Education Level: Early Grades
Early Grades
Grades 1-4
The early grades are crucial
for developing the foundations needed for success in school
and life. Children must master building-block skills such as
reading and math in the elementary grades so they’re fully
prepared for the big move to middle school.
Effective Summer Learning Programs for Elementary Students
Research Snapshot
Many districts and states are targeting summer break as the best opportunity to recover unfinished learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the federal COVID relief funds, schools can offer summer learning programs as they never have before. This research snapshot provides a summary of the most recent and relevant research on effective summer learning programs to help providers design programs that will benefit students the most.
Elementary Science
Equipping students through inquiry and integration
In the Elementary Science report, SREB examines how science instruction, typically taught separately from reading and math, may not be getting enough attention in elementary classrooms. The reports looks at how waiting until the middle grades to give science an equal place among the academic subjects can hinder students in developing important thinking skills that will benefit them in all subjects areas and for later career success.
Powerful Science Instructional Practices
Explore how SREB’s eight
Powerful Science Instructional Practices engage
students in gathering, analyzing and reasoning with data,
designing studies and experiments, learning and using the
language of science and engineering, cultivating strong literacy
and math skills, and much more.
Early Math Matters
Factoring in Teacher Knowledge and Practice
This report explains why early math learning is so important, the current state of math instruction, issues with elementary teacher preparation and professional development, and how math anxiety impacts achievement. It also presents recommendations state leaders can use to help raise the math achievement of their students.
Repeating a Grade: How Well Does It Work?
Research Snapshot
This research snapshot 
on retention policies examines what we know about retaining young students, from research on outcomes to how much states spend on additional years of schooling. The brief lists intervention policies in the nine SREB states that require third graders to show reading proficiency to be promoted to fourth grade.
Ready to Read, Ready to Succeed
State Policies that Support Fourth-Grade Reading Success
States continue to make changes to educator preparation policies and exam requirements for reading. To help legislators who may use this report as a reference, SREB updated Table 2 on page 17 to reflect current state policies as of May 2019.
Early Grades: P-3 Alignment
Annotated Bibliography
The early childhood years do not end when children enter kindergarten. In fact, experts agree that early childhood development is a continuous process that extends through third grade. During those first eight years of life, a child’s brain is most malleable and capable of learning. Thus, investments in the early years reap the largest returns. Education research mirrors science, supporting an aligned and high-quality education system from preschool through third grade.
Early Grades: Reading
Annotated Bibliography
One of the most crucial missions of the early grades is teaching students to read. Third-grade reading proficiency predicts long-term outcomes, including high school graduation. Many state policymakers have set third grade as the key pivot point in the early grades and have enacted grade-level retention laws based on reading assessment results. Even so, about two-thirds of fourth-graders were not reading proficiently on a widely recognized national assessment in 2015. Development in the first years of life shapes a child’s ability to learn to read.
Early Grades: STEM
Annotated Bibliography
While literacy has long led the early grades policy agenda, early math skills also are vital to success in school. In fact, these skills are more predictive of later achievement than early literacy or social development. Math skills are only part of a broader developmental equation. National attention has recently shifted to a set of competencies that economists project as key to future careers — science, technology, engineering and math. States must ensure more students graduate from high school ready for these critical jobs by promoting equitable access to high-quality STEM learning.
Smart Class-Size Policies for Lean Times
This policy brief summarizes class-size reduction policies across the region, reviews research on the issue, and offers recommendations on how states might make sensible adjustments without jeopardizing student achievement.
