From the Director of State Initiatives
John W. Gasko, Ph.D.
 fter years of careful planning, development, and implementation, the School Readiness Certification System is fast becoming a true statewide, mixed delivery vehicle for ascertaining the quality of early childhood education programs in public schools, child care centers, and Head Start centers. Even more exciting, we continue to find that regardless of whether you serve homeless children, highly mobile migrant children, children learning a second language, or children from extreme conditions of poverty, ALL of them are capable of arriving at kindergarten ready to learn and be successful. As a result, more and more people are demanding to not only take part in the system with the goal of becoming certified, but also take part in the process required to achieve certification, namely undergoing the research-based process we refer to as TEEM.
I say this to highlight several realities. Despite the challenges and potholes associated with trying to change early childhood education thinking, cultures, and practices and in some cases deal with outright opposition from individuals and organizations who fear being held accountable for how they educate young children, WE ARE SUCCEEDING in our mission. Despite negative, inaccurate press articles and personal attacks on people who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that the poorest of the poor have the same educational advantages as their more affluent peers, WE PERSIST, and continue to strengthen the life chances of the young children we have the privilege to serve. Based on all of the hard work in our many partnerships throughout the state WE ENSURE that, despite all of the growing pains, obstacles, and reluctance to change, teachers have what they need to prepare the children in their care for school.
In light of our tremendous successes and ability to persevere and adapt to turbulent pools of challenges, achieving school readiness for vulnerable children is a difficult process. It takes time and constant reflection on how to go about the business of caring for and educating these children. While we now celebrate various classrooms throughout the state that are certified as Texas School Ready!, we also need to celebrate the hard work being accomplished in classrooms and programs that are still working towards attaining this goal. What I am saying, therefore, is that for school readiness to truly become a reality for all children in all of the many programs that exist throughout the state, both TEEM and non-TEEM, we must see this effort as a statewide, COMMUNITY effort. To use the famous lines from the movie, Backdraft, where firefighters were unwilling to allow their friends to perish in difficult circumstances, “YOU GO,WE GO.” We all owe it to ourselves to work together to ensure that those teachers and programs needing the most help get what they need. We need to avoid the mind-set that brags and boasts about: “I am certified and you’re not.” Otherwise, our real goal of assisting all children and families will remain an elusive dream.
So, if someone in your school or center did not receive certification, or if someone across town fell short of their goals for this past certification cycle, do the right thing and extend an offer of help. To take the Backdraft message a step further: “If one of us falls short, we all fall short.” TOGETHER, we can and will achieve an integrated, community-based vision of success.
 Congratulations to all our 2008 Texas School Ready! Recipients
Celebrations have been taking place across the state honoring those teachers whose classrooms were recently Texas School Ready! certified.
Please continue to send us those photos and DVDs – we love to see them here at State Center and look forward to sharing more of them with you in our next newsletter.
Send to Jane Thacker either via email or mail to: Suite 2324B, Children’s Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, 7000 Fannin, Houston, TX. 77030.
Click here to view a selection of photos
Coping with Disappointing News: What to do if your TEEM classroom did not receive “Texas School Ready!” Certification
Cathy Guttentag, Ph.D.
 Many TEEM teachers, administrators, and mentors worked hard over the past year to complete all the steps needed to apply for the “Texas School Ready!” certification. They eagerly awaited the results from the State Center for Early Childhood Development, and finally received that important notification letter in the mail. Some received the exciting news that their classrooms had been certified, while others were disappointed to learn that theirs had not. Whether you are an administrator, a teacher, or a mentor, hearing the news that your classroom is not certified can be difficult to receive and may cause a variety of negative feelings. In this article, we provide some suggestions and coping strategies for those on both sides of this process.
An approach for mentors
If you are a mentor , it is natural to feel disappointed when some of your classrooms or programs do not achieve Texas School Ready! certification. You may feel surprised or discouraged about the outcome, after all the hard work you and the teachers have done to improve the quality of their Pre-K program. Perhaps you also feel somewhat nervous about meeting with the administrators and teachers of these programs, worried about administrators’ or teachers’ negative responses. And indeed it is realistic to expect teachers or administrators to have some negative feelings, as they too are likely to be unhappy about the outcome. They may even be worried about your disappointment in them. You may also find yourself having feelings of guilt or blame for the program’s disappointing results. Despite these challenges, however, you as the mentor play a crucial role at this point in the process. There are many things you can do to prepare for your meetings with the school staff and your ongoing work in helping them to address those issues that prevented them from receiving certification this year.
Your first job is to carefully review the results for each program that did not achieve certification. Be sure that you understand those areas in which the site scored well in addition to those areas found to be lacking. Obtain clarification of any results you may not understand or may need more information about, so that you feel well prepared to respond to teachers’ and administrators’ questions.
Recognize your own feelings and try to “reframe” negative thoughts in a more positive, realistic way. For example, if you are feeling embarrassed or guilty that one or more of your sites did not achieve certification, remind yourself that you do not control all of the factors in the process, that this site may have had challenges beyond your ability to address, and that you also get to share responsibility for the areas in which this program was successful or made progress from last year. If you are a new or less experienced mentor, you may have identified areas in which you feel you need further training or support, and this process may provide you with the impetus to ask for further assistance from your coordinator/project manager. Feeling disappointment yourself also allows you to empathize with the feelings of the teachers and administrators you are working with.
Next, in preparing to meet with the administer and/or teacher, remind yourself that, although the negative outcome may be disappointing and difficult for teachers and administrators to hear, sharing the information is very important in allowing them to plan for how to achieve success in their next application. If you can go into the meetings with a positive, solution-focused outlook, you can help teachers and administrators move in this direction themselves. There are several tools available online at the Children’s Learning Institute website to help with the planning. These include the Texas School Ready! Certification Standards, Texas School Ready! Certification Mentoring Guide, Texas School Ready! Language and Literacy Checklist, and the Texas Pre-K Guidelines.
When you meet with the administrator and/or teacher, try to do so in a private, quiet setting where you will have time to focus without being distracted by phone calls or interruptions. Try to allow enough time for the meeting not to feel rushed.
Begin the discussion by checking in with the administrator or teacher, confirming (if you had not already done so by phone) that they received the letter from the State Center and that they understand that they did not achieve certification. Ask how they are feeling and thinking about this news. Be a good listener. Do not interrupt, argue, or become defensive. Listen to underlying feelings with an empathic, gentle ear. Reflect what you hear in a genuine manner (e.g., “I know that you and Ms. Jones worked so hard this past year, and it feels so disappointing to get this news. I felt bad too…”). As you listen, you may need to work to separate your own feelings from those of the school staff – you may be the recipient of criticisms that reflect hurt and frustration, but that are not really directed at you personally. Your role here is to empathize with feelings, correct misperceptions or incorrect information if these arise, and to assure the administrator/teacher that you will continue to work with them to help them address the feedback they have received. If you are hearing feedback or criticism of a general nature about how the certification process worked, let teachers/administrators know that you will convey this information to the State Center administration, and do so. Sharing feedback helps the certification protocol work more smoothly and become more “user-friendly” each year.
When you feel that the administrator and/or teacher is ready to move to reviewing the data analysis results, proceed to this step. Check for understanding as you walk through results step by step. You might ask the teacher or administrator to paraphrase in their own words their understanding of the results to see whether you have explained them clearly. Answer any questions that arise. If there are questions you cannot answer, let them know that you will find out and get back to them, and be sure to do so.
When reviewing results, be sure to discuss the positives as well! Note the Certification Standards in which their performance was satisfactory and commend them for those areas in which they scored well. This is a good time to connect these areas of strength with some positive observations you have made of their teaching or program during the time you have been working with them.
Once results have been discussed and the administrator and/or teacher have had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss concerns, you can move into the planning and problem-solving phase. Ideally, this will be a constructive, collaborative process where you, the teacher, and the administrator are “on the same page” in creating a plan for improvement. Use the Certification Improvement Plan document and review the plan you have created together. Be sure that everyone is in agreement and understands the next steps to be taken.
As you conclude the meeting, you will want to express your ongoing support and commitment to walking with them on this path toward eventual success in becoming certified. Your positive, encouraging attitude can make a great difference in how well teachers and administrators are able to move through their distress and be ready to work on their Certification Improvement Plan with confidence.
Advice for administrators and teachers
If you are an administrator or a teacher, undoubtedly you were hoping, and perhaps expecting, positive news about your School Ready! certification status. You may have read your letter from the State Center with surprise, frustration, anger, or other negative feelings. You worked through many steps to submit your complete application, and waited a long time to hear the outcome. This is not the news you wanted. It is natural to feel disappointed or discouraged when you first receive the news. So what can you do now?
First, give yourself permission to have whatever feelings you have. Try to identify in your mind what specific feelings you are having. Be honest with yourself. You may feel like calling up your mentor right away to talk, or you may want to take some time to think on your own before talking with her or him. As you recognize the feelings you may have, try to avoid drawing general negative conclusions about yourself, your teachers, or the whole certification system. Failure to achieve certification during this particular year certainly does not mean that you are not a good teacher/administrator or that you will not achieve certification in the future. Remember that there are 12 Certification Standards, some of which you probably scored well on or achieved improvement over last year. Undoubtedly the news was not all bad! Acknowledge and commend yourselves for those areas in which your program scored well.
When reviewing less positive results, think about realistic explanations that may come to mind: Perhaps there were issues with your documentation of your staffing, curriculum, or professional development. Perhaps you had particularly delayed or behaviorally challenging children in the class this past year, those who made progress but not enough to do well on the TPRI/TJL. Perhaps you were not able to implement as many of the “Best Practices” as you aspired to. Or perhaps there were other challenges that interfered with your achievement of as much progress in your children’s skills as you had hoped. As you experience your disappointment, try to be open to taking a balanced, objective look at your assessment results. Remember that receiving this feedback is valuable to you in targeting specific areas to work on. An open-minded and self-reflective attitude will enable you and your mentor to pinpoint those areas which can be addressed and improved.
When it is time to meet with your mentor, you can share your feelings and reactions honestly. You have worked as partners for the past year, and she or he will continue to be there for you through this phase of the process. After a bit of commiseration, try to prepare yourself to move on to the constructive process of completing the Certification Improvement Plan Form together. There are several tools available online at the Children’s Learning Institute website that you and your mentor can use when planning. These include the Texas School Ready! Certification Standards, Texas School Ready! Certification Mentoring Guide, Texas School Ready! Language and Literacy Checklist, and the Texas Pre-K Guidelines. Your mentor is your best resource and together you can steer in the direction of success for the next Certification application.
If after taking some time to recognize and acknowledge your initial disappointment, you find yourself still having really strong negative emotions that you can’t seem to get past, it may be that this experience is reminding you of some other time in your life when you felt unfavorably judged, or you experienced a disappointment or feeling of rejection. If you think this might be the case, try to consciously identify the differences between that situation and this one. Remind yourself that you have support from your mentor and others in the TEEM program as you work through this process. It also may help to try to recall a past experience where you had to try more than once to succeed, where you learned something from a difficult experience, or where your hard work ultimately paid off.
As with other professional or personal obstacles you may have faced, this “bump in the road” can turn out to be an opportunity for positive growth on the way to success.
Calendar of Events
December
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December 2008
CONTENTS
- From the Director of State Initiatives
- Time to Celebrate!
- Coping with Disappointing News: What to do if your TEEM classroom did not receive “Texas School Ready!” Certification
- Calendar of Events
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