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Kathleen - Thank you, sue for agreeing to come and share your expertise about the High Scope Approach. Would you tell us about your professional background?
Kathleen - Learn more about the High Scope Approach at their web site http://highscope.org
sue - I am a Pk teacher in Louisiana. I teach a grant program and have using highscope for 5 yrs. I have my Master in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in EC
sue - What do yall already kow about High Scope?
Kathleen - I know it is based upon experiential learning
sue - High SCope is about 30yrs old. It was developed to help counteract the high high school drop out rate.
sue - It was felt that by starting the children out early it would help them later in life. It's the only research based Pk program
Kathleen - Was it targeted to any particular population of students, other than drop outs? specifically, low socio economic group? (I guess the two are entwined:-(
sue - Yall may be more familiar with the research as the Perry Preschool Project, Long-Term Outcomes of Early Childhood Programs, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Gains Found in Preschool Learning by Playing, High/Scope curriculum
sue - I feel it reaaly works in the ec classes. the children have a lot of choice
sue - would you like to know our daily routine?
meeha/ece/tx - Was the program targeted only toward decreasing drop-out incidence in the targeted population or also toward decreasing illicit drug use and teenage pregnancy? I know these are factors which have been measured over the studies through the years.
Kathleen - sue pm-ed "It was targeted for low income children. Of the children who had the PK experience more had jobs, less divorce, fewer teen pregnanacies"
sue - it was originally for decresing the drop out rate.
sue - I'd like to introduce you to our other presenter Patti.
Kathleen - I think High Scope when it was introduced 30 years ago was the first early intervention program
Kathleen - Patti, welcome to Teachers.Net and thank you for sharing through this session:-)
sue - patti, what can you add as far as the research before we get into the daily routine?
Patti - I think you pretty much covered it.
Mary K&1 - What's your schedule? and Do the children have an easy transition into Non High Scope Programs when they leave you?
sue - mary k, we have a balance day-- central is the plan-do-review part of the day. Children plan where they will work, work in the centers and recall were they worked. We also have large and small group times
sue - patti, what about tranisition to non-high scope?
Patti - It depends. If they enter a K class where they are expected to rotate through certain centers. It is hard for them to go from free center choice to scheduled centers. I really think the teachers have more of a problem with it.
sue - some teachers complain that our children are too independent!
Patti - It also depends if they enter a DAP Kind. class.
Ben - How is High scope different from the regular program and at what level is this transition made and for what reason?
Ben - Ok what's a DAP Kindergarten Program?
sue - ben, highscope is also centered around key experiences and and active learning. The kids are learning by doing and it's based on their interest.
Patti - It is not that different. It is very DAP (developmentally appropriated )
sue - high scope is also not only in the ec class, they are developing more for the elem and high school level
Kathleen - Did you say that your program is grant funded? Do your students leave you to go to different schools (environments)
Patti - Our program is funded through Title I and the majority of the students remain at our school.
sue - kat, we have 22 PK programs in the publc schools in or parish. Some are funded by state grants, some by federal grants. We are all based in low income public schools
Ben - How do you get these students to learn those things that are needed but have no interest in?
sue - ben, we address those needs during small group time which can be more teacher directed
Patti - We do it through hands-on activities that are opened ended. We have a small group time each day and take advantage of working one on one with them at center time.
Laurie - with so much choice how do teachers plan lessons?
sue - laurie, the children are allowed free choice of centers but the enviornment is set up for maximum hands on learning. We do daily lesson plans based on the kids interst and needs
sue - laurie, we do daily ancedotal notes so we are aware of what the needs are and also plan around that
Ben - At some point these students must make a transition to a school or program where they must meet the total expectations of the program what has been the success rate of this process? Is this program regional or country wide?
Laurie - How is the . evaluated
Patti - It is implemented worldwide.
sue - ben, it has been very successful
sue - laurie,how is what evaluated?
Kathleen - sue and Patti, maybe you can address in more depth the concern about transitioning from High Scope into programs that might be more teacher-directed
Kathleen - Learn more about the High Scope Approach at their web site http://highscope.org
sue - I will be honest and say some of the children in Pk have a problem when they go into a very authoritarian K class. High Scope is also about shared control.
sue - Adult child interaction is a very big part of the High Scope wheel
Patti - I can only speak from my experience at my school. The students make a smooth transition. They are familiar with a daily routine and have stregthened their academic skills. Our students actually do better than students who have not attended school before.
sue - But, for the most part our students do well
Laurie - #s What is ratio student
Patti - 20 students - teacher and para
Kathleen - [but children naturally (often) have difficulty adjusting to a highly authoritarian kindergarten]
sue - kat,that's very true.
sue - We haven't talked about the key expereinces yet. There are 64 objectives/skills HighScope feels the chidlren should be able to achieve .
sue - Our schedule is 360 minutes a day. we have a morning greeting time, a 15 min small group time, 10 min.planning time and 65 min. in worktime centers
Patti - Our day is balanced between teacher-directed and student directed activities.
sue - we also have 10 minutes for recall, 45 minutes outdoor time, 20 min. large group and of course snack, nap and lunch
sue - Plan-do-review is a large block of time.
Patti - Storytime is considered large group time - I have 2 large group times scheduled.
sue - oops, forgot storytime. We also do DEAR at out school
Kathleen - sue, are there any specialists in the weekly schedule? (art, PE, music, speech/lang)
sue - kat, some schools have PE but some do not
Patti - I attend computer lab 2X's week - 30 minuted sessions (2 - 15 min. groups)
Patti - We also have a 15 min. library time once a week.
sue - the meat of the day is worktime, what you would call center time
Kathleen - Do you provide snack? Do the children prepare their own snack?
sue - snack is provided by the parents on a once a month basis. sometimes we do cook
Patti - Each student is responsible for providing snack for the class once a month.
JJ - Isn't High/Scope similiar to the Reggio approach??
sue - I think there is alot of confusion on exaclty what High Scope is
sue - JJ, I'm not really sure explain reggio emilia again it's been awhile since I've read about it
Kathleen - Reggio is the project approach (over simplification), with children investigating in depth a topic of their choice
sue - now I remember ! the kids do investigate what they are interested in but not to the extent of the project approach at the ec level
JD - are you in a public school? and are you required to do a weekly lesson plan?
sue - jd, I do daily plans.My principal allows me to turn them in after the week is over
Kathleen - High Scope seems to have elements of Montessori and Reggio
Patti - If they(most of them) are interested in a particular subject or topic we go for it. Ex: They came in talking about dinosaurs. we planned around this interest.
sue - kat, it's basically good DAP within the framework of the plan-do-review.
Patti - Kathleen - I would agree.
Kathleen - Are there any prescribed or programmed lessons?
sue - The high scope approach is based around a wheel. Central to it is the key expereinces and active learning. The other components are learning environment, assessmnet,daily routine and adult child interaction
JJ - What kind of learning environment is set up??
sue - kat, there are no 'prescribed" lessons but the key expreinces are good guide
Kathleen - sue and Patti, would you tell us more about key experiences
Patti - Centers - place to conduct large group time
sue - jj, we have the same basic centers but everything is accessible to the children and labelled. There is a sense of ownership in the class
sue - There are 64 key expreinces that are divided into categories. the categories are creative representation, language and literacy, intiative and social and music and movment. the reminaing key experiences are centered around math concepts
sue - these are for children ages 2 1/2 to 6.
Kathleen - Are the Key Experiences explained on the High Scope web site?
Patti - I'm pretty sure.
sue - kat, yes.
sue - We use the key expereinces as a guide for planing for the children
JD - do you know of any good highscope web sites?
Kathleen - Learn more about the High Scope Approach at their web site http://highscope.org
sue - jd, the website has some of the most frequently asked questions.
Kathleen - sue and Patti, is there anything you wish to add?
Patti - We had some of the same questions and concerns at first. It is a developmentally appropriate program that incorporates plan/do/review.
sue - High Scope is effective in the Ec classroom. There is a lot to learn about High Scope to implement it effectively but it does work!
Kathleen - I forgot to ask about family involvement, is that a component of High Scope?
Patti - Yes. They have a lot of resources for family involvement.
sue - kat, it is in our programs. We have a required parental involvement.
Kathleen - Does the involvement take the form of classroom assistance only?
sue - I would recommend High Scope as a good approah for any ec classroom
sue - kat, no they must attend monthly parent meetings on child development topics, work in classroom, attend field trips
sue - sandy, have any questions?
Kathleen - sue and Patty, thanking for giving your time to aid in the professional development of the educators in the Teachers.Net community!Thank you to all who participated. Goodnight! :-)
sue - good night yall, thanks
JJ - Thanks sue and Patti!
