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

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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
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