NCSL Web-Assisted Audio Conference

Considering Social and Emotional Development

in an Era of Accountability

Charles BrunerState Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance

Network

October 14, 2004

• Not Either/Or but Both/And

• Not Fuzzy and Unmeasurable, but Part of Accountability/Continuous Improvement System

Social/Emotionalvs.

Cognitive Development

Beyond the Fuzzy/Academic Language

• Knowing a lot of words• Talking in sentences• Knowing sounds• Learning alphabet and numbers

Language and Literacy/Cognition

Social and Emotional/Approaches to Learning• Paying attention to teacher• Working together in groups• Not getting too frustrated doing new tasks

Seven Things Legislators Needto Know About School Readiness

1. The Earliest Years Count (learning begins at birth).

2. Nurture (as well as nature) Matters.

3. School Readiness is Multidimensional (school readiness is more than just what children know).

4. School Unreadiness Costs (it’s expensive).

5. Parents Work.

6. Quality Matters.

7. Investments Pay Off.

Physical/Social and Emotional/Cognitive Interact and Reinforce

511,000

294,000

598,000

120,000192,000

246,000

195,000

Source: Child Trends analysis of ECLS-K, base year public-use data for 1998-1999

Cognitive (753,000)

Health(1,205,000)

Social and Emotional(1,193,000)

all kindergartners (3,863,000) and kindergartners lagging behind in one or more areas

Teachers/Employers Value Social and Emotional Skills

• Surveys of early elementary teachers rate social and emotional developmental challenges as biggest barriers to teaching

• Employers consistently state that approaches to learning/”soft skills” (social and emotional factors) more important than content knowledge for most jobs

Measurement of“What Children Know and Can Do”

at Kindergarten Entry• Important to answer legislative questions of: “Where

are we now?”, “Are we making progress?”, and “Is what we are doing making a difference?”

• Paper and pencil tests don’t work to fairly measure very young children, even on content knowledge

• Requires observational, natural setting models to cover five dimensions and shouldn’t be used to “judge” individual child

• States have developed tools for measuring all five dimensions of school readiness on a statewide basis for benchmarking purposes (Maryland, Vermont, Minnesota, Missouri)

• Also possible to develop more narrow measures that focus on vocabulary and pre-literacy alone (Utah)

One Person’s Outcomeis Another Person’s Input –

The Need for Kindergarten Assessment• Kindergarten assessment important input for No

Child Left Behind 3rd grade testing• Kindergarten assessment essential outcome for

early childhood strategies• Politics to date suggest that proactive approach

that includes social and emotional with language and cognitive elements is accepted, but that resistance to any measurement can result in imposition of narrow measure

State Early Childhood PolicyTechnical Assistance

Networkc/o Child and Family Policy Center

1021 Fleming Building218 Sixth Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa 50309-4006

515.280.9027

www.finebynine.org