Ready at Five

Preceedings of Past School Readiness Symposia

Eliminating Gaps in School Readiness and Achievement. The September 2009 School Readiness Symposium featured Dr. Ronald F. Ferguson, Director of the Tripod Project for School Improvement and the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University and an illustrious panel, including Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick, Superintendent, Maryland Public Schools; Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools; Dr. William Hite, Jr., Superintendent, Prince George’s County Schools; Dunbar Brooks, former President, Maryland State Board of Education, Manager, Data Development, Baltimore Metropolitan Council; and Carole Brunson Day, President, National Black Child Development Institute. Over 200 people were privileged to hear Dr. Ferguson focus his presentation on what the common goal should be ….bringing all children up to group proportional equality with equal excellence. Dr. Ferguson’s research has led to breakthroughs in our understanding of how and why students achieve and the forces that come to bear on student outcomes; from curriculum to pedagogy to teachers’ relationships with students; from peer and parent attitudes to public policy. Dr. Ferguson facilitated a conversation with the panelists and the audience. Table discussions offered the Symposium audience the opportunity to share their experiences and different strategies they were prepared to implement in their home jurisdictions, schools and programs. The inaugural edition of Issue Insights – Eliminating Gaps in School Readiness and Achievement - was disseminated at the Symposium. Click here for Dr. Ferguson’s Powerpoint presentation; a Powerpoint developed by Ready At Five and MSDE that compliments Dr. Ferguson’s key messages and compares the Maryland Model for School Readiness Kindergarten assessment data with third grade Maryland State Assessment data and a down loadable version of Issue Insights. Additionally, there is a 6-slide PowerPoint of Dr. Ferguson’s eighteen (18) Research-Inspired Tips for High-Achievement Parenting. Developed as a follow-up to the Symposium click here for Eliminating the Gaps in School Readiness and Achievement Proceedings.
Curriculum Content and Pedagogy to Promote Success in Young Children featured M. Susan Burns, Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University and an editor of Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers. The audience for this unique Symposium was Directors of Nursery Schools and accredited child care programs. Symposium participants reviewed and analyzed the Maryland state-approved curricula; visited child care programs that are implementing select state-approved curricula and examined the alignment between the curricula and state content areas. Rich discussion centered on how the different curricula can be implemented in programs.
Nurturing Curiosity Right From the Start. Carolyn Owens, Science Education Specialist, the Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science, Penn State University, offered the 190 participants, with a fun and engaging series of activities and exercises that illustrated how to engage young children in thoughtful analysis; ways to strengthen young children’s skills in the process of asking, exploring, and communicating about compelling questions in the world around them; how curious exploration promotes language development and ways to bridge the experiences children have with the topics in science that they need to master. Ms. Owens take away for participants was “Ask the children questions.” Ask children to observe, describe and compare their experiences; build on the concept and then discuss ways to broaden children’s scientific thinking about the concept. Click her for Dr. Owens Symposium presentation.
Children and Science: A Natural Fit. To the delight of the 164 people attending the September 2008 Symposium, Jeff Winokur and Karen Worth, Early Childhood Science Specialists at the Center for Science Education at the Education Development Center in Boston, engaged the participants with fun, practical, interactive hands-on activities that were illustrative of ways to improve the teaching of science to young children and how to use the activities with children. The Symposium presentation was a balance between the experience of hand-on activities and the thinking and understanding behind the activity that supports teaching science to young children. Click here for Mr. Winokur and Ms. Worth’s collaborative PowerPoint presentation. Exploring the world of science – An overview card was released at the Symposium which offers a synopsis of the importance of introducing and using science with young children and includes the 12 ParentTips topics that will be released monthly.
Comprehensive Early Childhood Models: A Multi–National Approach. Headlined by Dr. Philip Gammage and 4 panelists, including Manuel Achten, Coordinator, Maison Relais, Luxembourg; Karin Altgeld, Institute for Work, Skills and Training, University of Duisburg-Essen; Mary Jane Chainski, Director, Bounce Learning Network, Educare Centers, and Cheryl DeAtley, Judy Center Partnership Specialist, Maryland State Department of Education, this full day Symposium provided an international lens through which different worldviews, approaches and programming can be provided to support young children and their children throughout the world. Dr. Gammage called for a broad global perspective when developing public policy that include population, health, immigration, ethnicity, birth, marriage and divorce rate considerations. His focus on the world’s population of young children – the 30 countries that control 80% of the world’s money have only 10% of world’s children. He urged the over (180?) Symposium participants to create early childhood environments that provide opportunities for social and emotional adjustment and provide the support of a “family”. Each of the panelists presented an overview of their program’s design and characteristics and led afternoon workshops. Martin Blank, Director of the Coalition for Community Schools, facilitated the Symposium and led a small By Invitation Only group discussion the following day. Consensus was reached on the need for improved professional development for the early childhood workforce; opportunities to blend funding streams, adopting select progressive international practices that support young children and their families and enhancing the awareness around the economic value of investing in early childhood. Click here for Dr. Gammage’s Powerpoint presentation; Manuel Achten's powerpoint; Karin Altgeld's powerpoint; and Mary Jane Chainski's presentation.
Number and Geometry: Building a Solid Early Math Program. Back my popular demand, Dr. Doug Clements, Associate Dean for Educational Technology at the University of Buffalo, returned to Maryland in November 2007 and focused his presentation on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Curriculum Focal Points for PreK-2. The Curriculum Focal Points and Connections to Prekindergarten are Number and Operations – Developing an understanding of whole numbers, including concepts of correspondence, counting cardinality and comparison; Geometry – Identifying shapes and describing spatial relationships and, Measurement – Identifying measureable attributes and comparing objects by suing these attributes. These topics are recommended content emphases for prekindergarten. Dr. Clements emphasized that it is essential that these focal points are addressed in contexts that promote problem solving, reasoning, communication, making connections and designing and analyzing representations. Click her for Dr. Clements Symposium presentation.
Converstions to Make the Most of Early Childhood Education. Kimberly Oliver, Maryland and National Teacher of the Year, believes that quality teachers can raise student achievement for disadvantage students. She reinforced the need to support the entire family emphasizing how a positive early learning experience can outweigh the effects of race, poverty and language barriers. Oliver urged Symposium participants to create a culture of excellence by committing to equity and expectations and building a sound foundation for all young children. Robert C. Pianta, Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia, stressed the critical importance of classroom observations by noticing the experiences of children in early childhood settings; determining how these interactions and experiences matter for children and ways in which the richness and quality of experiences in classroom can be improved through observing relationships and interactions. He focused on three aspects of professional development - emotional support, instruction support and organization management, illustrating how student achievement is increased where teacher-child interactions and relationships are supported and reinforced. Click here to review Dr. Pianta's powerpoint presentation.
The Building Blocks of Mathematics. Dr. Doug Clements captivated the sellout audience by emphasizing the critical importance of implementing a research-based integrated mathematics curriculum for young children. Clements maintains this can be achieved by providing sustained time on fewer key concepts and focusing on a cohesive cluster of related ideas, concepts, skills and procedures that form the foundation for higher-level mathematics. For prek children that includes: Number and operations (developing understanding of whole numbers, including correspondence, counting, cardinally and comparison; Geometry (identifying shapes and describing spatial relationships) and Measurement (identifying attributes and comparing objects using the attributes.) Click here to review the data-based PDF presentation.
Collaboration: The Essential Component to School Readiness. Collaboration is the key to a child's success in school. Judy Jablon, a consultant, facilitator, educator and author, discussed ways that collaboration supports school readiness. She provided techniques for improving communication and relationships with children and adults and identified strategies that create a culture of collaboration and positive relationships on the behalf of young children. Ms. Jablon facilitated a participant led discussion on collaboration. Ms. Jablon's presentation is available.
Exploring the Connection between Health and School Readiness. Dr. Judith Romano, a pediatrician and the early childhood spokesperson for American Academy of Pediatrics, made the connection between healthy young children and school readiness. She discussed how individuals and professionals can partner with pediatricians to maximize the development and health of young children. She highlighted effective ways to talk about investing in young children as it relates to health and school readiness. During the second half of the symposium, Dr. Romano facilitated a panel that included overviews of the Reach Out and Read Program and DocsForTots with panelist identifying promising practices and programs that connect pediatricians, the broader health community and the early childhood community. Dr. Romano's presentation is now available.
Ready To Read: Families are Fundamental. Children’s literacy levels are strongly linked to the educational level of their parents. Many parents lack basic literacy skills in order to be involved in their child's education. Family Literacy programs and services provide a unique way to address these challanges. Children who participate in family literacy programs make gains three times greater than would have been expected based on their pre-enrollment rate of development. Adults who participate remain enrolled longer than those in adult-only programs, and 43% become employed, compared with 14% before enrolling. Sharon Darling, President and Founder, National Center for Family Literacy offered cutting-edge research on Family Literacy and information on national models.

The Building Blocks of Early Literacy. Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago and Director, the Center for Literacy presented the findings and recommendations from the National Early Literacy Panel and discussed the predictors of reading achievement, namely teaching the alphabetic code, book exploration, language development, parental involvement, and preschool experiences. Dr. Shanahan's presentation is now available.
Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return, featuring Arthur J. Rolnick, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, explored how early childhood development programs can be economic development initiatives, yielding high public returns as well as private returns. For more information, review Rob Gurnewald's and Art Rolnick's paper, A Proposal for Achieving High Return on Early Childhood Development.
Building Cultural and Linguistic Competency for Families with Young Children, featuring Wendy Jones and Kathy Hepburn, National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University, focused on designing programs and curriculia that are culturally competent and responsive to children and families learning the English language. The data and findings presented during Wendy Jones' Keynote Address and presentations from the two workshops, Designing Culturally Compentent Policies led by Wendy Jones and Creating Culturally Competent Services led by Kathy Hepburn are available. During the full-day event, Ready At Five awarded its first annual Distinguished Performance Award to the Baltimore Leadership in Action Program.
Empowering English Language Learners, featuring Dr. Betty A. Smallwood, Center for Applied Linguistics, focused on specific language and literacy strategies to improve school readiness of children learning English.
Promoting Language & Literacy for Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds, the first in the 2004 series on meeting the language and literacy needs of every child, featured Dr. Nonie Lesaux, Associate Professor at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. Click here to review the presentation or references.
Roar Into Reading: Help Your Child Become a Reader, a special program for parents, featured the cast and creators of the acclaimed PBS Children's TV program Between the Lions. Leona Lion and Christopher Cerf, Co-Creator and Creative Producer lead the discussion on things parents can do with their children to improve language and literacy development. Click here for activities to build Language & Literacy skills.
Fostering Emergent Literacy and School Readiness: Providing Balance and Best Practices featured Dr. Dorothy Strickland, Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Click here to review the session's abstract, including key scientifically based reading research findings and predictors of reading success.
Costs and Benefits of Preschool Outlined at School Readiness Symposium! Preschool: Not Just an Academic Investment featured Steven Barnett, Director, National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Click here to review the data-based power point presentation.
Investing in the Future featured Dr. Fran Bond, Director, Professional Development & Technical Assistance Center, Ready To Learn, PBS Click here to review the abstract.
What's Ahead for Early Care and Education: Maryland's Role in Setting the Agenda featured Dr. Sharon Lynn Kagan, the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University and Senior Research Scientist at Yale University's Child Study Center. Click here to review the abstract.
Jurisdictional Strategic Planning
In 2002 and 2003 Ready At Five offered 4 jurisdictional strategic planning meetings. A Strategic Planning Guide is now available to help local communities conduct similar strategic planning meetings.