Reading, Reasoning, and Literacy: Strategies for Early Childhood Education From the Analysis of Classroom Observations

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.

Evaluation in the field of early childhood development: A scoping review

“…Across nine studies, evaluation findings were used to inform future programming (Andrews et al, 2019; Aronson et al, 2007a, 2007b; Cook, 2006; Flaspohler et al, 2003; Hobson & Burkhardt, 2012; Kellar, 2001; McKie et al, 2012; Peter, 2003; Sundar et al, 2011). Others assert that feedback from evaluators can assist early childhood practitioners with changing their classroom practices or support them in better understanding effective “strategies for improving student outcomes” (Flaspohler et al, 2003; McKie et al, 2012, p. 58).…”

“…Across nine studies, evaluation findings were used to inform future programming (Andrews et al, 2019; Aronson et al, 2007a, 2007b; Cook, 2006; Flaspohler et al, 2003; Hobson & Burkhardt, 2012; Kellar, 2001; McKie et al, 2012; Peter, 2003; Sundar et al, 2011). Others assert that feedback from evaluators can assist early childhood practitioners with changing their classroom practices or support them in better understanding effective “strategies for improving student outcomes” (Flaspohler et al, 2003; McKie et al, 2012, p. 58). Secondary and unintended outcomes of conducting an evaluation include the development of a training program for early childhood staff working with children with special needs, as well as the need for fundamental program changes needed to address quality issues (Cook, 2006; Kellar, 2001).…”

“…To ensure that evaluation findings would be useful to all stakeholders involved, two studies developed different evaluation reports for different audiences (Grey et al, 2016; Guss et al, 2013). Another innovative way of providing feedback to program staff was through report card meetings in which evaluators shared recommendations and strategies intended to improve classroom quality (McKie et al, 2012).…”

The Effect of Study Island Software on Grades 9-11 State Scores in Literacy

“…Reading software programs are designed to interact with students (Akinbobola & Afolabi, 2009) by retelling a story to increase reading comprehension (Hedin & Conderman, 2010;McNeil, 2011;Norman, 2012;Pang, 2013) via dialogue with peers and teachers (Maine, 2013) where teachers encourage students to read (Meyer et al, 2011;Murphy & Fink, 2012) and monitor students' progress (Chen, Chen, & Sun, 2010). Literacy software can provide students with immediate feedback (Mckie et al, 2012) to help students increase their comprehension (Wolff et al, 2013) via practice worksheets (Magliano et al, 2011;Wild, 2009). Reading software may increase student engagement in reading (McCullough, 2011;Park, 2013).…”

Level of Curriculum Implementation in Public Preschools of Ozamiz City and Tangub City Divisions

“…In fact, the preschool curriculum should be standardsbased to provide learning experiences dedicated to the children's social, emotional and cognitive development (Mckie et al, 2012). There should be interrelatedness of all learning areas, and no learning area should be taught in isolation (Conyers, 2012).…”