An Education Funder Tackles the Achievement Gap—One Preschooler at a Time

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Education news isn’t great these days, as students around the country head back to in-person school amid widespread reports of lockdown-related learning loss. Meanwhile, mediocre test scores from 2019, recently released by the National Assessment of Student Progress, are a reminder that student achievement was languishing even before the pandemic. 

It’s exciting, then, to hear about an education initiative that appears to be working. It’s called SEEDS of Learning, and new research shows that the approach is remarkably effective—for both preschool students and the educators who work with them. 

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation first introduced the SEEDS of Learning literacy approach in Oakland schools in 2014, and as of 2020, it has resulted in “dramatic, double-digit gains toward school readiness,” for 4,500 students, according to the foundation website. 

In 2018, Rainin teamed up with Kidango, a nonprofit that has 53 preschools in the Bay Area, to assess the impact of SEEDS on young learners. Rainin brought in NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, to conduct the evaluation. The results were impressive: Preschoolers in SEEDS classrooms showed improvement in literacy outcomes that far exceeded those of the students in the control groups. 

Nurturing education  

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation leverages the fortune of Ken Rainin, an entrepreneur and medical instrument developer who died in 2007. The foundation’s funding priorities include education, the arts and medical research. As IP recently reported, Rainin has increased its funding in recent years, providing generous grants to Bay Area artists, continuing to support medical research efforts around the world, and boosting literacy in Oakland schools. According to the foundation’s website: “The Rainin Foundation has one clear goal when it comes to education in Oakland: for every child to read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. Today, only one in three children in Oakland reach this milestone, which is one of the most important predictors of high school graduation.”

When the Rainin Foundation decided to evaluate the impact of SEEDS, Kidango was a natural partner, according to Shaheena Khan, Rainin’s director of education strategy and ventures. “We wanted to work with an organization that could implement SEEDS with a high level of fidelity and we were confident that Kidango would do that,” she said.

Kidango’s early education program, which serves mostly low-income children of color, emphasizes social-emotional learning. Kidango preschools employ counselors who help teachers work with kids who have experienced trauma and exhibit behavior problems, as education and public policy expert David L. Kirp reported recently in the New York Times.  

Like Kidango, SEEDS emphasizes close, nurturing relationships between teachers and students. Rainin describes the program as “a relationship-based professional development and coaching model that equips teachers with data-driven, emotionally responsive and equity-promoting strategies and tools to support children’s social emotional development and increase literacy,” according to a press release.  

How it works

SEEDS teachers receive in-depth training that includes roleplay and intensive coaching. The program boosts literacy through play-based interventions that focus on vocabulary, rhyming, alliteration, letters and sounds. Techniques include “Strive for Five”: teachers try to have five back-and-forth interactions in conversations with children to help them develop comprehension and vocabulary. Children are introduced to three new words every day and encouraged to apply them to their own lives and experiences. 

“When you walk into a SEEDS classroom, what you see is a very engaged group of people,” said Scott Moore, Kidango’s executive director. “The students are engaged, the teachers are engaged. Everyone is having fun.”  

But the key to SEEDS’ effectiveness is the interactions between teacher and student, Moore said. “As they teach, the teachers are building relationships. They are creating meaningful interactions that build trust and love. A child who has a sense of safety, love and belonging—that is the foundation of learning.” 

Since SEEDS was introduced at Kidango, the teacher turnover rate has decreased significantly, which Moore attributes, at least in part, to the new approach. “Our teachers feel engaged and motivated. They can see that they are making a difference,” he said. 

NORC at the University of Chicago’s evaluation concluded that the SEEDS program is highly effective. One year of SEEDS training boosted both teacher knowledge and student early reading skills. Students in the SEEDS schools scored significantly higher in early literacy skills than randomly assigned control schools. And when SEEDS was introduced at the control schools the following year, those students’ literacy scores improved, as well. (See details of NORC findings here.)

Planting seeds

SEEDS and programs like it give disadvantaged kids a leg up, and could help close the achievement gap, which shows up before the first day of kindergarten. A 2016 study by the Center for American Progress concluded that, when African American and Hispanic children start kindergarten, they are from nine to 10 months behind their white peers in math, and seven to 12 months behind in reading; low-income children begin school at a similar disadvantage. According to the report: “Math and reading abilities at kindergarten entry are powerful predictors of later school success, and children who enter kindergarten already behind are unlikely to catch up.”

Statistics like these, along with everything we’ve learned in recent years about brain development, make investments in early education more critical than ever. As Scott Moore puts it, “Given our current understanding of brain development, if we were to design the education system today, we would not start at five. If you don’t start until five, you are missing so much.” 

The Biden Administration’s recent proposals, and their emphasis on early child education, child care, family leave, and programs that target poverty, reflect this growing awareness. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also included funding for transitional kindergarten and support for childcare workers, among other provisions, in this year’s budget. But around the country, early education and child care still largely hinge on private dollars, whether that’s coming out of parents’ pockets or nonprofit programs and philanthropy. As awareness of the long-term impact of early education grows, an increasing number of education funders are supporting it directly or advancing policy to make it more accessible—but it’s an area that could use more philanthropic attention.

Another critical benefit of Kidango’s trauma-informed approach is that it strives to keep kids who have emotional issues and behavioral problems in school—and works to keep them there. Preschool expulsions are three times as high as expulsions in K-12, and for many kids, they are the first step on the school-to-prison pipeline. 

Scott Moore has been outspoken in his opposition to preschool expulsions—inside his own organization and outside, as well. In 2017, he pushed the California legislature to pass a law to make preschool expulsions a last resort; similar legislation has been adopted in states around the country.  

“In early childhood, we don’t always call it ‘expulsion,’” Moore said. “We may say a child is not a ‘good fit,’ or that it’s not a good environment for the child. But these are the kids who need a high-quality preschool the most. These are the years when you learn how to be an active, successful participant in the school system. It is a critical window, and it cements that child’s self-view of who they are in school. So an expulsion can have life-long ramifications.”  

Rainin’s Shaheena Khan hopes that, given its proven impact, SEEDS will be a model that can scale, and she is determined to get the word out. “We want to share what we’ve learned about this incredible program,” she said. “It is evidence-based and effective, and it emphasizes equity—it’s a strong, shining example that we want people to know about. SEEDS works, and when you find something that works, you want to spread the seeds as far and wide as you can.”