Last week, I wrote about PreK-3rd reform, but I was still trying to get a clear picture of what this effort is. On Tuesday, the New America Foundation answered a lot of my questions with a new seven-minute YouTube video, "Fighting Fade Out Through PreK-3rd Reform."

On one level, the idea is simple. The initiative views education from pre-k to third grade as one ladder, with curriculum that connects and works together. On another level, it is complex, as school districts deal with public and private pre-k classrooms, competition for funds and other challenges.

Maryland’s Montgomery County School district, one of the largest in the country, has been using PreK-3rd reform for the last 10 years with impressive results, including a dramatic narrowing of the achievement gap and rising test scores. The effort worked so well, the district had to throw away curriculum because students were beyond existing approaches.

“But just going to pre-k or Head Start isn’t enough. Curriculum and standards have to be aligned so that as students climb up from grade to grade and in each grade their teachers know where they are coming from. If children are forced to reach too high they can be lost due to frustration or lack of support. If they repeat previously learned material or step down a rung they can lose interest in learning,” said Christina Satkowski of the New America Foundation.

I know this isn’t a video of a drunken waterskiing rabbit, but it is worth checking out.