School Readiness: What is it

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School Readiness What is it?

• "School readiness" refers to a child's ability to
  meet the task demands of school, such as to sit
  quietly and to assimilate to the curriculum
  content at the time of entry into the formal
  school system.1

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School readiness-to-learn defined

• This term refers to the ability of a child to
  benefit from the educational activities that are
  provided by a school upon his/her entry into the
  elementary stream.

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The Importance of School Readiness for Society

• Being school-ready increases the likelihood that
  children will complete high school, find
  employment and be able to contribute to society
  in many ways as future caring citizens, parents,
  and tax payers, to cite some examples.

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The Importance of School Readiness for Society

• Lack of school readiness, and the resultant
  increased likelihood of repeating a grade, and/or
  having to receive special education services,
  and/or leaving before completing high school,
  costs the whole society through
• lost government revenue
• increased government expenditures
• decreased ability to be competitive in the global
  market and
• decreased ability to provide functions that are
  essential for the smooth functioning of the
  society as a whole.

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The Five Components of School Readiness

• physical well-being and appropriate motor
  development
• emotional health and a positive approach to new
  experiences
• age-appropriate social knowledge and competence
• age-appropriate language skills and
• age-appropriate general knowledge and cognitive
  skills.

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What is happening in Lanark County?

• Licensed centre based child care
• Licensed home child care
• Nursery schools
• Library programs
• OEYC programs and playgroups
• Community playgroups and Toy Libraries
• Baby Talk Health Unit

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What else is happening in Lanark County?

• School Readiness Committee
• Early Development Instrument
• Getting Ready for Kindergarten flyer
• Stepping Stones
• Early Childhood Development Screening Clinics
• Lanark County Best Start Network

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School Readiness Committee

• A long-term key messaging campaign around school
  readiness
• A flyer for parents of three-year-olds not
  involved in any organized early years programs
• A workshop to come Hard to Reach Families
• Community kindergarten registration packages

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The Early Development Instrument (EDI)

• The EDI is a population-level tool that measures
  outcomes of childrens early years as they
  influence childrens readiness to learn at
  school before entry into Grade 1

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The Early Development Instrument (EDI)

• The EDI is a teacher-observation questionnaire
  that allows for the measurement of school
  readiness-to-learn skill areas for Senior
  Kindergarten students in five distinct learning
  domains
• 1. Physical Health Well Being
• 2. Social Competence
• 3. Emotional Maturity
• 4. Communication Skills and General Knowledge
• 5. Language and Cognitive Development

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Language and Cognitive Development

• Examples of indicators
• The Language and Cognitive Development scale
  focuses on literacy, numeracy and the ability to
  use language correctly. More specifically, it
  assesses
• Interest in books, reading, language-related
  activities (rhyming, group reading)
• Literacy issues ability to recognise letters,
  read and write simple words
• Interest in simple math-related activities
• Numeracy issues ability to recognise and compare
  numbers, count, sort, etc.

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What are the skills required for school readiness?

• Being healthy (gross and fine motor)
• Language and Literacy
• Getting along/Social Development
• Doing it on their own
• Numeracy/Cognitive/Learning
• Going to school

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Being Healthy (Gross Motor)

• Ability to catch a ball
• Ability to throw a ball
• Degree of laterality (the ability to walk
  forward, i.e. - toe and heel movement)
• Ability to climb an apparatus
• Ability to mirror movements s/he sees
• Ability to engage in stop-start activities
• (i.e. changing direction when running, etc.)

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Being Healthy (Fine Motor)

• Ability to cut out simple shapes
• Ability to manipulate objects
• Ability to copy and trace simple designs
• Ability to lace
• Ability to complete dot-to-dot activities

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Language and Literacy

• Ability to listen to others (i.e. attention
  span)
• Ability to understand an illustration and
  construct meaning from it
• Ability to know what his/her name looks like
• Ability to handle books in a competent fashion
• Degree of interest shown towards books
• Ability to trace objects
• Ability to hold a writing implement properly
• Ability to speak clearly
• Ability to use expressive language (i.e.
  talking about characteristics and functions of
  everyday objects)

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Language and Literacy

• Ability to understand a story
• Ability to tell a story/describe his/her own
  experiences (i.e. in relation to a story, etc.)
• Ability to recite and sing simpler rhymes (i.e.
  understands cognitive communities, as in who
  family members are, etc.)
• Ability to make a prediction about what is going
  to happen (i.e. - when the child is asked a
  question)
• Ability to talk about what s/he likes/can do
• Ability to communicate his/her needs in a way
  that is understandable

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Getting Along (Social Development)

• Ability to choose an activity on his/her own
• Ability to play with other children (lone or
  parallel play)
• Ability to follow routines
• Ability to overcome separation anxiety
• Ability to get along with others (i.e. knows
  how to make friends, etc.)
• Ability to talk about feelings
• Ability to maintain self-control (i.e. anger
  management skills, etc.)
• Knowledge of his/her first and last names
• Ability to share and take turns
• Ability to respect authority

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Doing it on their own

• Ability to go to the bathroom by him/herself
• Ability to dress him/herself
• Ability to eat independently
• Ability to engage in healthy practices (i.e.
  brushing teeth, cleaning hands, blowing nose
  properly, etc.)
• Ability to make his/her own choices
• Ability to participate in simple chores (i.e.
  tidy up, etc.)

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I - Numeracy Skills

• Degree of knowledge of the concepts of numbers
  1 through 10
• Ability to stack objects in order of size
• Ability to sort objects (i.e. - by size, colour,
  its use, etc.)
• Ability to understand simple patterning
• Ability to understand directional concepts
• (i.e. over-under in-out above-below
  left-right up-down etc.)
• Degree of knowledge of different shapes
• Ability to understand the concept of how to make
  an estimation

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II - Cognitive Skills

• Ability to identify (by name) 4 to 6 different
  colours
• Ability to name body parts
• Ability to remember instructions (1-2-3 steps,
  etc.)
• Degree of short-term memory recall (i.e.
  remembers a list of numbers)
• Degree of visual memory (i.e. s/he can tell
  what is missing, etc.)
• Ability to draw a person and body parts

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III - Numeracy/Cognitive Skills

• Ability to comprehend the concept of time
• Ability to attempt to find a solution (problem
  solving)

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Going to school

• Degree of excitement about going to school (i.e.
  - excitement over learning)
• Degree of knowledge of safety practices
  (including bus safety)
• Ability to participate in classroom-like routines
  (i.e. tidy-up)
• Degree of perseverance/persistence (i.e. level
  of success with attempts to accomplish tasks)

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Early Childhood Program Planning (current
philosophy)

• Activity-based
• Theme-oriented
• Group focused
• Measurement of success is subjective
• Focuses on global development

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Outcomes Based Program Planning

• Outcome-based
• Skill-oriented
• Incorporates group and child-specific outcomes
• Focuses on specific developmental skill areas
• Measurement of success is objective using well
  researched and developed tools

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Components of outcome- based programming

• Ongoing planning, observation, assessment and
  documentation
• Ongoing communication (both written and verbal)
  with parents

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Outcomes Based Program Planning How to

• Knowing what outcomes you want to achieve makes
  choosing activities much simpler
• Should they be teacher led or child driven?
• Should they be large group, small group, or
  individual choice of children?
• Will the activity be most effective as a circle,
  free play, group taught, snack time, etc?
• Can individual child outcomes that differ from
  the prescribed outcome of the activity be
  measured? i.e. - Social activities that enhance
  language development

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Outcomes Based Program Planning How to

• Start with what the child already knows or has
  accomplished using a checklist or evaluation tool
• Look for common threads of skills still
  developing in the group
• Defines individual skills still developing in
  specific children within the group
• Reviewing the initial checklists helps to
  determine which outcomes are common between
  children, and which outcomes are child-specific
• Dovetails both group and individual plans
• Once necessary outcomes have been determined,
  planning involves dovetailing outcomes for
  program delivery

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When implementing an outcomes based program these
are some guidelines

• A checklist of outcomes can be used to determine
  whether outcomes have been achieved for the child
  and the group.
• You can determine which outcome a child needs to
  achieve and then program how to best achieve that
  goal
• Look for common themes as a group, then adapt for
  individuals

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Outcomes determine

• What activities should be included
• (i.e.. Holding a book)
• How activities should be applied
• (Would a child do this at a centre or in a group
  such as circle time?)
• Where activities fit within the routine
• (Where would this activity fit? Why not both
  places?)
• If activities accommodate more than one outcome
• (Does this also promote other skills, such as
  number concepts 1-10?)

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Both methods should

• Have a solution-focused approach
• Be play-based
• Allow the child to direct the play as much as
  possible
• Achieve results
• Include the parent as a team member (i.e. Family
  Math)
  
  

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Challenges of outcome- based programming

• Must be well organized to allow for the constant
  observation and documentation. Planning generally
  takes longer because of the emphasis on outcomes
  (both group and individual).
• More staff required, as someone must be observing
  and measuring outcomes.
• Need to know what to look for, what outcomes to
  measure during each activity, and how they fit
  with the evaluation tool.
• Need to have a workable system to store
  information until you have time to document it.

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Processfor program development

• Select outcomes or skills you want to improve
• Select outcomes/measurement tool
• Should activities be large group, small group, or
  individual choice of children?
• Would the activity be most effective as a circle,
  free play, group taught, snack time, etc?
• Can individual child outcomes that differ from
  the prescribed outcome of the activity be
  measured? i.e. - Social activities that enhance
  language development

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Process for program planning- An example

• Outcome-Ability to distinguish between different
  types of colour
• Measurement tool observe over a couple of days
  which children know which colours by observing
  and asking questions, and recording which colours
  each child knows with the date. Will observe and
  reassess at the end of the month.
• Large group activities circle time using the
  colour song from M M cd, a treasure hunt for
  shapes and colours, at circle time using the
  book Colour Dance which also show numbers.

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Process for program planning- An example

• Small group activities there will be coloured
  water in jars at the music centre,
• Colour placemats in the kitchen area, the only
  blocks out in the block area are the colours we
  are working on
• Individual colour puzzles at centres, colours at
  paint centre
• Home connection a treasure hunt for shapes and
  colours we will have to do with mom or dad
• Different outcomes (do you want to measure?)
  They will also be learning shapes and number
  concepts.

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Creating a program

• Pick 1 outcome from any area and go through the
  process

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Stepping Stones on the Pathway to Learning

• Training date for child care staff?
• Anyone interested in a pilot looking for three
  sites

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Stepping Stones on the Pathway to Learning

• An outcomes based school readiness program for
  ages 3-5.
• Prepared by Kathy Boelsma, Early Literacy
  Specialist, OEYC Lanark

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Our purpose is

• To have children be more confident in school
• To give parents information on what skills their
  children are learning and how to create learners
  for life
• To increase awareness of the school environment
• To help create a positive partnership between
  parents, children and teachers.
• To increase academic outcomes

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Who is it for

• This program can be used for children who are
  entering kindergarten and have not had previous
  experiences in an early years program setting.
• It can also be used to encourage and give
  assistance to children who need their skills
  further developed who are in Junior or Senior
  Kindergarten before entering Grade 1.

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Stepping Stones is an early learning program for
your child to gain confidence and skills in the
eight following areas

• Gross Motor
• Fine motor
• Language and literacy
• Social development
• Concept of school
• Task independance
• Numeracy skills
• Cognitive skills

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Program Description

• 20 half day sessions
• In kindergarten rooms
• Very structured
• First 12 hours program is observation and
  assessment in all domains
• Incorporates group and child-specific outcomes
• Final 12 hours of the program children reassessed

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Duncan J. Schoular-Results

• 10/14 children were at level 3 (proficient) by
  program end in the ability to listen to others
• 12/14 children were at levels 3 and 4 by program
  end in the ability to hold a writing implement
  properly
• 11/14 children were at levels 3 and 4 in the
  ability to get along with others
• Only 5/14 children were at levels 3 and 4 for
  degree of knowledge of the concepts of number 1
  through 10 (assists in identifying areas that
  need to be worked on)
• 64 of the students improved upon their
  respective levels of excitement about going to
  school

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Stepping Stones - Pilots

• Would anyone like to see if they would like to
  run a pilot program?
• 2006 3 programs in a child care setting
• 2007 6 programs in a child care setting
• 2008 roll out into anyone who is interested
• Also working on it being done with Ontario Works
  and the Preschool Speech and Language System as
  well as schools.

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Stepping Stones-Pilots

• Staff training on and off site
• Curriculum provided
• Resource support ie. With books and music and
  specific supports
• Professional support and on site visits
• Evaluation analysis of group and individuals (as
  time allows, this depends on how many sites)
• Recommendations for program delivery to increase
  outcomes for children