Prime sponsor alignment with k-12 education

(a) In general Each prime sponsor shall take steps to coordinate with the local educational agency serving the service area and with schools in which children participating in a child care and early learning program will enroll following such program to promote continuity of services and effective transitions, including— (1) developing and implementing a systematic procedure for transferring, with parental consent, child care and early learning program records for each participating child to the school in which such child will enroll; (2) establishing ongoing channels of communication between child care and early learning program staff and their counterparts in the schools (including teachers, social workers, local educational agency liaisons designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)), and health staff) to facilitate coordination of programs; (3) establishing ongoing communications between the prime sponsor and local educational agency for developing continuity of developmentally appropriate curricular objectives and for shared expectations for children’s learning and development as the children transition to school; (4) organizing and participating in joint training, including transition-related training for school staff and child care and early learning program staff; (5) establishing comprehensive transition policies and procedures that support children transitioning to school, including by engaging the local educational agency in the establishment of such policies; (6) conducting outreach to parents and elementary school (such as kindergarten) teachers to discuss the educational, developmental, and other needs of individual children; (7) helping parents of dual language learner children understand— (A) the instructional and other services provided by the school in which such child will enroll after participation in the child care and early learning program; and (B) as appropriate, the information provided to parents of dual language learners under section 1112(e)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of the 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6312(e)(3)); (8) developing and implementing a family outreach and support program, in cooperation with entities carrying out parent and family engagement efforts under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), and family outreach and support efforts under subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.), taking into consideration the language needs of parents of dual language learner children; (9) assisting families, administrators, and teachers in enhancing educational and developmental continuity and continuity of parental involvement in activities between child care and early learning services and elementary school classes; (10) linking the services provided in such child care and early learning program with educational services, including services relating to language, literacy, and numeracy, provided by such local educational agency; (11) helping parents (including in this paragraph grandparents and kinship caregivers, as appropriate) to understand the importance of parental involvement in a child’s academic success while teaching the parents strategies for maintaining parental involvement as their child moves from a child care and early learning program to elementary school; (12) helping parents understand the instructional and other services provided by the school in which their child will enroll after participation in the child care and early learning program; and (13) developing and implementing a system to increase child care and early learning program participation of underserved populations of eligible children. (b) Dissemination and technical assistance The Secretary shall— (1) disseminate to prime sponsors information on effective policies and activities relating to the transition of children from child care and early learning programs to public schools; and (2) provide technical assistance to such prime sponsors to promote and assist such prime sponsors to adopt and implement such effective policies and activities.