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Disinfecting your keyboards…
I know that when I was working in a center environment, all the teachers used the same computer in the office for things like finding contact information on families or finding forms to print.
Imagine how ookie that keyboard must have been. There’s a report in the Boston Globe today about a study of keyboards used by nurses and how they were just loaded with bacteria and such. I can see how that would be and know that in a child care environment you come across similar germs and the like.
The study tested out some disinfecting wipes to see if they would get rid of the bad stuff and yet not harm the keyboard. What worked?
“Clorox wipes, CaviWipes and Sani-Cloths. All worked well, removing 95 to 100 percent of bacteria. So did three other products, plain old 70 percent isopropyl alcohol; Vesthene, a different germicide; and a chlorine product containing 80 parts of chlorine per million.”
Not a bad habit to get into before the sick season hits in a couple of months…
Classroom Wishlist
What an awesome idea. I cannot begin to tell you how much money I’ve spent over the years on things for the classroom because it wasn’t in the budget or because a director or whoever deemed it unnecessary. I should own stock in the contact paper company. Seriously. And how many times did I run out of boxes of tissues before the year was over? And really, I cannot name a single time that there was enough colored tissue paper for a single project I’ve done.
And I’m not a wasteful teacher, either. I save every little scrap of tissue and construction paper. I get newspapers to donate the ends of their rolls of paper for art projects. I use the backs of company letterheads that would be tossed out every time someone goes through “rebranding.” I am the queen of wallpaper and carpet scraps. I melt crayons down into multi-colored sticks. I make my own paints, pastes and glues wherever possible. Every container for manipulatives and art supplies used to be a container for something else — oatmeal, chocolate milk mix, baby wipes… I could go on forever here.
Now, you can sign up here, add items to your wishlist and send a brochure to your parents. If they want to donate items, they can do so and it’s tax deductible.
Give it a try. If you’re already using this system, feel free to leave a comment and let readers know how it’s working for you.
Can I Charge More for a Special Needs Child?
L.C. asks:
“I have a question and am seeking input from several people.
I run a small in-home daycare, and have an opening for one child. I am interviewing today to fill the position. The child with the interview is a 6-year-old child with special needs. He has the size/ability of a 2-year-old child. He is diabetic and has down syndrome. I know that is child would require extra care — would it be wrong to increase my weekly rate for this child?”
Most centers can charge fees related to care above and beyond what another child without special needs would receive, but it’s iffy and the costs have to be directly related to services that you provide that fall outside “reasonable accommodations.” Because even home child care providers are often required to follow title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it would be best to familiarize yourself with these regulations and do an individualized assessment of your program and how it would handle this child.
The government has a very comprehensive FAQ on this topic here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/childq&a.htm
And this can answer many of your questions.
High-Quality Early Childhood Education Provides Clear Long-Term Economic Benefits
Note: Ellen Galinsky knows her stuff. 
I had the opportunity to hear her speak at an NAEYC conference and that was yeeeears ago that she was pushing these same ideas that are now taken for granted as necessary for high quality programs…
High-quality early childhood education programs provide measurable economic benefits, on-going research by the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a business-led public policy group, has found.
CED’s latest paper, The Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs: What Makes the Difference?, by Ellen Galinsky, President of the Families and Work Institute, a New York City based research organization, examines the factors associated with high-quality early education programs. Ms. Galinsky examined three well-known, high-quality early education programs — the High/Scope Perry Preschool project, the Carolina Abcedarian Project and Chicago’s Child-Parent Centers (CPC) — and for one of the first times, has examined what those programs did to have such lasting impact decades later, relying, in part, on interviews with the principal investigators of those programs.
“The Galinsky paper reinforces that high-quality programs are a prerequisite if we expect early childhood education programs to generate future economic returns,” said Charles E.M. Kolb, President of CED. “Determining key characteristics of quality Pre-Kindergarten education is an important piece of the argument for investments in early education programs in this country, and this research does just that. Other studies show public benefits of around seven dollars and more for every dollar invested in early childhood education and the Galinsky research shows what common factors can be found in these quality programs.”
Findings of The Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs: What Makes the Difference? include: All three programs studied had common factors that contributed to remarkable and enduring effects and return on investment. Some of those basic factors are known:
- They began early (one began in infancy; the other two at age 3).
- They had well-educated, well-trained and well-compensated teachers — with resulting low-turnover.
- They maintained small class sizes and high teacher-child ratios.
- They had intensive contact hours with the children.
- Two of the programs extended into the early elementary years.
- Parents were strongly involved in the programs.
Where this paper makes its greatest contribution is that it goes beyond the basics to explain the programs’ long-term success:
- The programs had clear goals that were responsive to the children and families they served, and built support for these goals.
- They focused on the whole child - the child’s intellectual, social and emotional learning, physical growth and well-being -not just on the child’s intellectual development.
- The relationship between the teacher and the child was seen as central to the child’s learning.
- The children in these programs were viewed as active and experiential learners.
- There was a mixture between responsive teaching that extended and elaborated on what the children were already learning and direct teaching in all three programs. The direct teaching was also designed to be engaging and to extend children’s learning.
- There was a focus on the teachers’ ongoing learning.
This paper follows the January 10, 2006 New York City conference, Building the Economic Case for Investments in Preschool, a comprehensive forum attended by over 200 business leaders and education experts to discuss progress in local, state and national efforts to establish universal, quality pre- kindergarten for all American children.
The Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Education Programs: What makes the Difference?, as well as materials on CED’s early childhood education project, including the groundbreaking 2002 report, Preschool for All: Investing in a Productive and Just Society, can be found at www.ced.org.
CED is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of more than 200 business leaders and university presidents. Since 1942, its research and policy programs have addressed many of the nation’s most pressing economic and social issues, including education reform, workforce competitiveness, campaign finance, health care, and global trade and finance. CED promotes policies to produce increased productivity and living standards, greater and more equal opportunity for every citizen, and an improved quality of life for all.
Source: Committee for Economic Development
Georgia launches early learning standards
Georgia is pretty serious about education.
I know this because my S.O. went to college completely funded by this great state, while I invested over $50,000 in my education in my home state and I will be paying off my student loans till I’m in the grave, folks.
At any rate, I’ve known how they feel about “a free college education for all” but I never knew how serious they were about educating their youngest…
When I saw in a press release that some early learning standards were released, I thought I’d go have a look-see.
These standards are excellent and I wish I had something like this when I was caring for infants and toddlers. They focus on the birth to three age range and can do a lot to educate caregivers and parents about what to expect and how to shape a child’s learning.
My thoughts…
- Directors can use them to shape your programs and as a basis for staff inservices
- Parents can use them to see what their child should be learning and to help evaluate the child care program their child is attending
- Family child care providers can keep on file for every child in their care as a sort of Individualized Education Program (IEP)
- Parents who plan to homeschool can use this as a guideline for the early building blocks for future education
- Teachers, caregivers and nannies can use the standards to evaluate the children in their care and to make sure that there are no gaps in their teaching/caregiving.
And of course, while all children grow and develop at their own rate, I think that parents and caregivers who use something like this are going to be more apt to notice developmental delays and problems when a child is consistently behind in areas… these types of referrals are so important — better safe than sorry and the earlier the better!
So download the full version or just those parts you’re interested in… it’s free and it’s one of the best I’ve seen.
Harcourt Releases System for Handheld Computers that Assesses Children in Kindergarten through Second Grades
Leading test developer and publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc. has introduced the Early Childhood Observation System(TM) (ECHOS(TM)), which combines technology with ongoing observation in the classroom to help teachers easily monitor the progress of young learners and guide instruction in grades K - 2.
Designed to work on the Palm OS(R) handheld computer, ECHOS makes it easier for teachers to do what they already do — observe their students in the classroom while they are naturally engaged in every-day activities and monitor what grade-level skills, knowledge or behaviors a student consistently demonstrates or needs to develop.
“The beauty of ECHOS is that it enables teachers to teach and assess at the same time,” said Don Barfield, vice president of educational products for Harcourt Assessment. “Because children learn and grow in different ways and at different rates, it can be challenging to assess and monitor the progress of an entire classroom. We developed ECHOS to provide a simple, uniform method for observing and monitoring the progress of young learners and then provide teachers the feedback and information they need to develop effective classroom strategies to ensure that all students can demonstrate essential grade-level skills.”
Teachers who have tried ECHOS have reacted favorably. “The teachers loved using the handheld computers for assessing the kids! They were simple and made recordkeeping very easy,” said Annette Alberti, a reading specialist and Title I coordinator from Pleasant Grove, Calif.
ECHOS was developed with the guidance of a national panel of early childhood and subject matter experts to ensure that ECHOS evaluates the whole child across the following seven developmental areas: language and literacy; mathematics; social and personal skills; science; social studies; physical development and fitness; and creative arts.
Based on their observations of specific benchmark behaviors in these seven areas, teachers can assign one of four performance levels: not yet demonstrating, emerging, progressing or consistently demonstrates.
Teachers can download their observations to a personal computer and receive immediate feedback from Web-based classroom and student reports that help them plan and implement effective instruction. Home reports in English or Spanish also provide suggested activities that can help parents reinforce or develop their child’s skills.
While ECHOS was designed to operate most efficiently on a handheld computer, the system is flexible, so teachers can record their observations on paper then enter them into a personal computer and still receive the same student, classroom and home reports.
Web-based interactive professional development is available to help teachers learn to use ECHOS effectively. It includes instruction on observational assessment, as well as video highlights of early elementary classrooms and teachers.
ECHOS is aligned to the guidelines and standards of the following organizations: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); International Reading Association (IRA); National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); National Research Council Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM); Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (CSMEE); National Council for the Social Sciences (NCSS); Center for Social and Emotional Education (CSEE); National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE); National Arts and Education Information Network (ArtsEdge); National Association for Music Education (MENC); National Dance Association (NDA); Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
Based in San Antonio, Harcourt Assessment is a leading provider of high-quality assessment instruments and testing programs used by educators, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, human resource professionals, admissions and credentialing professionals, and businesses. Through the development of custom statewide educational testing programs, Harcourt is helping more than 20 states meet the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The company is a unit of Harcourt Education, which is the global education brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE:RUK) (NYSE:ENL). Reed Elsevier is a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business industry sectors.
For more information about ECHOS, visit www.echosonline.com.
Visit Harcourt Assessment on the Web at www.HarcourtAssessment.com.
Teacher Self-Evaluation Form
When doing performance evaluations, it’s always a good idea to have teachers complete a self-evaluation first. Then you can see what areas the teacher feels are strengths and weaknesses. Also, if a teacher gives herself high marks for something and you had planned on writing up as an area that needs improvement, you can plan on handling that area more delicately. Along the same lines, some teachers may see themselves as weak in a certain area, while you find their performance to be above average. Take the opportunity to let that teacher know about a job well done.
Here is a form you can use to perform teacher self-evaluations. You can download the .pdf and print as is, or you can download the Word version and change the wording to suit your setting.
.pdf version of teacher self-evaluation form