Building Success During the Early Years 1

Success is Cumulative International test scores (e.g., TIMSS, PISA) are the cumulative result of children’s learning at home and at school since birth (or even earlier)

Recent research from the neuro-sciences suggests that there are “critical periods” during the preschool years for language and speech development.

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Children make better progress in school if they enter kindergarten with strong language and communication skills Language development depends on an exposure to a quality and quantity of language 9

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Developing an Early Warning System

Early Years Evaluation

The EYE-Direct Assessment (EYE-DA) is an individually-administered direct measure of the developmental outcomes of children ages 3-5 years.

The EYE-DA assesses four developmental domains: Awareness of Self and Environment; Cognitive Skills; Language and Communication; and Gross and Fine Motor Skills.

The role of the EYE-DA in a transition to school program: Initial presentation at an introduction to kindergarten meeting Administered individually by a district evaluator (approximately minutes) Results entered on line by evaluator, district coordinator, or data entry personnel (5-10 minutes) Immediate results and feedback for parents

Colourful pictures, manipulatives, and physical activities make the EYE-DA fun and engaging for children.

The EYE-Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA) provides a systematic framework teachers can use during the kindergarten year to structure their frequent observations and informal assessments.

The EYE-TA assesses five developmental areas: Awareness of Self and Environment; Social Skills and Approaches to Learning; Cognitive Skills; Language and Communication; and Physical Development.

The EYE-TA is scored based on teacher observations over a period of weeks where children are evaluated in a variety of school settings.

Scores are entered online using KSI’s data entry site

Children are identified using three colour codes: Appropriate Development Experiencing Some Difficulty Evidence of Significant Difficulty

Results can be used to: involve parents in meaningful ways. provide results for a ‘response- to-intervention’ framework. identify students who need extra support.

Responsive Tiered Instruction with the Early Years Evaluation

Responsive Tiered Instruction calls for a tiered approach to intervention that comprises the continuous assessment of student progress in the regular classroom setting, and intervening with students who have learning difficulties or behavioural challenges.

The first tier involves universal strategies for improving student learning with extra support for those experiencing difficulties. The second tier involves targeted interventions for those who do not respond to tier 1 strategies. The interventions would typically include further, more detailed assessment, a different strategy for delivering instruction, and possibly a modified curriculum. The third tier aims to address the needs of students that do not respond to tier 2 interventions. At this level, students would normally receive a more intensive individualized program (Canter, Klotz, & Cowan, 2008).

Implications Tier 2 and Tier 3 RTI students require about 60 – 90 minutes per week of augmentative instruction (extra time over and above their regular school day) devoted to learning to read (Torgesen et al., 2000; Torgesen 2002, 2004). Also, many of the children who experience difficulties in learning to read need extra instructional time to stay on track.

EYE for RTI A prediction model based on longitudinal data

The prediction equation is based on a logistic regression model of the form

Reading Ability at End of Grade 3 ? Unknown HighLow Early Years Evaluation RTI Score Tier I Quality Instruction False Negative Tier IIFalse PositiveIntervene Tier IIIFalse PositiveIntervene Intervened when maybe we did not need to. Did not intervene when we should have.

The critical transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn 36

The ability to read is a fundamental skill for children’s success at school, and ultimately for their long-term health and well-being. The most critical transition is from learning- to-read to reading-to-learn. For most students this occurs at about age 8 or 9, or about the end of grade 3. 37

The ability to read is a fundamental skill for children’s success at school, and ultimately for their long-term health and well- being. ‘The simple view of reading’ (Rose, 2006) has two critical, complementary dimensions: Code-related skills – the ability to recognize and understand particular words, and Language skills – being able to understand and interpret spoken and written language.

A Deficit Approach

A Pathway Approach

Code-Related Skills Concepts About Print Letter Knowledge Phonologica l Awareness Word Reading SpellingDecoding Word Recognition

Language Skills VocabularyReceptiveExpressive Reading Comprehension

A Pathway Approach to Instruction The pathway approach uses an instructional framework that builds on the science of early literacy skill development for all children who are learning alphabetic languages. The framework is simply a road-map – an ordered series of essential literacy skills.

A Modular Approach for Teaching Children’s progress on the two pathways will be facilitated by the development of 40 “instructional modules”, 20 for code-related skills and 20 for language skills. Each module will be linked to “learning activity sets” that teachers can use to plan their daily lessons. Each learning activity set will include a variety of activities that can be carried out with a whole class, in small groups, or one-on-one with an aide of volunteer. The learning activity sets will be developed in cooperation with the teachers/educators in the participating schools.

The approach Our overall strategy is to develop a number of instructional frameworks that are coherent (built on a well-structured conceptual base), deep (focused on a set of skills that are critical to success in the subject area, and temporally aligned (follow a sequence of skill development). Each instructional framework is comprised of a set of instructional units that include specific educational objectives. Each instructional unit is directly linked to a learning activity set and an assessment module that includes a set of test items.

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Shifts in thinking A pathway approach requires us to shift our thinking in two important ways: adopt a ‘skills-based’ approach instead of a ‘deficit approach’. This requires us to take stock of what children can do and focus on the learning activities that enable them to take the next step forward on the pathway to becoming a successful reader. teaching the specific skills that will take each child forward on the literacy pathway rather than following a grade-based curriculum. Making these shifts will require some teachers to alter their day-to-day classroom practice in significant ways. However, these shifts can occur gradually as they receive the necessary training, support, and materials.

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