the many players typically involved in ECD programming; and allow midcourse corrections and adjustments to programming to improve outcomes. Reporting to community members and beneficiaries in ways that help them understand the effects of the program is as important as reporting to high-level counterparts. Engaging the local media in sharing information and reporting successes also builds interest in and demand
for programming.

6. Devolve responsibility to sustain programming.

Counterpart capacity development and community investment in ECD are essential to the sustainability of programming. Where a program's methodology does not focus on stakeholders' capacity from the start, work plans should build in explicit strategies for sustainability that include transitioning responsibility and direction to local counterparts and participants over time. Assessments of the possible channels for continuing programming past the end of external funding need to focus on positions rather than people. Individual will and commitment can carry a program only so far; structural change that gives programming a valued place in the education system is more effective. Something as simple as moving the counterpart relationship for a program from a minor to a major division within a ministry of education (e.g., ensuring that information and communications technology programs are in well-resourced curriculum departments rather than in impoverished distance education or educational media departments) can make a significant difference in the perceived value and sustainability of an intervention. Building a base of demand at the beneficiary level is also essential to leveraging sustainability. Programs that have a deep community anchor are better able to withstand the winds of political change at the government level.

7. Scale where scalable and appropriate.

Although a desire to serve as many beneficiaries as possible is admirable, not all high-quality ECD programs are necessarily scalable. Sustained, scaled programs are difficult to maintain because of issues of cost and quality, particularly for programs serving older children in more traditional center-based or classroom-based formats, which require large numbers of well-trained teachers and caregivers yet command nearly negligible percentages of government budgets. Alternative delivery methods such as radio or interactive prerecorded audio, when used to support such interventions, offer one means of taking programs to scale at reasonable cost. Public-private partnerships that bring in nongovernment funding to support program longevity are another. Any decision about moving to scale should consider the evidence of a program's success and the relative costs and benefits of ramping up, along with the possibility of coordinating implementers' efforts to maximize reach. Priority should be on serving the neediest first, because they benefit most from ECD interventions (see Christina, 2010, for a discussion of the Honduras dot-EDU Interactive Radio Instruction for Early Childhood Program and other successfully scaled initiatives).

Challenges and Limitations

The challenges and limitations outlined highlight some of the problems encountered when building or improving an early childhood development program. The challenges can occur even when following the aforementioned principles and suggested steps. These represent important considerations when designing and implementing an ECD program.

1. Governments are reluctant to commit large sums to ECD, seeing it as a luxury or a task to be addressed after achieving universal primary education.

Response: Educate and advocate on the basis of data. Primary education improvement efforts will not succeed if schools, children, families, and communities are not ready for one another. Awareness-raising around the evidence for the importance of strong ECD programs is an important element of any program serving young children (Bekman & Kocak, 2010; Cabanero-Verzosa & Elaheebocus, 2008). Data indicate the strong positive impact of ECD programs in terms of learning outcomes (including clear links between early literacy and later school success and between ECD programming and more broadly defined school readiness) and broader individual and social benefits, including a very high return on investments in terms of economic growth and social stability and security (Heckman, 2006; Karoly et al., 2005). This evidence can provide powerful leverage for change. Documentation of results from efforts similar to those proposed may open doors to start-up. Demonstrating success in the early stages of a new effort can also increase its chances of being scaled and/or sustained.

2. Families and communities may resist ECD programming as "foreign" or imposed—something that interferes with traditional parenting.

Responses: (1) Tailor programs to build on community strengths and resources (e.g., child-to-child/peer learning; apprenticeship; multigenerational caregiving) instead of negating or replacing traditional caregiving and early learning structures. (2) Ensure that key figures at the local and the national level understand the links between the new program and the most positive traditional practices, are supportive, and are willing to provide both public and private advocacy. (3) Incentivize programming by creating opportunities for the broadest range of stakeholders possible. Consider ways for ECD programs to also serve other, additionally supportive roles in the community (e.g., ECD centers that serve as meeting places and periodic clinics; parenting programs that also address the health and welfare of mothers and older children; see Rich-Orloff et al., 2007).

3. ECD traditionally engages and serves those who are among the least powerful in communities (children and women), so traction for spending in this area may be hard to generate.

Responses: (1) Highlight the particular benefits to girls and women of ECD programs (e.g., improved health, education outcomes and lifetime earnings; decreased reliance on social safety nets) and their links to long-term social and economic development (e.g., better maternal health, education, and employment, which notably increase individual, family, and national outcomes; Lokshin, Glinskaya, & Garcia, 2008). (2) Find champions among prominent local figures in government, the business community, and/or an expatriate community with which local populations and decision makers retain links. The credibility and influence of these mediating figures, used appropriately, can do much to support efforts.

Indicators of success in ECD programs vary widely with the nature and focus of programs, their size and scope, and their intended outcomes. As yet, no international consensus on a common master framework for monitoring and evaluating ECD efforts exists (Consultative Group, 2001). However, the following general categories of data address the principles of diversity and quality and offer a starting point for determining the specific tracking and evaluation mechanisms for particular programs. For more detail, see Christina (2010).

Access Indicators:

• Number of children served (including increase over time)
• Number of caregivers served (including increase over time)
• Number of communities served (including increase over time)
• Number of least-advantaged among those served
• Number of materials developed and number of children or communities to which materials were distributed (using measures of both quantity and reach)

Quality Indicators:

• Positive changes in learning environments (on environmental scales such as the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale [ECERS], tailored to local contexts and program design)
• Improvements in teacher/caregiver qualifications (relative to local standards and project goals)
• Improvements in teacher/caregiver performance (measured by project-specific observational instruments)
• Materials developed and distributed (quality measures, relative to an initial assessment)
• Improvements in parenting/caregiving scores on tailored instruments
• Improvements in policy environment as reflected in legislative and regulatory frameworks promoting and supporting children's well-being
• Increase in national investment in ECD, as reflected in average expenditure per child in ECD programs as percentage of GDP/inhabitant
• Number of domains addressed in programming (e.g., health, education, economic/workforce development, nutrition, sanitation)

Outcome Indicators:

• Children's progress against developmental benchmarks for their age and/or stage (as appropriate to the program, these developmental indicators should include basic survival and health indicators, especially for the 0–5 age range, where morbidity and mortality are highest)
• Children's progress against learning benchmarks (for ages 4–8)
• Improvements in caregiver/teacher performance (measured by project-specific observational instruments)
• Improvements in parenting/caregiving scores on tailored instruments
• Number of livelihoods generated and sustained (for a set period)
• Number of children participating in ECD programs who then enroll in primary school (increase over time)
• Number of children participating in ECD programs who succeed in primary school (using reduction in dropout and increase in retention and pass rates as proxies for success, along with student achievement measures as noted above)

Data sources for many of these indicators already exist in many countries. They include household surveys, census data, and existing management information system data from the Ministry of Education and other bodies that are concerned with young children's development. Other instrumentation will need to be developed or adapted from other tools to capture the specifics of localized programs in meaningful ways. Data should always be disaggregated by gender, location, ability/challenge, socio-economic status, and other categories of advantage as appropriate to program design.

Essential Reading

Online Resources

References