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A s a High/Scope trainer and consultant, I knew as I ven-tured into elementary educa-

tion that high-quality High/Scope programs existed in preschool class-rooms around the world. I wanted to establish that same level of quality in an elementary classroom environment based on the same essential High/Scope components: active participa-tory learning; a challenging learning environment; supportive and authentic adult-child relationships; a problem-solving approach to conflict; and a consistent daily routine, including the plan-do-review sequence — unique to High/Scope — in which children make choices about what they will do, carry out their ideas, and reflect on their activities with adults and peers.

The principles of the High/Scope educational model — with its emphasis on children as active learners — differ from those of the traditional K–8 teach-er-directed instructional approach. With

High/Scope, children learn by doing, working with hands-on materials and initiating many projects of their own choosing. The role of the teacher is to use research-based best practices to guide and promote children’s learning.

As i embarked on my career as an elementary education teacher, i chal-lenged myself to see how i might extend those core High/Scope principles to my work in an elementary education class-room, moving away from traditional teacher-directed instruction toward stu-dent-initiated learning. My experience with High/Scope in the elementary set-

ting has confirmed what early research has shown (see sidebar, p. 11) — that High/Scope makes a significant differ-ence in the learning and outcomes of school-aged children.

The Learning EnvironmentSome traditional classrooms contain

learning areas including, but not limited to, children’s desks, a library area, and a carpet area. High/Scope elementary classrooms also contain distinctly differ-ent activity areas, but these differ in the number of areas, as well as in their function. in a High/Scope classroom, these areas — rather than the teacher’s desk as in the traditional elementary set-ting — are the focal point of the class-room. The learning areas differ from grade to grade, according to the age of the children in the class. A kindergarten program, for example, would typically have a house area, whereas in a grade-two classroom, there might be a build-ing area instead. Some other areas in a

High/Scope in the Elementary School Classroom

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

by Sarah Fewson

The High/Scope elementary learning environment offers an abundance of meaningful materials for children to explore.

www.highscope.org ReSource Fall/Winter 2008 11

school-age setting might also include a math area, science area, writing area, computer area, art area, bookmaking area, and quiet work area. Each area is designed around a particular curriculum topic such as reading, science, math, computer, and art. These areas are settings designated for child-initiated learning activities.

Materialsin a High/Scope classroom, children

have access to an abundance of mean-ingful materials throughout the school day. This variety and availability allows children to direct their own discoveries, and it accommodates for a variety of learning abilities.

While a High/Scope elementary environment uses many of the same materials found in traditional class-rooms, the use and function of these materials differs; for example, paint in a traditional classroom may be brought out at the teacher’s discretion only dur-ing specific art classes, whereas in a High/Scope classroom paint is accessi-ble to children on a daily basis to use in self-directed ways during instructional activities. An elementary High/Scope environment also provides a variety of open-ended materials (i.e., materials that can be used in many different ways) that invite students to engage in personal, meaningful, and educational experiences. These materials are available to children to work with throughout the day, as well as during the plan-do-review sequence.

Daily schedule. Each day follows a consis-tent schedule, which is carefully planned to in-clude individual, small-group, and large-group experiences and a balance of teacher-planned and child-planned activity. Each day includes a plan-do-review time, lasting one hour or more, in which children plan, carry out, and then re-flect upon an activity of their own choosing. Small-group instructional workshops are planned by teachers around specific content in the major subject areas.

The classroom. The room is divided into five or more distinct “interest” areas, such as reading and writing, math, science, art, and computers. In each area, a wide range of ap-pealing materials are stored in consistent, ac-cessible locations so children can get out the materials they want and put them away inde-pendently. Children are free to use any of the in-terest areas during plan-do-review time, and typically rotate through specific areas — such as reading and writing, art, and computers — during teacher-planned workshop times.

Subject areas. Teachers plan instructional activities around content in important curriculum areas as defined by state and local standards. They draw upon their knowledge of active learn-ing principles and their own observations of chil-dren’s abilities and interests to plan small-group workshops focusing on concepts and skills in each subject area. The emphasis throughout these activities is on hands-on projects in which children work with manipulative materials, apply skills to solve practical problems, and learn to communicate the results of their efforts in a va-riety of formats. Many experiences require co-operative work and the use of effective commu-nication skills. Teachers also encourage children

to use important concepts and skills during the child-initiated activities that occur during work time and other segments of the schedule.

Teacher-child interaction. High/Scope teachers avoid the use of reward and punish-ment to manage children’s behaviors and in-stead focus on creating a positive social envi-ronment in which expectations and limits are clear. Adults help children learn to use a prob-lem-solving approach to resolve difficulties and conflicts. Adults strive to focus on children’s strengths rather than deficits and use teaching strategies that build on children’s intrinsic moti-vation to learn.

Child assessment. High/Scope teachers document children’s progress by collecting brief anecdotal notes recording observations of chil-dren’s important behaviors and by compiling portfolios of student work samples and other kinds of documents that are evidence of chil-dren’s progress. These assessment methods supplement traditional standardized achievement tests to provide a complete and balanced pic-ture of children’s progress.

The success of the High/Scope elementary approach has been well documented in a num-ber of studies. Program effectiveness was ini-tially validated in the 1980s by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education/National Institute of Educa-tion Joint Dissemination and Review Panel. The curriculum has since been revalidated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Program Effec-tiveness Panel. Data gathered on the approach include improvements in children’s achievement test scores and literacy skills and teacher re-ports of improvements in children’s abilities to solve problems, make decisions, and express themselves creatively.

High/Scope’s Elementary Teaching Practices

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

High/Scope’s Services and Products for Elementary Educatorsready School Assessment (rSA). This tool and related training can help schools become more

ready for children. Classroom practices. We provide customized training to help teachers improve classroom prac-

tices in selected areas. (Note: High/Scope does not offer specific curricula for basic academic subjects such as reading, math, and science but instead focuses on how to teach using the existing curriculum.)

Movement and music. High/Scope’s Education Through Movement teaching model is the basis for a range of training services and products.

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For example, if a teacher in a High/Scope classroom is teaching the concept of patterns in math, students would likely be encouraged to select a handful of materials for making series and patterns (e.g., coins, buttons, beads and string) from any area of the classroom. Children may then choose to select other materials (e.g., thread spools, paint brushes, tape rolls) during science when they are asked to compare objects in terms of how fast they roll down a ramp. Again during art, when the students are asked to use flashlights to capture shadows, children may select materials from the environment to incorporate as part of their learning.

Activity areas are stocked with manipulatives related to curriculum topics and children’s interests; these materials are well organized and stored in consistent locations. Shelves, contain-ers, and baskets are clearly labeled and placed within children’s reach. The type of labels used in a classroom will vary according to the developmental stage of the children. Kindergarten children are often still picture-reading at this stage and require labels that incorporate pic-tures. As children’s decoding abilities develop, tracing labels (which show the outline of an object) and labels with words are often sufficient. once the areas have been established, and mate-

rials labeled, the areas themselves are labeled with names.

Stocking the areas with materials traditionally found in teachers’ closets and cupboards is a big change for teach-ers switching to a High/Scope approach. This change often requires teachers to let go of some personal control. As i have trained groups on how to set up their elementary learning environments according to High/Scope principles, teachers often worry they will run out of materials by the third month of school. This point is a valid one, as teachers do not receive large budgets to replenish their classroom supplies, and so i reas-sure teachers new to High/Scope that they do not need to put all their materi-als out at the beginning of the year. For example, they can add materials such as paper, glue, and other art supplies that tend to diminish as the year progresses. giving children access to materials provides them with an opportunity to be responsible for their environment and to make purposeful choices about materials they select to work with. This supports their developing independence and sense of initiative.

Seatingin a traditional classroom, the teach-

er’s desk is typically the focal point of the classroom, and children sit in neatly arranged rows of desks (with the most “difficult” students strategically seated near the teacher). High/Scope class-

Activity areas are stocked with manipu-latives related to curriculum topics and children’s interests; these materials are well organized and stored in consistent locations.

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

In the High/Scope elementary classroom, children learn by doing — working with hands-on materials and initiating many projects of their own choosing.

High/Scope is for Elementary-Age Students Too!

In this new workshop, you’ll discover what plan-do-review looks like in a K–3 classroom, learn how to plan meaningful content workshops, as well as gain practical ideas to set up a learning environment that meets local, state, and regional guidelines and High/Scope principles.

FW-IN521 $675/participant

www.highscope.org ReSource Fall/Winter 2008 13

rooms, with an emphasis on cooperative learning, feature group seating at tables in the various interest areas. individual work areas are also available for quiet, independent work. These individual areas may include a space in the reading area or at the teacher’s desk, or students simply may be encouraged to take clip-boards to quiet areas. Children’s work places in each of the learning areas serve a dual function as a place where students can accomplish their work and as a space where the materials in that particular area can be explored by all children during plan-do-review.

Wall DisplaysThe walls of traditional classrooms

typically feature commercially-made posters, precut designs, and other ready-made displays purchased by teachers for their instructional and decorative value. in a High/Scope setting, teacher-prepared bulletin boards are limited to messages for children, information for parents, and weekly schedules. The class-room becomes instead a representation of children’s learning and discoveries. Teachers create a print-rich environ-ment, displaying student writing as well as labels, important messages, group

writing samples, and schedules, because students learn to read by trying to make sense of print they encounter in their everyday activities. in addition to fea-turing lots of print, the walls become covered with children’s creations — art-

work, science, and math projects, for example — and photographs of the children at work time with written de-scriptions of their activities below. The students themselves select the pieces of their work they would like to display rather than the teacher choosing the “best” or “neatest.” Allowing children the opportunity to display work that is meaningful to them leads to their in-creased self-esteem and sense of belong-ing in the classroom.

Content Workshops and Curriculum

Setting up the classroom according to High/Scope principles better enables teachers to meet the curriculum require-ments of their state or province using a model called “content workshops.” These are small-group instructional workshops planned by teachers around specific content in the major subject areas of the curriculum. Teachers introduce content workshops by giving a brief lesson on a particular topic or subject; then children move to table groups or other suitable places in the classroom, such as the read-ing area or carpet area, and begin to im-plement what they’ve learned by using and manipulating related materials.

What does a content workshop look like? Three or four small groups of children (assuming a classroom size of approximately 20 students with one teacher) work at separate stations and are engaged simultaneously in curriculum-related activities using various materials. The children then rotate among the tables in order to experience all activities. The teacher’s role during a content workshop is similar to a teacher’s role in a pre-K small-group time. Specifically, the teach-er focuses on the children, assesses skill and knowledge, challenges, extends, and encourages learning through open-ended questions and authentic conversation, sharing control with students.

A math content workshop, for exam-ple, might include estimation of length as the curriculum focus. Following a brief discussion with the whole group about the concept, the teacher would then have prepared activities at separate table groups. instructions for these activities would be given verbally, as well as visually or in written form, according to the developmental level of the students. Table group “A” may have a variety of standard measuring tools, including yardsticks, rulers, and measuring tapes for students to explore the classroom environment. The focus for this group

High/Scope class-rooms emphasize cooperative learn-ing by featuring group seating at tables in the various interest areas.

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

In a High/Scope elementary classroom, shelves, containers, and baskets are clearly labeled and placed within children’s reach.

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may simply be to practice using these standard measuring tools. Table group “B” may be asked to select and measure various items in the classroom using nonstandard measuring tools, such as shoes, make-believe dollar bills, and erasers. This group’s goal may be to be-gin to explore the concept of an approxi-mate measure. Table group “C” may be asked to move into the carpet area and select objects in the classroom, display the items on the carpet from smallest to largest, and — as an extension — use rulers to measure the length of each object in inches and then record that in-formation. The focus of this group may be to explore the concept of ordering objects according to their measurement and to practice recording information related to measurements.

in comparison to traditional teaching methods, which involve an extended period of teacher-directed, large-group instruction followed by individual prac-tice, content workshops are more effec-tive for a number of reasons: individual needs are better met during small-group interactions, communication and learn-ing from peers is encouraged, and all children have an opportunity to be en-gaged using active learning.

Conflict ResolutionEvery classroom, High/Scope or

otherwise, experiences various types of conflict between children. Children in elementary school may experience conflict as they build a sense of self in relation to others and begin to see them-selves as independent from friends and family; develop a sense of assertiveness and self-confidence; experiment with power and control in relation to others; and form “preferences” in terms of who they want to relate to and how they want to relate to others. School-age conflict is in fact developmentally appropriate, yet children are often not called upon to be involved in resolving conflicts. in tradi-tional elementary classrooms, conflict is still often solved by adults (i.e., teachers

or principals) who impose their own solutions on children or even punish children for behavior that may have contributed to the conflict situation.

Teachers in traditional classrooms often indirectly encourage conflict by reinforcing the importance of privilege, status, and ownership. When teachers point out that they “like the way ______ is sitting,” choose line leaders of the day, use a prize box or “bonus bucks” to re-ward particular achievements or behav-iors, they inadvertently create feelings of anxiety in children who may feel them-selves to be second best. Some conflict can be beneficial in order for young children to learn to resolve it. However, conflict can also distract children from learning, decrease their self-esteem, make them feel lonely and distressed, and — when conflict is prolonged and consistent — may even cause children to begin to dislike school.

Teachers in a High/Scope elementary setting learn to limit conflict in a number of ways. Specifically, adults encourage empathy in school-aged children; provide a range of activities with open-ended ma-terials so that all students have the oppor-tunity to feel successful in their actions; offer opportunities for cooperative work; and build authentic relationships with students. High/Scope teachers in a school setting learn to adapt the six steps to conflict resolution (Evans, 2002) to con-flicts between school-aged children.

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

Children at Rose Avenue Public School in Toronto use materials to explore series and patterns — an activity related to the curriculum topic in math.

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When adopting the problem-solving approach to conflict, teachers in an ele-mentary program need to consider that school-aged children can be physically strong and able to cause considerable

harm to others, unlike pre-K children who are still relatively small. Moreover, unlike many children in a pre-K pro-gram, school-aged children may be able to identify the problem without the

teacher needing to define it for them. School-aged children may have had years of experience in conflict and thus may exhibit a greater sense of inflexi-bility to their solution; this may result in a longer period of time in finding a mutually satisfying solution.

on the other hand, although school-aged children may have experience with conflict, they may be inexperienced in having a say in the resolution. School-aged children seem to have an innate sense of fairness and conception of reason; therefore, their solutions are more likely to be logical than solutions proposed by preschool children. Lastly, school-aged children are more likely to remember previous conflicts and prior ways of solving problems. Teachers in an elementary program can facilitate the problem-solving process by empowering students to believe they are problem-

solvers; giving children opportunities to solve non-threatening problems and to solve problems as a group; accepting children’s solutions; supporting children in their efforts to come up with a solu-tion; and being consistent in allowing children to solve problems.

Plan-Do-ReviewHigh/Scope’s plan-do-review in the

elementary classroom is based on the same principles as plan-do-review in a preschool setting: it involves active learning, is a child-initiated time of the day, and uses the same adult-support strategies. in the plan-do-review process, children learn to take initiative, solve problems independently, work with others, and build knowledge and skills (Epstein, 2007).

When elementary teachers first hear of plan-do-review, they worry that it takes time away from the curriculum.

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY

Children at the Rose School use words and pictures to detail their plans for work time and then reflect on what they’ve done.

Teachers in traditional classrooms often indirectly encourage conflict by reinforcing the importance of privilege, status, and ownership.

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it is only when they come to learn more about the process that teachers under-stand that plan-do-review helps to meet curriculum expectations. For example, children explore materials that are cur-riculum-related. Moreover, the teacher learns how to use plan-do-review to scaffold children’s learning and to use children’s experiences to support the curriculum at other times of the day. Furthermore, the method that teachers adopt for planning and reviewing is connected to specific curriculum expec-tations and children’s developmental levels. Plan-do-review is conducted in different ways according to the age of the children in the classroom. Kinder-garten students may plan and recall orally and with props, whereas students in grade two and grade three may use journals to independently record their plans and reflect on their work-time experiences.

Making a DifferenceExtending High/Scope practices into

the elementary classroom leads to both improved teacher effectiveness as well as positive student outcomes. Using the High/Scope approach in my third-grade classes supported my students’ perfor-mance on standardized tests, for exam-ple. When asked to use manipulatives and include pictorial explanations for their answers to the math sections of the test, my students were able to draw on their familiarity with using math- related manipulatives in a meaningful

way during plan-do-review every day. Their previous classroom experience with manipulatives gave them greater confidence at testing time in demonstrat-ing their understanding of math concepts through concrete objects.

Students also became more indepen-dent and self-motivated learners as a result of teaching practices that allowed children to engage in active, hands-on learning and projects of their own choosing. For example, some students saw themselves as “scientists” when they formed a science “club.” others (some of whom were typically very active) began to consider themselves as artists, working in a focused way on paintings of nature for forty-five minutes during plan-do-review.

My students were also able to inter-nalize the value of cooperation verses competition and communicate this im-portant difference to others. one child, who attended a birthday party outside of school, returned to tell me that the host parent had organized competitive games;

For more information on High/Scope’s elementary approach, see our Web site.

she said she explained to the adult that she preferred cooperative activities.

After the first year of my adapting the High/Scope approach to teaching and learning, i attended the usual end-of-year meeting during which teachers determine where each student will be placed the following school year. i felt confident advocating on behalf of stu-dents who had once been considered “challenging” but who had learned in my High/Scope classroom how to better regulate their emotions and to resolve difficulties and conflicts through problem-solving. These students were no longer considered “difficult.”

Making a difference in the classroom sometimes requires that teachers make changes in their classroom practices. My own journey in extending High/Scope into elementary settings has been over-whelmingly rewarding, and i’ll continue to use this active learning approach in my classroom. i am convinced it is the way to make a positive and lasting dif-ference in my students’ lives.

ReferencesEpstein, A. S. (2007). Essentials of ac-

tive learning in preschool: Getting to know the High/Scope curriculum. Ypsilanti, Mi: High/Scope Press.

Evans, B. (2002). You can’t come to my birthday party! Conflict resolution with young children. Ypsilanti, Mi: High/Scope Press.

Sarah Fewson is a High/Scope con-sultant and trainer and elementary school teacher in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The method that teachers adopt for plan-do-review is connected to specific curriculum expecta-tions and children’s developmental levels.

Each day in the High/Scope elementary setting follows a carefully planned and consistent schedule.

HigH/SCoPE ELEMENTARY