School Readiness - More about Ready Schools

3.0 More about Ready Schools

This section of our Internet Essay and Collection provides details of how schools can enhance their efforts to be ready to teach and support students. Twelve specific areas of activity are suggested, including kindergarten programs, instruction, curriculum/ learning outcomes, student assessment, school social climate, school physical environment, involving parents, early prevention, supporting children living in poverty, responding to special needs, advocating for support from school districts, education ministries and other agencies and monitoring your progress.

The National Education Goals Panel in the United States and others have described the readiness of a school to respond to the needs of the young children beginning school. Ten key general characteristics have been listed for "ready schools":

Ready schools:

* - smooth the transition between home and school

* - strive for continuity between early care programs and elementary school programs

* - help children learn and make sense of their complex and exciting world

* - are committed to the success of every child

* - are committed to the success of every teacher

* - introduce or expand approaches that have been shown to raise achievement

* - are learning organizations that alter practices and programs if they do not benefit children

* - serve children in communities

* - take responsibility for results

* - have strong leadership

More specific advice has been gathered from research to show that schools can support children by:

* - implementing developmentally appropriate curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices

* - comparing each child's progress primarily to his or her own previous performance and not using standardized tests to assess the potential of preschool or primary grade students

* - eliminating the practice of holding students back in grades or keeping them from starting school with their peers

* - redirecting remediation funds and services from later grades to the early grades

* - encouraging parental involvement and rewarding teachers who do so

* - implementing formal policies to improve communications between teachers and parents

* - requiring kindergarten and early primary teachers to have formal training in early childhood education

* - increasing the flexibility of funding programs and services at the school level

On a more practical level, the North Central Education Laboratory in the US describes what an effective early childhood program should look like in daily operation. When a community plans a new early childhood program or seeks to improve its current program, a series of questions need to be asked: Who will staff the early childhood program? How will the classroom look? What is the best way to group the children? What will the day be like for the children? What will be the role of parents? The answers to these questions are important in determining the quality of the program.

Decisions made about the organization of the early childhood program must have a firm foundation in the growth and development of the young child. These decisions should be based on the following premises:

Young children learn best through active, engaged, meaningful learning.

Young children learn best in an early childhood program that is developmentally appropriate.

Young children learn best in an early childhood environment that is appropriate for their age and stage of development.

Young children benefit from a consistent routine or daily schedule in the early childhood classroom.

Young children learn best when the school develops a sense of community for all participants.

Young children function best in early childhood programs that value and reinforce continuity.

Young children benefit from early childhood programs that provide a careful transition from preschool to kindergarten and from kindergarten to the primary grades.

Young children learn best when they are with teachers who consider them and respond to them as individuals.