Abstract
Researchers have posited that children generally learn to read in environments that are trusting, comfortable, and offer small group or one-to-one adult support, all of which are characteristics of a high quality early childhood education program. This evaluation research study examines the Pre-Kindergarten Incentive Program, an early childhood demonstration program in Washington, DC designed to study several urban community-based sites. The authors facilitate a discourse on how all early childhood education programs can become high quality programs through standardized observations, evaluations, and constructive feedback. The article describes the demonstration program, highlights general findings from standardized classroom observations, discusses areas needing improvement, and presents strategies for addressing areas of challenge. It will reveal to early childhood educators how evaluation findings can improve teaching and learning techniques and environments in early childhood programs. The goal is to promote overall improvement in reading, reasoning, and literacy for children enrolled in early childhood programs and thereby better prepare them for kindergarten.
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Notes
In its first year, the demonstration program served 336 children in 21 classrooms at 16 community-based setting; in its second year, the program served 419 children in 28 classrooms at 17 community-based sites.
Teachers were required to have an associate’s degree and to be working toward a bachelor’s degree; teacher assistants were required to have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential and to be working toward a higher degree.
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Acknowledgments
This project was supported by a grant from the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), Division of Early Childhood Education. We wish to acknowledge community-based sites participating in the early childhood demonstration project and researchers from the Howard University Center for Urban Progress.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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McKie, B.K., Manswell Butty, JA. & Green, R.D. Reading, Reasoning, and Literacy: Strategies for Early Childhood Education From the Analysis of Classroom Observations. Early Childhood Educ J 40, 55–61 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0489-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0489-2