Pennsylvania

Learning Standards for Early Childhood

History of Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood

• 2002 - Cross-Sector group of Stakeholders begin work on standards

• First step was to design “guiding principles”

• 2004 - Pre-Kindergarten Standards adopted

• 2007 - Infant/Toddler, Pre-Kindergarten (revision); Kindergarten; 1st grade and 2nd grade Standards adopted

History of Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood

• 2008 - Alignment study conducted by Catherine Scott-Little and Sharon Lynn Kagan

• 2009 - Learning Standards for Early Childhood revised and adopted (Infant/Toddler; Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten)

What are the purposes of Standards?

Standards• • •

• Standards are a set of principles and values that are the foundation for the way in which a program operates.

• Regardless of origin, standards provide a set of common elements that can be used across all similar programs.

• Standards guide the intentional focus on growth and development of ALL young children in ALL learning settings.

Standards

Age Groupings (revised)

Infant Birth – 12 monthsYoung Toddler 9 – 27 monthsOlder Toddler 24 – 36 monthsPreschool 3 and 4 yearsKindergarten 5 years of age (by Sept. 1)

7

Integration of Learning Standards into programming

• Required use in state funded early childhood programs

• Private academic schools

• Basis for transition efforts between Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten

• Benchmark 3 – Improvements in school readiness and achievement

3.5 Child’s communication, language and emergent literacy

3.6 Child’s general cognitive skills

3.7 Child’s positive approaches to learning including attention

3.8 Child’s social behavior, emotion regulation & emotional well-being

3.9 Child’s physical health and development

9

8 Key Learning Areas support the following constructs under Benchmark 3

How could I encourage home visitors use of Standards to support

their work with children and families?

Home visitors meet children WHERE THEY ARE and helps each child reach challenging and achievable goals.

Not all children are round pegs!

Standards can help -

A look at Intentionality …Standards help to:• Clearly define learning goals for children• Provide specific examples of what children should be demonstrating• Provide strategies for home visitors to use working with children and families

Daily routines…

3.1 Parent support for children’s learning and development

3.2 Parent knowledge of child development & developmental progress

3.3 Parenting behaviors and parent-child relationship

Partnerships for Learning domain (& Standards Resources) supports the following constructs under Benchmark 3

Partnerships for Learning

Connections: Shared understanding Relationship between the family and home visitor is a critical

foundation to children’s school readiness.- How do home visitors understand a family’s home life, their values and attitudes toward learning?

- How do home visitors incorporate family ideas, preferences into activities for children?

Partnerships for Learning

Family Engagement Children’s motivation to learn and be ready for school is

impacted by the level of family support and involvement.- How do families and home visitors work together to make decisions concerning the child?- How do home visitors assure that information exchange is reciprocal?

Partnerships for Learning

Supporting Children’s Learning Families and home visitors work together to support children’s

learning and development.- How does the home visitor understand families learning attitudes and strategies?- How do home visitors provide individualized and meaningful at-home experiences for

families to us?

Partnerships for Learning

Transition Families and home visitors must work together to coordinate

information exchange from one setting to another that will assure children’s seamless learning experiences.

- How do home visitors create a seamless transition into another program setting?- What resources do I make available for families to assure at home learning links that support school readiness?

Standards Wheels

Questions