Program Design

Pilot Goals

The pilot team worked collaboratively to align and design specific activities and resources to integrate and strengthen social-emotional learning (SEL) in a variety of pre-K environments across the San Antonio community — including with Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers, whose 3- and 4-year old children do not attend a preschool or daycare. The pilot focused on exploring three key questions:

1. How might we integrate SEL into communities and informal settings to support 3 & 4 year olds?
2. How might we connect PBS at-home content with Second Step in-class curriculum?
3. In what ways might our content support equity in kindergarten readiness in San Antonio?

Pilot Tracks

The team planned two unique pilot tracks, along with a focus on community building with the goal of threading participants together into a larger community-wide experience:

Play & Learn (KLRN)

A ten-week Play & Learn Program for FFNs and their children. FFNs attended a once-weekly, two and a half hour activity session facilitated by the KLRN team. Between sessions, participants received via text message and/or email PBS and CFC content aligned with weekly themes to increase exposure to, and practice with, skills within the topic of Empathy (the designated SEL instructional unit for the pilot from the Second Step curriculum offered by CFC).

School & Center Program

A six-week, in-school program centered around teaching the CFC Second Step Early Learning curriculum during class time each day in eight different care environments, including Head Start centers, independent preschools, and registered and licensed homes. The families of children in these schools and centers received the same PBS and CFC aligned content during after school hours in order to better connect the in-school experience with at-home learning.

Community-Building

A coalition-building effort in the community of San Antonio to bring together relevant service providers around the goal of supporting families and educators with critical resources and services.

Pilot Activities

The team designed and implemented a variety of activities including:

• Discovery interviews with implementation teams prior to fielding the pilot;
• Family nights at centers to introduce the pilot to families;
• A series of weekly, in-person discussion and evaluation sessions for the FFN participant group;
• Weekly "homework" and online surveys to capture more information about the participant experience;
• A community-wide ‘empathy’ event for families and educators;
• A culminating graduation event for the FFN families;
• A joint PBS KIDS EdCamp event for teachers and FFNs to discuss SEL, strategies and questions resulting from the program.