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

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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
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