Please click here for our resources to support children in Sandy's aftermath.The 2013-2014 UPK suggested staggered start schedule and information is available here.The following links offer learning tools for educators.
The 2013-2014 CBO Instructional Expectations relect minimum instructional quality expectations. Programs are expected to meet or exceed these expectations in ways that address the unique needs of their students, families, staff, and stakeholders. For reference, you can reivew the 2012-2013 CBO Instructional Expectations.
SchoolReadiness [top]The NYC Department of Education (DOE) and the NYC Administration for Children's Services (ACS) are committed to ensuring that all children leave our early childhood programs and enter kindergarten ready to succeed. To this end, DOE and ACS worked with parents, community members, and university partners to develop citywide school readiness goals based on the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework and the New York State Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core. These citywide school readiness goals represent a shared vision of the skills, knowledge, and approaches to learning that children need in order to enter kindergarten ready for school and on a path toward college and career readiness.For additional information about our citywide approach to school readiness, please see:
CommonCore [top]
NYS Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core
In July 2010, New York State adopted the Common Core Standards for K-12. In October 2011, the state adopted the NYS Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core.
The primary purpose of pre-kindergarten standards is to ensure that all children, including children with disabilities, students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and English Language Learners (ELLs) have rich and varied early learning experiences that prepare them for success in school and lay the foundation for college and career readiness.
Common Core Aligned Task Bundles
This year, we are working with teachers and school leaders to build their knowledge and pedagogy around the CCLS, with the ultimate goal of fully implementing the standards by the 2014-15 school year.
To help accomplish this goal, NYC educators and national experts developed Common Core-Aligned Task Bundles. These bundles were developed to align to literacy and math concepts that encompass strategically selected standards at each grade level.
Teachers may implement the bundles as they are written or adapt them to meet the needs of their students.
Learn about the CCLS Aligned Bundles
Watch this video explaining the bundles and their components.
Use this exercise and handout to examine the bundles.
See Sample CCLS Aligned Bundles [top]UPDATED: Interdisciplinary unit on plants and transportation, complete with culminating tasks and sample student work for literacy and math.
Pre-K Units
Literacy Tasks
Mathematics Tasks
Unit Map on Plants
Plants Are All Around Us! Literacy Task
How Many Little Seeds? Mathematics Task
Unit Map on Trucks
Trucks! Literacy Task
Trucks! Mathematics Task
Trucks! Sample Student Work for Literacy
Trucks! Sample Student Work for Mathematics
Unit Map on Senses
Senses Literacy Task
Senses Mathematics Task
Senses Sample Student Work for Literacy
Senses Sample Student Work for Mathematics
Learn more about the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) and their implications for teaching and learning through the following videos and exercises.Helpful Guides
Common Core Booklist for Pre-K
Common Misunderstandings
Together Time At-Home Activities for FamiliesPrinciples Behind the CCLS
Explanation from the NYC DOE
Explanation from the NYS Education Department
Key Instructional Shifts
Overarching instructional shifts
Shifts in Literacy
Shifts in Mathematics
Strategies for Implementation
Share Your Ideas
We want to learn from you. If you have created a Common Core aligned resource, bundle, or instructional strategy, please send it to us. We will develop a bank of resources to share on our website in the coming months.
Professional Development [top]
Upcoming Trainings
Information on upcoming PDs will be posted as soon as they are available here .
Calendar
The NYC Department of Education Calendar is available here.
Training Resources
The January UPK teacher professional development was focused on strategies for developing children’s literacy knowledge and skills aligned to the Common Core. Resources used during the professional development include:
Information books in early childhood
Weaving a web with children at the center: A new approach to emergent curriculum planning for young preschoolers
Bridging the vocabulary gap: What the research tells us about vocabulary instruction in early childhood
What early childhood educators need to know: Developing effective programs for linguistically and culturally diverse children
Screening and Assessment [top]
ESI-R Screening
Please contact Michael Greenberg at mgreenberg5@schools.nyc.gov for access to the secure website which includes a timline and other valuable ESI-R information including directions on how to input ESI-R data.
Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessment systems are a formative collection of qualitative student data (i.e. student work, teacher notes) that measure student performance and progress across multiple academic disciplines along a continuum. They help teachers monitor students' developmental progress over time while informing curriculum and instruction. Authentic assessments are based on teacher observation notes and student work samples gathered in the context of everyday classroom activities and experiences. This information is collected over time and across multiple domains of development, providing a comprehensive view of the child's learning and progress. Published authentic assessment tools provide teachers with frameworks to:
In this way, published authentic assessments capture information about students' individual knowledge, skills, performances, and approaches to learning. Teachers can use this information to monitor students' development over time and inform curriculum and instruction.
Commonly used published authentic assessment systems include Work Sampling System, Teaching Strategies GOLD, and High Scope Child Observation Record.
Work Sampling System
Work Sampling System ® (WSS) is a valid and reliable authentic assessment system available through OECE for grades pre-kindergarten to 3. For information on WSS, please visit the WSS page here. Common Metric ProjectDOE, ACS, and DOHMH are collaborating on the Common Metric Project in the 2012-13 school year. This project will link the most popular early childhood authentic assessment tools (The Work Sampling System, Teaching Strategies GOLD, High/Scope Child Observation Record) with the NYS Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core and the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. Over 400 CBO-based UPK teachers will be involved in supporting this groundbreaking research initiative. Your site is invited to join these education innovators! We are recruiting pre-k teachers to spend just 2 days on the project; programs will be reimbursed for fees paid for substitutes during this time. Learn more here.UPK Policies and Resources [top]
Behavior Management
The 2012-2013 CBO UPK Welcome Package is now available here.
Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R)
For more information on the UPK Program Evaluations, please click here(Evaluation Results & FAQs).
Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)In the 2011-2012 school year, OECE piloted measures of child-teacher interactions using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (http://www.teachstone.org/about-the-class). In the spring of 2013, OECE will build on the pilot by using CLASS to assess a sample of UPK programs. It is important to note that programs receiving an ECERS-R assessment and/or participating in QUALITYstarsNY pilot will not receive a CLASS assessment. As the process evolves, the DOE will continue to update programs on how the data will be used in the future. For more information, click here for the CLASS FAQ.Quality Review
The Quality Review (QR) was developed to assist New York City Department of Education schools in raising student achievement. The process is designed to look behind a school's performance statistics to ensure that the school is engaged in effective methods of accelerating student learning. As a result, the QR focuses on the coherence of a school's systems, measuring how well it is organized to meet the needs of its students and adults, as well as monitor and improve its instructional and assessment practices. For more information, visit the QR website.
QUALITYstarsNY
New York State is currently developing QUALITYstarsNY to support the efforts of early care and learning programs to improve the quality of their services and to give parents the information they need to make a more informed choice. For information, please visit QUALITYstarsNY.For an overview of how QUALITYstarsNY relates to the NYC DOE's Quality Review, please see here.Teacher GuidesTeacher Guide to Parent-Teacher ConferencesToileting Guidelines
Additional Resources [top]