By Matt Weyer

The State Policy and Research for Early Education (SPREE) Working Group will hold its first-ever meeting Sunday, Aug. 7, as a preconference meeting to NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Chicago.

SPREE members are a bipartisan group of legislators, legislative staff, educational researchers and NCSL staff. This group consists of:

Legislators

• Representative Robert Behning, Indiana
• Delegate Anne Kaiser, Maryland
• Representative Mark Kinner, Wyoming (2017)
• Representative Emily McAsey, Illinois
• Representative Takashi Ohno, Hawaii
• Senator Quinton Ross, Alabama
• Senator Teresa Ruiz, New Jersey (2017)
• Senator Howard Stephenson, Utah
• Representative Julie VanOrden, Idaho

Legislative Staff

• Pad McCracken, Research Analyst, Montana Legislative Services
• Scott Tohlen, Research Analyst, Oklahoma House of Representatives

Educational Researchers

• Joseph Bishop, senior policy adviser, Learning Policy Institute
• Kim Boller, senior fellow, Mathematica Policy Research
• Iheoma Iruka, director, Research and Evaluation, Buffett Early Childhood Institute
• Elena Lopez, associate director, Harvard Family Research Project
• Jennifer Stedron, executive director, Early Milestones Colorado
• Conor Williams, senior researcher and founding director, Dual Language Learners Work Group, New America

The goal of SPREE is to help legislators engage with researchers and practitioners to learn from research and experience and to create a framework and companion report. These outputs will optimally help shape policies that deliver improved educational outcomes for young students ages three to eight. This two-year effort is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Topics for this year’s meeting include:

• School readiness and the opportunity gap
• Family engagement and parent supports
• Dual language learners
• Systems building for ensuring quality
• The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Members will hear several presentations in these areas and then engage in a working session to prioritize the critical areas for inclusion in the framework. In 2017, SPREE members will develop a framework and begin drafting the companion report to be release in December 2017.

Check out the SPREE website for the agenda, and check back after Legislative Summit for resources and updates from the first meeting!

Matt Weyer is a policy specialist in NCSL’s Education Program.

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