Curriculum, Ongoing Assessment, and Child Outcomes Sue Bredekamp, The Council for Professional Recognition Sue Bredekamp is currently Director of Research at the Council for Professional Recognition and is a consultant to the Office of Head Start. From 1984-98, she served as Director of Professional Development of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She co-authored Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children, the 1998 joint position statement of the International Reading Association and NAEYC. During her tenure with NAEYC, Bredekamp developed and directed a national, voluntary accreditation system for which she wrote three editions of Accreditation Criteria and Procedures and Guide to Accreditation. She is the primary author of the 1987 and 1997 editions of NAEYC’s highly influential and best-selling publication Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs. She also researched and wrote NAEYC position statements on standardized testing and curriculum and assessment, and edited the two-volume Reaching Potentials: Appropriate Curriculum and Assessment for Young Children. "Curriculum is a dynamic and living thing. When it is designed well, it should adapt to the learners and the context." — Sue Bredekamp Presentation Highlights Increased quality and accountability in Head Start can best be achieved through the establishment of clear outcomes and through curriculum and assessment systems that are in place to ensure that children are achieving progress in learning and development. Outcomes The 1998 Reauthorization calls for results-based performance measures (measures of child outcomes), which provide a common set of agreed upon goals. The Head Start Child Outcomes Framework identifies achievable and challenging outcomes that are developmentally appropriate. Curriculum Head Start requires the use of a written curriculum, but also provides for local flexibility. Curriculum should be viewed as a decision-making process that is based on: What we know about how young children develop and learn; What we learn about each individual child in the classroom; and What we understand about the social and cultural context. Screening and Assessment Screening and ongoing assessment have been a long-standing component of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, and are meant to serve two distinct purposes: 1.   Screening should be used to identify possible learning and developmental delays or disabilities. 2.   Assessment should be used to track children’s learning and developmental progress in order to effectively adapt curriculum and teaching to meet individual needs. Presentation Handout Print version of Sue Bredekamp's 1-page Handout Curriculum, Assessment, and Child Outcomes This presentation addresses the interrelated issues of curriculum, assessment, and child outcomes in early childhood programs, providing an overall context for the Institute. Major points The 1998 Reauthorization of Head Start calls for continuing quality improvement and increased accountability in Head Start programs. Quality and accountability can best be improved if administrators, teachers, and parents clearly understand the program’s goals for children’s learning and development (outcomes), have articulated plans for achieving those goals (curriculum), and ways of evaluating children’s learning and developmental progress (assessment). Head Start Program Performance Standards have been revised to reflect current thinking about curriculum and assessment, and the relationship between them. Outcomes The 1998 Reauthorization calls for measuring and demonstrating improved child outcomes in language, literacy, and numeracy. The Office of Head Start adopted a Child Outcomes Framework that covers eight areas: language, literacy, mathematics, science, social-emotional development, approaches toward learning, creative arts, and physical health and well-being. Although specifying child outcomes has been controversial in the past, positive results can occur that include: providing a shared set of goals to work toward, a framework for planning curriculum, and a whole child approach (Head Start’s Child Outcomes Framework addresses all areas, developmental goals as well as readiness ones, because social-emotional development and approaches to learning are critical aspects of readiness). Child outcomes must be developmentally appropriate, thus challenging but achievable for most of the children within a given age range. Head Start’s Child Outcomes Framework is not exhaustive, nor is it a checklist; it is a common set of agreed upon domains and sub-domains with examples. Head Start’s Child Outcomes Framework applies to 4-year-olds at the end of Head Start, but achieving them is the result of many cumulative experiences since birth (so Early Head Start has a critical role to play). Head Start’s new Child Outcomes Framework must be taken into consideration in planning and implementing curriculum and assessment. Curriculum Head Start requires a written curriculum plan but not a prepackaged set of lessons that does not adapt for the local context. This standard must be implemented in relation to other standards which require responsiveness to individual and cultural variation. Head Start's definition of curriculum is comprehensive, including goals, materials, learning experiences, teaching strategies, and roles of staff and parents. Programs should use similar criteria for selecting and/or developing/adapting curriculum which include: coherence, comprehensiveness, and developmental appropriateness. Video of Presentation Presentation Highlights Presentation Handout List of Curriculum and Assessment presenters/presentations Information on how to view videos and view/download handouts

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