volume 1 4, issue 3 summer 2005
TRANSCRIPT
In this issue:
• Standards for Early
Learning
• Changing the Landscape
of Early Childhood
through a MOU
• News from KDHE
• News from KSDE
o Monitoring Priorities and Indicators
o MIS 2006 Data
Dictionary
o IDEA Improvement
Act
• kits eUpdate
• Evidence-Based Primary
Coaching Initiative
Standard-based approach has been one of the most comprehensive reforms that influenced many areas of education and now it has started pro-ducing positive results: according to a longitudinal study of at-risk children in Title I schools, students' initial reading scores tended to be higher in classrooms where teachers reported they were aware of, and implement-ing, policies of standards-based re-form. In this context, it is natural to expect that emphasis on early learn-ing standards should result in a simi-lar improvement in quality of early childhood programs. However, an analysis of existing Pre-K and Kin-dergarten standards documents indi-cates that there still exists a consider-
Standards for Early Learning: What Are They: How We Can Make Them Work By Elena Bodrova 2005 KITS Summer Institute Presenter
Changing the Landscape of Early Childhood through a
Memorandum of Understanding: A Collaborative Training for
Head Start & Early Intervention/ Special Education
State leadership from Head Start, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Infant-Toddler Services (tiny-k networks), Kansas State Department of Education, State Inter-agency Coordinating Council and Kansas Inservice Training System (KITS) will gather to discuss with local partners the issues of children
KITS Newsletter is published quarterly and supported by a grant from the Kansas State Department of Education (Grant Number 26004). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the State Department of Education, or the University of Kansas, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Issues of the Newsletter can be downloaded from kskits.org/newsletter/newsletter.html
Newsletter Staff
Editor: Robin Bayless, M.A.
Project Director:
David P. Lindeman, Ph.D.
able amount of confusion about what the early learning standards are and how they should be used.
“Standards,” “benchmarks,” and related terms and concepts are ways of organizing the large amount of information and number of skills that children in school are expected to learn. Keeping these useful organiz-ing tools straight is sometimes diffi-cult because of the many terms that are used in almost the same way. Standards may be called “early learning standards,” “learning out-comes,” “desired results,” “expecta-tions,” “goals,” or some other terms. Benchmarks may be called “indica-tors,” or “learning expectations.” You
with disabilities and developmental delays who are served jointly in Head Start, special education and tiny-k programs. Early intervention (tiny-k) and special education (Part B) per-sonnel are encouraged to participate, along with their Head Start partners, in this opportunity. Two primary
Volume 14, Issue 3 Summer 2005
Changing the Landscape continues on page 6
Standards continues on page 4
Comments from Summer
Institute
“Great experience!”
“Awesome workshop! I’m
looking forward to coming
again next year!”
“Speakers were very
knowledgeable in their fields.”
“You guys are the best! You
know what we need. You
make us (as a profession) feel
respected!”
Summer Institute 2005
Page 2 of 10 KITS Newsletter
Coordinator’s Corner
NEWS FROM KDHE Greetings from Topeka! What a busy year this has been so far! With the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 just imple-mented, many questions are being asked and KDHE is doing its best to be responsive to all of you. Guidance on the regulations has yet to be developed so please stay tuned as we begin the process of updating our procedure manual. Two statewide initiatives are currently taking place. The first is the Caring for Infant Toddlers: A
Physicians Training (CFIT) and the second is Evidence-Based Primary
Coaching (see related article on page 6). Teams will be trained in September in Primary Coaching with the intention of training more teams on this approach early next year. Vera Lynne Stroup-Rentier of KITS and Ellen Mellard of OT Infant-Toddler TA project are coordinating these training activities. Ryan Weir of KDHE is leading the CFIT initiative and is tentatively planning the first in a series of ITV trainings to be held in March of 2006. As always, please contact myself or the other members of the Infant-Toddler State Team, Joe Porting and Ryan Weir, if you have questions.
Deanna Peterson [email protected]
785-296-2245
Joe Porting [email protected]
Ryan Weir rweir@kdhe. state.ks.us
—submitted by Deanna Peterson, Part C
Coordinator, KDHE Infant-Toddler
Services
NEWS FROM KSDE
Brochures Available
Three early childhood bro-chures are available by request through KSDE Student Support Services:
1. Quality Early Learning Expe-
riences describes the compo-nents of a quality early child-hood program and includes a list of additional resources.
2. Kansas Early Learning Guide-
lines: A Developmental
Sequence provides information on why the guidelines were developed and what they include.
3. Building the Foundation for
Successful Children includes the Kansas vision for school readiness, guiding principles, and goals.
If you want copies of any or all
of these colorful, informative bro-chures, contact Beccy Strohm at [email protected] and include which brochures you are request-ing and the quantity you need. Monitoring Priorities and
Indicators
Congress is requesting sys-tematic data about the effects of programs on children and their families. They want to know whether children have progressed and whether families are more capable.
In 1993, Congress enacted the Government Performance and
News from KSDE continues on page 8
Mark your calendar for
Summer Institute 2006
in Manhattan on June
20th through 23rd
DATE EVENT CONTACT PERSON
9/8/05, 9/30/05, 11/1/05 or 11/9/05
Changing the Landscape of Early Childhood through a
Memorandum of Understanding: A Collaborative Training
for Head Start & Early Intervention/Special Education, 9/8 in Great Bend; 9/30 in Topeka; 11/1 in Salina; or 11/9 in Augusta
Mary Baskett, [email protected] or 913-422-1700 or Vera Stroup-Rentier 620-421-6550 ext. 1768 [email protected]
Various dates Kansas Home Visitation Training: Preparing Kansas Home
Visitors for Success, 9/27-30 & 10/5-7/05 in Wellington; 10/3-5 & 10/12-14/05 in Dodge City; 11/2-4 & 11/16-18/05 in Salina
Mary Baskett [email protected] 913-422-1700
9/28-29/05 2005 Vision Professional Institute: Communication,
Literacy, and Speaking the Language of the Hands, Wichita
Anne Nielson [email protected]
9/29-10/1/05 Families Together Trainer of Trainers [email protected]
9/30-10/1/05 2005 Fall Parent/Family Workshop: Communication,
Literacy, and Speaking the Language of the Hands, KC
Anne Nielson [email protected]
10/13-14/05 Kansas CEC Conference, Wichita Annette Gaitan, 913-334-6708, [email protected]
10/27-28/05 Service/Care Coordination: What Do We Know & How Can
We Do it Better? St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands
Melissa Van Buren 860-679-1586
11/2-4/05 29th Annual Governor’s Conference for the Prevention of
Child Abuse and Neglect, Topeka Vicky Roper 316-942-4261 ext. 251
11/3-4/05 4th Midwest Faculty Institute, Natural Allies in Early
Education, Kansas City, KS Janet or Kim 402-597-4820
11/4-5/05 Parent Leadership Conference, Topeka Tammy Aguilar, 785-368-6350, [email protected]
11/17-18/05 Kansas Head Start Association Annual Conference, Wichita Mary Baskett, 913-422-1700
12/3/05 Families Together Statewide Conference, Wichita [email protected]
2/11/06 Families Together Statewide Conference, Kansas City [email protected]
3/2-3/06 Kansas Division for Early Childhood Conf, Overland Park Dale Walker, [email protected]
4/26-28/06 KSDE Annual Conference/TDAP Conf, Wichita www.ksde.org/annualconference
6/20-23/06 KITS Summer Institute, Manhattan Misty Goosen, 785-864-0725, [email protected]
Other Training Calendars: • KCCTO child care or CDA advisor trainings: http://www.kccto.org/training.htm
• Families Together Family Enrichment Weekends, Parent Networking Conferences and Mini-Conferences: www.familiestogetherinc.com
• HeadsUp Network distance training for Head Start and early childhood: www.heads-up.org
• Children’s Alliance Training Team: www.childally.org/training/training.html • KACCRRA: www.kaccrra.org • Capper Foundation: www.capper.org
• Council for Exceptional Children: www.cec.sped-org/pd • KSDE Student Support Services: online.ksde.org/calendar.asp
The Collaborative Calendar of Events (kskits.org/ktc)
Page 3 of 10 KITS Newsletter
Standards continues from page 1
No Matter What by
Debi Gliori is the book
chosen for Kansas
Reads to Preschoolers
—One State, One Book
project for 2005!
Governor Kathleen
Sebelius, Honorary
Chair, helps the State
Library of Kansas
highlight the
importance of reading
to preschoolers the
week of November 14-
20, 2005!
Scholastic Books (1-
800-SCHOLAS) has
5,000 paperback copies
of NO MATTER WHAT
at $4.95 each.
Check out the website:
kansasreadstokids.org
For more information
contact Vikki Jo
Stewart, Special
Projects Director,
Kansas State Library,
620-331-8218,
Page 4 of 10 KITS Newsletter
may have to figure out what specific terms mean by looking at the way they are used, and their relationship to other terms.
A content standard (sometimes simply called “standards”) is a sum-mary description regarding what it is that students should know and/or be able to do. There might be several content standards within mathemat-ics, social studies, music, health, lan-guage and literacy, science, or other important areas of learning. For ex-ample, mathematics might have separate content standards for ge-ometry and spatial sense, patterns and relationships, number sense and nu-meration, measurement, estimation, fractions, and other important aspects of mathematics. Together, they would add up to what children were ex-pected to know and be able to do in mathematics. In most standards documents, the language used to write a content standard represents what older students are expected to learn and may not be directly appli-cable to younger children who are still developing the prerequisites for a given academic competency.
A benchmark is an age, grade, or developmentally appropriate expres-sion of a knowledge or skill that is more broadly stated in the standard to which it refers. Benchmarks translate the standard into what a child should understand or be able to do at a spe-cific level.
For example, the standard stu-
dents demonstrate competence in the
general skills and strategies of the
reading process describes what is expected from primary or upper ele-mentary students. However, this stan-dard can be broken down into a series
of benchmarks such as know the dif-
ference between print and pictures or know the names of the letters of the
alphabet to specify what is realistic to expect at the end of pre-k or kinder-garten.
Performance standards specify the level of achievement that is ex-pected in relation to a given standard or benchmark. They try to specify “how good is good enough?” For example, for the same benchmark children know
the names of the letters of the alpha-
bet, there would be different expecta-tions for a preschooler who might only know the letters of her own name and for a first grader who is expected not only to know all capital and lower case letters but also to identify them across various fonts.
In early childhood community, the use of term “standard” to describe child outcomes is relatively new. This term was used in the past primarily to de-scribe program standards. This may present an additional source of confu-sion. Remember, program standards
describe the resources, activities, and instruction programs offer to help chil-dren learn. Program standards incor-porate classroom standards that iden-tify classroom characteristics and teaching and curriculum standards (sometimes described as opportunities to learn or activities.) While program standards may influence what teachers do, they are generally intended to guide administrators.
Whether you are involved in writ-ing standards or are trying to figure out what standards mean for your class-room teaching there are several char-acteristics of successful standards to keep in mind: Standards continues on page 5
1. Child outcomes need to be written in terms of what children should
know and be able to do. For example, children will be
exposed to age-appropriate literature
about the senses is not a good way to state a child outcome since it does not describe what is a new knowledge or skill a child is supposed to learn but instead what are the learning opportunities the teacher should make available to this child. A child knows
the proper way to handle books (e.g.,
hold the book upright; turn pages
from front to back, one at a time) is a better way to describe one of the competencies a young child is expected to develop in the area of early literacy. Another example of the way not to write standard is to include a statement of what children have not yet developed such as children feel if something is shared
for a brief period, it is gone forever.
2. Child outcomes need to be research-based with research identifying a specific competence as a) necessary for later development and b) realistically attainable by young children.
Examples of child outcomes that are not based on a solid research foundation include statements of unrealistically high expectations such as [preschool] children explain basic
economic concepts of needs, wants,
scarcity, choice, money and division
of labor or [preschool] children
identify the characteristics that
differentiate living from non-living
things.
3. Child outcomes have to be written in a language that is clear enough for the teachers to be able to make sure that they a) address
Preschool: America’s
Best Investment
Can investing in high
quality early education reduce the demand for
high-cost special
education, social
welfare and criminal justice systems? A
new video from the
National Institute for Early Education
Research (NIEER)
features children in preschool, parents
and researchers who
weigh in on this issue.
The seven-minute film is available in both
VHS and DVD
formats.
To request a free
copy, please email [email protected]
or go to
nieer.org/resources/vi
deo/ for more
information.
Page 5 of 10 KITS Newsletter
these standards in their teaching and b) can assess their students’ progress towards attaining these standards.
For example, such statements as children sort things into subgroups
by different characteristics or children use tools for investigation
are too vague for a teacher to meaningfully use them in the classroom. By contrast, statements such as children order objects by
measurable attribute (e.g., smallest
to largest, lightest to heaviest,
shortest to longest) are specific enough for teachers to use in their instruction and assessment.
Finally, standards that specify knowledge and skills—content standards—do not identify all aspects of development and learning, especially for young children. Some areas of development, such as physical development, are extremely important in early years but usually do not get similar attention from the teachers of higher grades. Other important outcomes cut across all disciplines and involve such things as self-confidence, the ability to work with others, problem-solving, decision-making, self-regulation, planning, reasoning, and critical thinking. These habits of mind and action are sometimes called “life-long learning standards”. In particular, the emotional and social competencies so important to young children’s de-velopment and learning are difficult to categorize into discrete knowledge and skills but these areas need to be represented in early learning standards at the same level of detail as the content areas that are more closely aligned with the K-12 standards.
—submitted by Elena Bodrova
Standards continues from page 4
goals for this day include sharing of resources and practices across local and state programs and the develop-ment or continuation of a shared Memorandum of Understanding. Participants will enhance their under-standing of what should be included in a well-written memorandum of un-derstanding. Lastly, state panelists will be available to answer questions from local partners.
Four regional sites across the state are hosting this opportunity (see side bar for places and addresses). The KITS project will pay $15 of your $25 registration fee if you are tiny-k network provider, special education provider or family. Make your $10.00 check payable to Kansas Head Start Association and mail to:
KHSA 22521 W. 53rd Terrace Shawnee, KS 66226
Changing the Landscape continues from page 1
Many programs attended the May 23rd training in Salina entitled Promoting Evidence Based
Practices in Early Intervention and Early Child-
hood in Kansas. There was an overwhelming re-quest to do continued training in our state. Based on these requests, the Occupational Therapy Infant-Toddler Technical Assistance project, the KITS project and KDHE Infant-Toddler Services have collaborated to bring M’Lisa Shelden and Dathan Rush of the Puckett Institute in Ashville, North Carolina to Kansas. Shelden and Rush will provide a training on Evidence-Based Primary
Coaching on September 12th through 14th to five Part C networks who were chosen through an application process.
Evidenced-Based Primary Coaching Initiative
Page 6 of 10 KITS Newsletter
Indicate which training you will be attending. Registration forms can be downloaded from
kskits.org/conferences/headstart/ Index.html
Questions about these trainings
should be directed to Vera Lynne Stroup-Rentier at [email protected] or 620-421-6550 ext. 1768. Participants are encouraged to bring families who receive services from both Head Start as well as early intervention and spe-cial education. See you there!
—submitted by Vera Lynne Stroup-
Rentier, KITS
The overall goal of this initiative is to support these networks in building the capacity of practitioners/family service coordinators to use evidence-based practices in supporting families and their young children with disabilities in natural learning environments (per Part C of IDEA). Teams will be trained and supported as they go forward in their implementation of this initiative.
Efforts are underway to continue this initiative beyond the first five teams. Please stay tuned for more details in future newsletters!
—submitted by Vera Lynne Stroup-Rentier, KITS
Collaborative Training Dates Sept. 8 – Great Bend
Front Door Facility,
Lecture Hall, 1615
10th St, Great Bend Sept. 30 – SRS
Learning Center,
Room B, 2600 SW
East Circle Drive
South, Topeka
Nov. 1 - Heartland
Programs, 700
Jupiter, Salina
Nov. 9 - Augusta
Head Start, 730 Cliff Dr., Augusta
In an effort to provide our list service subscribers with topical in-formation, KITS has developed kits
eUpdate. This service highlights multiple information sources in one email thereby reducing the number of email messages you receive from our list services. When possible we will group messages with a common theme or topic, but realize this will not always be possible in order to provide information in a timely man-ner.
If you are subscribed to a KITS list service (list serv), then you will
• Sleep Like a Baby: What Every Parent Needs to Know About Babies &
Sleep • Enhancing Early Attachments: Theory, Research, Intervention, and Policy • Blended Practices for Teaching Young Children in Inclusive Settings • Families, Schools, and Communities: Together for Young Children
• Sensory Profile • Health and Injury Prevention • Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales II
New Materials Available for Check-out from the KITS Early
Childhood Resource Center
Contact ECRC:
620-421-6550 ext. 1651
800-362-0390 ext. 1651
Email:
web: kskits.org/ecrc
fax:
620-421-6550 ext. 1791
Mailing address:
2601 Gabriel
Parsons, KS 67357
Page 7 of 10 KITS Newsletter
automatically receive eUpdates. If you are not receiving email and would like to, please check the KITS website at kskits.org/html/listserv/listservices or contact Tammie Benham at [email protected] or 620-421-6550 ext. 1638. Additionally, back issues of kits eUpdate are available on our website at kskits.org/eupdate
We hope that this new effort will be of benefit and not duplicate other information that you receive. As al-ways, KITS staff welcomes feedback regarding our program. —submitted by Tammie Benham, KITS Early Childhood Resource Center
Save the Date! Nurturing Successful Children
KAEYC Conference
October 15, 2005 at Manhattan, Kansas
Visit kaeyc.org for registration information and to view
the preliminary program.
will no longer continue to receive funds. (Issues in Designing State
Accountability Systems, August 2004)
The need for effectiveness data to submit to Congress has resulted in a new EC indicator. This indicator is the percent of preschool children with IEPs who demonstrate improved positive social-emotional skills (in-cluding social relationships); acquisi-tion and use of knowledge and skills (including early language/communi-cation and early literacy); and use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs. For new indicators, states must develop a plan to collect and a plan to report baseline data by 12/2/05. There will be multiple opportunities for stakeholders to provide input into this plan. MIS 2006 Data Dictionary
Changes in OSEP’s data reporting requirements have resulted in changes in how early childhood (EC) placement data is reported in Kansas. EC (age 3-5) data is reported on two tiers—children who attend a regular preschool program measured as a percentage of time and children who do not attend a regular preschool program. This requirement has resulted in changes in the 2006 data dictionary. There is additional clarification on several settings and two new settings have been added. K (definition code related to MIS) is the amount of time in a regular preschool program, (without SPED or related services), and W is a reverse mainstream program. The MIS 2006 data dictionary is on line at
News from KSDE continues from page 2
Results Act (GPRA), which man-dated each federal agency to identify goals and indicators for all of its programs and to report progress toward those goals to Congress on an annual basis. Thus, GPRA created a government-wide focus on results designed to enhance decision-making by Congress. GPRA has generated the need for data concerning aspects of the services system (e.g., number of children served in inclusive settings) as well as child assessment data that can be aggregated for reporting at the state and federal levels.
In an accountability initiative spear-headed by another governmen-tal agency, the Office of Management and Budget in 2002 developed the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to provide a link between GPRA and the budget development process. The first PART assessments of the Infant/Toddler and Preschool programs of IDEA have been com-pleted at this point in time. Unfortu-nately, the rating of the assessments was “Results Not Demonstrated” for both programs, adding a sense of ur-gency to the need for large-scale as-sessment information from the states on the progress of young children with disabilities and their families.
The identification of standards, outcomes, and their accompanying measurement processes is critical to the ability of state agencies to provide effectiveness data for the programs serving young children with disabili-ties and their families. The message is becoming clear: if agencies can’t tell Congress just how this funding is making a difference in the lives of children and their families, agencies
Page 8 of 10 KITS Newsletter
News from KSDE continues on page 9
New Technical
Assistance Packets
KITS has developed two new technical
assistance packets:
Positive Behavior Support in Early
Childhood Settings
and Functional Behavioral
Assessment. These
packets will be mailed
to all Special Education Directors
and Part C Network
Contacts and can be downloaded from
kskits.org/html/ta/tapa
ckets
Single copies of the
packets can be
requested by contacting Robin
Bayless at
[email protected] or 620-421-6550 ext.
1618.
See kskits.org for a list of the other 20
packets that are available from KITS.
http://www.kansped.org. Check it for changes. Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of
2004
The following is taken from the Federal Register, Vol. 70, No. 118, Tuesday, June 21, 2005, Proposed Rules:
On December 3, 2004, the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-cation Improvement Act of 2004 was enacted into law as Pub L. 108-446. The statute, as passed by Congress and signed by the Presi-dent, reauthorizes and makes sig-nificant changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The Individuals with Disabili-ties Education Act, as amended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (Act or IDEA), is intended to help children with disabilities achieve to high standards—by promoting accountability for results, enhancing parental in-volvement, and using proven prac-tices and materials; and reducing paperwork burdens for teachers, States, and local school districts. Enactment of the new law provides an opportunity to consider improvements in the current regulations that would strengthen the Federal effort to ensure every child with a disability has available a free appropriate public education that—(1) is of
high quality, and (2) is designed to achieve the high standards re-flected in the Elementary and Sec-ondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and its implementing regulations.
These regulations will affect you! Take time to read them. —submitted by Margy Hornback,
EC Program Consultant and Kansas
619 Coordinator, Kansas State
Department of Education, Student
Support Services
Editors note: Margy Hornback
joined the Kansas State
Department of Education Student
Support Services team in July. You
may contact her at 785-296-1944
Page 9 of 10 KITS Newsletter
News from KSDE continues from page 8
Evidence-Based Practice Course The University of Kansas Occupational
Therapy Education
Department is teaching an online
interdisciplinary
graduate level course, Evidence Based
Practice Update for
Practitioners. For more
information contact Susan Knuth at
785-863-2991.
Premature and Medically Fragile Children: Linking Hospital and Community
The Infant-Toddler Occupational Therapy
Technical Assistance
Program will sponsor a
workshop, Premature and Medically Fragile
Children: Linking
Hospital and Community. Details
about this workshop
may be obtained from Susan Knuth at
785-863-2991.
Contact KITS by…
…Phone:
620-421-6550 ext. 1618
800-362-0390 ext. 1618
…Fax:
620-421-6550 ext. 1702
…E-Mail:
We’re on the Web!
See us at:
kskits.org
Training for Early Childhood
Professionals and Families
Kansas Inservice Training System
Life Span Institute at Parsons
2601 Gabriel Parsons, KS 67357
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE PAID
PERMIT NO. 56 PARSONS KS 67357
Information on: • Play and Young
Children • Reading to Young
Children • Language
Development and Young Children
• Writing and Young Children
• Learning to Read • Math and Young
Children • Frequently Asked
Questions • Resources
Posters, magnets and bookmarks are available for distribution to organizations, schools, conferences, etc. by contacting Robin Bayless at 620-421-6550 ext. 1618 or [email protected]