Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators

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Professional Development for Early Childhood
Educators

• Evidence to support strategic investments that
  improve childrens early literacy and language
  development
• Craig T. Ramey, Ph.D.
• Sharon Landesman Ramey, Ph.D.
• Directors, Georgetown University
• Center on Health and Education

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The big picture for understanding how to
promote children's well-being
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Seven Essential Transactions forParents and
Teachers of Young Children

• Encourage exploration with all senses (active
  learning)
• Mentor in basic skills (intellectual and
  social-emotional)
• Celebrate developmental advances (reward
  behavior)
• Rehearse and extend new skills
• Protect from inappropriate disapproval,
• teasing, and punishment
• Communicate richly and responsively (oral and
  print)
• Guide and limit behavior (preparing citizenship)

Ramey Ramey, 1999 Going to School
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Effects of Mothers Speech on Infant Vocabulary
Huttenlocher et al, Developmental Psychology,
(1991)
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Teacher speech in pre-K influences childrens
syntax growth(Huttenlocher, 2002)

• For pre-K teachers who use proportionally more
  multi-clause sentences, their students show
  greater fall to spring gains in
• comprehension of complex (multi-clause) sentences
• use of noun phrases
• This applies to children from all SES groups

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Pre-K is ideal time to promote evidence-based
skills for successful reading induction

• Oral Language Comprehension
• Oral Language Expressiveness
• Phonological Awareness
• Letter Name Knowledge
• Concepts about Print

Neuman Dickinson, Handbook of Early Literacy
Research, 2006
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Consequences of very low resource environments on
childrens school entry skills and later
performance

• Delays of 1 to 2.5 years in overall academic and
  intellectual competence
• Marked reduction in vocabulary as well as
  expressive and receptive language skills
• Fewer skills in interacting with teachers and
  peers in a learning environment
• Lack of supportive learning at home and in summer
  further increases the gap over the first 4
  years in school

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• The Abecedarian (ABC) Project is a randomized
  controlled trial (RCTs) that proved high quality,
• early childhood education can alter the life
  course of high-risk children and their families.
• The ABC findings have been affirmed in 9 other
  RCTs involving more than 1000 children.
• 
  Ramey
  Ramey, 2006

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Pre-K Educational Treatment prevents decline in
childrens low-IQ classification ( with IQs lt85)
Martin, Ramey, Ramey, 1990 American Journal of
Public Health
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McCarthy Language scores are significantly higher
for children in the ABC group (national norm
50)
Ramey Campbell, 1979 American Journal of Mental
Deficiency
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Reading achievement scores are significantly
higher for ABC children at 8, 12, 15, 21yrs
Campbell Ramey, 2001 Developmental Psychology
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ABC educational program reduced grade repetition
and special education placement
Ramey Ramey, 1999 MR/DD Research Review
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Key Findings from Abecedarian Project(Abecedaria
n one who learnsthe basics such as the
alphabet)

• 18 Months to 21 Years Old

• Intelligence (IQ)
• Reading and math skills
• Academic locus-of-control
• Social Competence
• Years in school,
• including college
• Full-time employment

• Grade Repetition
• Special Education
• placement
• Teen Pregnancies
• Smoking and drug
• use
• Teen depression

Plus benefits to mothers of these children
(education, employment)
Ramey et al, 2000
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Why Some Well-Intended Preschool ProgramsHave
Failed to Close the Achievement Gap

• Teachers not well prepared or supported
• in classrooms
• Dosage of pre-K is too low
• Inadequate instruction to promote cognitive,
  language,
• early literacy, and early math skills
• Ineffective communication with and engagement of
  
• parents and other key service providers
• Instruction is too harsh or rigid

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How to implement effective early childhood
educational programs

• Commit to knowledge application (put scientific
  findings in action daily)
• Plan and collect practically useful information
  longitudinally (document, assist, and reward
  desired performance)
• Understand the importance of systems that impinge
  on classroom environment (engage key players to
  increase likelihood of sustainable success)

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The KAIS Theory of PD (Ramey Ramey, 2007)
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Recent findings from Maryland and Louisiana Pre-K
initiatives

• Strong visionary leadership and commitment to
  pre-K as a means of improving student achievement
  and closing the gap for children of poverty
• Willingness to conduct research that will provide
  timely information to inform changes in the
  classroom practices and policy
• The programs differ in ways that provide insights
  about benefits of full-day vs half-day pre-K and
  differential risk
• New findings about impact of in-classroom coaching

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Similarities in MD and LA Pre-K programs

• Implemented by public schools
• Certified early childhood teachers (full
  benefits, comparable salaries to other teachers)
• Classroom sizes of no more than 20
• Adult to child ratio of no more than 1 to 10
• Specified pre-K curriculum in resource-rich
  classrooms and high standards
• Ongoing professional development
• Strong focus on language and early literacy

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Differences in MD and LA Pre-K

• MCPS Pre-K classrooms are half-day while LA
  classrooms are full-day
• Children in LA4 start at slightly lower levels
  than do children in MCPS
• MCPS classrooms serve more diverse children in
  terms of nationality and language backgrounds
• LA4 is not limited to at risk students, while
  MCPS currently is

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The MD and LA Partnership Paradigm for studying
educational initiatives and testing promising
interventions

• Involves the leadership of school districts
  and/or state boards plus major research
  universities creating long-term working
  partnerships
• Partnership promotes sustained efforts to (1)
  study, (2) improve, and (3) maintain high
  quality programs that will benefit children and
  schools
• Partnership is more than 1 study, 1 issue
• Partnership recognizes the different cultures,
  needs, and contributions from science, practice,
  and policy
• see Ramey Ramey (1990, 2006)

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Purpose of the Georgetown U-MCPSIES Curriculum
Coaching Study

• To conduct rigorous evaluation of an
  evidence-based early literacy curriculum
  Scholastics Building Language for Learning (BLL)
  (Neuman Snow)
• To evaluate effects of amount of professional
  development (in the form of summer institute,
  job-embedded coaching, and peer exchange
  sessions) on classroom implementation and
  children's achievement

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Design of the Georgetown U-MCPSIES Curriculum
Coaching Study

• 24 randomly selected classrooms then randomly
  assigned to
• BLL Curriculum Coaching (weekly vs monthly)
• MCPC Comparison condition
• Classrooms assessed on ELLCO and BLL Fidelity
  Checklist
• Total of 263 children assessed in both fall and
  spring using TERA, Concepts of Print, Get it, Got
  It Go and What I Think of School

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BLL Implementation Scores by Coaching Conditions
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Mean ELLCO Scores by Coaching Conditions
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Fall and Spring TERA by Coaching Conditions
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LA4 Study Design Population-based, Cohort
Sequential, Case/Control Longitudinal Study

• Pilot year (Jan May 2002) n1358
• Cohort 1 (2002-2003) n3711
• Cohort 2 (2003-2004) n4767
• Cohort 3 (2004-2005) n4665
• Cohort 4 (2005-2006) n7998
• Cohort 5 (2006-2007) ngt10,000
• Note LA legislature has committed 82 million
  for 2007-2008 school year (representing a
  substantial expansion of program that the School
  Board and Legislature have monitored closely)

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LA4 results Consistent, replicated pattern of
findings for

• Fall to spring scores increased during Pre-K
• Grade retention rates reduced in public school
• Special Education placement rates lowered
• Academic achievement scores raised at end of 3rd
  grade (high stakes testing)

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ECERS Ratings of LA4 Classrooms shows
exceptionally high quality for all cohorts
(highest possible score 7.0)

• Cohort 1 M 5.7
• Cohort 2 M 6.0
• Cohort 3 M 6.0
• Cohort 4 M 5.9
• Note these compare favorably to ECERS scores
  from other studies of large-scale pre-K classrooms

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Developmental Skills Checklist (DSC) used to
measure fall and spring student performance

• Language, Print, and Math subscales
• Benefits appeared for boys and girls African
  American and White children and children from
  different family backgrounds (family income,
  parental education)
• Benefits larger for children at greater risk
  based on family factors than for lower risk
  children

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Louisiana Kindergarten Retention Rates (2003-04
Cohort)
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Louisiana Kindergarten Retention Rates (2004-05
Cohort)
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LA4 reduces grade retention rates for

• Both boys and girls
• African American and White children
• Continues with strong benefits into 1st, 2nd, and
  3rd grade (but awaiting replication before formal
  presentation of results)
• Benefits larger for Free and Reduced Meals
  children (lower income families) than for general
  population

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Louisiana Special Education Placement Rates
(2003-04 Cohort)
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Louisiana Special Education Placement Rates
(2004-05 Cohort)
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LA4 reduces special education placement for

• Both boys and girls
• African American and White children
• Greater benefits for children receiving free and
  reduced meals compared to general population,
  although both groups benefit
• Continued lower special education placement
  through 2nd grade (latest year studied to date)

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iLEAP Achievement -3rd grade
Percentage of Students at Basic and Above
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iLEAP ELA Students (Pilot and Cohort 1)
Percentage of FRL Students at the
Unsatisfactory Achievement Level
n 8,192 n 556
n5,391 n1,875 Z 8.74,
Plt0.001
Z 10.39, Plt0.001
Fewer students in LA 4 scored at the
Unsatisfactory achievement level on the third
grade ELA iLEAP when compared to students who had
no public Prekindergarten.
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A Comparison of Childrens Academic Progress in
Pre-K Programs that differ in dosage
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Cross-study comparison reveals

• Large-scale state public pre-K programs can offer
  high quality instructional classroom environments
  
• Children show significant gains in their school
  readiness and academic achievement -- with
  larger benefits for children at higher risk
• Program dosage (half vs full year and half vs
  full day) makes significant difference about
  twice the benefits from twice the dose
• In-classroom coaching in evidence-based
  curriculum can drive up implementation fidelity
  plus children's early literacy development even
  for highly qualified teachers (e.g., Masters
  degree in early childhood education)

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Principles of effective early educational
interventions

• Timing of intervention
• Dosage (amount) of overall intervention
• Instructional focus on academic, cognitive, and
  language domains
• Individual differences in responsivity
• Continuity of supports
• 
  Ramey Ramey (2006)

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For copies of this powerpoint presentation

• Contact Drs. Craig and Sharon Ramey
• Georgetown University Center on Health and
  Education
• 202-687-2874
• ctr5_at_georgetown.edu
• sr222_at_georgetown.edu