Preschool Matters June July 2005nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/33.pdf · SERF classrooms, and...

A Publication of the National Institute for Early Education ResearchJune/July 2005 Volume 3, No. 3

NIEER

Seattle’s Creative Approach to Early Learning

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Pre-K Teachers Make the Grade in Arkansas

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FUNDED BY

m a t t e r s

Preschool Matters JJ 2005_UG 7/12/05 2:32 AM

Legendary automakerHenry Ford once said of hisModel T: “The customer canhave any color he wants solong as it’s black.” Of course,it wasn’t long before marketpressure and changing cul-tural norms forced his handand brought a full colorspectrum of cars to Ford’sshowrooms. The ability toadapt made Ford MotorCompany one of the mostsuccessful and longest-livedauto manufacturers in history.

Public education isn’tprofit-driven but applying alittle business acumen to theindustry is certainly in order.Like Henry Ford, it’s time werecognize our “market forces,”listen to our “customers” andadapt. Our ability to competein a global economy relies

on it. A new effort by theNational Association of Ele-mentary School Principals(NAESP) does just this, shifting the paradigm fromone that views education asK-12 to one that incorpo-rates pre-K as well.

Around the country,principals are being asked to step out of their schoolsand engage with the broadercommunity of early childhoodeducation providers. That’sno small change. Clearly the thinking is moving awayfrom separate silos for earlyeducation and “child care”and toward school readinessas an integral part of provid-ing a high-quality educationin all early childhood settings.Public schools are not theonly place this is happening.

Private elementary and pre-Kproviders are also recogniz-ing the need to create a con-tinuum that begins beforekindergarten and extends to college.

In a future with more and bigger pre-K programs,it also makes sense to rethinkhow the Head Start programcan perform better and moreinteractively with the rest ofthe education system. A newreport shows that the impactHead Start has on 3- and 4-year-olds is unacceptably low in both academic andsocial-emotional learning.Yet the idea behind HeadStart is as valid now as it waswhen the program started.With reauthorization at hand,there is an historic opportu-nity to re-energize Head Startand introduce a new level ofaccountability. Improvingteacher standards and raisingexpectations for the programshould be a priority—researchon other preschool programsshows that much larger gainsare possible. And better coor-dination with state-fundedpreschool programs is a must.

Of the many aspects ofschool readiness, social-emo-tional development in pre-schoolers is too often givenshort shrift.

The news has been full ofheadlines about behavioralproblems among young chil-dren but without clear adviceregarding what to do about

them. Here, too, a little eco-nomics might be useful—recognizing that behaviorproblems stem from thechild’s supply of social skillsand the demands of parents,programs and others. A newNIEER brief providing guid-ance is discussed on page 4.

Public policies like NoChild Left Behind, demo-graphics, and school financelitigation have changed thebusiness of education foreveryone involved. It nolonger suffices to pay lipservice to the need for qualitypre-K or to create programsbut fail to fund them ade-quately. Nor is it acceptableto hire teachers but ignorethe need for training thatprepares them for the chal-lenges of today’s classroom.It is also not enough to thinkof education as a series ofdiscreet units existing side-by-side. In the parlance ofNAESP, we must build “learn-ing communities.” To quoteFord: “Coming together is abeginning; keeping togetheris progress; working togetheris success.”

From where I sit, that’s a paradigm shift in the making. ■

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National Institute for

Early Education Research

120 Albany Street, Suite 500

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

732-932-4350

Fax: 732-932-4360

www.nieer.org

The National Institute for Early Education Research supports early childhood education initiatives

by providing objective, nonpartisan information based on research. NIEER is one component of

a larger early education initiative designed, funded and managed by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

W. Steven Barnett, Director

Carol Shipp, Deputy Director

Pat Ainsworth, Communications Director

Mary Meagher, Communications Assistant

Margaret Sotham, Editor

Sandy Ogilvie, Art Director

© 2005 National Institute for Early Education Research

Send comments, opinions, and news to [email protected].

Address Changes: Please include mailing panel on page 12when requesting address changes.

NIEER is a unit of Rutgers University

NIEER

F R O M T H E D I R E C T O R ’ S C H A I R

Time to Re-examine theBusiness of Education

W. Steven BarnettDirector, NIEER


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It’s Monday morning at Seattle’s Beacon HillElementary School, and agroup of excited studentswalks the halls, looking likeany other kindergartners. Butthese 4-year-olds won’t beready to make the big leapfor at least another year.Leading the visitors is JuliaMatthews, kindergarten tran-sition coordinator for theSeattle Public Schools. Alongwith making sure the young-sters and their families seethe schools and meet theteachers and principals,Matthews helps prekinder-garten and kindergartenteachers connect their curric-ula, and she talks with par-ents about what to expect,how to prepare their childrenfor kindergarten, and how tochoose a good school.

Matthews represents justone-fourth of a school readi-ness program the city hasdevised by tying together lit-eracy-focused communitypreschool centers, publicschools, the city’s publiclibraries, and a local commu-nity college in a unique way.Each piece of the programaddresses a specific needaround creating school readi-ness—literacy-enhancedclassrooms, preschool curric-ula aligned with expectationsfor incoming kindergartners,teacher training and develop-ment, and family participa-tion. It’s an innovativeapproach that considers themany facets of school readi-ness and creates a coherentearly education system.

Seattle Early ReadingFirst began in Fall 2003 with

a three-year grant throughthe federal government’s“Good Start, Grow Smart”initiative. The city tappedfive existing childcare facili-ties and enhanced their cur-ricula around language andliteracy. The schools servepredominantly Latino andAfrican-American neighbor-hoods, and they vary widelyin their settings: two centersare bilingual. Three of thefive are community-basednon-profits, and two arestate-funded preschool pro-grams for low-income kids.Yet all have been successfullyintegrated into this earlyeducation system.

Sonja Griffin, SERF proj-ect manager, said the pro-gram’s planners looked at

what has been effective in thepast and how to fill the gapsin early education. “We real-ly considered what the com-munity would be responsiveto. It’s a wonderful partner-ship and families have beenvery responsive. They see thelibrary as a friendly welcom-ing place…and every SERFchild has a library card.”

Walk into any of the 14SERF classrooms, and you’llsee walls papered with writ-ing—children’s writing, theteacher’s writing, magazinecutouts, posters, letter shapes.In this print-rich surround-ing, children are infused witha love of reading and learning,a foundation that’s crucial tosuccess in kindergarten andbeyond. The teachers have

been specially trained in lit-eracy and language develop-ment, an ongoing processthat takes them out of theclassroom on release time tostudy for their nightly classes.They also use release time tovisit their elementary schoolcolleagues so they can plancoordinated lessons and dis-cuss other ways to make thepreschool-to-kindergartentransition seamless.

Better Training, Better TeachersUnlike their counterparts in school-based programs,which require teachers tohave a bachelor’s degree andteaching certificate, SERF teachers in community-based CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 >>

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Seattle Early Literacy Program CreatesInnovative System for School Readiness

In Seattle's Early Reading First Program students prepare for the big leap to kindergarten with better-prepared teachers,print-rich classrooms, and family involvement through local public libraries.


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It’s an unfortunatelyfamiliar scene in some pre-kindergarten classroomstoday: out-of-control kidsdisrupting learning for theirpeers at least and lashing outwith physical violence at most. Unless preschoolteachers have the necessarytraining to deal with thisgrowing trend in behaviorproblems, a child’s success in school and life can sufferdramatically.

That is the subject of

“Promoting Children’s Socialand Emotional DevelopmentThrough Preschool,” a newpolicy report from theNational Institute for EarlyEducation Research. Thereport says preschoolers whodo not receive social-emo-tional instruction cannot pay attention, rememberinformation on purpose, orfunction socially in a schoolenvironment, making themdifficult to manage and oftenrejected by peers.

The ability to self-regu-late emotion is a significantpart of a preschooler’s socialand emotional development.This includes learning towithstand impulses, maintainfocus, and complete taskseven when other more excit-ing activities are taking place.

Kindergarten teachersreport that more than half oftheir students arrive unpre-pared to learn, a problemthat occurs in part becausemany preschool teachers lack

appropriate training in earlychildhood development andbehavior issues, says ElenaBodrova, a co-author of thebrief.

This can result in unreal-istic expectations on the partof teachers and erroneousconclusions as to the causesof behavior problems. What’smore, Bodrova says in the“changing culture of child-hood,” children often havelittle or no experience play-

Controlling Emotions is Critical toPreschoolers’ Success in School and Life

NIEER SPECIAL REPORT

“Without proper

training in early child

development, pre-K

teachers often expect

behavior more

appropriate to first or

second graders…

When preschoolers

can’t follow directions

or be quiet when

instructed to do so,

these teachers view it

as a medical issue

(such as attention deficit

disorder) rather than

a developmental one.”

—Elena Bodrova

New NIEER Report Examines Social-Emotional Development

Children don't learn to self-regulatetheir emotions simply because theygrow up. They need good parentingand good teaching to conquerimpulses.


ing with older siblings orpeers who can model self-control. Instead they spendmost of their time in age-seg-regated classrooms or groupswhere they participate instructured activities or playin separate corners with theirown toys. If preschool pro-grams don’t provide childrenwith the opportunity for free,imaginative play with theirpeers, they won’t learn toquell aggressive tendenciesthat can lead to problemswith learning or even beingasked to leave a classroom.

One of the myths teach-ers hear—in part from out-dated research—is the ideathat children develop self-regulation simply becausethey grow up. Not true, saysBodrova. “It’s not an all ornothing process, it’s a grad-ual process. Some childrentend to be more impulsive,but most of those differencescan be compensated for bygood parenting and goodteaching.”

Furthermore, all childrenneed to be guided in theprocess, yet another reasonpreschool teachers must beable to spot opportunities for social and emotionallearning and direct activi-ties that encourage growth.Otherwise, children canexperience compoundingproblems that might sendthem on a downward spiralthat is difficult to reverse.

Says the report, “the childwho does not have self-regu-lation at five years of age isthe child who cannot followthe teacher’s directions at agesix or who cannot plan howto solve a problem at ageseven. The child without self-regulation of emotions at agefour will not be able to con-trol his temper at five andwill have negative peer inter-actions at age seven.”

To download a copy of“Promoting Children’s Socialand Emotional DevelopmentThrough Preschool,” visitwww.nieer.org. ■

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5NIEER SPECIAL REPORT

Elena Bodrova, co-author of NIEER’s social-emotional development report says teachers canuse three specific strategies to promote social and emotional development in preschoolers:

1. Consider whether class routines support develop-ment of self-regulation and eliminate those thatdon’t. For example, sitting in a large group is difficult for preschoolers and actually teaches theopposite of self-regulation, so minimize largegroup time.

2. Modify existing routines that do support self-regulation. An example: Instead of giving directionsand expecting preschoolers to remember them,have the children repeat the teacher’s instructionsto each other.

3. Direct make believe play in a way that helpschildren practice developing self-regulation skills,such as assigning parts to children and helping themstay in their roles for extended periods of time.

Many PrekindergartenTeachers WoefullyUnderpaid, Others LackRequired Credentials

The number of statesfunding preschool has dou-bled over the last 20 years,and many programs haveseen dramatic growth sincetheir inception. That’s arecipe for lagging compen-sation and qualification ofteachers, says Yale’s WalterGilliam, whose recentlycompleted National Pre-kindergarten Study (NPS)surveyed teachers in morethan 3,800 classroomsacross the country.

His first of manyreports to come from thatmassive survey is Who’sTeaching Our YoungestStudents? The study foundthat seven out of 10 teach-ers in state-funded prekin-dergarten programs earnsalaries that leave thembelow 200 percent of thepoverty line.

The study, conductedby Gilliam and Crista M.Marchesseault of theEdward Zigler Center forChild Development andSocial Policy at Yale Uni-versity, questioned 3,898teachers from 52 statewideprekindergarten systems in40 states.

Compensation variedsignificantly, with the high-est median hourly wagesreported by teachers inMaryland ($29.07), Penn-sylvania ($28.19), Michigan($27.62), and New York($25.32)—all states where a large proportion of pro-grams are in public schools.The lowest median hourly

wages were reported byteachers in Florida ($10.07),New Mexico ($10.96),Hawaii ($12.66), andMassachusetts ($12.95).

Fourteen percent ofteachers reported an annualsalary below the federalpoverty threshold, and 71 percent earned a salaryless than 200 percent of thefederal poverty threshold, a measure widely regarded as the line below whichfamilies are consideredlow-income.

Nineteen percent ofteachers worked an extrajob for pay. Of course,there is a connectionbetween teacher pay andcredentials. “One has to ask if it makes sense forpolicymakers to ask pre-Kteachers to get a bachelor’sdegree when they’re paidless than $20 an hour,”points out NIEER DirectorSteve Barnett. “If we wantpre-K teachers to be pro-fessionals, we have to paythem on a public schoolscale.”

Gilliam asked plenty ofother questions, amassing adataset that, in addition toinformation on classroompractice, contains detailsabout teacher stress andattitudes and behavioralissues among children whoattend state-funded pro-grams. The report, Who’sTeaching Our YoungestStudents? is available athttp://nieer.org/resources/files/NPSteachers.pdf. ■


P R E S C H O O L N E W S F R O M Ain the trenches

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In the decade sinceGeorgia opened its state-funded pre-K program to all4-year-olds, the southern U.S.has been busy building a rep-utation for access to publicpreschool education. If somegovernors turn new pro-nouncements into action,that reputation is likely togrow.

To be sure, the trendtoward more and bigger state-funded pre-K programs is anational one. But Southernstates have experienced realbooms in access. Within threeyears of Georgia launching its program, Oklahoma fol-lowed suit with a UPK pro-gram offered through publicschools. Seven years later,Florida is set to attempt toprovide universal access.Scheduled to begin this Aug-ust, that program illustratesthe challenges associatedwith delivering on the UPKpromise with limited fund-ing. (See “A Long Hot Sum-mer in Florida” at right fordetails.)

Even states without UPKhave shown an overall pat-tern of broadening accessdespite funding reductions indifficult budget years. NorthCarolina has shown steadygrowth in its More at Fourprogram for at-risk children,serving 6 percent of the state’s4-year-olds. A proposed statelottery promises to deliverfunds for future growth.South Carolina’s Half-DayChild Development Programnow serves about one-thirdof the state’s 4-year-olds.And in Texas, the Public

School Prekindergarten ini-tiative serves 43 percent of 4-year-olds, making it the thirdmost accessible program inthe country. According toNIEER’s most recent State of Preschool yearbook, sevenof the eight states with thegreatest access to state-fund-ed pre-K are in the South.

Driving this trend is acombination of the struggleto compete and enlightenedleadership, thinks LibbyDoggett, executive director ofthe national advocacy organ-ization, Pre-K Now. “It seemsto me the South over the last20 years, or maybe furtherback, has had to focus oneducation as a way to com-pete—globally and with theeducated workforces in theNortheast and Northwest,”she says. Doggett tips her hatto forward-looking leaders,like former Governors JimHunt (NC) and Zell Miller(GA) and former U.S. Secre-tary of Education Dick Riley.

Following in their foot-steps are Phil Bredesen ofTennessee, Mike Huckabee ofArkansas, and Bill Richardsonof New Mexico. Bredesenpushed an initiative to expandTennessee’s pilot pre-K pro-gram with $25 million in lot-tery proceeds while facingtough budget issues, includinga funding crisis for the state’smedical care program. In NewMexico, after a contentiousfight in which Richardsonthreatened to call a speciallegislative session if he didn’tget $8 million to expand thatstate’s tiny preschool pro-gram, the governor ended up

with half that amount.Huckabee’s administrationhas increased funding to pro-vide broader access and pur-sued determined efforts todevelop quality teachers andclassrooms, making Arkansasthe only state to meet all 10 ofNIEER’s quality benchmarks.

Doggett cites NorthCarolina, with its public/pri-vate Smart Start program, asa state that has led the way in redefining early educationto encompass the years frombirth to age 5. It’s a conceptbeing adopted in Arizona,Hawaii and South Carolina.Karen Ponder, president ofthe North Carolina Partner-ship for Children, credits oldfashioned advocacy for rais-ing awareness there. A recentpoll conducted by Pre-K Nowshows that North Carolinianslead the nation in awarenessof early childhood educationissues.

The South’s gains on the

access side of the ledger havenot been uniformly accom-panied by progress in pro-gram quality. Like the statebearing its name, the TexasPublic School Prekindergarteninitiative is big. Yet it meetsonly three of NIEER’s 10 qual-ity benchmarks. The VirginiaPreschool Initiative, slated toreceive a 52 percent increasein funding, only meets five of the benchmarks. And inFlorida, where the new uni-versal program is strugglingto get off the ground, it looksas if it will rate less than fiveon the NIEER scale. JasonHustedt, the lead researcherfor NIEER’s State of Pre-school yearbook, applaudsthe South’s move to open upaccess but sounds a caution-ary note: “Access is important,but state-funded preschoolsmust provide high-qualityprograms, too.” In otherwords, take a page from the Arkansas playbook. ■

Look Who’s Winning the UPK Race: Tight Budgets Haven’tStopped the South from Broadening Access


A C R O S S T H E N A T I O N

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All the usual debatesaround preschool quality and access—and some newones—can be found in theconversation taking placeover Florida’s newly estab-lished universal prekinder-garten program. Chief amongthem say advocates and pro-viders: too little money (anaverage of $2,500/child) andonly 3 hours per day of class-room time.

Then there are low teachertraining requirements andassessments that advocateRoy Miller says will onlyencourage the “cherry pick-ing” of students since pro-viders can refuse studentswhose disabilities or behav-ioral problems would nega-tively impact the school’sperformance. Miller, presi-dent of the Tallahassee-basedChildren’s Campaign, saysthat’s because the assessments

will only measure students’readiness at the end of theprogram, rather than assess-ing their skills before and after.

He says none of this waswhat Florida voters had inmind when they approved a2002 constitutional amend-ment giving every 4-year-oldin Florida access to a high-quality pre-K program.

Miller fears the unintendedresult may be that the pre-Kquality that existed before thevoter mandate will be com-promised in the effort to makeit available to all 4-year-olds.

Dave Lawrence, presidentof The Early Childhood Initia-tive Foundation and a sup-porter of the new program,points out that whether spaceis available this fall for all ofthe 4-year-olds whose parentswant them to attend the pro-gram is a “terrible unknown.”

Says Lawrence of the

potential space shortage, “No one knows what kind of smoothly running train or train wreck is coming inAugust. It all depends onwho decides to participate.”

One issue that appears in the offing is a fight overchurch and state. Lawrencesays the current constitutionalchallenge over whether vouch-ers can be awarded to faith-based schools has implica-tions for the state’s pre-Kprogram, too. He also believesthe “cherry-picking” issuewill be challenged in court.

As for the teacher quali-fications, Lawrence’s EarlyChildhood Initiative Founda-tion will continue to push for mandated standards thatrequire bachelor’s degreeswith a certification in earlyeducation. But it can’t bedone overnight, he says. “I am a glass half-full guy.

I don’t think when Head Startstarted it emerged full bloom,or when Georgia started [itsprogram] in 1995 with 8,712students. Do I wish we werefurther along? Absolutely. Is it a decent start? Yes.”

Ultimately, the state’s$387.6 million expenditureon voluntary universal pre-Kamounts to just six-tenths ofa percent of Florida’s overallbudget of $63 billion, saysLawrence, of which one million will fund the state’smyriad child care and earlyeducation programs.

Still, not everyone ishappy with the Legislature’sresponse to the voter mandatefor high-quality preschoolfor all. Advocate Miller says,“We’re going right back tovoter education, to make vot-ers aware of what they askedfor and what they got.” ■

A Long Hot Summer in Florida

In New Jersey’s Abbott districts, preschoolers are makinggains in critical language skills that help prepare them forkindergarten. That’s the news from the state’s Office of EarlyChildhood Education, which released “Giant Steps for theLittlest Children: Progress in the Sixth Year of the AbbottPreschool Program” on May 18. Among the improvements:

• Enrollment of 3- and 4-year olds is up from 19,000 in the1999-2000 school year to 39,000 this past year, and projectedenrollment this fall is 43,000. That covers more than 80 per-cent of 3- and 4-year-olds in the Abbott districts.

• The percentage of classrooms scoring in the good to excel-lent range on annual Early Childhood Environment RatingScale - Revised (ECERS-R) assessments has risen to nearly 40percent in 2005, compared to about 13 percent two years ago.

• This year, more than 85 percent of Abbott classrooms scoredabove the midpoint on the ECERS-R rating scale. In 2002-2003, more than 50 percent had scored below the midpoint.

• On a scale rating literacy skills, 75 percent of classroomsscored above the midpoint, a significant reversal since 2002-2003, when 83 percent scored below the midpoint. ■

School ReadinessImproves in New Jersey


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prekindergarten classes aren’trequired to have a degree orchild development certificate.Their yearly prerequisites are30 hours of training in childdevelopment, basic healthand safety, and topics likecurriculum and instruction,lesson planning, classroommanagement, child manage-ment and literacy.

As a result, Griffin says,“they were taking lots ofhours but didn’t have a path-way to a degree. We knewresearch supports that teach-ers who have a degree do abetter job. [Our goal was to]make sure they were takingthe classes and…to create apathway to a degree.”

By doing so, the teacherswould be better prepared to teach and more adept atidentifying developmentaldelays that require earlyintervention, another advan-tage of the program. Thisrequired someone to sit witheach teacher, organize tran-scripts from previous educa-tion and training, and chart acourse toward an early child-hood education certificate,an associate’s degree or abachelor’s degree.

Enter Shoreline Commu-nity College, which evaluatedthe teachers’ transcripts andpartnered with the city toprovide intense theory andpractice classes for collegecredit. Classes are held in theevening at SERF sites, andgrant money is used to payfor tuition and books. Butthe city was concerned thataccess to a degree program,while a major benefit, wouldlikely go unused without thenecessary time to study. So,they built in five hours ofweekly release time for the

teachers to study, visit theelementary schools and planlessons. In their absence, anadditional teacher, paid forwith the grant money, coverstheir classes.

Shoreline also offers one-on-one coaching to help theteachers apply their newlyacquired skills and boost theirknowledge in special topicareas like creating culturallyand linguistically appropriatelessons, appropriate ways toread aloud, supporting chil-dren’s writing, and extendingword recognition.

It’s a system that works.When the program began,fewer than five of the 34SERF-trained teachers had abachelor’s degree. In the firstyear, five completed theirassociate’s degree; another 14are slated to complete theirassociates or receive earlychildhood education certifi-cates this year. As a rewardand an incentive to continue,the teachers receive bonuses,first when they complete 12credits and again when theyhave 18.

Nina Auerbach, CEO ofChild Care Resources, saysit’s an expensive, intensivemodel using a small group

of classrooms serving someof the city’s most challengedkids, but she’s sold on it,adding that she believes itwould work on a larger scaleas well. Funding is the issue,but even if the federal moneygoes away, the programsinvolved are “going to [see a]lasting impact, they’ll be inbetter shape forever, as longas they can hang onto thatstaff—and even if they don’t,there’s been a change in theculture that’s going to lastway beyond the grant.”

Getting Families Behind Literacy Not surprisingly, SERF’smore-focused trainingapproach translates to better-prepared teachers and stu-dents. But that doesn’t guar-antee the 250 preschoolers asmooth transition to kinder-garten. So in addition to giv-ing tours and counselingfamilies, Matthews alsoorganizes a monthly enroll-ment night, with staff fromthe school district’s enroll-ment services available towalk parents through theoften-confusing enrollmentprocess.

A key goal of the SERF

program is to get familiesinvolved. That’s where thepublic libraries come in.Each month, preschoolersand their families attend lit-eracy night, where librarianKim Kopetz-Buttleman con-ducts an activity related tothe night’s topic, offers tipson how best to read aloud,and calls attention to the waysfamilies are already support-ing their child’s literacy.

Chance Hunt, youth services coordinator for theSeattle Public Library, says,“We give parents assignmentsthat point out the literacy all around them, on the bus,in the car, on the subway…[places that] continuallybathe their children invocabulary and languageopportunities.”

Literacy is no easy taskfor these children and fami-lies, and many come into theprogram with no children’sbooks of their own. Beforethe night is through, eachchild will choose two freebooks to take home. Spanish-speaking families get booksin Spanish as well as English.Librarian Kopetz-Buttlemanhelps parents understandhow storytelling and picturebooks can improve theirchild’s language—and everychild in the SERF programgets a library card. It’s a souvenir of their time withthe program and hopefullytheir ticket to a successfulkindergarten experience. It’sa giant leap but with well-trained teachers, supportivefamilies and an understand-ing of what lies ahead, kidsin Seattle Early Reading Firstare finding that a compre-hensive approach to earlychildhood education pro-grams is good for everyone. ■

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Seattle’s “Whole Community” Effort

Teachers and librarians in the SERF program use a combination of lessons,storytelling and activities to foster a genuine love of learning in children.


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As executive director ofthe National Association ofElementary School Principals(NAESP), Vincent L.Ferrandino, Ph.D., is bring-ing much-needed leadershipon the issue of school readi-ness and the role of elemen-tary school principals.

NAESP recently released aguide to why and how prin-cipals should get involved inearly education. Here’s whathe told Preschool Mattersabout involving principals in preschool programs:

Q: What role can elementaryschool principals play inmaking sure children areprepared for kindergarten?A: We want to foster moreconversation between schoolprincipals and preschoolproviders. Principals canprovide important informa-tion to early childhood pro-gram providers regardingwhat the expectations of thestudents are from the school’spoint of view—skills, attitudesand behaviors. Preschoolproviders can provide infor-mation on social-emotional

development and academic[accomplishments]. Oneinforms the other.

Q: Is there a danger this con-versation will make preschooltoo academics-oriented? A: We don’t want to see preschool become a solelyacademic environment. Weknow there has to be someacademic component, but it’sespecially important for chil-dren’s social and emotionaldevelopment that preschoolincludes play and providesopportunities for just plainfun for the kids. Principalsunderstand the need for earlychildhood programs to be agood balance of social-emo-tional development and aca-demic preparedness.

Q: What about the impact offederal standards like the NoChild Left Behind Act?A: Teachers are feeling pres-sure from the school districtlevel, state level and federallevel around preparing stu-dents to perform well on aca-demic tests, and I think prin-cipals feel that same pressure.They’re not the reason [forthe push down], but they’remore or less the victims of it.We’re trying to tell our prin-cipals that they need to standup strongly for maintainingthe balance not only in early

childhood education pro-grams but also in their schools.We don’t need to be basingschool quality solely on testscores; there’s far moreinvolved than that.

Q: How do principals decidewhat equals quality? A: There are a number ofindicators that one can pointto. [In NAESP’s guidebook]we tried to identify what wethought were some factorsaround early childhood edu-cation programs. We createda set of standards—one is toengage families and commu-nities in an effective way;another is to create anappropriate learning envi-ronment. Then we specifiedwhat that would look like forprincipals and how they canhelp promote that factor.

Q: What about the qualitydifferences between school-based programs and those in community-based organizations?A: The standards applyequally to all, [but] we’refinding a mixed bag in thequality of some programs,regardless of their setting.Some stand out and do anabsolutely superb job, andthere are others that are notdoing age- or developmentallyappropriate activities.

Q: Is the only way to ensurequality to get principalsinvolved?A: It’s one of the ways. Idon’t think principals carrywith them all the answers tothese issues, but I do thinkthey ought to be part of con-versation around these issuesbecause they’re going to berecipients of these students.[Preschool providers needto] have understanding ofwhat the expectations at theschool level are. Not havingprincipals [involved] opensup the possibility there willbe a disconnect between theearly child activities and theschool’s expectations.

Q: Will principals embracethis new responsibility?A: A decade or so ago, therewasn’t much contact on thepart of school principals withproviders. There wasn’tmuch interest in it or muchconversation taking place. As we’ve seen preschool pro-grams develop and pressuremount on schools to havestudents perform at certainlevels, it’s becoming apparentto principals that students arecoming to them at such vary-ing levels of preparedness.It’s in their self-interest tobecome more knowledgeable.

Q: Why does the new guide-book suggest that elementaryand secondary school princi-pals become active advocatesfor preschool education?A: By and large principalshave not engaged in the advo-cacy role—they’ve advocated CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 >>

newsmaker P E O P L E M A K I N G N E W S

Dr.Vincent L. Ferrandino: Getting ElementarySchool Principals Involved in Readiness

Getting the GuidebookFor more information on “Leading Early ChildhoodLearning Communities: What Principals Should Knowand Be Able To Do,” visit www.naesp.org, or contactNAESP toll-free at 800-386-2377 or 703-684-3345.


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Child development spe-cialists and educators haveknown for years that socialand emotional developmentis an important part of edu-cation curriculum and a crit-ical component of a child’slater success in school andlife. But a new report by theNational Scientific Council onthe Developing Child revealsthat a child’s early experienceswith stress and its physiologi-cal response can damage rea-soning and critical thinkingskills, IQ, language develop-ment and social competence.

The report, Excessive StressDisrupts the Architecture ofthe Developing Brain, releasedin July, makes the case forquality prekindergarten edu-cation by asserting that lowerstaff turnover in preschoolsand child care facilities candramatically reduce stress onyoung children and improvetheir learning abilities. Acompilation of two decades’worth of neurological anddevelopmental psychology

research, the report tackles thescience-policy gap by outlin-ing implications across a rangeof social policy, includingearly childhood education.

Jack Shonkoff, NationalScientific Council chair anddean of Brandeis University’sHeller School for Social Policyand Management, says thatemotional development, social

ability and cognitive skillsare a reflection of the brain’sinner workings. “If you see a competent child who cando a lot of things, you knowthe brain is working well,” hesays. “Deficits in cognitive,emotional or social skills aresigns the brain isn’t workingas well.”

To understand the con-

nection between the brain’sstructure and its psychology—our thoughts, feelings,learning and behavior pat-terns—look at the construc-tion that happens during itsformative years from birth to age 5. There, the criticalfoundation for future braindevelopment is being laid,influenced by events in thewomb and from the momentof birth.

Like a child playing withblocks, the brain is constantlyconstructing and deconstruct-ing itself based on our expe-riences and our exposure tostress. In a fight-or-flight sit-uation, the body triggers aflood of chemicals in the brainthat help a child process andrespond to a threat. Triggeredtoo often or for long periods,this chemical response beginsto erode the brain’s emergingarchitecture in areas respon-sible for learning, memoryand emotion.

The danger is highest for CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 >>

discoveriesStress and the Developing Brain: How Positive Relationships with Teachers CanReinforce Critical Thinking Skills, Raise IQ

S C I E N C E N E W S Y O U C A N U S E

The brain is constantly constructing and deconstructing itself based on our experiences and exposure to stress, creating an aptitude for learning that has its foundations in physiology as much as psychology.

There has been no shortage of hand wring-ing about the epidemic of childhood obesitysweeping the country. Parents, schools and pol-icy leaders seeking solutions to this growingproblem would do well to spend some timewith Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health inthe Balance.

The Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth from the Institute ofMedicine (IOM) at the National Academiesdeveloped Preventing Childhood Obesity inresponse to a call from Congress for an action

plan. It’s the result of a lengthy investigation byrespected doctors, nutritionists and scientists.They identify factors involved in obesity amongyouth and the implications for adult health, pro-ductivity, and economic outcomes for society.

Perhaps most important is the committee’s10 recommendations to end the epidemic,including suggestions for the home, schools,corporate groups and media. One chapter sets out an action plan and provides resourcesfor parents, educators and policymakers. Formore information, go to www.nap.edu.

Recommended Reading: How To Conquer Childhood Obesity


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In a state that meets all 10of NIEER’s preschool qualitystandards benchmarks, youmight think Arkansas couldrest on its laurels. Not so.Like many states grapplingwith teacher training and thequality of instruction in state-funded preschool, Arkansashas implemented professionaldevelopment programs thatalign its pre-K and K-12 cur-ricula and improve readiness

for the state’s youngest stu-dents, even in the most ruralareas. And it’s extending ahand to help non-publicschools do the same.

One such effort is themath and science professionaldevelopment program, whichis one of four that are or willbe required for all teachers in state pre-K programs andwill be made available at nocost to providers who don’treceive state money. Theother three cover literacy, the state’s early childhoodeducation framework (orearly learning guidelines),and social-emotional skills.

Kathy Stegall, programadministrator for the Divi-

sion of Child Care and EarlyChildhood Education, saysimplementing the trainingfor state pre-K teachers wasimportant to maintaining the program’s historicallyhigh quality in the wake of a $40 million revenue infu-sion approved last year bythe state legislature and a $20 million increase to gointo effect in July. “As ourstatewide public pre-K program expanded veryquickly, we wanted to be very sure we could hold pro-grams accountable for whatwas going on with childrenworking towards schoolreadiness. Teacher training is one of our strategies,” she says.

When the latest fundinggoes into effect, the state’sArkansas Better ChanceProgram and the federallyfunded Head Start programwill serve 65 percent of 3-and 4-year-olds living at orbelow 200 percent of pover-ty. Most importantly, whatthey learn will sync with thestate’s learning guidelines for K-12. The division couldhave stopped there, leavingnon-public classrooms out ofthe equation. It didn’t. SaysStegall, the decision to makethe math-science trainingavailable to any of the state’slicensed or registered childcare centers was recognitionthat having high-quality pre-school—no matter what thesetting—was good for thewhole state, and not just inthe most populated areas. It’salso an important step towardassuring that public and pri-

vate programs can exist sideby side without being out ofsync with each other.

“This is a very rural stateand we had to look at waysto reach out to those ruralcommunities and be surethat there were high-qualityprograms and trainingthroughout the state…we[viewed] it as a statewideissue, rather than a regionalone,” she said.

Consistency was an issuetoo, since the training takesplace at universities, commu-nity colleges, local churchesor whatever venue is mostaccessible to the teachers.Though the setting maychange, certified trainers

always instruct the course.As with any new pro-

gram, tweaking is inevitable.The math-science pilot iden-tified areas for improvement,including beefing up the the-ory portion of the trainer’sguide, strengthening the con-nections between the cur-riculum training and thestate’s benchmarks, and pro-viding more direction onintegrating math and scienceinto every activity through-out the day. When the revisedprogram rolls out in January,it will also include pre- andpost-testing of students tosee what gains, if any, havebeen made as a result ofimproved teacher training. ■

Joins Push to Align Curriculum from Early Education Through Grade 12

Arkansas Tackles Teacher Training with New Math-Science Program


for the children in theirschools or their programs,but they haven’t taken on a broader role on theseissues. We’re asking themto step out, use their plat-form and their position of respect within the com-munity. They’re viewed as experts in their chosenfield and should be speak-ing on these issues.

Q: Will they?A: We’re finding more andmore principals are becom-ing involved because theysee the value for society asa whole and also for thechildren coming into theirschools. This advocacy

focuses on what’s best forkids, and I think principalsare willing to do this.

Q: What’s the next logicalstep for this effort?A: We’re hoping to get [theguidebook] in the hands ofpolicymakers and decisionmakers, as well as thosewho prepare principals inhigher education settings.We’re trying to broadenthe context for our princi-pals to think of themselvesas leaders of “learningcommunities” and not justas principals of schools.We’re hoping that thehigher education commu-nity will begin to embracethat philosophy. ■

Dr. Vincent L. Ferrandino

STATE STANDARDS

“As our statewide

public pre-K program

expanded, we wanted

to be very sure we

could hold programs

accountable.”

—Kathy Stegall


NON–PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDNEW BRUNSWICK, NJ

PERMIT NO. 157

ADDRESS SERVICEREQUESTED

National Institute for

Early Education Research

120 Albany Street, Suite 500

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

NIEER


children who lack stable rela-tionships and are exposed to violence in their neighbor-hoods or homes. Often, theirfirst encounter with a stablerelationship comes in pre-school, but constant staffchanges, overcrowded class-rooms or teachers who don’tfoster nurturing relationshipscan produce a high stresslevel for preschoolers already struggling with the falloutfrom their home lives.

“This research clearlyshows the profound impactthat the quality of a preschoolclassroom can have on achild’s lifelong learning anddevelopment,” says StevenBarnett, NIEER’s director.“It’s yet another reason toensure that preschool teachershave the education and train-ing to create an environmentwhere children feel safe andnurtured.”

Shonkoff agrees, addingthat teachers need to under-stand the delicate interplay of brain structure and psy-chology, not only in fosteringearly literacy and problem-solving skills but also in earlysocial and emotional devel-

opment. To be sure, nature isat work alongside nurture inthe formation our brains, andgenes play a significant rolein how well a child adapts tostress. No two children willreact the same to the samestressful event.

So how much is toomuch? At home and in class-rooms, children experiencewhat the report calls positivestress, such as being told noor that it’s time to nap. Theseevents are key to childrenlearning to cope in difficultsituations—both as youngchildren and adults. Expo-sure to abuse or violence creates what researchers call“toxic stress,” which refers to the event causing the stressas well as the child’s inabilityto deal with it.

The good news is that thebrain has an incredible abilityto rewire itself. Far from beingdoomed to a life of academicand social failure, childrenwho have positive relation-ships where they feel safe andnurtured—including those in the classroom—can actu-ally recover from some of the damage done by stress.Researchers hypothesize this

reversal may signal that thebrain is finding other ways to function. In the same wayexercise builds additionalblood vessels in the heart,protecting it from a heartattack, nurturing relation-ships cause a similar effect in the brain by building newneural pathways that enhancea child’s behavioral and intel-lectual development.

The research also suggeststhat “youngsters who mustmanage being with largegroups of children for manyhours each day experiencerising levels of the stress hor-mone cortisol as the day pro-gresses. By afternoon, toddlersand preschoolers, especiallythose in large centers andthose receiving poorer-qualitycare, have stress hormonelevels often double or triplewhat they show at home onnon-child care days.” Thisfinding bolsters the argumentfor appropriate class sizes, an issue in many states wherestandards are weak.

“Preschool should be astable, secure place wherechildren can learn and growsurrounded by adults whocare about their well-being,

and that can’t happen whenclassrooms are overcrowdedand teachers can’t devoteenough one-on-one time toeach child,” says Barnett. Forsome children, preschool is a lifeline that calms a chaoticworld and offers nurturingabsent in their lives. Shonkoffsays, “Supportive relation-ships that have a positiveinfluence on developmentcan come from all types ofplaces. When stable, support-ive relationships are notavailable in the family, thenature of the relationshipsprovided in a preschool pro-gram can make a significantdifference between healthyand unhealthy outcomes.”

The study of child dev-elopment is exploding as science and new technologyreveal how our brains work.But science is more than justone study or the latest pieceof research. It is the totalityof work that spans years,making continuing educationcritical for early childhoodeducators and the health of their students’ buddingminds. ■

discoveries S C I E N C E N E W S Y O U C A N U S E

How Stress Affects the Developing Brain


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