Building an Early Childhood System

Historically in the United States, in both policy and practice, our approach to caring for young children has been fragmented and disjointed. It hasn't had a comprehensive, strategic approach to program design, implementation, financing, or measurement of results. More recently, advocates for children have realized that it is not just program improvement that is needed. Rather, to ensure that young children develop well requires a systemic approach that:

• Is carefully and methodically designed, using the very best research and practices available
• Includes and coordinates multiple institutions and layers of service delivery
• Involves both public and private sectors at every level: local, state, and federal, and functions from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective
• Establishes a solid infrastructure for ensuring effective governance, high standards of program quality and professional competence, and financial sustainability
• Addresses not simply the needed programs and services, but the systemic changes necessary to ensure effective and efficient delivery of high quality services
• Provides measurement of impact and results.

This excerpt by Dr. Dean Clifford, North Carolina Partnership for Children Consultant, and much more of her writing on understanding and implementing comprehensive systems work, is available in the Systems Building Toolkit.