INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT DOMAIN A Closer Look at the Pre-K INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT DOMAIN Instructional Support

INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT DOMAIN Focuses on the ways staff implement curriculum to effectively support cognitive and language development

Child Outcomes Interactions between adults and children are the key mechanism through which instructional support is provided to children in the early years These interactions predict children’s academic functioning in the areas of literacy and general knowledge

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT There are three dimensions under the INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT DOMAIN QUALITY OF FEEDBACK LANGUAGE MODELING

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Measures staff’s use of instructional discussions and activities to promote children’s higher-order thinking skills and cognition and staff’s focus on understanding rather than on rote instruction

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW Within the dimension of CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT there are four behavior indicators observed: Analysis and Reasoning Creating Integration Connections to the Real World

Analysis and Reasoning Staff often uses discussions and activities that encourage analysis and reasoning Why and/or how questions Problem Solving Prediction/Experimentation Classification/Comparison Evaluation How do you think we can work this out? What do you think might happen next?

Creating Staff often provides opportunities for children to be creative and/or generate their own ideas and products Brainstorming Planning Producing I see you are taking out the blocks and animals. What are you going to build? I’m making a zoo! How will you keep your animals inside your zoo?

Integration Staff consistently links concepts and activities to one another and to previous learning Connects Concepts Integrates with Previous Knowledge Remember when we read about how dinosaurs hatched from eggs? Do you know any other kinds of animals that hatch from eggs?

Connections to the Real World Staff consistently relates concepts to the children’s actual lives Real-world Applications Related to Children’s Lives Pete the Cat lost the buttons on his shirt. Have you ever lost a button?

QUALITY OF FEEDBACK Assesses the degree to which staff provides feedback that expands learning and understanding and encourages continued participation

QUALITY OF FEEDBACK OVERVIEW Within the dimension of QUALITY OF FEEDBACK there are five behavior indicators observed: Scaffolding Feedback Loops Prompting Thought Processes Providing Information Encouragement and Affirmation

Scaffolding Staff often scaffolds for children who are having a hard time understanding a concept, answering a question, or completing an activity Hints Assistance What else do you think might start with the letter b? Dog! What sound do you hear at the beginning of dog? d-d-dog D! B makes the b-b-b sound. Can you think of a word that starts with the /b/ sound?

Feedback Loops There are frequent feedback loops (back-and-forth exchanges) between staff and children Back and Forth Exchanges Persistence by Staff Follow-up Questions

Prompting Thought Processes Staff often queries children or prompts children to explain their thinking and rationale for responses and actions Asks Children to Explain Thinking Queries Responses and Actions What did you mean when you said…? Why did you decide to put all the blue bears in the blue bowl? How did you know that more children liked red apples when you looked at our graph?

Providing Information Staff often provides additional information to expand on children’s understanding and actions Expansion Clarification Specific Feedback What type of weather have we had the most of so far this year? Sunny! That’s right! We have had more sunny days this year than any other kind of weather. How did you know it was sunny? It had the most squares So you noticed that after we added squares to our chart for the weather each day, there were more next to sunny than cloudy, rainy, foggy, or snowy.

Encouragement and Affirmation Staff offer encouragement of children’s efforts that increases children’s involvement and persistence Recognition Reinforcement Student Persistence It looks like you worked very hard on that. I love how you sorted all the blue bears by putting them into the blue bowl. You matched the same colors together! I wonder if there are more red bears than blue bears? How can we figure it out?

LANGUAGE MODELING Captures the quality and amount of staff’s use of language-stimulation and language-facilitation techniques

LANGUAGE MODELING OVERVIEW Within the dimension of LANGUAGE MODELING there are five behavior indicators observed: Frequent Conversation Open-ended Questions Repetition and Extension Self- and Parallel Talk Advanced Language

Frequent Conversation There are frequent conversations in the classroom Back-and-forth Exchanges Contingent Responding Peer Conversations

Open-ended Questions Staff asks many open-ended questions Questions Require More Than a One-word Response Children Respond What do you think will happen if we never clean up our toys? I think the classroom would get so messy we couldn’t even move! What do you think would happen if we couldn’t even move in the classroom?

Repetition and Extension Staff often repeats or extends children’s responses Repeats Extends/Elaborates It looks like you are building something here in the block area. What is it? A castle for Elsa! Oh, I see, you are building an ice castle for Elsa from Frozen. I’ve seen that movie too!

Self- and Parallel Talk Staff consistently maps his or her own actions and children’s actions through language and description Maps Own Actions With Language Maps Children’s Action With Language I am going to get our choices for snack out of the cabinet and put them on each table. I see Cameron has chosen to eat graham crackers while he drinks his grape juice at the table.

Advanced Language Staff often uses advanced language with children Variety of Words Connected to Familiar Words and/or Ideas The monkeys imitated the man throwing his cap on the ground. Imitate means to copy what someone does. I know sometimes we imitate one another when we play ‘copycat’. Can you think of another time someone might imitate you?

In conclusion, staff’s abilities to support cognitive and language development in the classroom are critical to children’s academic development

For additional information… Please visit the website for informational videos and recorded webinars regarding CLASS and classroom best practiceswww.forumpac.com And please don’t forget to fill out the survey at the end of this presentation!

For more information on the Strong Minds Program, please contact the Strong Minds Navigators: Irene Apolinar (561) Natasha Smith (561) The Children’s Forum Program Assessment Center website : For copies of this PowerPoint, to view a recording of this webinar, and to watch our informational videos please visit

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