ADE Summit 2026

Alison Williams, Business Coalition Director, Excel by 8, and Jennifer Douglas, Early Childhood Program Administrator, DESE, OEC, will hold an interactive discussion about early childhood education as a critical driver of both current workforce stability and future economic growth. Participants will explore how cross-sector partnerships move beyond traditional philanthropy to impact systemic issues of workforce and economic development.

Closing the Gap Before It Begins 2.0: The Power of Pre‑K Outcomes” This session explores how the Early Development Instrument (EDI) serves as a powerful population-level tool to identify and address developmental inequities before children enter the classroom. Participants will learn how to analyze EDI data across five key domains to pinpoint community vulnerabilities, strategically allocate resources, and foster cross-sector collaborations. By moving from individual assessment to community-wide snapshots, we will demonstrate how to create targeted interventions that ensure every child, regardless of zip code, starts school ready to succeed.

Arkansas is currently in a CLASS pilot year.  As Local Leads, part of our job is to go into all publicly funded classrooms, provide a CLASS assessment, and support programs in building positive, meaningful interactions. The four presenters for this season have collectively completed more than 150 CLASS observations in the last year and a half across infant, toddler, and pre-K settings.

We started noticing the same pattern over and over: teachers are working hard during large group, centers, and small group time to build relationships, model language, and support problem-solving. But mealtimes and snack times — which easily take 30 to 45 minutes of a child’s day — are often treated as “get through it” moments instead of intentional interaction time. That is a huge missed opportunity for building connections, positive interactions, concept development, scaffolding, and language modeling. “What’s on the Menu? Interactions!” is designed to change that.

This session showcases the collaborative work of Local Lead Amy Pinkston and Preschool Director Abby Baker as they share how a strong Local Lead–program partnership can support effective CLASS implementation. Over the past year, Bald Knob Early Childhood Center has integrated CLASS through shared goal‑setting, aligned professional development, targeted coaching, and clear communication structures. Amy and Abby will outline how building leadership capacity, using observation data intentionally, and establishing manageable SMART goals have strengthened classroom practices and staff confidence. Attendees will gain practical strategies for partnering with their own Local Lead to implement CLASS with fidelity and support continuous improvement.