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Dear Great Start to Quality Providers,
This is your monthly touchpoint with the Great Start to Quality Consultants! The focus will be a shared topic that will provide support to each of you in your daily work with young children and families. Enjoy!
Angie and Heather
Quality Improvement Consultants - Eastern Region
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Curriculum and Assessment
Standards for high quality early childhood programs include two important pieces; curriculum and assessment. The National Association for the Education of Young Children has set 10 standards for early childhood programs that can help families make the right choice when they are looking for a child care center, preschool or Kindergarten.
Based on research on the development and education of young children, the standards were created with input from educators from around the country. The standards define what NAEYC-the world's largest organization of early childhood professionals-believes all early childhood programs should provide.
Standard: Curriculum
The program implements a curriculum that is consistent with its goals for children and promotes learning and development in each of the following areas: social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive.
A well-planned written curriculum provides a guide for teachers and administrators. It helps them work together and balance different activities and approaches to maximize children's learning and development. The curriculum includes goals for the content that children are learning, planned activities linked to these goals, daily schedules and routines, and materials to be used.
What to look for in a program:
- Ask about the program's curriculum and how it addresses all aspects of child development. The curriculum should not focus on just one area of development.
- Children are given opportunities to learn and develop through exploration and play, and teachers have opportunities to work with individual children and small groups on specific skills.
- Materials and equipment spark children's interests and encourage them to experiment and learn.
- Activities are designed to help children get better at reasoning, solving problems, getting along with others, using language, and developing other skills.
- Infants and toddlers play with toys and art materials that "do something" based on children's actions, such as jack-in-the-box, cups that fit inside one another, and playdough.
Standard: Assessment
The program is informed by ongoing systematic, formal and informal assessment approaches to provide information on children's learning and development. These assessments occur within the context of reciprocal communications with families and with sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which children develop.
Assessment results benefit children by informing sound decisions, teaching, and program improvement. Assessments help teachers plan appropriately challenging curriculum and tailor instruction that responds to each child's strengths and needs. Assessments can also help teachers identify children with special needs and ensure that children receive needed services.
What to look for in a program:
- The program supports children's learning using a variety of assessment methods, such as observations, checklists, and rating scales.
- Assessment methods are appropriate for each child's age and level of development and encompass all areas of development, including math, science, and other cognitive skills; language, social-emotional, and physical.
- Teachers use assessments methods and information to design goals for individual children and monitor their progress, as well as to improve the program and its teaching strategies.
- Families receive information about their child's development and learning on a regular basis, including through meetings and conferences.
To view all 10 NAEYC Standards, click the link below:
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Interested in learning more about
Great Start to Quality?
Take advantage of quarterly webinars hosted by Great Start to Quality! The webinars will keep you informed about Michigan's tiered quality rating and improvement system.
Catch up on past webinars by clicking the link below: Did you miss a webinar? You can view recorded webinars anytime at:
If you haven't already, please sign up for the
Great Start to Quality
listserv at
http://greatstarttoquality.org/
. Click the "Sign Up" link at the bottom of the home page to get updates and answers to frequently asked questions.
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Need help with the Great Start to Quality STARS system?
Please contact the Resource Center's support team.
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Toll Free support is available:
1-877-614-7328
- Our Quality Improvement Specialists are available to help you!
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The PQA,
Program Quality Assessment
is the assessment tool identified by the Great Start to Quality program to be used when assessing a program/provider. The standards listed in the PQA identify high quality program practices for all children.
Infant Toddler PQA:
IV. Curriculum Planning and Child Observation
IV-A. Caregivers use a comprehensive curriculum model for guiding their practices with infants and toddlers.
Level 5 Indicator, Row 1: Caregivers use one comprehensive curriculum model that addresses the following: Educational Program encompassess all areas of child development...Appropriate Child Assessment assists in making sound decisions about teaching and learning...Program Evaluation is continuous, with results used to improve practices.
Preschool PQA:
IV-A. Curriculum Planning And Assessment
IV-A. Staff use a comprehensive and documented curriculum model or educational approach to guide teaching practices.
Level 5 Indicator, Row 1: Staff consistently use one comprehensive educational model or approach.
Family Child Care PQA:
I. Daily Schedule
I-C. The program has time each day for adult-initiated group activities that reflect and extend children's interests.
Level 5 Indicator, Row 3: Providers often revise or extend activities in response to the children's interests and reactions to the planned activity.
Click the link below to learn more about the PQA:
Tackling Program Quality
***Check your PQA booklets for all Level 5 Indicators***
***Contact your local Lending Library to check out a PQA booklet***
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Early Childhood Standards of Quality
This is a publication which explains the purpose, history and application of the the Early Childhood Standards of Quality endorsed by the Michigan Department of Education. Standards were developed to guide infant/toddler, preschool and pre-kindergarten programs across the state to ensure all Michigan children come to Kindergarten with similar early education experiences.
Each standard is followed by a description of what children typically can be expected to demonstrate. Also listed are some examples of experiences and strategies that facilitate children's development with respect to each standard.
The Early Childhood Standards of Quality connect the high quality experiences that we provide to children with many of the curriculum and assessments that we use. Listed below are the connections between plan-do-review and the Standards of Quality.
Infant and Toddler Early Childhood Standards of Quality:
Strand C: Exploration
Goal 5. Infants and Toddlers experience environments where their interests and initiative provide direction for learning opportunities and for the practice and mastery of developing skills.
c. The understanding that they have a significant role in initiating exploration, play, and learning.
F. Child Assessment and Program Evaluation (please see pg. 95 for more detail)
Prekindergarten Early Childhood Standards of Quality:
Early Learning Expectation: The Learning Environment
Program Standard 2: The curriculum is designed to address all aspects of children's development and to further their learning with emphasis on the unique needs of the young child.
a. Relates each experience, activity, routine, and transition to curricular goals.
Child Assessment and Program Evaluation Program Standard 1: The program uses information gained from a variety of child assessment measures to plan learning experiences for individual children and groups.
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Pin of the Month....
Find this idea on Pinterest
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Looking for Training?
Trainings are being added often so for more detailed information and to register, go to:
- click the third yellow box named "Professional Development"
- follow the directions to register.
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Have you visited your Lending Library lately?
The Eastern Resource Center's Lending Library is a FREE educational resource available to parents and early childhood professionals.
We
offer
themed bins and CARES bags full of learning materials to enhance y
our classroom or childcare environment for children birth to age 5. Stop by your local Lending Library to check out something new today!
Not sure where your local Lending Library is located?
- Click on "Great Start to Quality Resource Centers".
- Click "Eastern Resource Center" on the map to find the Lending
Library near you!
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Teacher Resource
Your local Lending Library is stocked with curriculum and assessment resources for you to check out and learn more about! Please contact us today for help in choosing curriculum and assessment resources for your program!
~Click the following link to view our entire Lending Library catalog: Lending Library Catalog
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How to contact your Consultant:
Angie Pearcy
(Huron, Lapeer, Sanilac, St. Clair)
Cell: 989-280-0979
Heather Rousseau
(Arenac, Bay, Saginaw, Tuscola)
Cell: 989-284-2250
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Funding from the Office of Great Start within the Michigan Department of Education supports the implementation of Great Start To Quality
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