Factors Influencing Parents’ Decision to Use Public Pre-K Programs in Maine: Results of a Parent Survey

This report presents the findings of a parent survey conducted in January-February 2016 by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) at the request of the Maine State Legislature, to investigate barriers to participation in public pre-K programs for four year olds and other factors that influence parents’ decisions to use preschool programs (public or private) or no preschool. The report builds on earlier MEPRI research on preschool programs in Maine conducted through surveys and case study interviews in 2015. Together, the MEPRI data serve to inform state and local decisions about public preschool and specifically the proposed legislation LD 1394 “An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Strengthen the Adequacy and Equity of Certain Cost Components of the School Funding Formula”

The Persona Doll Project: Promoting Diversity Awareness Among Preservice Teachers Through Storytelling

The Persona Doll Project describes an experiential intervention with undergraduate preservice teachers designed to increase awareness about diversity and apply this awareness to curriculum planning and advocacy for children. Sixty-three undergraduate students in a social studies methods class were each assigned a persona doll for the semester whose background differed from their own. Each was charged with becoming the advocate for the child, represented by the doll, by telling informed stories that would help other students better understand a level of diversity beyond what they knew from their own lives. Students heightened awareness of their own assumptions through narrative, inquiry and reflection and used that knowledge to critically analyze teaching practices that promote inclusion or exclusion. Students reported increased confidence for working in diverse communities. One goal of teacher education programs is to prepare teachers to work with students from racial/cultural/linguistic backgrounds other than their own. This article provides one example of how to address this important goal

The Effects of Day Care Participation on Parent-Infant Interaction at Home

This study assessed how parents who placed their children in a high-quality infant and toddler program were, over time, influenced by three salient features of the center: its child-centered focus, its social orientation, and its support for men in nurturing roles

The Effects of Day Care Participation on Parent-Infant Interaction at Home

This study assessed how parents who placed their children in a high-quality infant and toddler program were, over time, influenced by three salient features of the center: its child-centered focus, its social orientation, and its support for men in nurturing roles

Public Preschool Programs in Maine: Four Case Studies of Quality Programs

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This is a follow-up to the report Public Preschool Programs in Maine: Current Status and Characteristics, submitted as part of the 2014/2015 EPS Commission work, as well as the 2014/2015 Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) work plan. This report presents case studies of four quality Pre-K programs identified through previous superintendent and Pre- K teacher surveys, and analysis of data from the State Longitudinal Data System. Pre-K programs were selected based on the extent to which they were already addressing the Chapter 124 standards, as well as their historical pattern of future student performance on state testing (controlling for student demographic factors such as free/reduced lunch status, ELL, special education placement, etc). Programs were also selected to reflect geographic, demographic, and programmatic variation Case studies were conducted by MEPRI in spring 2015 with the purpose of illustrating the characteristics and features of several quality Pre-K programs, and to present some of the challenges and solutions they have addressed. Case studies were based on site visits conducted at each school. Site visits included a classroom observation and interviews with the school principal and teacher in order to inquire about the history, implementation, challenges and perceived advantages of including Pre-K within the elementary schools. Not surprisingly, programs are aware of the Chapter 124 regulations and are taking steps to be ready for the changes. Nevertheless, participating schools reported making trade-offs with regard to space, schedule, staffing and curriculum in order to balance resources and regulations with local community needs. In general, indoor spaces are more compliant than outdoor spaces. Special classes are available in these schools, but some teachers value the flexibility to choose which ones to access given the children in the group, the developmental demands of the classes, and the available schedule. Transportation is a concern for those programs not currently offering that service. Programs that are close to or over the 16 student class-size limit acknowledge the conflicting struggle between recognizing that smaller classrooms allow more individualized teaching and learning, and concern that limiting class size may result in families no longer being able to access Pre-K. Administratively, principals for these schools are highly supportive of Pre-K. They see social and academic benefits for children from having the programs in the schools. They appreciate the unique characteristics of 4-year olds and the specialized skills needed by teachers The Pre-K teachers for all of these programs report high levels of involvement and concern regarding their students and families. This can involve exceptional extra time and energy in working with families, as well as partnering with fellow faculty regarding ongoing curriculum changes and transition into kindergarten. In this regard, professional development is taking many forms. In part this can reflect Pre-K and larger school schedules. Some Pre-K programs are scheduled in ways that support professional development opportunities for the teachers, while others are scheduled in ways that increase access for children but limit participation of teachers in school-wide planning. Similarly, some professional development supports the curriculum work of whole schools (including Pre-K) while in other schools, the Pre-K professional development is structured separately. Regardless, teachers report appreciating professional development opportunities, particularly in response to ongoing changes in K-12 that also impact Pre-K. Specifically, as schools move toward proficiency-based learning and assessment, new implications arise for how Pre-K programs collaborate with kindergarten and transition children into kindergarten. Collaboration and coordinated professional development may help in this regard. Schools are reportedly more aware of Chapter 124 than of the new Maine Early Learning and Development Standards. Teachers and administrators will also need professional development about the new standards and guidance on assessing progress toward the standards within the context of proficiency-based assessment. All programs report high achievement of children in Pre-K but given the range of assessment measures and curricula used, it impossible to exam in depth across sites. While highly valued, local funding will reportedly impact the numbers of children served in Pre- K. Currently, children are not turned away from the programs visited for this report. However, in order to accomplish this other district programs were used at times and in some cases class size exceeded the recommended limit of 16 children. Administrators are concerned about limiting access to families now that Pre-K is viewed as a core part of these schools. Furthermore, most v communities are experiencing some degree of budget cuts, which affects the long-term stability of Pre-K programs, even in those communities with very long-standing commitments to early childhood. Finally, principals and teachers in both urban and rural districts expressed concern about delays between referral for screening and receipt of special education services from CDS. It was reportedly particularly frustrating for those schools that had service personnel in the school and availability in the schedule, but were still unable to have those children served

Talking with Young Children about Social Ideas

During the early childhood years, children’s understanding of many social and moral issues undergoes immense changes. We became interested in learning more about these changes and supporting them through our laboratory preschool curriculum. One major change, for example, is that children come to classify themselves and others into sex, age, and kinship categories and to learn social role expectations. Children also show greatly deepened understanding of such moral issues as fair sharing, obedience, authority, and friendship. These areas of development are part of what can be called social cognition, or “children’s understanding of social behavior—what children think about their own behavior and the behavior of others” (Moore 1979, p. 54). Recent research on social cognition has generated a great deal of new information very useful to educators. This research describes the typical developmental stages in children’s social thinking, and is based on Piagetian theory. Stated briefly, “Understanding others is not merely a matter of ‘learning more’ about people in some quantitative sense; it is organizing what one knows into systems of meaning or belief” (Shantz 1975, p. 266). Most published social cognition activities have focused on children’s role-taking skills. Forman and Hill (1980), for example, offer many ingenious examples of how teachers can help children to understand what specific information is like from another person’s perspective. Out of this grows the ability to better understand the other person’s behavior. Educators have also developed curriculum ideas for stimulating children’s interpersonal problem-solving. Teachers can help a group of children to learn to notice and name a problem, generate alternative solutions, and evaluate the consequences of the alternatives (Spivack and Shure 1974; Copple, Sigel and Saunders 1979). While we used these activities as a foundation for our social cognition curriculum, we also wanted to venture into new program areas. We began to develop learning encounters concerning equally important issues such as social roles, justice in sharing, and the distinction between moral and conventional rules. Our goal was not to transmit either our values or factual information to the children concerning these issues. Rather, we had two major aims: 1. To present intellectually challenging problems that children could discuss either individually or as a group. This we believed would stimulate them to think about social and moral issues. 2. To learn about the varied aspects of the children’s social and moral thinking, and then to use this information as a basis for less authoritarian guidance and management. In implementing our goals, we focused on three different kinds of learning encounters: the dramatic skit, presented to a large group or the entire class; the thinking game, aimed at an individual child or a very small group; and the spontaneous discussion, relevant for a teacher interacting with any number of children

The Influence of Model Infant Group Care on Parent/Child Interaction at Home.

The effects of day care participation on parent-child interaction at home were assessed using a university-based, half-day, high-quality infant-toddler program. Hypotheses concerned whether child-centered features of the physical and social environment were carried over by parents to the home. Nineteen matched pairs of center and noncenter children (ages 2-24 months at start) were followed for 8 months. All had employed or student mothers. Methods included brief parent-reported spot observations, a videotaped observation of a bathing or feeding routine, and home environment assessments. Parents showed few group differences during the first half of the study period. At study end, however, center homes were more child-centered with respect to play, safety, and dinner arrangements. Center parents scored higher in proximity and warmth and lower in teacher-avoided behaviors. Noncenter parents at study end scored higher in authority (limit setting) and communicating values and labels. The findings are interpreted as supporting an ecological model of substantial intersection and cross-influence between home and day care settings