ELCMDM School Readiness Child AssessmentIntervention Programs 20022007: Implications of Child Assess

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ELCMDM School Readiness Child Assessment/Intervent
ion Programs (2002-2007)Implications of Child
Assessment Results for Childcare Centers

• Dr. Adam Winsler, George Mason University
• Dr. Charles Bleiker, Florida International
  University

Community Presentation La Petite Academy -
4/14/08
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Partners
Ana Pizano, Blythe Robinson, Bethany Sands,
Evelio Torres, Mary Williams
Dr. Chuck Bleiker, Evelyn Borrell, Dr. Wendy
Cheyney, Dr. Gail Gregg, Beatriz Hernandez, Dr.
Louis Manfra, Walkiria Oliver, Linda Soden,
Kathy Suarez-Espinosa
Elif Bor, Kristin Cooper, Jennifer Crane, Mike
Feder, Sue Hartman, Lindsey Hutchison, Jessica
Johnson, Yoon Kim, Amy Madigan, Amy Mattingly,
Dr. Henry Tran
Child Development Services - Iliana Acosta,
Maria Binelo, Daisy Hensley, Edith
Humes-Newbold, Theo Jackson, Porta Thompson

• Roni Bader-Tables, Mike Conte, Dr. Juanita De La
  Cruz, Betty Key, Dr. Clarence Jones, Dr. Jerome
  Levitt, Nancy Musselwhite, Judith Parker

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Partners (Continued)
Douglas Blomberg, Laurie Citraro, Nikki Giroux,
Kathy Snyder
Ann de las Pozas, Karen Kluger, Lisa Fowler,
Rosalyn Laney, Olivia Moya, Diane Simmons
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What are Child Assessments?
Systematic ways of collecting/documenting
information about a childs developmental
progress and their strengths/weaknesses in a
variety of areas (i.e., cognitive, motor, social,
language) for the purposes of identifying those
in need of intervention, curriculum planning,
and/or evaluation of programs/interventions.
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Why Do Child Assessments?

• Parents like to get information about their
  children
• Teachers can use the info for planning
  activities and determining which areas to target
• Can increase parent-teacher communication/
  collaboration
• Useful for identifying individual children (or
  subgroups) in need of special services or
  intervention
• Needed as evidence of the effectiveness of early
  childhood programs or interventions

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Why Do Child Assessments? (Cont.)

• Center directors/agencies can use the info to
  determine professional development goals/needs
• Helps answer teachers research questions - what
  is working and what is not working
• Helps teachers become more reflective and aware
  of important domains of child development
• Adds legitimacy/science to ECE - shows with data
  what you have been saying/knowing all along -
  that we are doing good things and helping the
  children

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Five-Year Overview - Child Data - Miami
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Child Assessments

• Learning Accomplishment ProfileDiagnostic
  (LAP-D Nehring, Nehring, Bruni, Randolph,
  1992)
• - Language - Cognitive (Thinking, counting,
  matching)
• (Expressive/Receptive)
• - Fine Motor - Gross Motor (Body, balance, hop)
• (hands/pencil)
• Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA
  LeBuffe Naglieri, 1999) (Parent and Teacher
  Surveys)
• Initiative Self-Control
  Attachment/Adult Closeness Total
  SocioEmotional Protective Factors
• Behavioral Concerns (lower numbers desired)
• (English or Spanish) (Pre and Post)
• (Web reports printed and distributed at the
• child, classroom, center, and agency levels)

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Child Assessments (Cont.)

• Learning Accomplishment ProfileDiagnostic
  (LAP-D) 3-, 4-, 5-yr-old Screener
• Early Learning Accomplishment Profile (ELAP -
  
• for children younger than age 3) MDCPS SPED
• Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ Bricker
  Squires, 1999)
• - Teacher and parent complete one form together
  based on childs
• age on developmental milestones
  (communication, problem
• solving, gross motor, fine motor,
  personal/social)

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Questions Answered Today

• How are children in various types of early
  childhood education programs doing at age 4 and
  are they making gains toward school readiness?
• How are the children doing when they get to
  kindergarten, first, and second grade?
• Are the assessments done at age 4 related to
  childrens later school readiness and performance
  in early elementary school?
• Are interventions and quality curricula making a
  difference for children?
• How important are childrens social skills and
  behavior for early school performance?
• What does all of this mean for me as a parent,
  teacher, or center director?

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Children in poverty receiving subsidies to attend
community-based childcare are at some risk as
preschoolers but they make excellent progress
toward school readiness during their 4-yr-old
year in childcare. Language, behavior
problems, and closeness with adults are
relatively weaker areas and are thus good targets
for intervention. Parent support and education
are key.
How are children doing at age 4?
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Average LAP-D Scores at PRE POST for 4-Yr-Old
Children in Subsidized Care - Yr3 (2004-2005)
National Percentile Scores
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Average Teacher-Reported DECA Scores at PRE
POST for 4-Yr-Olds - Subsidized Care Yr5
(2006-2007)
National Percentile Scores
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Average Parent-Reported DECA Scores at PRE POST
for 4-Yr-Olds - Subsidized Care Yr5
(2006-2007)
National Percentile Scores
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Sustainable improvements have been made over the
years in terms of each cohort of 4-year-old
children starting and ending the year slightly
higher than the year before on cognitive,
language, and fine motor skills.Such
improvements are likely due, at least in part, to
improvements made in the Miami community over the
years in the quality of community-based
childcare, and to increased teacher knowledge
gained from these assessments.
Are we making progress over the years as a
community?
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Yr 1 (2002-2003) PRE-POST compared to Yr 4
(2005-2006) PRE-POST - Subsidized Care - LAPD
Cognitive
National Percentile Scores
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Yr 1 (2002-2003) PRE-POST compared to Yr 4
(2005-2006) PRE-POST - Subsidized Care - LAPD
Language
National Percentile Scores
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Yr 1 (2002-2003) PRE-POST compared to Yr 4
(2005-2006) PRE-POST - Subsidized Care - LAPD
Fine Motor
National Percentile Scores
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Children who attend public school pre-k programs
also make excellent gains from the beginning to
the end of their pre-k year in all
domains.Children not in poverty who pay fees
for their pre-k programs, as expected, start and
end the year in better shape than children in
poverty.Children in poverty who attend Title-1
supported MDCPS pre-k programs show greater gains
in some areas than similarly low-income children
attending center-based childcare in the community.
MDCPS Pre-K Programs Compared to Childcare
Title 1 (Poverty) vs. Fee-Supported
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LAP-D Cognitive Total (2003-2004)
Percentile
(Same pattern for Language and Fine Motor)
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DECA Teacher - Total Protective Factors
(2003-2004)
Percentile
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DECA Teacher - Behavioral Concerns (2003-2004)
Percentile
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Children with special needs enrolled in MDCPS
pre-k SPED programs are making impressive gains,
even those with very serious developmental
disabilities.Typically developing role-model
children enrolled in MDCPS pre-k SPED programs
are also making excellent progress and in terms
of socio-emotional skills, they appear to be even
stronger than typical children in regular
settings.
What Progress are Children with Special Needs in
MDCPS SPED (ESE) Programs Making?
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LAP-D Age Equivalent Scores for MDCPS SPED and
Role Model Children (2005-2006)
Age Equivalent (Months)
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Teacher-DECA Percentile Scores for MDCPS SPED and
Role Model Children (2005-2006)
Age Equivalent (Months)
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Deviation from Chronological AgeLAP-D Cognitive
- MDCPS SPED (2005-2006)
Age Equivalent (Months)
0 Average for actual age Score Distance in
actual child functioning from that expected by
chronological age (in months)
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Deviation from Chronological AgeELAP Language
and Cognitive (2005-2006)Lower Functioning ESE
0 Average for actual age Score Distance in
actual child functioning from that expected by
chronological age (in months)
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Children in poverty in Miami receiving subsidies
to attend community-based childcare are entering
kindergarten ready to learn and they are on par
with county-wide averages.Children who attended
MDCPS pre-k programs enter kindergarten with a
slight school readiness advantage compared to
those in community-based care.Emerging literacy
is the area where children in poverty are most
challenged.
How are the children doing when they get to
kindergarten, first, and second grade?
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Kindergarten Assessments

• Early Screening Inventory- Revised (ESI-K)
  standardized school readiness screening
• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy
  Skills (DIBELS)
• Overall end of Kindergarten year MDCPS student
  grades/progress reports

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Early Screening Inventory - Revised (ESI-K)

• Standardized School Readiness Screening Test
• Includes
• - Visual-Motor (Shape copying, Tower building,
  Person drawing)
• - Language Cognition (Counting,Verbal
  Expression, Verbal Reasoning, Auditory Memory)
• - Gross Motor (Balance, Hop, Skip)
• Overall Score (0-28, bigger is better)
• 1 of 3 outcome categories based on child age and
  score (Refer, Re-Screen, OK/Ready)

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Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
(DIBELS)

• Measures early literacy development
• - Initial Sounds
• - Letter Naming
• Overall scores (bigger is better)
• 4 categories for literacy achievement
• - Above average
• - Low risk
• - Moderate risk
• - High risk

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End of the Year School Grades

• Overall end of year student grades/progress
  report for Kindergarten and Grade 1
• Average across all 11 subjects/categories that
  appear in progress report (Language Development,
  Handwriting, Science, Pre-Reading, Math, Social
  Studies, Music, Art, PE, Spanish/ ESOL, Home
  Language Arts)
• 3-point Scale - Excellent (E) 3,
  Satisfactory (S) 2
• (K) Unsatisfactory (N) 1
• 5-point Scale - A 5, B 4, C 3, D 2, F
  1
• (Grades 1, 2)

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Kindergarten Fall 2005SRUSS ESI-K Readiness
Determination
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SRUSS DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
Functioning in Kindergarten - 2005
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FLKRS DIBELS Initial Sound Fluency (ISF)
Functioning in Kindergarten 2006
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ECHOS Total Skills Status in Kindergarten - FLKRS
2006
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Children in poverty in Miami receiving subsidies
to attend community-based childcare finish
kindergarten in pretty good shape and they are
essentially on par with county-wide averages in
terms of performance.Children with greater
economic means perform better in the grades K, 1,
and 2, and on standardized tests in grade 2 than
children who were in poverty during preschool.
How about at the end of Kindergarten?
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Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 Performance (4
yr-olds in 2002-2003)
(NOTE - K grades 3-point scale
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Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 Performance (4
yr-olds in 2002-2003)
(NOTE - K grades 3-point scale, Grade 1,2
grades 5-point scale)
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Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 Performance (4
yr-olds in 2002-2003)
(NOTE - K grades 3-point scale, Grade 1,2
grades 5-point scale)
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Grade 2 SAT-10 Standardized Test Scores (Cohort
A - 4-yr-olds in 2002-2003)
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The DECA and LAPD are reliable and valid
assessment tools for the Miami early childhood
community and they are sensitive to both
developmental change and change due to
intervention.The DECA and LAPD child
assessments do indeed identify children at risk
for later problems - children who score low on
the assessments at age 4 are more likely to have
trouble later on in kindergarten through grade 2.
Are the assessments done at age 4 related to
childrens performance in early elementary school?
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
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Associations Between Preschool Assessments and
Early School Performance
Still true within pre-k program type (reduce by
5 or so for childcare only) Still true when
control for gender, , and Mat. Educ. ( but
reduce by 25)
aCohort A data bCohort B data p 49
Interventions sponsored by the ELC and
implemented by CDS and MDCPS have been successful
in leading to greater school readiness gains for
children.Given the associations between age 4
assessments and later outcomes, it is important
to intervene early.
Are interventions and quality curricula making a
difference for children?
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Children Participating in any ELC-Supported
Intervention Show Greater Socio-Emotional Gains
Compared to No Intervention
Percentile Point Gains (Post-Pre) 2004-2005
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Children Participating in IMPACT Show Greater
Gains Compared to No Intervention
Percentile Point Gains (Post-Pre) 2004-2005
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Children Participating in Finesse Show Greater
Gains in Multiple Domains Compared to Children
Receiving No Intervention
Percentile Point Gains (Post-Pre) 2004-2005
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Children at Circle TeachScape Centers Make
Greater Gains in Cognitive Skills Compared to
TeachScape Control Children
LAPD Cognitive National Percentile Scores
2004-2005
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Children at Circle TeachScape Centers Make
Greater Gains in Language Skills Compared to
TeachScape Control Children
LAPD Language National Percentile Scores 2004-2005
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Cognitive Gains Made by Children at Circle
TeachScape Centers Were Specifically Due to the
Mentoring Component
LAPD Cognitive National Percentile Scores
2004-2005, by TeachScape Intervention Group
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Gains Over 2 Years in Teacher-Reported Child
Social Skills for 3-Yr-Old Red Flag Children in
NEED Centers Compared to No Intervention
Percentile Points 2003-2005
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Gains Over 2 Years in Parent-Reported Child
Social Skills for 3-Yr-Old Red Flag Children in
NEED Centers Compared to No Intervention
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Language Gains Made for Children at Centers with
a Literacy Program in Place (ELLM or EAP) Over 2
Years (Fall 2003-Spring 2005) Compared to Controls
National Percentile Gains
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Very Important Children whose preschool
teacher was concerned with their social skills at
age 4 are four times more likely to be considered
not ready for school according to the ESI-K
screen compared to other children. Children
in the concern category on teacher-reported
behavior problems in preschool at age 4 are 13
times more likely to be considered not ready
for school than those whose behavior in the
preschool classroom a year earlier was OK.
How important are childrens social skills and
behavior for early school performance?
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ESI-K Readiness Determination in K by Teacher
DECA Social Skills Category at age 4
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ESI-K Readiness Determination in K by DECA
Teacher Behavior Concern Category at age 4
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What does all of this mean for me as a parent or
teacher of a preschooler?

• The preschool years are critical for helping
  children get ready for, and succeed in, school.
• Child care quality is important. Select high
  quality preschool programs for your child. Visit
  and observe centers to you assess center quality.
• What teachers do with the children during
  preschool affects childrens outcomes.
  Interventions conducted in classroom do help
  children be more ready for school.
• Child assessments during preschool, although
  time-consuming, are very important for informing
  parents and teachers about childrens strengths
  and weaknesses and for identifying children in
  need of additional assistance.

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What does all of this mean for me as a parent or
teacher of a preschooler?

• Get help for children who are identified by the
  assessments as struggling. Use county services
  (Child Find, FDDLRS) to help identify areas where
  your child may need help, and talk with your
  childs teachers who can be a big help.
• Make sure parents and teachers receive the
  child assessment reports back on the child so
  they can be helpful.
• Good communication between parent and teacher
  is very important and beneficial for childrens
  growth
• Have your childs hearing and eye sight checked
  to rule out any problems in that area

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What does all of this mean for me as a parent or
teacher of a preschooler?

• Reading together with children is very
  important for school readiness. Read and do other
  literacy-related activities at home and at school
  (talk about books, create books, read recipes
  together while cooking, read signs together)
• Visit your childs elementary school early,
  register early for Kindergarten, meet the future
  teacher, and become familiar with the school
  setting - all of these help children make
  successful transitions to school.
• Children receiving subsidized childcare are
  doing very well and entering school ready to
  learn, and so the high expectations that we have
  for all of our children are accurate.

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What does all of this mean for me as a parent or
teacher of a preschooler?

• Centers should make sure they have a literacy
  curriculum in place and should target language
  and cognitive skills in their curriculum.
• Parents need to understand that they should be
  concerned if their preschool teacher tells them
  their child is having behavior problems in the
  early childhood classroom.
• Social skills and behavior problems are just as
  important as traditional pre-academic skills for
  preschool childrens school readiness.
• Child assessments are helpful for centers to
  track childrens progress, communicate with
  parents, determine areas for remediation, and
  refer out young children in need of additional
  assessment/intervention.