Marenel Nava

Child
Assessment Adult-Child
Interaction

Interactive
Education

Learning
Daily routine Environment
Adults help children –
 Take initiative
 Develop on key indicators:
 Social and emotional
 Movement and physical
 Cognitive
 Language and literacy

 Science and mathematics

 Arts and music

Adults
• Have strategies for interacting with
children.
• Encourage children’s efforts rather than
praise them indiscriminately.
• Help children take a problem-solving
approach to resolving conflicts.
• Classroom organized into interest areas.
• Materials varied, show respect for
individual differences, stored where
children can reach them.
• Teacher influences the flow of activities
while giving children opportunities for
active learning.
Components
• Plan-do-review times
• Cleanup time
• Snack time
• Small-group time
• Large-group circle time
• Outside time

Gives teachers and children opportunities to influence

learning.
Adults
• Work as a team on child assessment.
• Take notes daily on episodes of children’s
behavior.
• Plan next steps with children daily.
• Assess children’s development with the
HighScope Child Observation Record, found
valid and reliable in Head Start.
 Comparison 1: program versus no program
groups
 Comparison 2: HighScope vs. Nursery School
vs. Direct Instruction preschool curriculums
 191 study participants living in poverty and
at risk of school failure
 Randomly assigned to initially similar groups
 Data collected annually from 3 to 11, and at
14, 15, 19, 27, and 40, 8 % missing
 Program group No-program group

Ready for school at 5

Committed to school at 14

Basic achievement at 14

High school graduate

Earned $20K+ at 40

Arrested 5+ times by 40

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

 School

Taxes
Crime & Justice
Benefits Earnings
System
Preschool

Costs

$0 $50,000 $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000

 Child
Responds Initiates

Initiates Direct High

Instruction Scope
Teacher

Responds Custodial Nursery

care School
 Direct Instruction - Teacher-directed script
with child “lines” focuses on academics.
 High/Scope - Children learn actively through
plan-do-review and group times.
 Nursery School - Children learn through
play.
 Direct Instruction
High/Scope
Nursery School

Child-initiated
activities

Teacher-
initiated
activities

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

 Direct Instruction
HighScope
Nursery School

Ever emotionally
impaired

Ever arrested for a

felony

People give you a

hard time

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

 Certified High/Scope trainers have trained over 16,000
early childhood teaching teams of all backgrounds.

 Classrooms with High/Scope-trained teachers have

better environments, daily routine, adult-child-
interaction, and overall implementation.

 Children in these classrooms have better initiative,

social relations, creative representation, music and
movement skills, and overall child development.