High Quality Matters
What is the recipe of high quality?
Effective and evidence-based curriculum
Teachers trained on implementing the curriculum.
Teachers who participate in professional development that is aligned with the curriculum.
Strong relationships between teachers and children and families.
Positive interactions between teachers and children.
Teachers as guides and facilitators of learning moving around a classroom engaging children in learning.
What you should see in a high quality program:
An evidence-based curriculum.
Social-emotional development integrated into the curriculum.
Teachers trained on the curriculum.
Teachers facilitating and guiding the learning as they move throughout the classroom.
Conversation, dialogue and questions being asked and answered.
Learning through discovery, investigation and exploration.
Learning through investigation and critical thinking.
Child-made art displayed at their eye level.
A high quality program is NOT:
Minimum health and safety standards with no focus on quality components.
Skill and drill (ditto sheets and coloring pages).
Adult-made art projects.
Direct instruction of skills and rote memorization of facts.
A place that views children as passive receptacles of knowledge requiring children to: sit still and listen; memorize lists, numbers and colors; and produce answers.
Teachers directing learning through verbal instructions, drill and practice.
