Step Up To Quality | Curriculum | CLASS Scores | School Readiness Goals 2015-16
Step Up To Quality (SUTQ)
KCHS’ commitment to high quality programming is recognized by participation in the State of Ohio Step Up To Quality (SUTQ) rating system, which acknowledges child care centers that exceed licensing standards in teacher qualifications and professional development, and support children’s learning with a developmentally appropriate curriculum. KCHS holds the highest SUTQ ratings at five centers within the County. KCHS centers were the FIRST in Knox County to be recognized with five stars!
Curriculum and Assessment
Evidence-Based Knox County Head Start is an evidence-based practice, one that has been rigorously evaluated in experimental evaluations–like randomized controlled trials–and shown to make a positive, statistically significant difference in important outcomes. A program that has stood the test of rigorous experimental evaluations:
- Has shown that it is supported by data, not just based on theory,
- Has been repeatedly tested and is more effective than standard care or an alternative practice, and
- Can be reproduced in other settings.
Curriculum KCHS is mandated to implement a written plan, known as curriculum, that is “consistent with the Head Start Program Performance Standards and based on sound child development principles about how children grow and learn.” KCHS, with support and approval from its Policy Council, uses The Creative Curriculum for the infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms. The infant/toddler curriculum focuses on daily routines and experiences while individualizing the curriculum planning for each child. The preschool curriculum is a framework addressing academic content as well as focusing on the child’s interests and creativity in the classroom. KCHS classrooms implement techniques from Conscious Discipline® in our classrooms. Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive classroom management program and a social-emotional curriculum. It is based on current brain research, child development information, and developmentally appropriate practices. Conscious Discipline encourages adults to examine and begin to change their own attitudes and behaviors, recognizing that we cannot teach skills that we do not have ourselves! The adults, in turn, change the lives of children. Conscious Discipline is a way of organizing schools and classrooms around the concept of a School Family. each member of the family–both adult and child–learns the skills needed to successfully manage life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, communicating effectively, being sensitive to others’ needs and getting along with others. To enhance curriculum, preschool classroom teachers may implement Conscious Discipline® Feeling Buddies. This program teaches children to self-regulate and illustrates how to manage behaviors at any age. Feeling Buddies are a comprehensive and innovative tool based on a unique strategy in which the adult teaches the child to self-regulate and the child teaches the Buddy to self-regulate, both learning the five-step process together. The curriculum, Safe Place, and daily classroom life work cooperatively to maximize learning and give the new skill set permanence. It can transform tantrums, backtalk, and outbursts into healthy emotional expression and cooperation. At the Gambier Child Care Center, school-aged children will participate in a program that provides both structured and unstructured time, with a variety of activities to spark and expand children’s interests. At the request of parents, staff and volunteers will provide assistance with homework or specific activities to support the child’s school curriculum.
CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System for Preschool) Observation Tool
Research suggests that interactions between adults and students are the primary mechanism of student development and learning. Teachers are assessed using the CLASS tool twice a year and mentoring takes place between assessment cycles to support and improve teacher performance. Teacher performance domains include the ability to create a positive emotional climate, to provide intentional classroom organization, and to target language based instructional support. Emotional Support: Children’s social/emotional functioning in the classroom are indicators for school readiness. Dimensions within this domain include positive climate, teacher sensitivity, and regard for student perspectives. Classroom Organization: Classrooms that function best and teachers who provide the most opportunities for learning will support a foundation for children who are well behaved, who have challenging and interesting activities to do, and who will grow in a hands-on environment. Instructional Support: Children’s cognitive and language development is supported when teachers use instructional discussions and activities to promote higher order thinking skills and improved language skills by both teacher and student.
Early Head Start
Birth to One Year (0-12 months)
1. Shows interest in, interacts with, and develops personal relationships with other children.
Your child will show recognition of familiar children through actions or behaviors, such as smiling, reaching, touching, or making sounds directed to the child.
2. Demonstrates effective and efficient use of large muscles to explore the environment.
Your child will use each new posture (raising head, rolling onto back, sitting) to learn new ways to explore the environment. For example, sits up to be able to reach for or hold objects.
3. Uses non-verbal communication and language to engage others in interaction.
Your child will use facial expressions, including smiling or using gestures or sounds, such as cooing or babbling, to engage familiar adults in social interaction.
One to Two Years (12-24 months)
1. Shows interest in, interacts with, and develops personal relationships with other children.
Your child will participate in simple back-and-forth interactions with another child. Interacts with a few children on a regular basis, and knows some of their names, likes, or dislikes.
2. Uses an increasing number of words in communications and conversations with others.
Your child will imitate new words or signs and use some words or signs for naming or making simple one-word
requests, such as saying or signing “milk” when asking for a drink.
3. Uses increasingly complex language in conversation with others.
Your child will initiate and participate in conversations by babbling and using gestures, such as blowing kisses, waving, or by using words or signs. Communicates mainly about objects, actions, and events happening in the here and now.
Two to Three Years (24-36 months)
1. Imitates and engages in play with other children.
Your child will join in play with other children by sometimes taking turns or doing joint activities with a common goal, such as building block structures with others or pretending to eat together.
2. Uses non-verbal communication and language to engage others in interaction.
Your child will use words, signs, phrases, or simple sentences to initiate, continue, or extend conversations with others about feelings, experiences, or thoughts.
3. Attends to, reports, and uses some rhymes, phrases, or refrains from stories or songs.
Your child will say or repeat culturally and linguistically familiar rhymes, phrases, or refrains from songs or stories.
Head Start:
36-48 months-Preschool 3’s by 48 months
48-60 months-PreK 4’s by kindergarten entry
Preschool 3’s (36-48 months)
1. Expresses himself in increasingly long, detailed, and sophisticated ways.
Typically uses three- to five-word phrases/sentences when communicating. With some prompting, can offer multiple (two or three) pieces of information on a single topic.
2. Demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sounds.
With support, your child will distinguish when two words rhyme and when two words begin with the same sound.
3. Identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters.
Your child will show an awareness of alphabet letters, such as singing the ABC song, recognizing letters from one’s name, or naming some letters that are encountered often.
4. Associates a quantity with written numerals up to 5 and begins to write numbers.
Your child will begin to understand that a written numeral represents a quantity and may draw objects or use informal symbols to represent numbers.
PreK 4’s (48-60 months)
1. Manages emotions with increasing independence.
Your child will have an expanding range of strategies for managing emotions but will sometimes look to an adult for support. They will show increasing skill in managing emotions independently.
2. Demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sounds.
Your child will demonstrate rhyme recognition, such as identifying which words rhyme from a group of three. Can count syllables and understand different sounds in spoken words.
3. Identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters.
Your child will recognize and name some letters in the alphabet, including letters in their name. They will identify the sound of many recognized letters.
4. Can understand the relationship between numbers and quantities.
May point to or move objects while counting objects to 10 (one-to-one correspondence). Understands that the last number represents how many objects are in a group.
5. Associates a quantity with written numerals up to 5 and begins to write numbers.
Your child will understand that written numbers represent quantities of objects, and information symbols, such as a tally, represent numerals. May begin to write numbers up to 10 with adult support.
Detailed alignments
