ABSTRACT University of Massachusetts - Boston

Boston Ready: Universal Access to Professional Development for Early
Childhood Educators

# 100 Morrisey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 20125

617-287-7626 (office); 617-287-7656 (fax)

Boston Ready formed a partnership to apply for and implement the Early
Childhood Educator Professional Development (ECEPD) program to meet the
needs of Boston\'s expanding pubic and private early childhood
providers. Boston Ready is composed of University of Massachusetts,
Institute for Community Inclusion, Roxbury Community College, Wellesley
College, public and private early childhood educators (ECE), and early
childhood (EC) experts. Boston Ready will provide intensive instruction
in and modeling of scientifically validated curriculum and practices
(e.g., Owl, Building Blocks, Second Steps). Boston Ready proposes a
sustainable, professional development system to ensure school readiness
of all of Boston\'s children by improving the skills of ECE\'s who work
with these children. To this end, the project proposes to:

1.  Develop a professional development (PD) infrastructure and related
    materials including: a 12 credit EC certificate aligned with EC
    grant achievement indicators and state standards addressing
    literacy, numeracy and positive social emotional development with
    needs of English language learners, children with disabilities and
    families integrated within each course; train/trainer materials; a
    website containing project material; and an e-portfolio that aligns
    professional roles with competencies with career aspirations and
    linkages to AA, BA, and MA degree options.

2.  Conduct EC (?) PD for at least 125 teachers and paraprofessionals,
    including career counseling, mentoring on implementation of
    research-based curriculum into ***\[is something missing here??\]***
    EC agencies and IHE programs, and 6 Family Institutes.

3.  Evaluate the Boston Ready PD system using an experimental design to
    ensure effectiveness in preparing 2,500 children from disadvantaged
    families, with limited English proficiency, disabilities, and/or who
    have challenging behaviors for Kindergarten.

### ABSTRACT Johns Hopkins

Project INVEST

(Involving, Nurturing, and Valuing Every Student and Teacher)

# 3003 North Charles Street, Suite 200

Baltimore, Maryland 21218

410-516-8815 (office); 410-516-8890

Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore City Head Start (BCHS), and
Ready at Five will partner in implementing a comprehensive professional
development (PD) program, Project INVEST (Involving, Nurturing, and
Valuing Every Student and Teacher), to improve early childhood education
and school readiness of high-poverty, minority children in 8 BCHS
programs. Project INVEST - a partnership between JHU, BCHS, Ready at
Five, and relevant state agencies, community-based organizations, and
local universities - includes essential components of effective
preschool programs: (a) empirically-based curriculum and classroom
management strategies, (b) tested strategies for children with special
needs and English language learners (ELLs); (c) assessment strategies to
identify and meet all children\'s needs, (d) support for family
involvement in developing readiness skills, and (e) methods for
addressing child abuse and neglect.

Project INVEST will provide intensive training for 70 Head Start
teachers, 70 assistants, and over 1190 children and their parents. The
comprehensive program of ongoing PD includes a coaching model, college
courses, web-based training, and a Head Start (HS) training institute
with mentor teachers to ensure capacity and expertise for continued
project implementation.

The effectiveness of Project INVEST will be assessed using an
experimental design approach, considered the\" gold standard\" in
education research, using both qualitative and quantitative data.
Teachers will be assessed on their knowledge and implementation of the
project. Children will be assessed on language and literacy skills.
Because the collaboration represents an enhanced implementation of
intervention models that have documented effectiveness in rigorous
experimental studies, positive results are expected for teachers,
students, their families, and the sustainability of the program.

### ABSTRACT The Providence Plan

#### Ready To Learn Providence

# 56 Pine Street, Suite 3B 

Providence, Rhode Island 02903

401-490-9960 (office); 401-490-9959

The Providence Plan, the Community College of Rhode Island, and the
Providence Public Library have partnered to design a rigorous
professional development intervention in conjunction with Ready to Learn
Providence (R2LP), a citywide school readiness initiative. The project
builds on four years of demonstrated success in delivering high quality
professional development opportunities to early childhood educators
(ECEs) who serve children from low- income families in high need
communities.

The need for investment in Providence\'s early education system is
clear. The city has the 3rd highest child poverty in the nation, 35% of
adults have fewer than 12

years of education, 25% of households do not speak English, and 48% of
children move two or more times before entering kindergarten. Research
shows that poverty, linguistic isolation, and mobility are directly
linked to poor performance in school.

The ECEPD project model has three primary objectives: 1) provide a
research-based professional development intervention to ECEs with a
level of depth, dosage, and duration needed to transform teaching
practice in the areas of literacy, social and emotional development,
curriculum and assessment; 2) change the school readiness status and
developmental trajectory of children as evidenced by their performance
on formal school readiness assessments taken during the kindergarten
year; and 3) close ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness by
increasing the capacity of culturally and linguistically isolated ECEs
who serve children from high need neighborhoods in the city.

Two hundred (200) ECEs with a capacity to serve 1,000 children will
participate in the program. Each ECE will receive 250 hours of
on-the-job mentoring and 200 hours of participation in R2LP clubs and
other leadership activities. The coursework will provide ECEs with
research-based content specifically designed to promote school
readiness. Mentors will reinforce this investment through periodic
visits designed to support ECEs in their application of coursework
material. The third component of our intervention - R2LP clubs and
leadership activities - will enable ECEs to refine new skills through a
variety of methods. Clubs will allow for reflection and skill building
leadership programs will foster greater participation in more
traditional professional development venues.