2025 Summit: Investing in Inclusive PK-3 Education
This year's virtual summit brings together educators, administrators, and researchers in child development to explore both the importance of inclusive PK-3 education and practical strategies to maximize its impact. By bridging research and practice, this conference aims to empower educators and decision-makers with the knowledge and strategies needed to maximize over $5 billion in annual federal and state funding toward early childhood education—ensuring that resources translate into lasting impacts for young learners.
Investing in inclusive PK-3 education is one of the most powerful ways to promote long-term academic, social, and economic success for all students. Research consistently demonstrates that high-quality early learning experiences shape brain development, build foundational skills, and reduce achievement gaps, and that inclusive settings maximize opportunities and outcomes for students. Realizing the full impact of this investment requires that educators, administrators, and policymakers effectively implement evidence-based practices in classrooms and early learning programs.
The first eight years of life set the foundation for children’s learning, school, and life success. Unfortunately, race, place, language, ability, and zip code continue to determine whether children have the access and opportunities to flourish and be on track for school and life success. The urgency to act is now! This keynote will examine key evidence-informed factors that ensure all learners have access to joyful and enriching learning opportunities. Specifically, this presentation will cover some of the key features that can be aligned from ...
How can play-based learning supercharge academic, social, and cognitive growth in the early years? Join us for an engaging conversation between a leading researcher in playful learning and a transitional kindergarten educator who brings these ideas to life in the classroom every day. This session explores the full spectrum of play — from child-directed free play to teacher-guided playful learning — and digs into what makes play such a powerful driver of development. With concrete examples, key principles, and classroom-tested strategies, we’ll examine how educators ...
This session will be a structured conversation between UCI School of Education Professor Andres Bustamante and the Director of the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative Wendy Gomez. They will offer insights into strategies for empowering families to transform community spaces to support early learning and share exciting examples of projects that create playful and culturally grounded learning at home, school, and in the community. The conversation will surface key challenges for creating and sustaining these efforts and lessons learned from the examples in Santa Ana.
How do we ensure every child feels included and supported from the very start of their education journey? This conversational session brings together three experts/leaders in the field to unpack the unique needs of PK-3 learners and the systems that shape their success. Through guiding questions, speakers will explore what makes PK-3 distinct, what inclusion looks like in early childhood and early elementary spaces, and how both schools and teacher preparation programs can foster environments where every student thrives. Attendees will leave with concrete strategies, ...
This session highlights how one district is transforming PK-3 leadership to strengthen equity, belonging, and inclusion. Beginning in 2019–2020, focusing on students with extensive support needs (ESN), the CVUSD and SDSU created a teacher leader group, developed quality indicators with online resources, and advanced inclusive practices for students with the most extensive disabilities.
In 2025–2026, focusing on preschool through kindergarten, the district launched in response to Universal Prekindergarten and California’s new TK birthdate requirements. Key practices highlighted include: staffing TK and K with ECSE teachers, ensuring ...
This collection of videos and printable tools are designed to help educators build more inclusive, equitable, and intentionally designed learning environments for all students, especially those with disabilities. Developed by the Supporting Innovative Practices (SIP), a grant-funded project by the California Department of Education, in partnership with the El Dorado and Riverside County Offices of Education. These resources support schools in transforming exclusionary practices through systemic change and advocacy.
SIP’s mission is to uphold human dignity by challenging exclusionary practices through systemic change and advocacy, ensuring ...
This five-part series offers a comprehensive, research-based introduction to the core components of early childhood development from birth to age eight: brain, language, motor, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Each course explores foundational concepts, key developmental milestones, and the dynamic interplay between biological maturation and environmental experiences. Participants will gain an understanding of how brain systems support learning across domains, how language and motor skills emerge and interact, how social and emotional capacities develop through relationships, and how cognitive processes like memory, attention, and problem-solving evolve ...
The Language, Literacy, and Dyslexia series supports the literacy development of a wide range of learners, including those with dyslexia, within the context of today’s diverse communities, families, and student populations. Course content, developed by a multidisciplinary team of teacher educators, reading researchers, and neuroscientists reflects the most current evidence-based educational practices. Courses are aligned with the California Dyslexia Guidelines and Literacy Standard 7 Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs). Each course includes an extensive collection of relevant readings, resources, and references.Â
California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an additional year of schooling within the K–12 system that aims to prepare children for kindergarten. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, the program will be expanded to all four-year-olds by 2025–26. Little is known about TK’s longer-term impact—especially among multilingual students and students with disabilities, who might benefit from early identification. This resource takes stock of TK’s impact so far in an effort to help the state expand it successfully.
This comprehensive series presents the essential components of early literacy development, including Oral Language, Phonological Awareness, Decoding, Vocabulary, Fluency, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling. Each course is thoughtfully designed to examine language and literacy development from multiple perspectives, focusing on effective, research-based teaching strategies. Leveraging current research with practical strategies, this series will help educators understand not just what to teach, but how to reach the diversity of learners in their classrooms.Â
Course Series
Keynote
Cultivating Joy & Learning for All Across the Early Grades
Description: The first eight years of life set the foundation for children's learning, school, and life success. Unfortunately, race, place, language, ability, and zip code continue to determine whether children have the access and opportunities to flourish and be on track for school and life success. The urgency to act is now! This keynote will examine key evidence-informed factors that ensure all learners have access to joyful and enriching learning opportunities. Specifically, this presentation will cover some of the key features that can be aligned from PK-3 (i.e., the early grades) to improve the pathways for excellence for children and their families.
Conference Schedule
Saturday, October 11th
Time (PT)
Track 1 Preserving Play, Powering Learning: What PK-3 Really Needs
Track 2 Starting Strong: Equity and Inclusion in Early Childhood
Breakout Sessions: Resource Sharing and Arraya Demonstration Reading, Literacy, and Standard 7 Content PK-3 Courses Navigating Arraya
Speaker Lineup
FAQ
What is the UC|CSU Collaborative 2025 Summit?
The 2025 Summit is the UC|CSU Collaborative’s annual summit focusing on bringing together educators, administrators, and researchers. This year’s theme is Investing in Inclusive PK-3 Education.
Where is the Summit happening?
This year’s summit is completely virtual and will be hosted on our hub, Arraya Learning.
How do I register?
To register, all you need to do is make a free Arraya Learning account and click “Register” at our registration page.
What is Arraya Learning?
Arraya Learning is a centralized, research-based resource hub developed and vetted by leading experts across the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. Developed by the UC|CSU Collaborative, Arraya Learning is completely free to users. Learn more at https://www.arrayalearning.org/p/about.
Is it free to register and attend?
Yes! The 2025 Summit is free to register and attend!
Welcome to Arraya Learning!
Arraya Learning is a centralized, evidence-based resource hub developed and vetted by leading experts across the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. It’s designed to meet the evolving needs of educators, teacher educators, and leaders across California.
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Getting Started
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Key Terms to Get You Started
Course - Interactive, asynchronous learning courses that can be taken independently. Webinar - A live, informational session held virtually or in-person. Recordings are available after the live session. Training - A workshop, seminar, or presentation held virtually. Pre-recorded “anytime training” sessions are also available. Resource Collection - A curated set of resources on a specific topic or strategy.
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