Starting Points: Quality of Bostons Center and SchoolBased Preschool Classrooms

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Starting PointsQuality of Bostons Center and
School-Based Preschool Classrooms

• Boston CPC Governing Council
• September 13, 2007

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Motivation for the Studies

• Present a comprehensive picture of the quality of
  Bostons ECE programs to inform strategic
  planning
• To provide a baseline within Boston Public
  Schools for improvement efforts
• Hired the same research team led by Nancy
  Marshall at the Wellesley Centers for Women

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Overview of the Scope Methodology
Boston Quality Inventory Nancy Marshall, Joanne
Roberts Wellesley Centers for Women July 2007
Boston Public Schools K1 and K2 Programs, Needs
Assessment Nancy Marshall, Joanne Roberts and
Linda Mills Wellesley Centers for Women
September 2006
Scope of the Study
Areas of Assessment
Methodology

• Curriculum
• Instructional Supports
• Literacy Supports
• Emotional Social Supports
• Health Safety
• And in BPS
• Professional Development
• Transportation
• After school
• Family Engagement
• And in Community
• Comprehensive Services
• Family Engagement

• BPS
• Visited 43 K1 and 85 K2 classrooms in 68 schools
• Community
• Visited 81 center-based PreK classrooms
• Both
• Classrooms randomly selected
• Surveyed families, teachers and principals

• ECERS-R
• CLASS
• SELA
• Teacher survey
• Principal / Director survey
• Family survey

There are two more studies coming from the
community Family Child Care and Infant/Toddler
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Research has proven what closes the achievement
gap

• RESEARCH
• NIEER
• UPK Study by Frank Porter Graham
• Nancy Marshall
• ECERS
• National Longitudinal Study

• Higher quality closes the achievement gap

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Do we as a city want to bring all programs to a 5
/ Good?

• Opportunities
• Close the achievement gap
• Strengthen access for all families to high
  quality ECE

• Challenges
• Costly
• Need solutions for how to raise salaries

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Summary of Findings BPS K1 K2
Closes the Achievement Gap
30
27
21
18
9
27
54
69
67
80
64
16
12
5
2
7
Summary of Findings Center-Based PreK Classrooms
Closes the Achievement Gap
48
25
25
14
11
42
42
45
41
80
10
33
35
44
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Emotional Social Supports (CLASS)
Curriculum (ECERS)
Instructional Supports (CLASS)
Literacy Supports (SELA)
Health Safety (ECERS)
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What are common pulleys and levers to improve the
quality of classroom-based preschool in Boston?
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Recommendation Bring all programs up to the
NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards.

• Community and BPS Support NAEYC accreditation
• In community, programs that were NAEYC accredited
  were less likely to be rated as inadequate,
  compared to programs that were not accredited.
• Community Teachers with BAs in every classroom
• Over half of community classrooms had at least
  one teacher with a BA or more.
• Classrooms with a BA-level teacher were
  significantly more likely to meet the Good
  Benchmarks.
• BPS Ensure that all classrooms have a
  paraprofessional present for the entire day and
  that class sizes meet NAEYC Early Childhood
  Program Standards
• Classrooms that met NAEYC recommendations for
  ratios and class size were more likely to be meet
  the Good benchmarks than were classrooms that did
  not meet NAEYC standards.

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Recommendation Provide additional professional
development.

• Literacy support
• Instructional support
• Social and emotional support
• Hand-washing and health procedures

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Recommendation Improve the safety of playgrounds

• Community programs used public playgrounds, which
  often lacked adequate fencing or well-maintained
  equipment, or required young children to walk
  along busy city streets to reach them.
• BPS programs playgrounds often had inadequate
  fencing around the outdoor play space, giving
  children access to parking lots and busy city
  streets.

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Recommendation Provide all classrooms with the
equipment and materials needed to provide a high
quality early childhood program for all students

• Both BPS classrooms and community programs need
• Art materials
• dramatic play materials
• fine motor activities
• science materials and activities
• childrens books

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Additional Recommendation Incorporate community
programs into Bostons citywide planning for
early education and care

• Staff Diversity Reflective of Children Served
• Full-day, Full-year Programming to Meet the Needs
  of Working Families
• High Levels of Family Involvement
• Comprehensive Services for Families

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Children are in all settings

• We need common efforts for all programs to reach
  all children
• The question is not what to do but how to do it?

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BPS Example Major Findings and Drivers
Areas of Findings
Study Findings
Interpretation/Drivers

• Amount of time children are spending on age
  appropriate tasks and specifically what those
  tasks are (center time, choice activity, etc.)
• Classes with paraprofessional were more likely to
  meet the good benchmark of quality

• Curriculum

• No strong uniform curriculum for K1 and K2
• Teachers are not trained in current early
  childhood practice
• Principals need more supports to monitor quality

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BPS Example (contd)Planned Strategic
Investments
Areas of Findings
Long Term Solutions
Short Term Solutions

• Curriculum

• K2 Curriculum aligned with K1 and 1st Grade
  (450,000 Stone Foundation Grant)
• Comprehensive Assessment System in Place
• Longitudinal Research Capacity

• K1 Curriculum OWL and Building Blocks
• Implement an assessment system that aids teachers
  in their classroom practice
• Create Comprehensive K2 Curriculum

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For more information and full copies of the
reportsCorey Zimmerman617-695-0700 x
229czimmerman_at_associatedece.orgwww.bostonequip.o
rgJason Sachs617-635-9701jsachs_at_boston.k12.ma.
us