Head Start Self-Assessment: Booklet 12 - Child Development and Health Services: Curriculum and Assessment

Head Start Self-Assessment: Your Foundation for Building Program Excellence

Program Self-Assessment Booklet 12

Child Development and Health Services: Curriculum and Assessment

Core Question to be answered by Self-Assessment team:

How has the grantee engaged in a process of curriculum selection and/or development, implementation, and evaluation resulting in a written plan that supports the growth of children’s social competence, including school readiness, for each identified program option?

Purpose:

The objective is to provide all children with a safe, nurturing, engaging, and secure learning environment, in order to help them gain the awareness, skills, and confidence necessary to succeed in their present environment, and to deal with later responsibilities in school and in life. (Introduction to 1304.21, p. 58.)

This booklet will help the team assess if the program meets Federal Performance Standards relating to curriculum development and implementation. Related Performance Standards include: 1304.21; 1304.23(b)-1304.23(c); 1304.3(a)(5); 1304.40(e)-1304.40(f); 1306.30(b); 1308.4(c); 1310.21.

As you conduct your assessment of the program’s ability to develop an appropriate curriculum, see if you can confirm that:

Families have been given the opportunity to be involved in curriculum development that meets the social/emotional, language and literacy, and academic needs of their children in order to be prepared for school
The written curriculum contains core elements of sound child development and learning principles and developmentally appropriate practices
The implementation of the curriculum is evident in classrooms, family child care homes, or in other program options offered by the program

Included are adapted tools from the PRISM: the Classroom, Family Child Care or Socialization Experience Observation Instrument (page 8); the Early Head Start Classroom, Family Child Care or Socialization Experience Observation Instrument (page 15) and; the Head Start Home Visit Observation Instrument (page 22). These are optional tools that team members may find helpful in assessing the program’s curriculum. Other helpful tools to support data collection in this area follow. Other helpful tools to support data collection in this area follow.

Observe:
The team member should observe a sample of classrooms, socialization settings, and/or family child care homes (depending on the options offered by your program). Use the attached curriculum observation instrument or your own data collection tool. Duplicate the instrument as necessary to complete a good sampling of the child development services offered by the program.

Review:

Ask the Head Start director and/or responsible manager to provide you with access to the following documents. (In order to maintain confidentiality, only a staff member serving on your Self-Assessment team can review these files.)

The written curriculum
The written plan describing child development services
Daily and weekly classroom plans
Child progress records
Documentation of parent involvement
Ongoing monitoring reports
Important data sources relevant to this area such as the PRISM report, PIR data, Community Assessment, strategic plan or short and long term program goals

Use the checklist below to assist your document review:

Does the Early Head Start written curriculum include:

Goals for children’s development, learning and school readiness?                  Yes No
The experiences through which they will achieve these goals?                        Yes No
What staff and parents do to help children achieve these goals?                     Yes No
The materials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum?          Yes No

Does the Head Start written curriculum include:

Goals for children’s development, learning and school readiness?                Yes No
The experiences through which they will achieve these goals?                      Yes No
What staff and parents do to help children achieve these goals?                   Yes No
The materials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum?        Yes No

Is the curriculum consistent with the Performance Standards and based on sound child development and learning principles? Yes No

Does it provide appropriate and comprehensive programming for the oral language, early literacy, social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children of all ages served by the program? Yes No

For preschool children, does the curriculum include experiences in the eight domains (language, literacy, mathematics, science, creative arts, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, and physical development and health)? Yes No

Does the curriculum and assessment process support the inclusion of children with disabilities? Yes No

Does the curriculum and assessment process support the inclusion of the home language of the children? Yes No

Are health, nutrition, mental health, and safety education integrated into the curriculum? Yes No

Does the curriculum include transition issues? Yes No

Does curriculum implementation, including assessment, provide appropriate environments and comprehensive programming for children, from birth to five years old? Yes No

Is there a written plan describing child development services that gets updated annually to reflect the changing needs of children? Yes No

Do the ongoing assessment tools address the eight domains and thirteen mandated elements and indicators? Yes No

Does the assessment process support the inclusion of the home language of the children? Yes No

Is the tool appropriate to children's ages, home languages, cultures, and special needs? Yes No

Comments:

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Interview:

A Self-Assessment team member should interview the education manager and ask:

How does your team engage with parents to select, develop, implement and evaluate the curriculum for each program option? How do you ensure that the curriculum supports the oral language development, literacy skills, and the growth of the social competence of children?
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

How have you incorporated outcome-based measures into curriculum development and implementation?
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

How do you ensure that the curriculum supports children whose home language is different than English?
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Does ongoing assessment align with the curriculum and cover all the major goals and objectives?
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Are teachers and other staff members well-trained in using the ongoing assessment tools to provide accurate and consistent information on children’s progress?
_______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Are teachers and other staff members provided adequate time and support to record and review ongoing assessment information, so that they can understand it and use it appropriately in adjusting teaching strategies, materials and learning opportunities for groups and children and for individual children?
_______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

For children who are transported to the program, how is the time spent riding the bus used to reinforce the curriculum and otherwise foster healthy child development?
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

A Self-Assessment team member should interview teachers and/or home visitors and family child care providers and ask:

How is the curriculum consistent with the Performance Standards and sound child development and learning principles?
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

How are parents involved in curriculum development and reporting child progress?
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Tell me how your classroom environment and daily schedule supports the curriculum.
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Tell me how your classroom environment supports an enriched language and early literacy environment.
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

What process do you use for curriculum planning?
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

How do you evaluate children’s progress?

Incorporating Relevant Data Sources:

Additional observations, document reviews, or interview questions that this team may choose to add:
___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Include any key insights you may have learned from reviewing important data sources such as the PRISM report, PIR data, Community Assessment, strategic plan or short and long term program goals:
___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Classroom, Family Chiild Care, or Socialization Experience Observation Instrument
(Adapted from PRISM)

Instructions: Make arrangements to visit a cross-section of classrooms, family child care homes, and/or socializations. Be sure to include child care partnership classrooms in your selection. Spend some time sitting and observing the setting to gather enough information to complete the instrument. You may want to pair with another Self-Assessment team member. You can then work together to reach consensus regarding your interpretations of the activity you observe. Team members engaged in this process should have knowledge of appropriate early childhood practice.

Use this observation tool to observe classrooms, family child care and socializations. Duplicate this form for each site the Self-Assessment team visits.

Download Observation Instrument form here

Early Head Start Classroom, Family Child Care, or Socialization Experience Observation Instrument
(Adapted from PRISM)

Instructions: Make arrangements to visit a cross-section of classrooms, family child care homes and/or socializations. Be sure to include child care partnership classrooms in your selection. Spend some time sitting and observing the setting to gather enough information to complete the instrument. You may want to pair with another Self-Assessment team member. You can then work together to reach consensus regarding your interpretations of the activity you observe. Team members engaged in this process should have knowledge of appropriate early childhood practice.

Use this observation tool to observe classrooms, family child care and socializations. Duplicate this form for each site the Self-Assessment team visits.

Download Early Head Start Observation Instrument form here

Head Start Home Visit Observation Instrument
(Adapted from PRISM)

Instructions: Make arrangements to visit a cross-section of family child care homes. Spend some time sitting and observing the setting to gather enough information to complete the instrument. You may want to pair with another Self-Assessment team member. You can then work together to reach consensus regarding your interpretations of the activity you observe. Team members engaged in this process should have knowledge of appropriate early childhood practice.

Use this observation tool to observe home visits. Duplicate this form for each site the Self-Assessment team visits.

Download Home Visit Observation Instrument form here

Team Member Summary Worksheet

Summary of Results for Curriculum

Areas where the program is working well. Provide examples of program strengths or areas where the program exceeds Performance Standards:
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Areas where the program needs improvement:
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Additional areas of concern:
______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

TEAM LEADER BOOKLET ANALYSIS

Booklet # ____________
Booklet Name: ______________________________________________________________________________

Program Strengths	Data Source







Specific Program Weaknesses and Areas to Strengthen	Data Source


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