Staff Development in a PreK Literacy Project

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Staff Development in a Pre-K Literacy Project

• Belinda Biscoe and Priscilla Griffith
• (Debra Corey, Susan Kimmel)
• University of Oklahoma
• bpbiscoe_at_ou.edu pgriffith_at_ou.edu
• Go Sooners!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Three Cs 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

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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

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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

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The Continuous, Recursive, and Interactive
Process of Progress Monitoring
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Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. Progress-Monitoring Plan
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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

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Changing the Physical Environment
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• Transforming a disorganized environment

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• Setting up Centers
• Dramatic Play
• Writing
• Library

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Concept Maps
Early Literacy
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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

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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

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ELLCO
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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

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• 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.

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• 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

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• 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

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PALS/AMIGOS

• Rhyme Awareness
• Beginning Sound
• Upper-Case Alphabet
• Lower-Case Alphabet
• Verbal memory
• Print Knowledge
• Concept of Word
• Name Writing

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Child Data Outcomes

• 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

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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.