1. Effective Teacher Practices Supporting the North Carolina
Foundations for Early Learning and Development 2016
Module 1: Overview
Welcome to the first in a series of professional development modules on effective teacher practices supporting the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development. This first module provides an overview of the revised Foundations and introduces professional development modules Module 2 is all about formative assessment while Modules 3-11 teach instructional practices that support children’s emotional-social development and thereby meet Foundations’ standards in the domain of emotional-social development.

2. Review Pre-learning Assignment
Complete Foundations Self-Assessment
What questions were you unsure of?
What questions made you stop and think?
Please take out your completed Foundations Self-Assessment. How did you do? Are there any of the questions that you were unsure of? Which questions made you stop and think? Did you go to your Foundations document to research answers? Where did you find information? Please circle the questions you answered ‘not sure’ and put the assessment in a place where you can refer to it. Throughout the day, check to see if you are getting your questions answered. At the end of the session, let’s check to see if you are now ‘sure’ about the answer!
[Trainer note – Discuss the pre-learning assignment (participants should have completed the Foundations self-assessment and come to the session prepared to talk about items they marked as ‘not sure.’)]

3. Objectives
To understand the relationship between early learning standards and curriculum
To understand the relationship between the NC Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten and the NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development
To understand the structure of the professional development modules for instructional practices that support Foundations for Early Learning and Development
Other important purposes of this module – and you will see this throughout the modules -- are to help you understand the relationship between early learning standards and curriculum, the relationship between the NC Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten and the NC Foundations, and the structure of this set of professional development modules.

4. How we got where we are today
The Back Story
How we got where we are today
Almost every state has developed early learning standards for prekindergarten-age children. North Carolina was one of the first when they developed the first NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development in The Infant-Toddler standards were released a couple of years after the first preschool standards. Both efforts were cross-sector and collaborative. Planning efforts included people from universities, community colleges, school systems, child care, Head Start, families, and more. The breadth of Foundations contributors reflects the diverse partners that comprise North Carolina’s early childhood system.
During the Foundations’ revisions, the decision was made to combine the Infant-Toddler and Preschool Foundations into one document and to showcase the developmental continuum that occurs across the span of time from birth to 60+ months of age for each goal.
The title of this document—Foundations—was selected because the Goals and Developmental Indicators described for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are critically important to children’s success later in school. What children learn between birth and the time they start kindergarten lays the foundation for their learning and development for years to come.
The team of state leaders that revised Foundations carefully studied North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study, which includes both Common Core State Standards and the NC Essential Standards -- for what kindergarten children should know and be able to do. An overview of their crosswalk can be found on page 19 of the Foundations document.
The goal of the crosswalk was to ensure that expectations for children presented in Foundations aligned with the expectations for children in Kindergarten. This doesn’t mean that the skills and knowledge described in Foundations are exactly the same as those included in the Kindergarten standards. Rather, the focus in Foundations is on the early precursor skills that research suggests are important for laying the foundation for what children learn later.

5. Five Developmental Domains
Approaches to Learning
Emotional-
Social Development
Cognitive Development
This Venn diagram shows the developmental domains outlined in Foundations. We know the child is in the center of the diagram where domains overlap. This emphasizes that developmental domains don’t exist in isolation in children. Children, in their everyday activities, integrate skills and behaviors across domains. The domains are an artificial construct that helps professionals categorize children’s behavior, often for assessment purposes.
Health &
Physical Development
Language Development &
Communication

6. Foundations Treasure Hunt!
Take out your Foundations document and we’ll go on a treasure hunt! But first let’s make sure you are oriented to the document. The document provides information about five developmental domains: Approaches to Play and Learning, Emotional and Social Development, Health and Physical Development, Language Development and Communication, and Cognitive Development. Look at page 29. Notice that four subdomains are listed under the domain of Approaches to Play and Learning. Can someone read them? Notice that goals are listed under each subdomain. What is a goal listed under Play and Imagination? The goals are numbered consecutively within each domain. You may wish to put a sticky note or tab on page 29 for easy reference back to this list of subdomains and goals for Approches to Play and Learning. Next go to page 51 to see subdomains and goals listed under Emotional and Social Development. You may want to place a tab on that page. Look at page 69 for Health and Physical Development – place a tab there. Page 92 shows the subdomains and goals for Language Development and Communication – tab that page, and on page you have the subdomains and goals for Cognitive Development. Did you see how the domains are color-coded? An overview of the domains, subdomains, and goals begins on page 8. Notice the typo on page 11 – Goals LDC-9 and LDC 10 were left out!
If you’ve spent any time looking through Foundations you know it is full of treasure! Let’s find some.
You have a handout called ‘Treasure Hunt.’ It shows ‘treasure’ to search for in Foundations. At your tables, work in small groups to see how much treasure you can find in 3 minutes. You’ll look at the description of the treasure and search for the page number on which it can be found. When you find the treasure, write down the page number.
[Break participants into small groups. The number in each group will vary according to how many overall participants are in attendance. If your group is small, have participants work in pairs.]
[Treasure Hunt can be found in Handouts.]
Is everyone ready? Begin the hunt when I say ‘go.’ Okay – GO!
[Give participants 3 minutes. Then say, ‘stop.’]
Okay – STOP! How much treasure did you find?
[Ask volunteers to read through the page numbers for those items. Ask other participants if they are in agreement or if they found similar information elsewhere. Cue participants to use sticky notes to tag pages for future reference.]
A few things to note about Foundations: Did you see how the age ranges overlap on page 5? Why do you think this is?
[Prompt participants as necessary to talk about the variation in development from one child to another.]
Although development is a continuous process with a predictable sequence, its course is unique for every child.
The text boxes on page 7 warn against using the developmental indicators in Foundations as a checklist for child development. Why do you think that is?
[Prompt participants as necessary to talk about using appropriate tools for assessment, including those designed for that purpose and with detailed age referencing to help users understand and describe the child’s level of functioning.]

7. Developmental Indicator Continuum
Infants: birth-12 months
Younger Toddlers: months
Older Toddlers:
18-36 months
Younger Preschoolers: months
Older Preschoolers: months
Developmental Goals
Goals are listed for each sub-domain of Foundations with developmental indicators along the continuum of development from birth to 60 months of age. Please note the age ranges for each of the five age bands. The developmental continuum shows how skills emerge over time.
Let’s look at page 52 for an example. This is the domain of Emotional-Social Development. What is the sub-domain?
[Prompt as necessary – ‘Developing a Sense of Self.’]
What is the goal?
[Prompt as necessary -- “Children demonstrate a positive sense of self-identify and self-awareness.”]
Notice the developmental continuum on page 52. As infants, children show awareness of their bodies by looking at their hands, feet, mouth, etc. When they move into the next age period, they may recognize themselves in the mirror and point out their body parts. As older toddlers, they may then be able to recognize themselves in a picture. At the younger preschool period, they may then develop a sense of self as demonstrated when they can tell you their first and last name. Finally, older preschoolers can tell you that they are a member of their family or a preschool class or an ethnic group.
These developmental indicators are examples of skills and behaviors children show at various age levels. The “grain size” of this progression is quite large and overlapping. We know that many steps of learning and growth occur between the indicators. That’s why indicators may be used to guide instruction, but cannot really be used in the assessment process.
Continuum of Growth

8. Standards, Curriculum, and Formative Assessment
Define the expectations for knowledge and skills children should have
Organized by age level
Based on developmental literature
Assumes additive acquisition of knowledge
Standards
Curriculum
Recently, a distinguished preschool teacher asked, “How do I use Foundations now that I’m using Creative Curriculum and the Teaching Strategies GOLD?” Her question reflected the concern many teachers may have about being asked to do ‘yet one more thing’ and the need for clarity about how the various ‘things’ fit together. One way to address this question would be to think about the relationships among the standards, the curriculum, and the formative assessment practices that teachers are required to implement. Let’s look at some definitions based on the work of Margaret Heritage (2013) whose writings on formative assessment were seminal to the development of North Carolina's Formative Assessment Learning Community's Online Network (NC FALCON) and are guiding the development of the kindergarten entry child profile with the NC Department of Public Instruction.
[Trainer note – for more information about NC FALCON, go to this link --
First let’s look at standards. Standards are the areas of knowledge and skill children are expected to acquire. Standards are organized by age level, are based on developmental literature, and assume additive acquisition of knowledge and skills.
Formative Assessment
Adapted from Corcoran, Mosher & Rogat, 2009

9. Standards, Curriculum, and Formative Assessment
Scope: the breadth and depth of content to be covered
Sequence: the order in which content is presented
Provides activities to facilitate critical areas of development and learning that can be embedded in classroom routines
Curriculum
While standards focus on what children should know, the curriculum helps teachers help children reach the standards by providing a scope and sequence of instruction. The curriculum defines the scope – the breadth and depth of content teachers should cover, and the sequence – the order in which teachers should present the content, and activities to promote learning.
The early childhood curriculum should be standards-based. This is one of the criteria the State Board of Education cites in its formal process for approving classroom curricula. In the implementation of the curriculum, teachers facilitate intentional activities that address the developmental domains in the standards. These developmentally appropriate play and learning activities can be teacher directed, child directed, or embedded in classroom routines. Intentional lesson plans identify the domains and goals that activities will target.
Formative Assessment

10. Standards, Curriculum, and Formative Assessment
A process used by teachers and children during play and learning activities,
that provides feedback to the teachers and children,
so that teachers can adjust their teaching to meet the needs of children, and
so that children can understand what is expected of them.
Standards
Curriculum
North Carolina’s definition of formative assessment is based on the definition developed by Margaret Heritage (2010) for the Council of Chief State School Officers: “Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.”
Adapted for early childhood instruction, the definition reads: “a process used by teachers and children during play and learning activities that provides feedback to the teachers and children, so that teachers can adjust their teaching to meet the needs of children, and so that children can understand what is expected of them.”
Formative Assessment
Adapted from M. Heritage for The Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010

11. Alignment NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development
With these definitions in mind, let’s look at the relationship between Foundations and objectives from the Teaching Strategies GOLD assessment system. Teaching Strategies has crosswalked Foundations’ goals with the goals and ideals of the Creative Curriculum (a 64-page document found at this link on the Teaching Strategies website) and the objectives of the TS GOLD assessment system (a 130-page document on the Teaching Strategies website).
[Trainers note – find the crosswalk of Foundations’ goals with the goals and ideals of the Creative Curriculum at this link Find the crosswalk of Foundations’ goals and the objectives of the TS GOLD assessment system at this link --
In your handouts you have a document titled, Aligning Teaching Strategies (TS) GOLD Objectives with Foundations for Early Learning and Development. The table has a list of TS GOLD objectives in the area of cognitive development. The question is, ‘When you assess children’s development using TS GOLD, what Early Learning and Development standards do you inform?’ Use your Foundations document or your Foundations At a Glance Approaches to Play and Learning in your handouts to identify the Foundations for Early Learning and Development goal in the Approaches to Play and Learning domain that aligns with the TS GOLD objective listed. Enter the goal number and a description of the goal in the table.
[Allow participants about 5-7 minutes to complete activity. Distribute the handout titled, Aligning Teaching Strategies (TS) GOLD Objectives with Foundations for Early Learning and Development – ANSWER SHEET.]
Here is the ‘answer sheet’ based on the Teaching Strategies crosswalk. How did you do? What were your challenges and successes in aligning the GOLD objectives with the Foundation goals?
[Allow participants to respond. Take a minute to discuss any challenges if necessary.]
TS GOLD Objectives

12. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Older Preschooler: Story sequence
3rd Grade:
Recounts stories
5th Grade: Identify main points of stories
High School: Analyze how author selected words and organized text for meaning
English Language Arts
We may hear school principals ask, “How do the NC Foundations align with the NC Standard Course of Study?” They need to see the continuity between the standards for preschool and upper grades – especially kindergarten. This slide shows how preschool standards in English Language Arts lead to third grade, fifth grade, and high school English Language Arts standards. Notice how the preschool standards lay the foundation for what is expected in upper grades.
[Trainer note: Suggest that teachers post the Crosswalk arrow documents in an area of the classroom or hall so parents, colleagues and administrators can see how what they do impacts children’s success at K and beyond.]

13. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Older Preschooler: Patterning
3rd Grade:
Identify and explain patterns in arithmetic
5th Grade: Analyze patterns and relationships
High School: Arithmetic with polynomials and rational expressions
Mathematics
This slide shows the early Mathematics standards that lead to “Arithmetic with polynomials and rational expressions” in high school.

14. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Older Preschooler: Awareness of body
3rd Grade: Understand human body systems
5th Grade: Understand how organisms perform functions necessary for life
High School: Understand cells and organisms- evolution and genetics
Science
Here are early learning and development standards that lead to “Understanding cells and organisms: Evolution and genetics” in high school.

15. Relationship between Foundations and NC Standard Course of Study
Older Preschooler: Recognize the roles of people in the community
3rd Grade: Understand how events and individuals have influenced communities
5th Grade: Chronicle key events and people in US history
High School: Understand creation and development of societies and civilizations
Social Studies
Here we see the progression for Social Studies.

16. Alignment NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development
What would you tell your principal if she or he asked how preschool prepares children for the upper grades? From your handouts, find the one titled, NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development-NC Standard Course of Study Crosswalk. This crosswalk shows indicators related to the goal: ‘Children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups’ in the domain of Emotional and Social Development – and the related Kindergarten standards.
Now find the handout titled, How does the promotion and support of Early Learning and Development Standards prepare preschoolers for kindergarten? Read the scenario with me:
Your principal is observing your preschool classroom during playtime. You move to a group of children who are building houses with blocks on a rug designed to look like the layout of a town. You remark on the neat arrangement of the houses and ask if you can build something too. The children make room for you. You build a structure and ask children if they know what it is. One child says it is a house. You tell the child that the structure is actually a little store. The children begin to build stores near their houses. You ask what children’s families often buy when they go to the store. Children talk about things their families buy, such as cereal and juice. One child goes to the toys and brings over a car and drives it around the block of houses. Other children bring cars to the block area. You ask children where they are going in their cars. They talk about going to the store or to their Grandma’s house. You get a toy car and drive it around the block town and comment that you are going to visit a child’s house and that you’re bringing chocolate chip cookies for a backyard picnic. Children begin driving their toy cars to one another’s block houses while talking about what they might bring and do while visiting. You comment on the different plans children have for their ‘visits.’
After the observation, the principal asks why you spent that time playing with children instead of providing instruction. You reply that you were using and modeling strategies for joining children’s play that support their development of social interactions and assist them in expanding their ideas during play sequences. You add that this instructional practice supports and promotes one of the Foundations for Early Learning and Development standards: Children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups (ESD-5).
[Trainer note – whenever you have a read-aloud activity, you may wish to find a participant to do the reading. This gives you a break from presenting and the participants a break from your voice.]
The principal then asks how playing with children is going to prepare them for Kindergarten. How do you respond? Pull out your Foundations-NC Standard Course of Study for kindergarten crosswalk. What can you tell the principal about how ‘ESD-5’ prepares children for kindergarten? Let’s work in small groups for about five minutes to craft a response to the principal’s question using information from the crosswalk.
[Allow about 5 minutes, then debrief by asking for volunteers to read aloud their answer to the principal’s question. Prompt if necessary from answer sheet.]
Another way to think about this scenario is if YOU had initiated it. Rather than wait for questions from administrators who have little experience with preschool, is it possible to initiate a conversation that informs your administrator about Foundations, how you are using them, and their alignment with the NC Standard Course of Study?
[Allow participants to respond. Encourage anyone who has initiated such a conversation to share their experience with the group. For example, one teacher said she keeps a bulletin board outside her classroom to show examples ofchildren’s work that illustrate early learning and development standards. Another teacher said that she made an appointment and met with her principal to tell him about preschool and Foundations. ]
Kindergarten Standard Course of Study

17. Foundations Training Modules
As we saw in this activity, when principals observe preschool teachers in the classroom, they observe the teachers’ instructional practices. It’s important for teachers to be able to articulate how their instructional practices address the early learning standards for children -- and also how those practices demonstrate NC’s Professional Teaching Standards. Principals may need assistance to make the connections between early learning instructional practices and teaching standards. We’ve heard principals lament that they do not truly know what “distinguished” teaching should look like in the preschool classroom.
[Trainer Note: A Resource Manual for Administrators and Principals Supervising and Evaluating Teachers of Young Children is available at ]
The “Why” Behind the Structure of the Modules

18. Stakeholder Input
Identifying professional development needs for schools systems and the early intervention program
Stakeholder input helped to identify:
priorities for training, and
resources needed to implement Foundations through teacher/practitioner practices
A statewide group of stakeholders, convened January 2014, described the need for Foundations professional development to help align effective instructional practices with early learning standards and teaching standards. They described the challenges administrators and teachers face in today’s climate of decreasing resources and increasing requirements for the implementation of curriculum and child assessment, as well as the mounting pressures for other program evaluation requirements around child care licensure.
Stakeholders provided this input to the professional development team charged with the work of creating training modules that promote the use of the revised NC Foundations:
Help teachers understand the relationship between the standards and the work that they are currently doing with curriculum implementation and child assessment. Make sure they understand the connection rather than thinking they must now implement just one more thing.
Help teachers and administrators understand the relationship between evidence-based early childhood instructional practices and the early learning standards and give them information about how to articulate this relationship to administrators and families.
Help teachers and administrators understand the relationship between evidence-based early childhood instructional practices and the NC Professional Teaching Standards and give them information about how to articulate this relationship to administrators.

19. Video
The PD modules all include video activities that are meant to help make the connections between practices, Foundations, and teaching standards. Let’s try out one of these activities. We’ll watch a video of a teacher with two young children in the block center that showcases how to use naturally occurring situations to teach emotional-social skills.
This classroom had 14 children, a B-K certified teacher, one full-time teacher assistant and one-part time teacher assistant. Both of the teacher assistants were new to the classroom that school year. There were 11 children with IEPs: 10 identified as having a developmental delay and one identified as on the autism spectrum. Four of the children in this classroom were supported by NC Pre-K and one child’s family paid tuition. The class includes three-year-olds who do not attend every day – therefore you will not see all 14 children in the video clip.
Here is the scenario. Prior to the part you will see in this video clip, the little girl had built a series of houses out of blocks all around the city block mat. The little boy came into the center to play. He played nicely for several minutes, pushing his car around the streets and carefully avoiding the houses. He accidently knocked over one small house and he tried to rebuild it. At the beginning of this clip you will see the boy knock over a row of block houses.
While you view the video, please look at your handout of the NC Professional Teaching Standards and note which of these standards you think she is demonstrating. After we watch the video, we’ll ask you to debrief what you saw the teacher do and what NC Professional Teaching Standard(s) she demonstrated.
[Show Module 1 Overview video.]

20. Teaching Standards
[Call on participants to suggest teaching standards. Ask them to describe what they saw that reflected the standard they suggest.]
[Prompt as necessary with:
Standard 1: Teachers Demonstrate Leadership
Standard 2: Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students
Standard 4: Teachers Facilitate Learning for Their Students]

21. Structure of Training Modules
Pre-learning assignment
30 minute review of pre-learning assignment
90 minute face-to-face session
Post-learning activities: Extension into the classroom
In addition to video activities, just as in this session, each module has been structured to include a variety of learning activities to support the implementation of each practice. There are pre-learning activities, such as reading assignments that provide research based information about the evidence based practice. A thirty minute discussion will follow to debrief the reading assignment. The 90 minute face-to-face training sessions contains videos and group activities that help us actively identify the early learning and teaching standards observed in the instructional practice. Finally, a post-learning assignment is provided to help us analyze and improve elements of our own instructional practices.

22. Foundations Training Modules
Here’s why the modules are structured the way they are. When it comes right down to it, what is professional development meant to accomplish? Let’s look at the chart showing the relationship between professional development strategies and adult learner outcomes. The vertical axis shows levels of adult learning. Increasing knowledge is good, increasing skills is great, but what difference does it make unless the learner applies knowledge and skills in the classroom? Change in practice is the ultimate goal of professional development. Now let’s look at the horizontal axis. This is the complexity of PD strategies from low to high. You’ll see all of these strategies in all of the modules. Getting to the ultimate goal -- change in practice -- takes all these strategies plus practice in the classroom. The post-learning activities are meant to extend new learning into the classroom. For best results, teachers need mentoring and coaching.
[Discuss opportunities for mentoring and coaching that are available in your program.]
The Structure of the Training Modules

23. Effective Teacher Practices Supporting NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development
Module 1: Overview Module 2: Formative Assessment Module 3: Promoting Positive Relationships Module 4: Classroom Design Module 5: Behavior Expectations and Rules Module 6: Schedules and Routines Module 7: Directions and Feedback Module 8: Emotional Literacy and Empathy Module 9: Recognizing and Controlling Anger/Impulses Module 10: Problem Solving Module 11: Developing Friendships
Eleven PD modules were developed in : 1) this overview, 2) Formative Assessment, 3) Positive Relationships, 4) Classroom Design, 5) Behavior Expectations and Rules, 6) Schedules and Routines, 7) Directions and Feedback, 8) Promoting Emotional Literacy and Empathy, 9) Recognizing and Controlling Anger and Impulses, 10) Problem Solving, and 11) Developing Friendships.

24. Early MTSS Effective Teaching Practices Supporting Emotional-Social Development
Content for Modules 3-11 was based on the work of the Center on the Social-Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). The modules promote instructional practices that were found by CSEFEL to be effective for increasing children’s social-emotional skills and decreasing challenging behaviors.
[Trainer note – go to this link -- for more information about CSEFEL.]
CSEFEL introduced the three-tiered ‘pyramid’ model, which has been adapted many different ways for different purposes. This iteration of the pyramid focuses on the evidence-based practices that build‘protective factors’ into children’s lives. Programs need these practices and protective factors in place in order to eliminate or severely limit the use of expulsion and suspension. This version of the pyramid also aligns with NC’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, or ‘MTSS’ model. It shows the prevention tier as having two levels in which evidence-based teaching practices promote the social, emotional and behavioral development for all children. The second tier focuses on the provision of explicit instruction in social skills and emotional regulation with progress monitoring for individual children, when needed.

25. FirstSchool
All modules were reviewed and edited by staff from FirstSchool –a PreK through third grade approach to improving early elementary school experiences for African American, Latino, and low-income children and their families. Goals of FirstSchool are to:
foster collaborative inquiry and a more effective use of data;
develop curriculum that is aligned, balanced, integrated, relevant, and developmental;
promote sound instructional practices within cultures of caring, competence, and excellence;
strengthen two-way home-school partnerships that view families as important sources of knowledge about their children and;
work across grade levels to create a more seamless PreK-3rd grade experience for children and families.
[Trainer note – go to this link -- for more information about FirstSchool.]

26. Family Engagement
The modules also draw upon content from the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community
Engagement (NCPFCE) Research to Practice Series on the Family Engagement Outcomes of the
Office of Head Start (OHS) Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework. These resources tell us that efforts to engage families must be intentional, holistic, systemic, and integrated into the regular operations of our programs in order to be successful. Not just a note home in a backpack, effective communication is ongoing, two-way, and goal-oriented. Head Start reminds us that families are the true experts on their children’s interests and skills. Families know their children’s history, prior experiences, culture, and development. We can learn this information from families to better understand the children we serve. Discussion with families may occur through exchanges, phone calls (using interpreters wherever needed), formal meetings – that might include portfolios of work samples teachers have gathered (with interpreters and other support staff), and informal conversation at pick-up and drop-off.
[Trainer note – for more information, see the document at this link.
You may also find an online video series on partnering with families at the National Head Start website: (
We know families come in a wide variety: single parents, grandparents, families with languages other than English, foster families, families with multiple jobs, families with limited literacy skills, families that do not have electronic devices, and families that depend on electronic devices.
The modules define the term “FAMILY” as Head Start defines it -- as all of the people that play a parenting role and a partnering role with all staff in a child’s life. This includes fathers, mothers, grandparents, friends and family caregivers, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) parents, guardians, expectant parents, and adoptive parents.
Source:

27. iPoints
Each module will provide ‘iPoints’ – Instructional Practices Observed IN Teaching Standards. There are two versions of the iPoints. The ‘teacher’ version provides talking points for teachers to explain how their instructional practices address Foundations’ early learning and development standards and how those practices demonstrate NC Professional Teaching Standards. The ‘administrator’ version helps administrators understand how teacher practices they observe in the classroom promote the early learning and development standards and demonstrate teaching standards.

28. Instructional Practices Checklist
Each module also contains checklists for teachers and staff to use as a self-assessment or for observers to use to help them know what to look for and think about in a preschool classroom. For Modules 3-11, the checklists highlight instructional practices that were found by CSEFEL researchers to be effective for increasing children’s social-emotional skills and decreasing challenging behaviors. Teachers can conduct ‘pre-assessment’ of their current practices prior to professional development to identify practices they deliver well and areas to target for improvement. Using the checklists for self-assessment can help us identify goals for individual professional development plans and document improvement. After a period of time, a ‘post-assessment,’ with supporting documentation, can be used as evidence of movement toward professional development goals.

29. Off on a Journey!
Speaking of assessment – let’s take a look at those Foundations self-assessments. Did you hear information today that addressed this question? What did you hear?
[Allow volunteers to read a question from the self-assessment and describe the information they heard that addressed the question. Prompt as necessary from the notes you took at the beginning of the session about questions participants were unsure of.]
This brings us to the end of the Foundations overview. Lots more professional development to come! Or, as Dr. Seuss would say, ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

30. Post-learning Activity
Select a lesson plan
Identify Foundations domain, subdomain, goals, and indicators
Analyze lesson plan
Select a lesson plan you have recently taught or plan to teach in the near future. For each activity on the plan, identify the following:
What Foundations domain does this activity address?
What subdomain?
What goals and indicators would the activity meet?
After analyzing your lesson plan according to Foundations domains, subdomains, goals, and indicators, address the questions below. Be prepared to discuss your findings in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) or other opportunity for interaction.
What did this analysis of your lesson plan reveal?
Does the lesson plan cover some domains more than others? Which ones?
Which domain(s) did you feel your lesson plan covered well?
For which domain(s) did you feel your lesson plan could be improved?
What resources does Foundations provide to help improve lesson planning?
[End this session by telling participants the plan for Foundations professional development in your program, including a schedule for delivery of the eleven modules and post-learning activities. Also assign the post-learning assignment (participants select a lesson plan and analyze it according to Foundations’ domains, subdomains, and goals).]

31. Questions?
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

32. References
Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Corcoran, T., Mosher, F., & Rogat, A. (2009). Learning progressions in science: An evidenced-based approach to reform. Retrieved from
Dr. Seuss. (1978). I can read with my eyes shut! New York, NY: Random House.
Dr. Seuss. (1990). Oh, the places you’ll go. New York, NY: Random House.
Heritage, M. (2010). Formative assessment and next-generation assessment systems: Are we losing an opportunity? Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved from
Heritage, M. (2013). Formative assessment in practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Heroman, C., Burts, D.C., Berke, K., & Bickart, T.S. (2010). Teaching Strategies GOLD objectives for development & learning: Birth through kindergarten. Bethesda, MD: Teaching Strategies, LLC. Retrieved from
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (n.d.). K-12 standards, curriculum and instruction. Retrieved from
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. (2012). North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process. Raleigh: Author. Retrieved from
North Carolina Foundations Task Force. (2013). North Carolina foundations for early learning and development. Raleigh: Author. Retrieved from
NC FALCON. (n.d.). North Carolina’s formative assessment learning community’s online network. Retrieved from
Ritchie, S. & Gutmann, L. (Eds.). (2014). FirstSchool: Transforming PreK-3rd grade for African American, Latino, and low-income children. New York: Teachers College Press.
Teaching Strategies, LLC. (2010). The Creative Curriculum for preschool. Washington, DC: Author.