Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood

1. Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood

2. History of Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood • 2002 - Cross-Sector group of Stakeholders begin work on standards • First step was to design “guiding principles” • 2004 - Pre-Kindergarten Standards adopted • 2007 - Infant/Toddler, Pre-Kindergarten (revision); Kindergarten; 1st grade and 2nd grade Standards adopted

3. History of Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood • 2008 - Alignment study conducted by Catherine Scott-Little and Sharon Lynn Kagan • 2009 - Learning Standards for Early Childhood revised and adopted (Infant/Toddler; Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten)

4. What are the purposes of Standards? • Standards

5. Standards are a set of principles and values that are the foundation for the way in which a program operates. Regardless of origin, standards provide a set of common elements that can be used across all similar programs. Standards guide the intentional focus on growth and development of ALL young children in ALL learning settings. Standards

6. Age Groupings (revised) Infant Birth – 12 months Young Toddler 9 – 27 months Older Toddler 24 – 36 months Preschool 3 and 4 years Kindergarten 5 years of age (by Sept. 1)

8. Integration of Learning Standards into programming • Required use in state funded early childhood programs • Private academic schools • Basis for transition efforts between • Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten • Benchmark 3 – Improvements in school • readiness and achievement

9. 8 Key Learning Areas support the following constructs under Benchmark 3 3.5 Child’s communication, language and emergent literacy 3.6 Child’s general cognitive skills 3.7 Child’s positive approaches to learning including attention 3.8 Child’s social behavior, emotion regulation & emotional well-being 3.9 Child’s physical health and development

10. Reflection ... How could I encourage home visitors use of Standards to support their work with children and families?

11. Standards can help - Home visitors meet children WHERE THEY ARE and helps each child reach challenging and achievable goals. Not all children are round pegs!

12. A look at Intentionality … • Standards help to: • Clearly define learning goals for children • Provide specific examples of what • children should be demonstrating • Provide strategies for home visitors to • use working with children and families

13. Daily routines…

14. Partnerships for Learning domain (& Standards Resources) supports the following constructs under Benchmark 3 3.1 Parent support for children’s learning and development 3.2 Parent knowledge of child development & developmental progress 3.3 Parenting behaviors and parent-child relationship

15. Partnerships for Learning • Connections: Shared understanding • Relationship between the family and home visitor is a critical foundation to children’s school readiness. • How do home visitors understand a family’s home life, their values and attitudes toward • learning? • - How do home visitors incorporate family ideas, preferences into activities for children?

16. Partnerships for Learning • Family Engagement • Children’s motivation to learn and be ready for school is impacted by the level of family support and involvement. • How do families and home visitors work together to make decisions concerning the child? • - How do home visitors assure that information exchange is reciprocal?

17. Partnerships for Learning • Supporting Children’s Learning • Families and home visitors work together to support children’s learning and development. • How does the home visitor understand families learning attitudes and strategies? • How do home visitors provide individualized and meaningful at-home experiences for families to us?

18. Partnerships for Learning • Transition • Families and home visitors must work together to coordinate information exchange from one setting to another that will assure children’s seamless learning experiences. • How do home visitors create a seamless transition into another program setting? • What resources do I make available for families to assure at home learning links that • support school readiness?

19. Standards Wheels

20. Questions