1. California Preschool Learning Foundations

2. Outcomes
Increase your understanding of the California Preschool Learning Foundations, including:
why they are important
what they are, what they say, what they mean and how they are organized
how they fit in California’s Preschool Learning System
next steps
These are the outcomes for today…
You may want to post them on a chart so you can refer back to them as you go through each agenda item.

3. It’s Here!
Ask participants to take out their publication and follow along with you.
Point out the icons on the spine of the cover.
Identify what domain each icon represents.
Point out the words “Volume 1” on the cover. Explain that this volume contains the first four domains (the first four icons reading from the top of the page). Explain that Volume 2 will contain the next three domains (visual/performing arts, physical development, and health), and that Volume 3 will contain the last two domains (history/social science and science).
Point out that the icons and their colors are used to identify domain sections inside of the book. We will look at the sections of the book on the next slide.

4. “Research shows that all children can benefit from participating in high-quality preschool programs.” Jack O’Connell A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
This comes from Jack O’Connell’s A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (pg. v)

5. Children who attend high-quality preschool programs:
are more comfortable in their surroundings
have been exposed to books
have learned to play cooperatively
are accustomed to learning with others
This comes from Jack O’Connell’s A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

6. Key Findings of the Rand Study
Children who attend pre-k score higher on school readiness measures at kindergarten entry.
Effective pre-k improves children’s K-12 academic performance.
Effective pre-k has long-term benefits.
Rigorous studies of programs in other states show that effective preschool helps narrow the achievement gap in the later elementary grades by addressing that gap before children start kindergarten.
Who Is Ahead and Who Is Behind? Gaps in School Readiness and Student Achievement in the Early Grades for California’s Children by Jill S. Cannon and Lynn A. Karoly, TR-537-PF/WKKF/PEW/NIEER/WCJVSF/LAUP, 2007, 132 pp.

7. With a goal of ensuring that all preschools offer high-quality programs, the California Department of Education developed these preschool learning foundations. On January 22, 2008, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell formally released the foundations during the California State of Education address.
The Preschool Learning Foundations were developed through a three-year collaborative effort with leading early childhood educators, researchers, advocates and parents - A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, page v. On January 22, 2008, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell formally released the foundations during the California State of Education address.

8. What do I already know about the preschool
A Personal Reflection
Take a moment to respond to this question:
What do I already know about the preschool
learning foundations?
Objective: This activity is intended to acknowledge the people in the room who know something about foundations. Maybe they have been to an input session, gone online to provide feedback, attended a Getting Ready for Foundations session or have just talked with other people.
Direct participants to record their responses on the handout Know Learn Teach/Train/Tell Worksheet in their folder.
Many people have heard many different things.
Remember the development of the foundations was a very inclusive process. The foundations have gone through many revisions and many suggestions from the field have been incorporated. As we go through the day you may notice some of your ideas have been included.
We want you to leave here today with the latest information and to know where you can go with your questions.
Transition to next slide: We will refer back to this worksheet later in the day to see if what we know is true and to record some of what we learned.

9. The Foundations…
Describe the knowledge and skills that all young children typically exhibit:
at around 48 and 60 months of age;
as they complete their first or second year of preschool;
with appropriate support; and
when attending a high-quality preschool program.
Read Slide

10. High-Quality Programs Include
environments and experiences that encourage active, playful exploration and experimentation
purposeful teaching to help children gain knowledge and skills
specific support for children learning English
specific accommodations and adaptations for children with special needs
For children to attain the knowledge and skills in the foundations, programs must work to provide appropriate conditions for learning and individually assist each child in their learning and development.

11. This slide shows the way the Web page is designed
This slide shows the way the Web page is designed. The entire document is online at the California Department of Education Web site. You can look at a specific section or download the entire document.

12. Preschool Learning Foundations ~Domains~
English- Language Development
Social-Emotional Development
Language and Literacy
Currently, California has developed preschool learning foundations for four domains: Social-Emotional Development, Language and Literacy, English-Language Development, and Mathematics.
We’ll examine each of these domains in more detail later on.
Mathematics

13. Let’s Take a Book Walk
A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Acknowledgements
The Introduction
The Four Domains: Social-Emotional Development, Language and Literacy, English-Language Development, and Mathematics
The Appendix
Walk participants through the entire document. Do not go into detail on the domain section as this will happen later on in the session.
A Message from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction provides an over-arching vision for the purpose and importance of the Preschool Learning Foundations.
The Acknowledgements lists the researchers and early childhood stakeholders who contributed to the development of the foundations over the past three years.
The six-page Introduction provides an overview of the foundations.
The four domains are social-emotional development, language and literacy, English-language development, and mathematics. We will look at this section in more detail in a few minutes. Direct the participants to the icons and color coding on the page edges. Demonstrate how the color coding can be used as a quick tab feature to go to any of the four foundations.
The Appendix on page 173 provides a summary list of only the foundations, excluding the examples and other reference material.

14. Introduction to Foundations
Read the Preschool Learning Foundations Introduction on pages xi-xvi.
Ask group to read the whole introduction which starts after the table of contents. There are 6 pages. Give participants about 10 minutes to complete this activity.
Tip: For easy reference later on, you may want to mark your pages with Arabic numbers: xi = 11, xii = 12, and so on.

15. Introduction Highlights
The following slides are a summary of the bumper sticker activity.
As you begin each slide, ask the group who worked on that section to read their license plate or bumper sticker and to tape it to the wall in the designated area.
Go through these pretty quickly.

16. Introduction Highlights
Foundations describe knowledge and skills that most children can be expected to exhibit in a high-quality program at the end of their first or second year of preschool.
They focus on behaviors reflecting age-appropriate competencies for children at around 48 months and at around 60 months.
Ask which group worked on this piece and have them read their sticker.
Read the slide.
The focus is on behaviors reflecting age-appropriate competency for children at around 48 months and at around 60 months.

17. Introduction Highlights
Children are different and may not demonstrate the behaviors in the examples exactly as they are stated.
When taking an in-depth look at a domain, one needs to keep in mind that, for young children, learning is a very integrated experience.
Ask which group worked on this piece and have them read their sticker.
The examples listed under each foundation give a range of possible ways in which children can demonstrate a foundation. The examples suggest different kinds of contexts in which children may show the competencies reflected in the foundations (page xiv-Organization right column).
Read bullet 2 Introduction page xii.

18. Introduction Highlights
The purpose of the foundations is to promote understanding of preschool children’s learning and to guide instructional practice.
Ask which group worked on this piece and have them read their sticker.

19. Universal Design for Learning
supports preschool programs in their efforts to foster learning and development for all children
provides opportunities for children to follow different pathways to learning
provides for the use of multiple approaches to learning
Ask which group worked on this piece and have them read their sticker.
Pages xiv-xv Universal Design for Learning section
The California Preschool Learning Foundations are guides to support preschool programs in their efforts to foster learning and development in all of California’s young children, including children who have disabilities.
It is important to provide opportunities for children to follow different pathways to learning in the preschool foundations in order to make them helpful for all of California’s children.
A universal design for learning is not one approach that will accommodate everyone, but rather refers to providing multiple approaches to learning in order to meet the needs of diverse learners.

20. Universal Design for Learning cont.
provides information in a variety of ways so that the learning needs of all of the children are met
allows for use of alternative methods to demonstrate what they know or feel
provides choices for activities that facilitate learning by building on children’s interests
Page xv - Universal Design for Learning section
providing information in a variety of ways so that the learning needs of all of the children are met;
allowing children to use alternative methods to demonstrate what they know or what they are feeling;
providing choices for activities within the classroom that facilitate learning by building on children’s interests.
Additional information you can share if you want: The examples given have been worded to reflect multiples ways that children can respond. One example of this is on page 148 Mathematics Number Sense at around 60 months 1.2 Examples:
“Names some numerals found in books or during a game.”
“Points to numerals in a number puzzle as the teacher names them.”

21. Structure of the Foundations

22. A Walk Through the Domain Organization
Introduction
Foundations
Bibliographic Notes
Glossary
References
Ask participants to choose whatever domain they want to do this piece.
As you present each bullet, have participants locate that section in their domain. Let participants know that there are flags on the table if they wish to mark each section.
Introduction: It is important to realize that the introduction contains valuable information about the domain. For example, the Stages of Sequential Bilingual Language Development is found in the introduction to the English- language development foundations.
Foundations: The foundations describe what children learn. We will look at the structure of the foundations next.
Bibliographic Notes: These contain the research that is related to each domain’s strands. In the English-language development domain, the Bibliographic Notes are included in the domain Introduction instead of following the foundations as in the other domains.
Glossary of terms: These are terms that are defined in each domain to support the understanding of the content.
References are related to the development of the foundations and the content in the Introduction and Bibliographic Notes.

23. Map of the Foundations Social-Emotional Development
Domain
Strand
Self
Substrand
Age
Age
Foundation
Foundation Description
Ask participants to refer to the handout of maps- one for each domain. Tell them this is the format for the social-emotional development domain.
Click through the labels.
Point out:
The name of the domain (Social-Emotional Development)
The name of the strand at the top of the table (in this case, Self)
The name of the substrand (Self-Awareness). Note that substrands always end in “.0”
The two levels (at around 48 months and at around 60 months). Remind participants that the foundation describes typical behaviors at around 48 months and at around 60 months.
The foundation is highlighted in the domain color.
The foundation description (this is unique to the social-emotional domain)
The examples (these are only a few of the ways that children may demonstrate the foundation)
Examples

24. Foundations Organization
English-language development foundations have Levels not Ages
Domain
Age
Language and literacy includes descriptions of Substrands
Strand
Substrand
Social-emotional development foundations include descriptions for Foundations
English-language development has a Focus level below Substrands
Foundation
Note to presenter: This slide contains the same information as the previous slide. It is not new information, it is just organized differently to accommodate different learning styles of participants.
This is a summary slide. You might ask those who attended an input session if any of these terms are familiar to them.
You might ask them to read the words aloud as they fly in from the side.
There is a call out that appears when you double click AGE that says ELD foundations have LEVELS not ages.
There is a call out that appears when you double click Foundations that says SE has a Description below each foundation.
Examples

25. …and enhanced with expert practioners’ suggestions and examples.
Foundations are based on…
Ask which group worked on this piece and have them read their sticker.
The foundations written for each of these domains are based on research and evidence and are enhanced with expert practioners’ suggestions and examples.
Relevant studies from the literature. For example, Becker’s 1989 study. “Preschoolers’ Use of Number Words to Denote One-to-One Correspondence,” in Child Development, Vol. 60 (Mathematics, References page 168).
Early childhood education standards from other states such as Hawaii and Texas (Social-Emotional, Introduction page 5 footnote).
Well-validated assessment tools such as the Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ): A Parent-Completed, Child-Monitoring System (Social-Emotional, References and Source Materials, page 36).
Documents from the California Department of Education such as the English-Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (Language and Literacy, Introduction page 48 left column).
General sources such as the Report of the National Reading Panel (Language and Literacy, Introduction page 73 left column).
A reference list of these source materials is included in this document, along with detailed Bibliographic Notes for each of the developmental domains.
…and enhanced with expert practioners’ suggestions and examples.

26. Frequently Asked Questions
For Example:
What is the relationship between the English-language development and the language and literacy foundations?
Title: Many questions were asked during the extensive public review process. CDE has developed a set of Frequently Asked Questions to provide the answers to those questions.
The FAQ document is a living document. Over time, new questions will be added and existing responses may be clarified as needed.
Read the rest of the slide.

27. CDE Web site
The foundations are posted on the CDE Web site at
At the Web address, the underlined Preschool Learning Foundations link takes you to the publication. There you will have easy access to the chapters and sections within the 192 page publication.
The Appendix, on pages , provides a summary list of the foundations.
Read the first bullet.
Web handout
On page in the Appendix you will find a summary list of the foundations, excluding the examples and other material. Hold one up to show how small it is.
Remind them that the preschool foundations address on the previous page is also on the CDE Web site.

28. To Purchase
The Preschool Learning Foundations publication are available for purchase from the CDE Press after March 28, 2008 for $19.95.
Ordering information can be found at the CDE Web site or by calling
Remind participants that there is a handout in their folder with ordering information.

30. What’s next?

31. Curriculum Framework
The framework will be developed to provide guidance on the implementation of the foundations.
There will be opportunities for input from the field.
Bullet 1: Read.
Bullet 2: Stakeholder organizations will be invited, and focus groups will be formed, to provide input on the development of the curriculum framework.

32. The DRDP-R is the Assessment Tool
Fall 2009 – The DRDP-R will be aligned to the foundations.
Fall 2010 – The aligned DRDP-R will be implemented by state-funded preschool programs before monitoring visits will require its use.
Fall 2011 – The aligned DRDP-R will be required.
Reminder: The foundations are used to guide and plan instruction.
Title: The DRDP-R is the child assessment tool.
Reminder: The DRDP-R is a developmental continuum and the foundations are age-specific.
The DRDP-R is being aligned with the Preschool Learning Foundations.
1st bullet: This will happen through information sessions for state-funded preschool programs.
2nd bullet: Training for using the aligned DRDP-R will be provided to all state-funded preschool programs.
3rd bullet: This is for state-funded preschool programs.

33. Preschool Foundations
Future Domains
Visual and Performing Arts
Physical Development
Health
History/ Social Sciences
These are the future domains to be developed. CPIN will provide updates on the development process as information becomes available.
Science

34. Timeline for Next Set of Preschool Learning Foundations
2009 Foundations Released
Work Begins
2008 Input Sessions
TIMELINE

35. Professional Development Opportunities
The California Preschool Instructional Network will provide training opportunities. Check the CPIN Web site at for upcoming training dates.
The Faculty Training Initiative will hold seminars for college faculty. Visit for more information.
Handout for Faculty Training Initiative is in folder.