Child Outcome Standards in Pre-K Programs - National Institute for ...

Issue 5 / March 2004NATIONALINSTITUTEChild Outcome Standards in Pre-K Programs:What Are Standards; What Is Needed To Make Them Work?by Elena Bodrova, Deborah Leong and Rima ShoreFOREARLYEDUCATIONRESEARCHContact Us:120 Albany Street, Suite 500New Brunswick, NJ 08901Tel (732) 932-4350Fax (732) 932-4360Website: nieer.orgE-mail: info@nieer.orgThe standards movement that has altered K-12 educationacross the nation is now being extended to early education.In addition to program standards that describe thecharacteristics of classrooms and curricula, most stateshave developed (or are in the process of developing)child outcome standards that define expectations forpreschoolers’ development and learning. 1In the early childhood field, there has been a reluctance touse the word “standards.” Child outcome standards gearedto young children are often given different names, such asbuilding blocks, essential learning, desired results, learningand developmental guidelines, or learning goals. All ofthese describe the same thing—the kinds of developmentand learning that should be taking place.Policy Recommendations:Prekindergartenstandards shouldtake into accounttoday’s bestunderstanding ofhow young childrendevelop and learn.• Because standards reflect the values ofthe people who set them, collaborationwith families and communities is a key tothe successful design and implementationof preschool standards.• Standards documents should distinguishclearly between program standards andchild outcome standards.• Outcome standards need to be written inways that take into account the uniqueways that young children develop andlearn, considering all aspects of schoolreadiness identified by the NationalEducation Goal Panel.much emphasis and specificity as thosethat address cognitive and languagedevelopment.• Standards should allow for a coherenteducational experience. Preschoolstandards should allow continuity withkindergarten standards, but not at theexpense of attention to physical andsocial-emotional development.• Standards should be written in waysthat allow for appropriate, effectiveassessment. Assessment policies andpractices should go beyond accountabilityto foster program improvement.1• Standards that address physical health,social-emotional development, andapproaches to learning need to have as

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004What Are Standards?In the realm of early education,it is important to distinguish amongdifferent kinds of standards.Program Standards describe theresources, activities, and instructionprograms offer to help children learn.Program standards incorporate both:• Classroom Standards thatidentify classroom characteristicssuch as the maximum number ofchildren in a classroom; the allowableratio of adults to children; and thematerials and supports available tochildren and families.• Teaching and CurriculumStandards that are sometimesdescribed as opportunities to learn(e.g., “children are exposed to varioustypes of age-appropriate literature”or “educational experiences willensure that children print or copytheir first name”) or activities (e.g.,“children listen to traditional tales”).While program standards mayinfluence what teachers do, theyare generally intended to guideadministrators.Child Outcome Standardsdescribe the knowledge and skillschildren should acquire by the endof the year. Comprehensive childoutcome standards encompass:• Content Standards that definethe range of knowledge and skillsthat children should master. Theycan also extend beyond knowledgeand skills, describing the kinds ofhabits, attitudes, and dispositionsstudents are expected to developas a result of classroom experiences.For example, content standardscan address self-efficacy or empathy.• Performance Standards thatdescribe how it can be demonstratedthat children have met the contentstandards.Readers may want to consult the jointposition statement on early learningstandards issued in 2002 by the NationalAssociation for the Education of YoungChildren (NAEYC) and the NationalAssociation of Early ChildhoodSpecialists in State Departments ofEducation(NAECS/SDE).2This Policy Brief:• Provides an overview of how thestandards movement is beingextended to preschool programs;• Describes child outcomes standardsin relation to other types of standardsand quality indicators;• Offers an overview of the conditionsneeded for standards to work; and• Describes the special considerationsthat must be taken into account ifchild outcome standards are tohave a positive impact on preschoolchildren and programs.Focusing on ResultsA quarter century ago, only a handfulof states invested in early education.Today, four out of five states runpreschool programs, and several aremoving toward public provision ofprograms for all 4-year-olds whoseparents want to enroll them.Preschool for all is a powerful visionthat can create fundamental changein American education. Like themovement that resulted in publickindergarten for 5-year-olds,preschool for all requires broad publicsupport. Recent history suggests thatsuch support can be won. The case forpublic investment in early educationhas been strengthened by evidencethat preschool programs can boostschool readiness in the short run and,in the long run, improve graduationrates, increase adult earnings, andlower crime rates. 2But there is a catch. These benefitsaccrue only from high-qualityprograms. Continued support forpublic investment in early educationhinges on educators’ ability todemonstrate results. As the presidentof the High/Scope EducationalResearch Foundation, Lawrence J.Schweinhart, has written, preschoolfor all “constitute[s] an extraordinaryvision. Without a focus on highstandards of quality, however, thisvision is but an empty promise.” 3Today, there is growing consensuson the part of educators and publicpolicy makers that program standardsshould include child outcomes – whatchildren should know and be able todo after participating in preschoolprograms.

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004Extending Outcome Standardsto the Preschool YearsOutcome standards are a relativelyrecent phenomenon in Americaneducation. For most of our nation’shistory, parents and school boardslacked the systematic assessmentinformation needed to gauge children’sprogress and the effectivenessof schools. There was little agreementon what children should know andbe able to do. In recent decades,accountability took on new meaning.State agencies and professional organizationshave engaged in major effortsto define, with some precision, theknowledge and skills that students areexpected to master at each grade leveland in each subject area. Curriculaand assessments have been alignedwith these standards. And in manycases, schools and principals havebeen rated on the basis of theirability to meet the standards.Researchers say that the effort hasbegun to pay off. Today, efforts areunderway to extend that successto preschool programs. 4 The idea isto use standards to improve the oddsthat preschool programs willboost school readiness and laya solid foundation for laterachievement.The idea remains controversial,however. After all, from thestandpoint of development, 3-and 4-year-olds are differentfrom older children. Preschoolersare actively engaged in makingsense of their worlds, but they havenot yet developed the strategies forprocessing information, remembering,and solving problems that mostolder children take for granted.For example, according to theNational Research Council, 3- and 4-year-olds are just beginning to understandthe need to use strategic effortin order to learn. 5All children learn in the context ofimportant relationships, but in thepreschool years children’s learningis especially influenced by the socialinteractions they experience, whetherat home or in other settings. Scientistssay that young children’s capacities aredecisively influenced by their environmentsand the people who care forthem. “Children’s curiosity andpersistence are supported by adultswho direct their attention, structuretheir experiences, support theirlearning attempts, and regulate thecomplexity and difficulty levels ofinformation for them.” 6How can standards take into accountthese and other findings about thedevelopment and learning of youngchildren? How is it possible to definereasonable developmental milestones,assess them appropriately, and usethe information toimprove planning,classroompedagogy, andprogramevaluation?The Impact of K-12StandardsStandards-based reform is a comprehensiveapproach that has influenced manyareas of education. 7 According to datacollected by the Education Commissionof States, “states that have focused onaligning various components of theireducation system with standards haveshown improvement in student achievementand school quality.” 8Similar findings were reported in thenewly released longitudinal study ofat-risk children in Title 1 schools.The study found that, “students’ initialreading scores tended to be higher inclassrooms where teachers reported theywere aware of, and implementing,policies of standards-based reform.” 9Given these findings, educators andparents may expect an emphasis on earlylearning standards to produce similarimprovements in the quality of earlychildhood programs. However, ananalysis of existing pre-K standardsdocuments 10 and a review of thestandards movement in generalindicate that the impact ofstandards depends upon arange of conditions, includingthe policy and implementationissues addressed in these pages.3

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004Nine Keys to Effective Prekindergarten StandardsMany of the conditions needed for successful standards-based reform apply to all grade levels, including prekindergarten.This section describes nine keys to effective standards. For each, it addresses the particular considerations or conditionsthat must be addressed to make child outcome standards appropriate and effective in the preschool years.1Standards should represent values that make senseto children’s families and communities.Standards identify the knowledge and skills that teachersshould spend the most time on. They define not only sharedexpectations, but also shared notions about what matters forchildren. 6 In this way, standards represent the values of thepeople who set them. 3For preschoolers… When young children are involved,families and communities tend to be especially concernedabout the values that underlie outcome standards. After all,it is during the early years that children begin to developempathy and understand basic moral precepts. It is duringthe preschool years that children form the secure relationshipswith adults that allow them to venture off and explore; beginto interact cooperatively with peers; and slowly increase theircapacity for self-regulation. Early childhood programstherefore track children’s progress across the developmentalspectrum, including the very important social and emotionaldomains. Expectations of children tend to reflect deeply heldassumptions and values. It is therefore especially important toengage families and communities in discussions that help toshape preschool standards.What Young Children Know& Can Do“Armed with new methodologies, psychologists began toaccumulate a substantial body of ideas about the remarkableabilities that young children possess that stands in starkcontrast to the older emphases on what they lacked. It isnow known that very young children are competent,active agents of their own conceptual development...”“Young children are actively engaged in making senseof their worlds. In some particular domains, such asbiological and physical causality, number, and language,they have strong predispositions to learn rapidly andreadily. These predispositions support and may evenmake possible early learning and pave the way forcompetence in early schooling.”2Standards should be evidence-based.Standards are sets of detailed explanations and illustrations ofwhat children should know and be able to do in a particulararea, by a specific time in a child’s education. Standards needto be evidence-based. That is, they need to be based on thebest evidence of what young children can learn. 11In addition, they should be based on research showing thatparticular outcome standards, implemented as part of thecurriculum and ongoing teaching and assessment, cancontribute to positive outcomes for the children for whomthey are intended.For preschoolers… Research has shown that youngchildren are more capable than was once thought. 12Psychologists and cognitive scientists have shown thatpreschoolers are active learners who are predisposed tocertain kinds of knowledge. But in many areas there is notenough evidence to identify reasonable expectations for youngchildren. Research is particularly thin in relation to standardsfor children with disabilities and other special needs.In the absence of such research, existing sets of pre-Kstandards rely on the practical experience of early childhoodeducators and the academiccontent taught in higher grades.In many cases, these twoperspectives are not properlybalanced, resulting instandards that eitherunderestimate oroverestimate thelearning potentialof young children.4National Research Council, How People Learn: Brain,Mind, Experience, and School, 1999.

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004How Many Standards?One of the criticisms of K-12 standards has been the sheernumber of standards and benchmarks. According to aconservative estimate, it takes an average of five hours tocover one content benchmark. Addressing all standards andbenchmarks identified by states and districts would requireK-12 systems to become K-22 systems! 17Early childhood educators and policy makers should identifya reasonable set of expectations and outcomes that aremeaningful and represent the critical learning necessaryfor later development.3Standards should be comprehensive.Standards should cover the full range of knowledge, skills,habits, attitudes, and dispositions that children need tomaster. They should encompass all of the major branchesof knowledge that contribute to children’s capacity toreason, create, communicate, solve problems, and maintaintheir health. 13 Comprehensive standards include contentstandards (defining the range of knowledge and skillsthat children should master) and performance standards(defining how it can be demonstrated that children havemet the standards).For preschoolers… To be comprehensive, outcomestandards must take into account the five domains of schoolreadiness identified by the National Education Goals Panel. 14,1• Physical well-being and motor development• Social and emotional development• Approaches toward learning• Language development• Cognitive and general knowledgeYoung children’s learning is heavily dependent on thedevelopment of language, thinking, and cognitive andsocio-emotional skills that are taken for granted in highergrades where the primary emphasis is placed on content.In early childhood, the development of these foundationalskills (skills that lay the foundation for later learning) is justas important as mastery of content matter. For example,there is a growing body of evidence indicating that cognitiveand emotional self-regulation play a key role in influencingrates of learning and school readiness. 15,16 For preschoolers,standards that address foundational skills should thereforebe articulated with as much specificity as the contentstandards.4Standards should be specific, yet still allowflexibility as teachers implement them.If a standard covers a broad area of learning or developmentit must to be broken down into more narrow benchmarks.However, the benchmarks should not be too specificto allow for teachers’ flexibility in implementing differentcurricula or using different instructional strategies. Forexample, a benchmark that says: “retells from memory afamiliar book about farm animals” appears overly specific.For preschoolers… In some areas, the lack of specificitythat can weaken standards for older students can alsoundermine preschool standards. There is a particularlystrong need for specificity as standards and benchmarksare written for preschool language and literacy development.18 As one recent study observed, “age appropriate andwell-written clear benchmarks have a crucial role in bringingeffective literacy practices to preschool programs.” 19Preschool outcomes need to be stated in terms of skills,rather than activities.In other areas of early learning, the requirement of specificitycan be problematic because many of young children’s competenciesare developing in concert. It is often difficult toisolate learning outcomes in a single area. It is often betterto describe a learning outcome in a way that is specific to aparticular domain of development, even if that meansrepeating the standard (perhaps with different emphasis)as it relates to another domain. This will help teachers tobetter focus on the outcome of a child’s learning inchoosing appropriate assessments, materials and activities.For example, while being able to participate in dramaticplay is a learning outcome that combines a young child’sachievements in the areas of socio-emotional, cognitive,and language development, supporting each of these areaspresents teachers with different demands in terms ofassessing child performance or planning instructionalinterventions.What Are Benchmarks?Standards are often broken down into more specificbenchmarks that can be demonstrated and measured.An example: “Develops personal and social competence”is a standard whose aim is clarified by the benchmark,“Listens to others and participates in group efforts.”5

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004Nine Keys to Effective Prekindergarten Standards (continued)5Standards should allow for a coherenteducational experience.When there are too many outcome standards, educationbecomes fragmented as teachers jump from one area tothe next, never spending enough time to offer the rangeof experiences young children need to really learn. Thosewho set outcome standards for preschoolers should striveto avoid this problem.Coherence also means that standards for one grade or levelshould align with the next. Standards should create acontinuum that flows from prekindergarten through highschool graduation or beyond. In K-12, content-specific skillsand knowledge can generally be presented sequentially. Aschildren progress through school, expectations build on theoutcome standards set for the previous grade.For preschoolers… Today, the need for the continuityfrom prekindergarten education through higher education(often referred to as P-16 education) appears to be widelyaccepted among educators. 7 At the same time, it is clear that“very few of the content area standards apply meaningfullyto very young children,” 9 and continuity should not occurat the expense of making preschool standards inappropriate.Placing preschool standards on a continuum of learningoutcomes is a challenging endeavor for a number ofreasons.Early childhood development does not always follow alinear path. It is not always straightforward to workbackwards from a higher grade. One cannot simply takean outcome expected by the end of third grade and stipulatethat one-fourth of this standard must be reached by theend of the prekindergarten year. In this respect, preschooloutcomes differ from most academic standards set for olderstudents.Continuity from preschool to elementary school standardsis especially challenging because existing outcome standardsfor the kindergarten year tend to be problematic.Kindergarten outcomes generally have been set using the“working backwards” approach. They are typically includedas a part of a larger grade band, such as K-2 or K-4, andthey are stated in terms of what should be accomplished bythe end of the highest grade. For example, by the end ofkindergarten, children may be expected to know the first30 of the 100 most common vocabulary words that shouldbe mastered by the end of second grade. This seemsreasonable, but few of the 30 words are likely to appearin the books children encounter in kindergarten (althoughthey become more common as children move throughelementary school). Basing preschool standards on afaulty kindergarten standard would be detrimental.Because kindergarten outcomes tend to be modeledon second- or fourth-grade standards, they often ignorethe developmental needs of 5-year-olds. For example,the domains of oral language development and socioemotionaldevelopment are often given inadequateattention. When kindergarten standards do not focussufficiently on foundational skills, aligning expectationswith kindergarten outcomes can have an adverse impacton preschool child outcomes.6

Preschool Policy Brief March 20046Standards should make sense to teachers and helpthem with their day-to-day work.Since the goal is to affect what children learn, standardsonly work if the skills and concepts children are expectedto master are the same skills and concepts they are taughtin the classroom and the same skills and concepts that aremeasured by assessments. Teachers must to be able toorient the educational experiences they offer to the skillsand content specified in the child outcome standards.For this to happen, the content of the standards mustbe developmentally appropriate, and standards should bespecific enough to allow teachers to know what is expectedof their students.Teachers should be able to align curriculum and classroomassessments with the standards. This alignment is crucial tothe effectiveness of standards. As analysts have observed, 7,19,20standards-based reform can be expected to produce a positiveimpact on student learning only when an instructionalsystem is “...driven by content standards, which aretranslated into assessments, curriculum materials,and professional development, which are all, inturn, tightly aligned to the content standards.” 20For preschoolers… As noted earlier, youngchildren learn in the context of interactionswith important adults and peers. Theirdevelopment and learning hinge on theirindividual developmental pathways andthe experiences they have in their homes,communities, and classrooms. For thisreason, there is great variation in howand when different children masterthe same knowledge and skills.Early childhood teachers therefore need more flexibilitythan K-12 teachers in how they implement child outcomestandards, and this flexibility must be built into the standards.Preschool child outcome standards must be usedwith reflection, not followed blindly. 21Standards documents should emphasize that teachersshould accommodate children’s learning strengths, needs,and interests wherever they are on the developmentalcontinuum, rather than trying to speed up or slow downtheir learning. A standards document can make this point,for example, by providing several levels of performance fora particular standard.Moreover, preschool standards should accommodate notonly specific concepts and skills, but also the foundationalskills (such as listening or paying attention) that developas children move throughearly childhood.7

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004Nine Keys to Effective Prekindergarten Standards (continued)87 8Standards must be written in a way that makesit possible to assess whether they are being met in aclassroom.For standards to strengthen instruction and boost achievementthey must be amenable to assessment. Schoolsand programs must be able to document both programstandards (the resources, activities, and instruction programsprovide to help children learn) and child outcome standards(the knowledge, skills, and dispositions children demonstrate).All assessments need to be fair and technically sound.Assessment policies related to children with special needsor English language learners should be clearly set out.For preschoolers… Assessment presents one of the toughestchallenges for states as they introduce preschool outcomestandards. Educators and parents have many concernsabout the appropriateness of standardized readiness testsfor preschoolers. They also worry about the potential misuseof assessments to label young children or delay kindergartenentry. 13Using outcome standards for accountability purposes is animportant part of standards-based reform, 22 but using themto evaluate early childhood programs presents seriousproblems. Many early childhood assessment experts agreethat most standardized instruments cannot yield valid andreliable data on young children’s learning outcomes and atthe same time be cost-effective enough to be used on a largescale to compare different programs. 22,23In some areas, such as fine motor skills or literacy skills, theconnection between the standard and assessment is relativelyclear. The challenge is to select the best method for measuringchildren’s knowledge of print or their mastery of hand-eyecoordination. In other areas, such as social and emotionaldevelopment, standards are often written in a more generalway, and this makes it harder to assess children’s progressin meeting the standards. In this case, accompanying documentsare needed that specify performance standards, whichdescribe the level at which children should be able to performand ways to assess their progress.Because the assessment of young children presents so manychallenges, experts advise that standardized tests be used sparinglyfor accountability purposes. States or districts may wantto test a randomly identified number of children attendinga specific program, rather than testing every child. Moreover,they advise against looking at assessment solely as an accountabilityor program evaluation tool. This narrow view overlooksthe benefits children derive when assessments helpprograms and teachers strengthen children’s classroomexperiences.Standard documents should distinguish clearlybetween program standards and outcome standards.Those who establish standards need to differentiate betweenstandards that specify “inputs” (such as the number of hourschildren spend in an educational program, the qualificationsof the teachers, or the materials and resources provided)and standards that indicate “outputs” (what children knowand can do as a result of participation).For preschoolers… This distinction is particularlyimportant. While preschool program standards have existedfor many years, the use of child outcome standards isrelatively new. Because both are important, states need to draftseparate documents for program standards and child outcomestandards. As things stand, some states have mixed both typesof standards in the same document, causing considerableconfusion for the public and those who implement the standards— whether policymakers, program directors, teachers,or evaluators.9Child outcome standards should be designed inways that offer benefits beyond strengtheningaccountability.Researchers have noted that child outcome standards “havepotential benefits beyond addressing pressures for increasedaccountability.” 1 For example, they can support curriculumdevelopment and focus attention on important aspects ofchildren’s growth and development.For preschoolers… Reaching consensus on outcomesstandards can help states, communities, and programsto enhance public understanding of early developmentand learning; strengthen curriculum development andprofessional development; inform primary gradecurriculum development; and improve transition tokindergarten.

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004SummaryCreating preschool outcome standards poses many of the same challenges faced by policymakers and educators as they set standardsfor K-12 and beyond. At the same time, preschool standards present special considerations related to both the nature ofearly development and learning and the characteristics of early childhood programs. Absent attention to these considerations,educators may fail to extend to young children all of the benefits that standards-based education has to offer. Indeed, applyingstandards without regard to the unique challenges of early childhood education may have adverse effects on children in the longrun. If policymakers and early childhood educators take an approach that reflects today’s best understandings of early childhooddevelopment and high-quality early education, everyone stands to gain.Policy Recommendations• Because standards reflect the values of the people who set them, collaboration with families and communities is a keyto the successful design and implementation of preschool standards.• Standards documents should distinguish clearly between program standards and child outcome standards.• Outcome standards need to be written in ways that take into account the unique ways that young children develop and learn,considering all aspects of school readiness identified by the National Education Goal Panel.• Standards that address physical health, social-emotional development, and approaches to learning need to have as muchemphasis and specificity as those that address cognitive and language development.• Standards should allow for a coherent educational experience. Preschool standards should allow continuity with kindergartenstandards, but not at the expense of attention to physical and social-emotional development.• Standards should be written in ways that allow for appropriate, effective assessment. Assessment policies and practices shouldgo beyond accountability to foster program improvement.9

Preschool Policy Brief March 2004Endnotes:1Scott-Little, C., Kagan, S.L., & Frelow, V.S. (2003, Fall). Creating the conditions for success with early learning standards:Results from a national study of state-level standards for children’s learning prior to kindergarten. Early ChildhoodResearch & Practice, 5,(2). Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v5n2/little.html.2Reynolds,A.J., Temple, J.A., Robertson, D.L., & Mann, E.A. (2001). Long-term effects of an early childhood intervention oneducational achievement and juvenile arrest: A 15-year follow-up of low-income children in public schools,” Journal of theAmerican Medical Association 285:2339-2346.3Schweinhart, L.J. (2002). Making Validated Educational Models Central in Preschool Standards. Working Paper writtenfor the National Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/docs/index.php?DocID=15.4Scott-Little, C., Kagan, S.L., & Frelow, V.S. (2003). Standards for preschool children's learning and development:Who has standards, how were they developed, and how are they used? Greensboro, NC: SERVE.5Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R., Eds. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind experience, and school.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.6Shonkoff, J., & Phillips, D. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.7Marzano, R.J., & Kendal, J.S. (1997). The fall and rise of standards-based education: A National Association of SchoolBoards of Education (NASBE) issues in brief. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.8Education Commission of the States. (2000). Setting the standard: Will higher expectations improve studentachievement? The Progress of Education Reform, 1(5). Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States.9U. S. Department of Education. (2001). The Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance (LESCP)in Title I schools. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education.10Kendal, J.S. (2003). Standards and early learning. Educational Leadership, 60 (7), 64-68.11Neuman, S.B., Roskos, K., Vukelich, C., & Clements, D. (2003). The state of state prekindergarten standards in 2003.Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Improving Early Reading Achievement (CIERA).12Bowman, B.T., Donovan, M.S., & Burns, M.S., (Eds.) (2000). Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers. Washington, DC:National Academy Press.13Carnegie Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades. (1996). Years of promise: A comprehensive learning strategy forAmerica's children. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.14Kagan, S.L., Moore, E., & Bredekamp, S. (1995). Reconsidering children's early development and learning: Toward commonviews and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel.15Blair, C. (2002). School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children'sfunctioning at school entry. American Psychologist, 57 (2),111-127.16Thompson, R.A., & Happold, C.A. (2002). The roots of school readiness in social and emotional development.Washington DC: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.kauffman.org/pdf/eex_brochure.pdf.17Marzano, R.J., Kendal, J.S., & Cicchinelli, L. (1998). What Americans believe students should know: A survey of U.S. adults.Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.18Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: NationalAcademy Press.19Burns, M.S., Midgette, K., Leong, D., & Bodrova, E. (2003). Prekindergarten benchmarks for language and literacy: Progressmade and challenges to be met. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/docs/index.php?DocID=61.20Chaterji, M. (2002). Models and methods for examining standards-based reforms and accountability initiatives: Have thetools of inquiry answered pressing questions on improving schools? Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 345-386.21Porter, A.C. (2002). Measuring the content of instruction: Uses in research and practice. Educational Researcher, 31 (7), 3-14.22Shepard, L., Kagan, S.L., & Wurtz, E. (Eds.) (1998). Principles and Recommendations for early childhood assessments.Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel.23Jones, J. (2003). Early literacy assessment systems: Essential elements. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.10

y Elena Bodrova, Ph.D., Deborah J. Leong, Ph.D. and Rima Shore, Ph.D.Dr. Bodrova is a Senior Researcher at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) in Aurora, CO,and Dr. Leong is a Professor of Psychology at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. Both Drs. Bodrova and Leongare NIEER Research Fellows. Rima Shore holds the Adelaide Weismann Chair in Educational Leadership at Bank StreetCollege of Education.Child Outcome Standards in Pre-K Programs: What Are Standards; What Is Needed To Make Them Work?is issue 5 in a series of briefs, Preschool Policy Matters, developed by The National Institute for Early Education Research. Itmay be reprinted with permission, provided there are no changes in the content.Available online under “Publications” at nieer.orgThis document was prepared with the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Trusts’ Starting Early, Starting Stronginitiative seeks to advance high-quality prekindergarten for all the nation’s three-and four-year-olds through objective,policy-focused research, state public education campaigns and national outreach. The opinions expressed in this reportare those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts.NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOREARLY EDUCATION RESEARCH120 Albany Street, Suite 500 New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901(Tel) 732-932-4350 (Fax) 732-932-4360Website: nieer.orgInformation: info@nieer.org1