Early Childhood Education Programs
Philosophies and practices to implement
Districts operate early childhood education (ECE) programs to serve students and their families before they reach kindergarten. This research explores the practices and philosophies of successful ECE programs. Topics explored include social-emotional learning (SEL) programming, equity, student learning assessment, and educator professional development. In addition, this research compiles secondary research on the benefits and drawback of different program philosophies, with a focus on guided play as a promising ECE philosophy.
Consider implementing guided play
Early childhood education (ECE) programs in the United States embrace a range of instructional philosophies. Broadly, these philosophies vary along a continuum based on the amount of focus that educators devote to free play versus teacher-directed academic instruction. EAB researchers did not uncover definitive research to espouse or reject any specific ECE philosophy. However, administrators should consider the potentially negative implications of embracing an ECE philosophy at either end of the continuum: entirely play-based programs may fail to prepare students for the academic components of kindergarten, and overly didactic programs may not allow students to develop the ability to learn autonomously. Profiled districts’ ECE instructional philosophies prioritize both playful, engaging activities that educators guide to teach academic concepts and—particularly at District A—short periods of direct academic instruction.
Educators can integrate phonics instruction into playful activities. Learn more in EAB’s research Narrowing the Third-Grade Reading Gap
Use early childhood education programs to promote student equity
Research shows that accessible early childhood education programs—and in particular, full-day programs—can narrow achievement gaps between more- and less-traditionally disadvantaged students. Administrators at District A and District D designed their ECE programs’ curricula to narrow achievement gaps between students from more- and less-advantaged families.
For example, District D’s program focuses on creating varied experiences to ensure students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have opportunities to build their vocabularies. Administrators at District B and District C express a commitment to equality through efforts to fully include students with special needs in their ECE program. For example, administrators at District B plan to eliminate all self-contained classrooms for special education students.
Deliver social-emotional learning instruction daily
At District A, District D, and District C, educators spend approximately 10 minutes each day delivering direct SEL instruction. To ensure students retain the information from these lessons, early childhood educators at all profiled districts continuously reinforce SEL lessons throughout the day.
At District B, to ensure that educators embed evidence-based SEL instruction into their interactions with students, administrators partner with the Pyramid Model Consortium. With the support of this organization’s resources, administrators are currently implementing a standardized, tiered approach to SEL instruction. The implementation process encourages educators to reflect on and improve existing SEL practices.
For more information on initiatives to improve young students’ emotional management skills, see EAB’s research A Systemic Approach to Managing Behavioral Disruptions in Early Grades
Monitor learning to support students
At all profiled districts, educators continuously evaluate student progress and comprehensively assess student achievement at three distinct points throughout the school year. All profiled districts use these assessments to report student progress to parents and to design supports for students who are not meeting development goals.
At District A, educators mark students as “beginning,” “developing,” “established,” or “going beyond” in seven different domains. Similarly, at District B and District C, educators create a portfolio that documents student work in seven early childhood development areas: social/emotional, physical/fine motor, literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and fine arts. At District D, educators use the standardized CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System to measure students’ development in relation to national/regional benchmarks for early childhood development.
Implementation takeaways from ongoing assessments at District B
Group students
Educators use information about student progress to assign groups for small-group instruction. For example, educators may group students who are struggling with counting and subsequently work with that group on counting.
Differentiate instruction
Educators use information about student progress to encourage high-achieving students to take on additional challenges and to provide remediation for struggling students.
Initiate special education interventions
Administrators use information about student progress to identify students who may require screening for special education services.
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