Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project

1. Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project Belinda Biscoe and Priscilla Griffith (Debra Corey, Susan Kimmel) University of Oklahoma bpbiscoe@ou.edu pgriffith@ou.edu Go Sooners!

2. United States Department of Education Early Literacy First Grant • Focus: Pre-K 3 and 4 year olds • Purpose: • Create early childhood centers of excellence • Prepare young children to enter kindergarten with necessary skills to ensure school success

3. GOALS • Create language and literacy rich classroom environments • Integrate curriculum, activities and materials into classrooms and family literacy practices • Assess literacy learning • Build partnerships to support the transition of all children into formal classroom instruction • Support family literacy • Provide research-based sustained professional development

4. COMPONENTS • Professional Development • Instruction • Child Assessment/Progress Monitoring • Literacy Mentors • Assessment Coordinator (Year 3) • Family Literacy Component • Family Literacy Nights • Family Literacy Resources • Home Visits • Project Evaluation

5. Project Development • Year One • Physical transformation of classrooms • Initiate literacy classes • Learn to mentor • Year Two • Implement spiral curriculum of literacy classes • Learn to develop portfolios • Year Three • Focus on examining student work to plan instruction

6. Three C’s of Professional Development • Community • Professional development classes • Examine student learning • Curriculum Content: Assessment and Instruction of Oklahoma ERF Benchmarks • Oral language • Phonological awareness • Print concepts • Alphabet knowledge and writing • Listening comprehension • Coaching • Implementing instructional strategies

7. Structure of Professional Development Classes • Two groups: certified and non-certified teachers • Classes off campus • Classes two times each month for 3 hours • Literacy instructor • Literacy mentors attend

8. Content of Professional Development Classes • Portfolios and Assessment • Observations and Anecdotal Notes • Oklahoma PRIDE Literacy Benchmarks • Oral Language • Phonological Awareness • Environment/Classroom Management • At-Risk Child Language Development • Alphabet Knowledge • Comprehension • Concepts of Print • Teacher-Child Interactions • Home Visits • Family Literacy Nights • Doors to Discovery Curriculum

9. OBSERVATION PLANNING REFLECTION STAFF DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT INSTRUCTION The Continuous, Recursive, and Interactive Process of Progress Monitoring

10. Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. Progress-Monitoring Plan

11. Project Evaluation • Classrooms • Before and after photos • Teachers • Concept Maps • ELLCO: Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation • Focus Groups • Students • PALS: Phonological Assessment Literacy Screening

12. Changing the Physical Environment

13. Transforming a disorganized environment

15. Setting up Centers Dramatic Play Writing Library

16. Concept Maps Early Literacy

17. Concept Maps • Voltz, 2004 (Action in Teacher Education, v. 27 # 3) • Rated maps for variation and quantity • Variation = number of categories represented in the map • Quantity = total number of ideas

20. Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation • Literacy Environment Checklist • Book Use and Availability - 20 points • Writing Materials and Display – 21 points • Classroom Observation Protocol • General Classroom Environment – 30 points • Language and Literacy Curriculum – 40 points • Literacy Activity Rating Scale • Book reading – 8 points • Writing – 5 points

21. ELLCO

22. Focus Groups • Accomplishments – Year 2 • Professional growth • Focus of the program on their roles as professionals – before the program Pre-K teachers were “considered by some to be babysitters but now they were using research-based teaching principles that can be measured and validated” • Provided roadmap for meeting state standards

23. Accomplishments – Year 3 • Increased familiarity with the curriculum enhanced implementation of the program because teachers are now comfortable using the curriculum and modifying it to suit their classroom needs. • Increased knowledge of literacy principles and application. • Teaching methods have been strengthened, and the program curriculum provided “a wonderful foundation to build upon.” • Family Literacy Night was an important component of the program. It was an avenue for reaching families.

24. Benefits • Access to resources/research-based, developmentally appropriate instructional strategies • Mentor support • Professional development classes • Progress of children • Credit towards CDA • Interact with other teachers • Peer support • Opportunity to attend professional conferences

25. Challenges/Concerns • Letting go of old curriculum and ways • Over-emphasizing literacy • Leaving their assistant alone with their class in order to attend professional development classes • Having resources to sustain parent activity component after the ERF grant ends • More modeling of different types of classroom instruction by their mentor

26. PALS/AMIGOS • Rhyme Awareness • Beginning Sound • Upper-Case Alphabet • Lower-Case Alphabet • Verbal memory • Print Knowledge • Concept of Word • Name Writing

27. Cohort 2 (Year 2 of the Project) Significant differences between treatment and comparison Rhyme Awareness Cohort 3 (Year 3 of the Project) Significant differences between treatment and comparison Rhyme Awareness Beginning Sounds Upper-Case Alphabet Lower-Case Alphabet Child Data Outcomes

28. What Have We Learned • Childcare research is very messy. • It has taken three years to see differences in child outcomes. • Mentoring has to be learned. • Early childhood educators with a strong literacy background are difficult to find. • There is a tension among early childhood and literacy educators over DAP and purposeful instruction.