Supporting Community Development and
Assessment of Outcomes for Preschoolers
Public concern over the quality of
education and our country's ability to continue to compete in
the global marketplace has generated a consensus that
improvement in schools should be judged more by student
achievement outcomes than what has been put in to the system
in terms of resources, etc. Clearly defined standards, or
what students are expected to know and be able to do at
various points in their schooling, are felt to be essential
to improving academic performance (Education Commission of
the States, Designing and Implementing Standards-based
Accountability Systems, March, 1998). Such standards have
been mandated in Wisconsin at the K-12 level.
Ever increasing demands for more precise educational
accountability overall suggest a movement towards a
standards-based system of developmental outcomes and
assessment for young children as well. A system that
articulates specific outcomes assists in the demonstration of
individual children's progress as well as identifying areas
within educational programming that need improvement.
Tracking of such information not only improves children's
natural environments, but also increases the ability of
educational programming to nurture the young child
appropriately (A Statistical Agenda for Early Childhood Care
and Education: Addendum to A Guide for Improving the National
Education Data System, Washington, DC: National Center for
Education Statistics, 1994). Such processes are seen as being
essential to achieving the goal of having all children ready
for success in kindergarten (Division of Early Childhood at
the Ohio Department of Education, IMPACTS, 1998).
As a guide for such efforts, researchers at the Early Childhood Research Institute (Universities of
Minnesota, Kansas and Oregon) have developed a set of
"common" developmental outcomes for young children
from birth to age eight (Presentation at Annual Meeting of
Division for Early Childhood/Council for Exceptional
Children, Chicago, IL, December, 1998). Individual growth
indicators were developed as well and allow children's
changes over time toward the outcomes to be monitored. Taken
together, this work identifies early childhood skills that
are related to later competencies, while at the same time
maintaining an individual focus.
Collaboration of the key players in the community towards the
goal of obtaining consensus on early childhood outcomes has
been suggested (Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners). Such
collaboration reflects the public engagement aspect of
standards implementation procedures (Designing and
Implementing Standards-Based Accountability: Ten Policy
Considerations. Education Commission of the States, 1997). In
addition, the inclusion of parents in these discussions
responds to current thought on educational best practices and
the requirements in IDEA for a new level of empowerment and
inclusion for parents in their child's education. Gathering
these mutually interested parties together provides a
ready-made forum for discussing broader issues of early
childhood development.
Although the benefits of early intervention have been known
for many years, there is now physical evidence provided by
new technology that allows us to actually see the impact of
early experience on the developing brain. Whether a baby's
brain cells connect and develop into networks that foster
intelligence, creativity and social competence depends, to a
large extent, on how that baby is nurtured. Further,
scientists believe that by the time a child is three years
old, 85% of the brain structures are in place (Training on Early Childhood Brain Research, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, January, 1999).
This newest research underscores in a powerful way the
critical need for a collaborative effort among all the key
players that establish environments or deliver services to
young children.
Standards and Assessment
Supported by a Preschool Discretionary grant from DPI, pilot work groups in Marshall and Middleton have
developed community generated standards and are working through issues of
community ownership, usage and
dissemination. Madison Metropolitan School District had
previously developed standards for preschoolers. The MMSD standards provided a model from which the
groups in Middleton and Marshall could individualize their work.
To view each group's standards, click on the highlighted
names above. If
you have questions or comments about how the website can be
most helpful, please contact me at (608)758-6232, ext.323 or
e-mail to sdonahoe@cesa2.k12.wi.us.
*New
The North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement just adopted Early Childhood Accreditation Criteria.
By going to the following website: www.ncacasi.org/standard/earlychild/
you will be able to get a PDF file of these standards and criteria, our organizational definitions, a table of contents for the standards and see how these are divided into five capacity areas including:
school improvement planning
informational systems
process of schooling
vision, leadership, governance, community
resource allocation
