Model & Framework Alignment

Flexible curricula that adapt to the way your program works.

Model & Framework Alignment

Flexible by Design

With Great Kids® (GK) curricula, certification programs, and professional development resources, practitioners enhance their ability to engage parents and motivate them to be their child’s first and most important teacher; all within the context of their own family values, traditions, and culture.

Growing Great Kids® (GGK) is endorsed by Healthy Families America and is identified by Head Start as a promising research-based curriculum with clear alignment to the Early Learning Outcomes Framework and the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework.

Great Kids intentionally aligns its curriculum with the Strengthening Families Protective Factors, helping professionals build the knowledge, skills, and relationships that strengthen families and promote positive outcomes for children.

Alignment with Head Start

Great Kids makes the connection between our curricula and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) seamless. Practitioners can use the crosswalks below to create effective learning experiences that support early learning across all five ELOF domains:

Growing Great Kids® Next Generation Prenatal to 36 Months
Growing Great Kids® Next Generation for Preschoolers
Growing Great Families® Next Generation
- English
- Spanish
Hope at Home
Great Kids® Together
Nurturing Sprouts
Little Connections (Coming soon!)

Additionally, Great Kids aligns several of its curricula with the Illinois Early Learning Guidelines for Children Birth to Age 3, with resources available to download below:

Healthy Families America and Great Kids

Healthy Families America (HFA) and Great Kids have worked in partnership for many years focusing on the development and delivery of training and curriculum for HFA sites. Current state and federal accountability standards require use of evidence-based home visiting models and demonstration of program fidelity, making it essential for HFA providers to utilize high-quality, cutting-edge skills and strategies aimed at best practices for supporting the families participating in HFA.

Alignment with the Protective Factors Framework

Across our curriculum, the Protective Factors are woven into core content, activities, and
practice strategies — connecting what professionals learn and do to the conditions that help families thrive. For greater transparency and ease of use, we have developed crosswalks that identify how specific curriculum content aligns with each Protective Factor.

In addition, the Great Kids materials below explicitly identify and reinforce these Protective Factor connections within the content itself, helping professionals recognize and apply them in
their everyday work with families:

Growing Great Kids® Next Generation Prenatal
- English
- Spanish
Great Kids® Together

learn more

The HFA model is unique in its approach. It is aligned with three major principles: 1) trauma-informed 2) attachment/relationship focused, and 3) grounded in reflective practice. Once families have been supported in a way that builds parental capacity to be present and eager to learn, HFA providers should complement their work with engaging curriculum materials that follow the parent’s lead and optimize the parent-child relationship. The Growing Great Kids® curriculum is closely aligned with HFA’s approach and offers a solid fit for HFA home visitors for these reasons.

The GGK Curriculum is designed to foster the growth of secure attachment…

Part of HFA’s trauma-informed approach is to learn about each parent’s early childhood experiences and stressors, identifying both the strengths/protective factors and challenges parents may face. Many families who have experienced adverse childhood experiences may have difficulty with bonding and attachment. It is therefore important to use a curriculum designed to promote social-emotional development which includes bonding and attachment.

A primary GGK focus is on growing empathic parent-child relationships and secure attachments. There is a strong emphasis on supporting parents in responding sensitively to the needs and development of their children.

GGK utilizes a solution focused format, essentially creating “teachable moments” by asking parents what knowledge they have about a certain topic before providing information. The curriculum is not scripted, but creates a structure for conversation building. Each module provides step-by-step interactive questions to actively engage parents in the conversation so they do not feel they are being given advice or being talked down to.

The GGK curriculum supports the training staff receive in Foundations for Family Support training.

HFA’s Foundations for Family Support training provides a vehicle for attunement with parents, and focuses on how to create an environment using a culturally humble approach so parents are empowered to make the decisions that work best for their families.

The GGK Curriculum supports many of the strategies that are inherent in HFA’s Foundations training, and offers additional Growing Great Families® (GGF®) modules that are specifically designed to promote Protective Factors.

The GGK Curriculum also offers a staff development program. Supervisors learn how to build staff competence in using the curriculum. Supervisors receive monthly guides for continuing to build staff competencies following GGK Seminars. Post training consultation is offered at no additional charge.

The Growing Great Kids curriculum aligns with and builds upon the HFA model approach.

Kathleen Strader

Chief Program Officer and National Director, Healthy Families America

Growing Great Kids®

Why Choose Great Kids?