Universal Success Factors

01/30/2008

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.
Harvey Firestone

The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation recently completed the IEA Preprimary Project, a longitudinal, cross-national study of preprimary care and education. The purpose of the study was to identify how characteristics of early childhood settings, such as teaching practices and structural features, are related to children's language and cognitive development at age 7. Controlling for family and cultural influences, four findings emerged that are consistent across all of the countries included in the data analysis.

Children's language performance at age 7 improves as:

the predominant types of children's activities that teachers propose are free choice rather than personal/social. From greatest to least contribution, activity types were as follows: free-choice activities (teachers let children choose); physical/expressive activities (gross- and fine-motor physical activity, dramatic play, arts, crafts, and music); preacademic activities (reading, writing, numbers, mathematics, physical science, and social science); and personal/social activities (personal care, group social activities, and discipline).
teachers' number of years of full-time schooling increases.

Children's cognitive performance at age 7 improves as:

children spend less time in whole group activities (the teacher proposes the same activity for all the children in the class — songs, games, listening to a story, working on a craft, or a preacademic activity).
the number and variety of equipment and materials available to children in preschool settings increases.

Working Forum for Teacher Educators

Early childhood educators are responsible for training the early childhood workforce worldwide. The Working Forum for Teacher Educators, taking place in Auckland, New Zealand on April 20 - May 2, 2008, will facilitate the sharing of techniques, objectives, philosophies, and perspectives among teacher educators from around the world to enable them to improve their effectiveness. This Forum is designed for college instructors and independent trainers as well as individuals in private and public organizations responsible for the training of early childhood directors, teachers, and family child care providers. Check it out!

Signing (ASL) & Music for Early Learning
Foster deeper learning and memory retention for core educational concepts: ABC’s, Numbers, Colors, Rhymes, Animals and more by combining American Sign Language and Songs.

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