 |
PERSPECTIVES FROM PROJECT MANAGEMENTSCHOOL READINESS CERTIFICATION: DETERMINING THE STANDARD By Dr. Jeff Williams At this time of year, when we announce which classes are School Ready Certified, we always get questions about how distinctions are made for certification. We determine certification through careful analysis of all the information gathered through the School Readiness Certification System (SCRS), including information on the classroom, the teacher, the facility and the child outcomes we find in kindergarten. How do we do this? The goal of the (SRCS) is to create a system that gathers information about classrooms and identifies those classrooms that are best preparing their children for school. Researchers have worked to systematically identify the characteristics that make a high-quality classroom, and so we begin by designing specific questions that identify these characteristics for the SRCS application. The questions go through several revisions to ensure clarity for participants. We try to be thorough while at the same time respectful of the time it takes for participants to complete the SRCS application. After the final revision the selected set of questions is entered into the data collection application and completed by users. Continue reading. |
| About A Closer Look: Research in Action A Closer Look: Research in Action is a regular column authored by Dr. Cathy Guttentag, a licensed child psychologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CLI. The column provides insight about how the latest research in early childhood education is applied in home and school settings. |
The term “Progress Monitoring” should be a familiar one to TEEM teachers and mentors, but what is it really, and how does it impact children’s learning? In this article, CLI Director Dr. Susan Landry and C-PALLS co-developer Dr. Mike Assel talk about the concept of Progress Monitoring and the role it plays in the TEEM/TSR! approach to promoting quality Pre-K education.
CG: Dr Assel, can you explain, in layperson’s terms, what “progress monitoring” is and what it’s used for?
MA: Progress monitoring is a brief form of assessment that provides data that teachers can use within their classroom to directly inform and individualize instruction. That’s really what we’re focused on: improving the quality of instructional opportunities available to children in Pre-K.
CG: What kinds of skills are assessed as part of progress monitoring, and how does the assessment process work? Continue reading.
SUCCESS STORIES
Number of Certified Pre-K Classrooms Sets New Record
This fall we are off to an outstanding start with TSR! Certification. We are very excited to publish the list of certified Pre-K classrooms for the 2007 – 2008 school year. This year, 2,084 classrooms from 844 facilities, are receiving certification. This is nearly double the 1,123 classrooms that received certification in 2008! This annual certification demonstrates that children who graduated from these Pre-K classrooms went to kindergarten equipped with the fundamental skills in place to be successful.
The list of certified classrooms can be accessed by going to www.texasschoolready.com, scrolling down to Latest Developments and clicking on the first icon: 2009 – 2010 Texas School Ready! Certified Classroom List.
We encourage you to celebrate your successes within your community and to share those success stories with us. These celebratory events are excellent means to showcase this wonderful achievement. Be sure to take plenty of pictures and we will try to highlight our different communities. The following link will provide you with a template for publicizing these events as well as for sharing them with us.
- Read a sample success story about Raegan Quan’s pre-K classroom at Madison Elementary
- Download the Success Story Word Template
- Download the Media Release Form for Minors
PARENT CORNER
Please visit our Parent Corner for monthly ideas to assist parents in working at home with their children. We are in the process of updating this calendar in both English and Spanish. If you should visit the site and not see the month you are trying to obtain, please forgive us and check back again later in the month. Download and Print the Parent Calendar
NUTS & BOLTS OF THE SCHOOL READINESS CERTIFICATION SYSTEM
Now is the time for you to set up your classrooms in the School Readiness Certification System. The kindergarten application is now available and the Pre-kindergarten application will be active very soon. We have worked diligently to make our application as user-friendly as possible. One significant change will be to give you the ability to pre-populate student data into other databases which our grantees will access. When you enter the application, you will notice that we have combined some elements into a new component, “Manage My Classroom”.
As we have in the past, we have planned online trainings to demonstrate all the features of the SRCS application. We hope you will join us at these trainings hosted by OZ Systems, Inc. Please follow the link below for registration instructions. Click here for information on how to access these webinars.
CLI understands that you are all very busy at this time of year and we will help you in any way that we can. If you need to talk directly to OZ Systems, Inc., please contact their customer support line at 1-866-336-3025. At the State Center, we are also here to help you. Please don’t hesitate to call us at 713-500-3761 with any questions or concerns.
The Texas Education Agency has provided a letter for school administrators to let them know more specifics about their role in providing kindergarten information for the School Readiness Certification System. Click here to view the letter.
ACTIVITY CORNER
We are excited to provided additional activities to enhance our themes for this month: Transportation and My Neighborhood. In our efforts to be responsive to the needs of all our teachers, we have added some which are in Spanish.
RESOURCE RECOMMENDATIONS
The Children’s Learning Institute has launched a new quarterly publication called The Learning Leader. This newsletter highlights significant news in the field of education research, neuroscience, and the treatment of learning differences. Each issue features articles focused on how CLI’s research and work is applied in home and school settings to create an effective environment for all children to learn and excel. To read the latest issue, click here.
NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK
The editorial staff of the Texas School Ready Beat newsletter would like to hear from you. Please submit your comments, suggestions, and questions to Cathy Caldwell at Cathy.J.Caldwell@uth.tmc.edu.
October 2009
Learn more about The Children's Learning Institute
Dates to Know
October 6, 2009:
SRCS Pre-K application opens
October 15 - November 15: Progress Monitoring Window for Beginning of Year Assessments
Newsletter Contributors
John Gasko, Ph.D.
State Initiatives Director
John.W.Gasko@uth.tmc.edu
Layne Waxley
TSR! Project Director
Thomas.L.Waxley@uth.tmc.edu
Cathy L. Guttentag, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Cathy.Guttentag@uth.tmc.edu
Jeff Williams, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Jeffrey.Willams@uth.tmc.edu
Cathy Caldwell
Research Associate
Cathy.J.Caldwell@uth.tmc.edu
Sonya Coffey
Project Manager
Sonya.Coffey@uth.tmc.edu
Jane Thacker
Coordinator 1 – Educational Programs
Jane.E.Thacker@uth.tmc.edu
Bang Pham
Web Developer III
Bang.N.Pham@uth.tmc.edu
 |