Children’s School Program Portfolio 2008
The Children’s School Program Portfolio consists of
• this overview document,
• an overview notebook with copies of the key documents referenced in the overview,
• a plastic file box with files for each of the steps in our self-study and self-assessment process (including the actual surveys, observation forms, etc.), • a plastic file box with folders for each of the required program portfolio entries,
• a set of notebooks with more detailed information than can easily fit in the portfolio (e.g., school’s annual report to Carnegie Mellon, complete staff and family handbooks, playground inspector report, etc.), and
• a laptop computer set to our school web site.
We suggest that you start with the overview document and notebook and then follow the references listed to see additional information included in the boxes or additional notebooks as necessary. General explanations are typed in italics. Document references and portfolio cross-references are typed in black, while descriptions of actual documents in the files for each standard are typed in blue. Self-Assessment data are listed in red (with data sheets in the overview notebook and actual forms in the self-study / self-assessment file box). Handbook pages are listed in the overview and NAEYC code numbers are included in the handbooks for easy location of items on the pages (but copies are also included in the files with specific sections highlighted in pink). Note that the complete Family Handbook is part of the Staff Handbook, so policies listed in the Family Handbook are not repeated separately in the Staff Handbook.
NOTE to Early Childhood Programs utilizing the Children’s School Labels and Program Portfolio Item list:
The label organization was taken from the Checklist By Standard document provided by NAEYC, but the wording of that NAEYC document is much more global than the actual language of the standards. We clarified the labels where practical, but the Portfolio Item List has more detail for each item. In many cases, however, there is MUCH more detail in the actual standards books about what needs to be included in a policy. For example, the label for 4.E.02, 06 & 07 is treated as one category by the NAEYC Checklist but has three quite separate ideas in the book of standards and related criteria, with a total of 8 particular bullet points. Be sure to cover each sentence and bullet point from the latter document! Apparently, both complete coverage and precise wording matter!
Children’s School Program Portfolio Entries
Standard 2: Curriculum
2.A.Curriculum: Essential Characteristics
01Written statement of philosophy and curriculum framework
• Ed Philosophy Statement
Staff Handbook p. 4
Family Handbook p. 3
Web Site under Program – Our Unique Approach
• Continuum of Developmental Objectives (3 years / 6 domains)
Full set of objectives with NAEYC codes
Staff Handbook p. 14 (overview)
Plus in the Curriculum & Assessment Section
Family Handbook p. 8 (overview only)
Web Site under Program – Our Unique Approach
• Sample Director’s Corner articles using framework (e.g., samples
from seminars we offer re: conferences, summer, play,
plus current examples from 2007 or 2008 newsletters on
dramatic play and games)
02Curriculum framework as focus for planning but adaptable
03Curriculum guides intentional implementation of learning
opportunities consistent with program goals
04Curriculum reflects responsiveness to diversity
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 92% (2.A.04)
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100% (2.A.04)
• Curriculum and Assessment Statement
Staff Handbook p. 14-18
Family Handbook p. 8-12
Web Site under Program – Our Unique Approach
• Pages from prospective parent booklet re: “Approaches to Meeting
Basic Learning Goals”
• Team Planning Overview for Sample Thematic Units
(with diversity sections highlighted)
• Handouts from Thematic Unit Workshop 8/07 (red pocket folder)
(with diversity sections highlighted)
• Bird / Carver presentation from NALS ’07 re: Music and Games:
Building Skills in All Developmental Domains via Early
Childhood Investigations
• Bird / Hancock presentation from PAEYC ‘06 re: Using
Structures in the Environment to Scaffold Development and
Theme Learning
• Sample Thematic Unit Books are available in the Professional
Development Room and Current Thematic Unit Plans are in
Classroom Portfolios under 2.A.10
05Goals & objectives guide assessment
• Curriculum and Assessment Statement
Staff Handbook p. 14-18 (see 2.A.02-04)
Family Handbook p. 8-12 (see 2.A.02-04)
Web Site under Program – Our Unique Approach
• Director’s Corner re: Assessment
• Fall & Spring Conference Forms for 3’s, 4’s, and K
also in Staff Handbook Curriculum & Assessment Section
(See 4.A.01-03)
06Curriculum guides teachers to integrate assessment info to
support individualized learning
• Curriculum and Assessment Statement
Staff Handbook p. 14-18 (see 2.A.02-04)
Family Handbook p. 8-12 (see 2.A.02-04)
Web Site under Program – Our Unique Approach
• Team Planning Overview for Sample Units (See 2.A.02-04)
• Sample completed assessment reports can be found in child files.
2.B.Areas of Development: Social-Emotional Development - No required
PP entries
2.C.Areas of Development: Physical Development - No required PP
entries
2.D.Areas of Development: Language Development
01Opportunities for language acquisition align with program
philosophy, consider family and community perspectives
(including linkages with community agencies that offer culturally and linguistically appropriate services for families served)
• Developmental Objectives re: Communication (See 2.A.01)
• Section on Communication from prospective parent booklet re:
“Approaches to Meeting Basic Learning Goals” (See 2.A.02-04)
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 82%
• Director’s Corner re: Literacy from 2/01 but highlights our
perspective on literacy
• Hancock / Perovich presentation for Beginning with Books
Conference (9/07)
• NAEYC handout re: Literacy Development (shared with families)
• Sample newsletter items with community connections related to
literacy
• Sample announcement of a literacy program at the local library, a
program that was user tested with our children in the
kindergarten (i.e., we’re involved in the research prior to the
products being available in the community)
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 45% (only asked about the
aspect of the standard related to incorporating the home
language of the child)
2.E.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Early Literacy –
No required PP entries
2.F.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Early Math - No
required PP entries
2.G.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Science - No
required PP entries
2.H.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Technology - No
required PP entries
2.I.Does not exist
2.J.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Creative
Expression and Appreciation for the Arts - No required PP entries
2.K.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Health and
Safety - No required PP entries
2.L.Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Social Studies -
No required PP entries
Children’s School Program Portfolio Entries
Standard 3: Teaching
3.A.Designing Enriched Learning Environments - No required PP entries
3.B.Creating Caring Communities for Learning - No required PP entries
3.C.Supervising Children (REQUIRED)
04 / 05Supervision Protocol for Preschool & Kindergarten
• Supervision Protocol - Staff Handbook p. 21-24
• Family Handbook p. 22
3.D.Using Time, Grouping, and Routines to Achieve Learning Goals - No
required PP entries
07Snack time conversation, with staff sitting & eating with children
(Preschool Only)
• Staff members always promote conversation during snack and
lunch times. Whenever possible, staff members sit with
children, but our short time frame for snack and lunch often
means that staff members are up replenishing food and drink
and/or helping children open items, clean spills, etc. During our
June camp, the time frame for lunch is longer, so staff members
do bring their own lunch and eat with the children.
• The Children’s School does not serve meals on a routine basis.
Children in the kindergarten and extended morning programs
bring their own lunches.
There are occasions when a class will cook a special meal as part of a theme exploration. It may then be served buffet style or family style.
3.E.Responding to Children’s Interests and Needs - No required PP
entries
3.F.Making Learning Meaningful for All Children
01Curriculum as flexible framework for planning & teaching
• See Items in 2.A.01-06
03Working with families to help children participate successfully
when professional values and practices differ from family values and
practices
• Office Roles document from October 2007 Newsletter with family
issues highlighted
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 84%
• Family Handbook re: Intro Letter (p. 1), Interaction guidelines (p. 6),
Parents as Partners (p. 7)
• Family Photos displayed at child level in greeting / dismissal area so
everyone feels welcome.
• Newsletter items re: holidays, etc. that relate to cultural differences
• Invitations for families to share traditions and preferences via our
whole school thematic units (most recently Games and Art &
Artists) promote interest and value in differences. See 7.A.03
for the documents.
3.G.Using Instruction to Deepen Children’s Understanding and Build Their
Skills and Knowledge - No required PP entries
Children’s School Program Portfolio Entries
Standard 4: Assessment
4.A.Creating an Assessment Plan
01 Assessments consistent with the program philosophy and curriculum are integral to program to support learning via a
variety of methods
02Written plan for assessment re: procedures, confidentiality, and
family involvement
03Written plan for assessment re: purposes and uses of results
• Educational Philosophy describes alignment of Goals -> Program ->
Assessment (See 2.A.01)
• Assessment Statement
Staff Handbook, p. 16, see 4.B for p. 17&18)
Family Handbook, p. 9-13
• August 2007 Seminar Plan / Notes re: Assessment (note that it was
the first time we used the electronic white board). We also did a
seminar with one of the Pittsburgh Public School developmental
specialists to learn how to conduct their broad screening.
• Assessment Forms for 3’s, 4’s, and K (Fall & Spring) – all formatting
relates to developmental objective domains
4.B.Using Appropriate Assessment Methods
01Methods are varied, sensitive to diversity, meaningful and
accurate, and used in familiar settings
• Assessment Procedures (Staff Handbook p. 17ff)
• Family Handbook p. 10ff
03Use of norm-references / standardized tests
• Assessment Plan (Staff Handbook p. 18) describes combination of
informal and formal assessments, without use of standardized tests
(see 4.B.01)
• Staff Handbook Behavior Management Guidelines (p. 27) indicates
use of the TABS (see below) for children with persistent challenging
behaviors
04Evaluation of published instruments re: standardization,
scoring, reliability, validity, etc.
• For the Temperament and Atypical Behavior Scale (TABS)
Assessment (used for screening of children with persistent
behavior issues), the Director reviewed manual chapters 4 & 5
on TABS development and technical adequacy and the staff
had a seminar with representative of the development team.
• Copy of the TABS form we use, together with handout from our
initial training seminar re: its use.
05Staff-developed assessment methods aligned with goals,
accurate, appropriate, meaningful, and helpful for planning
06 Process for ensuring that staff share understanding of purpose, value, and uses of assessment and can explain them to others
• See 4.A
• Family Handbook p. 12
• Email to staff re: change in forms to align with NAEYC requirements
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 96% (4.B.06)
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100% (4.B.06)
• Completed Assessment Forms can be viewed in the Child Files
• New Teachers are oriented to assessments when hired and
mentored by co-teachers and director when completing assessments
for the first time.
• Director coaches all teachers on writing challenging assessments
(typically for children with special needs), which often involves
modifying the form (e.g., to include a level of support needed for each
item when a child has a TSS) – Samples can be pulled from child
files by the Director upon request.
• Periodic Seminars on topics related to assessment, plus bi-annual
review of assessment checklists to improve them
• Most recent whole staff discussion was August 2007 (see
description in 4.A.01-03)
4.C.Identifying Children’s Interests and Needs and Describing Children’s
Progress
01EMERGING - Broad developmental screening using
established instrument, within three months, with plan for
evaluating effectiveness & using results to make referrals
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 82%
• We currently do no routine, standardized screening of all children (though our developmental objectives and related conference forms are more thorough than most screening instruments available).
• For many years, we have made arrangements to have vision and hearing / language screenings to be done at our school, though they are conducted by professionals with the permission of parents. Most parents choose to participate, especially after teachers who have concerns encourage them to do so, and several children each year get referred for further diagnostics and treatment.
• Family Handbook p. 22 re: vision / hearing & speech screening
• In 2003, we began using items from the TABS assessment (see above) for screening of children with consistent behavior issues. We do not use the actual TABS forms because of the alarming language that may discourage parents from noting all of the behaviors of concern. Though it has been used in relatively few cases so far, we have found it a helpful tool for focusing discussions of children’s needs and for alerting parents to the need for further diagnostics and treatment.
• At this time, we have chosen not to use a standardized Developmental Screening instrument because we have not been able to locate one instrument that covers all of the categories listed in this standard (health status, sensory, language, cognitive, gross-motor, fine-motor, and social-emotional), even in the NAEYC book on developmental screening. As noted above, the informal assessment and professional judgments used to prepare for our November conferences have been effective so far in terms of providing the impetus necessary for referrals. In 2007, staff members participated in training for the Meisels Developmental Screening so that we can use it if we sense a need for more quantitative indicators of the need for referral. Samples of conference reports with specific referrals can be pulled by the Director upon request.
4.D.Adapting Curriculum, Individualizing Teaching, and Informing
Program Development
02EMERGING – Weekly meetings to interpret and use
assessment results to inform teaching practice
• Assessment plan (see 4.A)
• Professional development plan for 2007-08 and Sample staff
memos to show scheduled meetings
• Conference preparation schedule samples to show span of time for
drafting written conference forms and getting feedback
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100%
4.E.Communicating with Families and Involving Families in the
Assessment Process
02Families provided verbal or written info quarterly and written
reports biannually
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 86% (all non-yes responses were
from families in the program for only 3 months)
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100%
• Written and face-to-face conferences are conducted in November
for all ages, February for kindergarten, and April for preschool.
Verbal / email interaction occurs on an as needed basis throughout the year. Staff participate in IEP and interagency meetings for
children with special needs according to the timetable of the relevant
partner agencies (see sample invitation).
• During the 2007-2008 year, teachers added two rounds of parent
phone calls to touch base with any parents with whom they had not
recently had significant conversations about issues relating to their
particular child. See Professional Development Plan in 4.D.02 for
dates 10/5, 2/8, and 4/18.
• Hancock presentation re: conferencing with parents (most recently
done at the Ellis School event for preschool directors)
06Families provided with info re: choice, training, use, scoring,
and interpretation of screening and assessment methods
• Director’s Article re: Assessment (See 2.A.05)
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 98%
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100%
• School Choice Brown Bag Handout (also available to non-attending
families)
07 EMERGING – Explanation of Confidentiality for Families
• Assessment Plan – Confidentiality Section (Staff Handbook p. 12)
• Family Handbook p. 12
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 85%
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 91%
• CMU HIPAA Questions & Answers
• Email description of choice not to distribute electronic copies of
photos from school re: confidentiality
Children’s School Program Portfolio Entries
Standard 5: Health
5.A.Promoting and Protecting Children’s Health and Controlling Infectious Disease
02 EMERGING - Written agreement with health consultant, reports of suggestions and evidence of related improvements
• Contract with Health Consultant, Gail Woomer
• Sample Email from Health Consultant
• Report from 10/11/07 evaluation
• Response to report re: improvements (written by Assistant Director)
03Pediatric First Aid / Rescue Breathing (REQUIRED)
• All Children’s School staff members take Pediatric CPR & First Aid
every fall. The certified instructor is a former Children’s School
parent
who works as an Emergency Room nurse at Children’s Hospital in
Pittsburgh. She tailors the instruction to our unique context.
• Staff Handbook p.19
• Family Handbook p. 21
• Letter from trainer re: content of course
• Copies of staff first aid training cards
(most from 9/07, two from 9/06)
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 100%
04 Sick Child Policy
• Family Handbook p. 23-24 re: staff and family responsibility
• Teaching Staff Self-Assessment Survey 91%
05Policy re: communicable disease notification, plus evidence of
regular health updates
• Family Handbook p. 23-24 (See 5.A.04)
• Family Self-Assessment Survey 99%
• Cover pages of resource books re: disease characteristics
• Info on Healthy Child Care PA
(email update service to which we subscribe)
• Sample health alerts / notices to our parents
07Outdoor Health & Safety Policy re: cold, heat, sun, insects
• Staff Handbook p. 21
• Family Handbook p. 21
• Chart re: safe temperatures (what’s too cold, what’s too hot)
• Sample school closure / delay notice
08Diapering Policy & Procedures
• Staff Handbook p. 23
• Photographs of changing table & procedures diagram
09Handwashing Policy & Procedures
• Staff Handbook p. 19, 22
• Photographs of diagram by sinks