2016StatePolicyLearningTableITResources
Strong Foundations For Our Youngest Children

Instructional Tools Cohort - Resource List


General

Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers, Executive Summary by the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy by National Academies Press (2001). 
This report presents the first attempt at a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary synthesis of the theory, research, and evaluation literature relevant to early childhood education.
 
NAEYC Position Statements on Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation: Where We Stand Summary  by National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE)  (2009). 
This resource is a useful tool to examine curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation and describes indicators of effectiveness. 

Principles and Recommendations for Early Childhood Assessments National Education Goals Panel (1998)
Congress in 1994 charged the Goals Panel to support its Goal l advisors to “create clear guidelines regarding the nature, functions, and uses of early childhood assessments, including assessment formats that are appropriate for use in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, based on model elements of school readiness.” The principles and recommendations in this document are the result of efforts by the Goal 1 Early Childhood Assessments Resource Group to address this charge

Understanding and Choosing Assessments and Developmental Screeners for Young Children Ages 3-5: Profiles of Selected Measures by Tamara Halle, Martha Zaslow, J Wessel, Shannon Moodie, and Kristin Darling Churchill (2011).
This compendium is designed to provide early education leaders with helpful information about child development assessment tools to support the selection of tools that are appropriate for the children in their care. This resource also aims to increase public understanding of the validity and reliability of available tools and underscores the need for further development of tools that can effectively support all young children.

Dual Language Learners

California's Best Practices for Young Dual Language Learners by the State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care (2012).
This resource provides early childhood educators with valuable information on the most current research on the development of young dual language learners. This series of research overviews spans the disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive science, developmental psychology, assessment, educational research, family engagement, and special needs.

The Vermont young DLL resource toolkit by Camille Catlett, Susan M. Moore and Clara Pérez- Méndez (2015).  The purpose of this toolkit is to provide early childhood colleagues with evidence-based practices, tools, and strategies improve and increase the use of inclusive, culturally appropriate, responsive, and research based practices for culturally and ability diverse young Dual Language Learners (DLLs) and their families.

Child Assessment

CEELO|ECTA Formative Assessment Peer Learning Community by CEELO (2013).
This site serves as the landing pad for a CEELO facilitated peer learning community that was launched in November 2013. Here you will find links to resources, including recordings from past webinars and presentation as well as numerous readings about formative assessment.

Framework for Effective Practice: Ongoing Child Assessment by the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning.
Ongoing assessment is integral to curriculum and instruction. Assessment information helps us monitor progress, both for individual children and for the program as a whole. This website provides guidance and resources to help to identify best practices in ongoing child a

QRS Compendium Report: Formative Assessment (2016).
This report includes states' standards related to programs' use of formative assessment within their QRIS systems.

Curriculum

Boosting School Readiness with Preschool Curricula by Greg J. Duncan , Jade M. Jenkins , Anamarie Auger , Margaret Burchinal , Thurston Domina, and Marianne Bitle (2015).
This paper analyzes data from the Preschool Curriculum Programs on School Readiness project to compare different curricula. It finds inconsistent and modest associations between whole child curricula, content-focused curricula, and locally developed curricula.

CEELO Curriculum Peer Exchange (2015-2016).
On the landing pad for this Preschool Development Grant recipients peer exchange, you will find links to resources including recordings from past webinars and presentations as well as numerous readings about curriculum policies.

California's Infant/Toddler curriculum framework by the California Department of Education (2012). 
This resource provides early childhood professionals with a structure they can use to make informed decisions about curriculum practices. The framework is based on current research on how infants and toddlers learn and develop in four domains described in the Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations-social-emotional, language, intellectual, and perceptual and motor development. It presents principles, a planning process, and strategies to assist teachers in their efforts to support children's learning from birth to three years of age.

California's Preschool Curriculum Framework by the California Department of Education (2012). 
This framework presents strategies and information to enrich learning and development opportunities for all of California's preschool children. Volume 1 focuses on four learning domains: social-emotional development, language and literacy, English-language development, and mathematics. Volume 2 covers the domains of visual and performing arts, physical development, and health. Volume 3 covers the domains of history-social science and science. 

The Developmental-Interaction Approach: Defining And Describing New Mexico’s Curriculum For Early Childhood Care & Education Programs by Betsy Cahill and Rachel Theilheimer (2015).
This report outlines New Mexico’s curriculum framework that is grounded Developmental-Interaction Approach to early childhood. In so doing, it supports policymakers and guides early childhood educators as they make decisions that determine curriculum.

Effects Of Preschool Curriculum Programs On School Readiness (NCER 2008-2009) by Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Consortium (2008).
This report provides the individual results for each curriculum studied as part of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) initiative, in which researchers conducted rigorous efficacy evaluations of available preschool curricula.

Maryland Excels Individually Developed Curriculum Review Process and Tools
Maryland's QRIS has a set of approved curricula and also has established a framework and process to approve curricula that have been developed by individual programs.

Preschool Curriculum Decision-Making: Dimensions To Consider (Policy Brief) by Ellen Frede and Ackerman, Debra (2007).
The purpose of this report is to provide a framework for decision-makers to use in evaluating which curriculum might be most appropriate for their specific preschool program. The framework consists of a series of questions focusing on the curriculum model and the supports the model developer provides.

Curriculum Policies and Guidelines of the Preschool Development and Expansion Grant Programs by the PDG-TA center (2016). This brief examines the curricular policies and guidelines of the eighteen states that received a Preschool Development or Expansion Grant; it seeks to answer the question of how these states are addressing the curriculum-related requirements of the PDG grant program. In the course of answering this question, this brief will clarify the PDG requirements, discuss aspects of curriculum, and present a snapshot of the preschool curriculum policies and guidelines of the PDG states.

QRIS Compendium Report: Curriculum (2016).
This report includes states' standards related to programs' use of curricula within their QRIS systems.

Research-Based Curricula and Teaching Practices: Choosing a Preschool Curriculum by the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning.
This website provides guidance to help make informed decisions about choosing a preschool curriculum and assuring high-quality implementation of the curriculum. The content is drawn from current child development science, the interests and ideas of the children, and the values of the community.

Family Engagement

State Approaches to Family Engagement in Pre-K Programs by Melissa Dahlin (2016).
This brief focuses on approaches to family engagement in state funded preK programs and the important role family engagement plays in ensuring family members are welcomed as supporters as children’s first teachers in early childhood programs and as children transition to the K-12 school years. This paper draws on CEELO’s work with two states as they developed guidance on family engagement: one a Preschool Development Grant (PDG) state and the other a state expanding its pre-K program.

Program Assessment

Core Qualities For Successful Early Childhood Education Programs Self-Assessment by the National Council of La Raza (2011).
The National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Core Qualities for Successful Early Childhood Education (ECE) Programs exemplify best practices for programs serving young Latino and dual language learner children. The purpose of the Core Qualities for ECE is to facilitate children’s successful acquisition of school readiness skills and support children to become culturally and linguistically competent members of their families and communities.

Professional Development Supports

California Preschool Instructional Network (CPIN) is a statewide quality improvement initiative providing regional support to preschools in the areas of early childhood education, children with special needs, and young dual language learners. English Language Development (ELD) specialists are available for every county in the state.

Georgia’s Pre-K Professional development Evaluation: Final Report by Diane M. Early Kelly L. Maxwell, Debra Skinner, Syndee Kraus, Katie Hume, Yi (2014).
This study evaluated the impact of two professional development models—Making the Most of Classroom Interactions (MMCI) and MyTeachingPartnerTM—on teacher-child interactions in Georgia’s Pre-K classrooms. The results indicate that MMCI had positive impacts on several aspects of teacher-child interactions. The study authors conclude that (1) Georgia’s Pre-K teachers benefited from and liked both the MMCI and MTP interventions, (2) MMCI is a feasible intervention for large-scale adoption; (3 )additional research is needed to understand better the circumstances under which MMCI and MTP are most likely to support meaningful improvements in teacher-child interactions; and (4) advancements in early childhood professional development are still needed to yield significant improvements in quality.