Resource - High/scope In The Elementary Classroom

LETTER FRoM THE PRESiDENT
Dear Readers:
This electronic
issue
of ReSource
gives special
attention to
the early elementary years. Unlike programs
for younger children, early elementary
programs are firmly institutionalized
in public and private schools. The challenge
of early elementary programs is
that they contribute to all aspects of children’s
development — not only language,
literacy, and mathematics, but also character
and social skills, creativity, the arts,
and physical development.
High/Scope’s general early elementary
work today focuses on ready schools. We
have developed and validated the Ready
School Assessment (RSA) to serve as
the basis of a school’s improvement plan
to become a ready school. The RSA is
based on the research-based definition
of a ready school developed in 1998 by
a group commissioned by the National
Education goals Panel (NEgP). it looks
at how ready schools smooth the transition
and strive for continuity between
homes, early care and education programs,
and elementary schools. it also
looks at how ready schools do what all
good schools do, such as being commit-
HigH/SCoPE BoARD oF DiRECToRS
Sharon Adams-Taylor
Associate Executive Director,
American Association of School Administrators, Arlington, VA
Julie Biddle
Dayton Satellite Center for Accelerated Schools,
University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
Libia Socorro Gil
Senior Fellow, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC
David Gleason
President, Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, Franklin, TN
Ed Greene
EM GREENE Associates, Int’l., Princeton, NJ
ted to the success of every child and
teacher, using effective approaches to
raise achievement, serving children in
communities, and having strong leadership.
our field test of the RSA involved
71 elementary schools in 17 states.
High/Scope’s Education Through
Movement program is well developed
and widely disseminated at the early
elementary level. The program provides
a framework of developmentally appropriate
activities and teaching practices
for each early childhood age level. The
four components of the movement-based
active learning process are key developmental
indicators (KDis) in movement
and music, the movement core, the teaching
model, and active learning support
strategies. Phyllis Weikart, Karen Sawyers,
and their colleagues have spread
High/Scope’s Education Through Movement
program throughout the United
States and in other countries.
High/Scope’s early elementary roots
are in the federal Follow Through project,
which operated from 1968 to 1995.
in this project, High/Scope applied its
curriculum principles to the early elementary
grades and helped selected
school districts serving low-income
children across the country use the approach.
our Follow Through research
showed that the High/Scope active learning
approach and teaching practices improved
children’s school achievement
at the early elementary level. After the
Follow Through project was completed,
the Bureau of indian Affairs supported
High/Scope teaching practices in elementary
schools on reservations from
1996 to 2000. Several other enterprising
elementary schools around the country
have continued to use the High/Scope
early elementary approach. High/Scope
institutes in Mexico, the Netherlands,
and indonesia support schools in their
countries that use High/Scope at the
early elementary levels and beyond,
even through high school.
As early childhood programs become
more widespread and established, they
become more engaged with elementary
schools. Their relationship with the
schools becomes more critical to their
success and to the success of the schools.
Both early childhood programs and the
schools must stretch to embrace their
common challenge of contributing to
children’s development to their fullest
potential.
Larry Schweinhart, President
James Hawkins
Superintendent of Schools, Ypsilanti, MI
Donal O. Moore
Vice President, Automotive Sales,
Polytech Netting Industries, Inc., Icking, Germany
Richard Pagac
President, Pagac & Company, P. C., Bloomfield Hills, MI
Forum for Youth Investment, Washington, DC
Alberto Rodriguez
Senior Education Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean,
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
Janell Shain
Elementary School Principal and Coordinator of Preschool–12th Grade
District Staff Development, Ralston Public Schools, Ralston, NE
THE HIGH/SCOPE FOUNDATION is an independent, nonprofit organization founded by David Weikart in Ypsilanti, Michigan. High/Scope’s mission is to lift lives
through education by engaging in curriculum development, research, training, and publishing and communication.
www.highscope.org ReSource Fall/Winter 2008 4