ED395664 PS024119

 

Title: Continuity in Early Childhood: A Framework for Home, School, and Community Linkages.
Author Affiliation: Regional Educational Laboratories Early Childhood Collaboration Network.(BBB31958)
Pages: 141
Publication Date: November 1995
Notes: Printed on colored paper.
Sponsoring Agency: Administration for Children, Youth, and Families (DHHS), Washington, DC. (BBB19384)
Contract No: RP91002007
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.
Language: English
Document Type: Guides--Non-classroom (055)
Geographic Source: U.S.; District of Columbia
Journal Announcement: RIEOCT1996

This guide presents a framework that identifies what a home, school, and community partnership can do to help families thrive as they experience change and their young children grow. The guide explains how connections among home, school, and community enable families to move from setting to setting with ease and build on their previous experience. The guide defines the goal of continuity: for families to be able to shape and choose appropriate services for themselves and for their young children so that they will then be able to move forward with confidence and hope. The framework for early childhood continuity presented in this guide keeps the whole child in focus, genuinely involves the family, and emphasizes both the horizontal and vertical aspects of continuity. The framework consists of the following eight elements: (1) families as partners; (2) shared leadership; (3) comprehensive and responsive services; (4) culture and home language; (5) communication; (6) knowledge and skill development; (7) appropriate care and education; (8) evaluation of partnership success. Each element is introduced with a short rationale, which summarizes the thinking behind the element. Following the rationale, a list of indicators is introduced, which describes what the elements look like in practice and provides a means to judge whether an element has been put into practice. The guide concludes with a glossary and a guide for partnerships that provides general information on how partnerships can form and use the framework to further continuity efforts. Each section of the guide contains references. (TJQ)

Descriptors: *Agency Cooperation; Child Health; Community Role; Day Care; Early Childhood Education; *Family Programs; Family Role; Family School Relationship; *Integrated Services; *Participative Decision Making; Program Evaluation; School Community Relationship; School Role; *Social Services
Identifiers: Access to Services; Continuity; Family Needs; Family Resource and Support Programs; *Family Support; *Partnerships in Human Services