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Collaborative Work That Strengthens the Quality of Early Childhood Education

Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) (A Good Start) Program

Fundación Educacional Oportunidad • 2018

Collaborative Work That Strengthens the Quality of Early Childhood Education

Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) (A Good Start) Program

Fundación Educacional Oportunidad2018

2 • Un Buen Comienzo


Chapter I. Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start) (UBC): Comprehensively Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education04Chapter II. A Brief History of the Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start) Program 06Chapter III. The UBC model, A Continuous Quality Improvement Collaborative Network to Enhance Learning in Early Childhood Education09Chapter IV.Implementation of the UBC Program13Chapter V.Results of the Quasi-Experimental UBC Evaluation, 2014-2015 (O´Higgins Region)14Chapter VI.Commitment of the Educational Community to Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start)17Chapter VII.Future challenges: Sustainability and Scale-Up18Chapter VIII.Contributions to Scientific Knowledge and Pedagogical Practices in Early Childhood Education19

22 Acknowledgments

Recognition Bibliography 21

Contents


I. Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) (A Good Start): Comprehensively Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education

UBC is a story of perseverance. It is a story of doing, of learning, and of trying again, with the only goal of improving the educational experiences of boys and girls in Early Childhood Education.

Since its inception in 2008, the Un Buen Comienzo program, created by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and Harvard University, has focused on improving the practices of preschool teachers and aides, has systematically and rigorously analyzed a large amount of data and has worked with dozens of school districts and hundreds of schools, always with the enthusiasm of the first day, advancing in a collaborative and sustainable way, in order to empower local actors as protagonists of their Continuous Quality Improvement.

The essential elements of this process have been the flexibility and willingness to improve of all the actors; the selection of evidence-based practices, always adapted to the local context; the permanent evaluation of the elements of the program; the coherence of the model with the progress of public policy; and an innovative spirit to incorporate new educational trends.

UBC seeks tirelessly to contribute comprehensively to the improvement of the quality of Early Childhood Education.

The Importance of Early Childhood Education

Since its beginning, the Un Buen Comienzo (UBC) program has sought to contribute to improving the quality of Early Childhood Education for children living in at-risk communities in Chile, through professional and school leadership development. This implies enhancing children’s abilities as future citizens who, in the future, can think critically, have an integral character, participate actively in society and in a globalized world, collaborate, communicate and be creative (Fullan and Scott, 2014). Thus, the program contributes to the foundations of healthy child development to achieve a vital and productive society with a sustainable future (Rolla, Hinton and Shonkoff, 2012).

Current findings from neuroscience research highlight the importance of early childhood development. Early experiences –which during the first years of life are based on stable interactions, sensitivity to the needs of children, and enriched learning– contribute to providing children with far-reaching positive effects on their learning, their behavior and their physical and mental health (Center on the Developing Child, 2007). That is, early childhood development –especially in language and emergent literacy, social-emotional development and self-regulation or executive function– favors the strengthening of the foundations of a healthy and prosperous society.

In the brain, the ability to retain information and work with it, to concentrate, to filter distractions and to maintain attention where it needs to be is like an airport with a highly effective air traffic control system, capable of managing arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple entry and exit points. Scientists refer to these capabilities as executive function and/or self-regulation, a set of skills that depends on three types of brain functioning: working memory, mental flexibility and self-control. When children have the opportunities to successfully develop the skills of executive function and self-regulation, both individuals and society experience lasting benefits (Center on the Developing Child, 2018).

What Do We Mean When We Say Quality in Early Childhood Education?

It is not enough to focus on access to Early Childhood Education to optimize the levels of development and learning of the most vulnerable children in Latin America, but it is necessary to improve the quality of it, as indicated in a recent report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2018).

What lessons can we learn about access to a quality Early Childhood Education that has positive and lasting impacts on the most at-risk children? The interactions between adults and children in the classroom are fundamental. When adults in the


classroom provide high-quality interactions –which are sensitive, time-driven, and promote children’s thinking– children develop higher levels of emerging language and literacy, self-regulation or executive function and social interactions (OECD, 2018).

By the same token, the importance of pedagogical practices has been demonstrated at an international and regional level. Thus, the use of instructional time and the quality of interactions directly affect children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development (Berlinski and Schady, 2015). For example, it has been possible to quantify

the added value of quality pedagogical practices in the classroom, causally proven in Ecuador for children 5 years of age and older (Araujo et al., 2016), and an association has been found between quality practices and development and learning in children 4 and 5 years of age in Chile (Leyva et al., 2015). The elements of quality identified by empirical research are aligned with the policy guidelines provided by the government in Chile (Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education, 2018, Center for Improvement, Experimentation and Pedagogical Research, 2008).


Civil Society

Fundación Educacional Oportunidad

II. Brief History of the Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start) Program

In July of 2006, the Chilean Ministry of Education, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and Harvard University organized a conference to analyze international practices to improve quality in Early Childhood Education, after which the common goal was identified of working on a project that contributed to improving the quality of Early Childhood Education in Chile.

In this context, UBC was born, through an alliance among actors from the public sector, civil society and universities, which began its activities with a first stage of design and then a pilot phase. In 2007, the project began with a demonstration experience in the school district of Peñalolén, in Santiago, and with piloting of external evaluations, betting on a model of professional teacher development as a key tool for improving the quality of Early Childhood Education.

Representatives of the Ministry of Education and other Chilean organizations responsible for providing Early Childhood Education were actively involved in the design of the project, a process that involved actors at the national, regional, municipal and local levels. Specifically, an inter-institutional technical panel –including representatives of the Ministerios de Educación y Salud (Ministries of Education and Health), the Junta Nacional de Jardines Infantiles (National Board of Preschools), the Fundación Integra and Hogar de Cristo– met periodically to design the program. In addition, preeschool teachers, directors and health and education representatives of the Peñalolén school district actively participated in this phase. The product of this collaborative work was an intervention model that not only reflected the latest research on teacher professional development and early childhood development, but also contributed relevance and, thus, motivated the participation of the parties involved.

Government

Ministry of Education

Ministry of Health

Local Government

Municipalities

Schools

Universities

Harvard University

Universidad Diego Portales


Subsequently, a first phase of the program (2008-2011) was executed, implemented by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, using an experimental design, with an independent evaluation conducted by the Universidad Diego Portales, and with technical assistance and support in the design and implementation in both processes from Harvard University. During this period, the model was applied in 32 schools and another 33 were followed a control group, all in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago.

This first application of the program had an impact on the quality of pedagogical practices, although not on the overall results of the children, as reported in the evaluation study (Yoshikawa et al., 2015).

Notwithstanding the former, the initial implementation and its respective evaluation generated key lessons for Early Childhood Education in Chile and, in particular, for the evolution of UBC.

The Main Lessons Learned from the Impact Evaluation

• Teachers improved the quality of their pedagogical practices (Yoshikawa et al., 2015), but not enough to have an overall impact on children’s development and learning.• The average time of active instruction associated with UBC language practices was 9 minutes per day at the beginning of the intervention and 12 minutes at the end of the intervention. This increase was not enough to have an impact on the children, although those who received more minutes per

day did show an impact of the intervention on their development and learning (Mendive, Weiland, Yoshikawa, & Snow, 2015).• The average level of child absenteeism was high: more than 60% of children presented chronic absenteeism, missing 10% or more of the school year.• There was an increase in learning for children who attended school more and who participated in UBC (Arbor et al., 2016).• The motivation and active participation of the classroom teams was fundamental; it was important to foment that more explicitly.• The pedagogical leadership of the school leadership team was key to the functioning of UBC in the school.

Between the years 2011-2015 the model was consolidated. In the following applications of UBC, lessons learned in the previous phase and new strategies that allowed strengthening the intervention were incorporated. Local stakeholders were involved more and a new methodology was adopted of Continuous Quality Improvement Model, which would make the intervention unique in education at the time, in particular in Latin America (Arbor et al., 2017). In addition, specific work was carried out in the increase of instructional time for language development (Mendive, Weiland, Yoshikawa, & Snow, 2015) and strategies to combat child absenteeism were implemented (Arbor et al., 2016).

Finally, as of 2016, the program adjusted its strategies and consolidated the UBC Network with a view to guaranteeing the sustainability of the work carried out and the possibility of scaling up this experience to new communities.

2006 – 2007Design and Pilot Phase

2008 – 2011Experimental

Phase

2011 – 2015Consolidation of the Model

2016 – 2018Sustainability and Scalability

+ Collaborative, Research-Based Design

+ Implementation and Evaluation

+ Tests of New Designs+ Adoption Continuous Quality Improvement Model+ Results in Pedagogical Practices and Children´s Learning

+ Tests of Scaleable Models+ Collaborative Network


In more than 10 years of history, the program has been implemented in 153 educational establishments in the Metropolitan and O’Higgins

Region, with a cumulative coverage equivalent to 5% of municipal schools that offer Early Childhood Education¹.

Additionally, the UBC Program, through the area of Knowledge Transfer, carries out professional development activities in

collaboration with other organizations interested in strengthening the quality of learning in Early Childhood Education.

1. In Chile there are 2,748 municipal educational establishments that provide regular urban and rural Early Childhood Education (Ministry of Education, 2017).

23School

Districts

153Schools

500Preschool

Teachers and aides

12,400Children

60UBC

Collaborative Network Schools

2018

UBC Population Served, 2008–2018

1,350Fundación

Integra Professionals

50Servicio Local

Educación Barrancas

Professionals

20Universidad Católica del

MauleProfessionals

UBC 2018 Professional Development


Currently, the UBC program is a model of professional teacher and school leadership development that is implemented through collaborative strategies around the common purpose of improving the quality of Early Childhood Education in a community sustained over time.

Based on the experience of more than 10 years working with preschool teachers and aides in schools in Chile, the UBC model proposes a theory of improvement that seeks to achieve quality objectives in Early Childhood Education through three central components:• That children attend classes.• That preschool teachers and aides increase instructional time.• That the interactions between the classroom team and the children be effective.

Schools and districts and district leaders voluntarily join UBC, receive initial training and support in the field, and participate in collaborative instances for two years. They then later join the UBC Collaborative Network, which seeks to maintain a culture of quality and innovation using data as evidence, with a focus on Early Childhood Education and adapted to the local context.

What Are the Quality Objectives of Un Buen Comienzo?

The general objective of the program is to improve the levels of language and emergent literacy in Prekindergarteners and Kindergarteners in public schools. Both are precursors of reading comprehension in the future, which in Chile is lower than desired. At the same time, given the importance of promoting learning comprehensively, socio-emotional development and executive function are fostered, which favor language although, in turn, they are important skills in their own right.

III. The UBC model, A Continuous Quality Improvement Collaborative Network to Enhance Learning in Early Childhood

How Are Quality Objectives Achieved within the Framework of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)?

The CQI methodology allows for the implementation of the driver diagram or theory of change in an organized manner and with specific goals for each of the primary drivers of the intervention that have been defined as fundamental to achieving the quality objectives. In this case, it is about achieving the maximization of instructional time and child attendance so that children can receive the greatest benefit from the effective interactions that are taking place in the classroom.

The work plan of the participating schools of the program is organized around a driver diagram that specifies the objectives, goals and measurement instruments that will be applied to measure the progress in each of the primary drivers during the year (Figure 1). Classroom teams and school and district leadership teams develop innovations to improve each of the primary drivers, permanently measure the effects of their implementation and take pedagogical and school leadership decisions, based on the evidence they collect.

Figure 1. Theory of Change or Driver Diagram of the UBC Program

Language & Emergent Literacy

Socio-emotional

Development

Executive Function

Objective Primary Drivers

Language & Emergent Literacy

Development

EffectiveInteractions

ChildAttendance

InstructionalTime


For each of these primary drivers, specific goals are established based on research and expert recommendations of instruments and strategies that have been proven to measure the development and learning of children living in at-risk communities in Chile. The UBC Collaboration reinforces that working on the three primary drivers in a comprehensive fashion leads to results. To facilitate implementation, each district, school and classroom team studies its data and determines its priorities in the field in conjunction with the Foundation team.

Measurement for Learning: The Evaluation of the UBC Program

The Un Buen Comienzo Program has a strategy for measuring processes and results that meets three objectives:• Inform the classroom, school and district

leadership teams about the progress in each of the primary drivers of the program, measuring to improve the processes in each school, and collectively, in the district.• Inform the Fundación Educacional Oportunidad team about the impact of the program and achievement of goals in pedagogical practices and in children’s learning.• To safeguard the transparency and technical quality and appropriateness of the evaluation process, by implementing the evaluation with both internal and highly-trained external teams and by using diverse instruments that adjust to the varied objectives pursued.

This strategy considers the application of different measurement instruments, which are applied internally or externally, at different moments in time, with a focus on the first two years of implementation of the model in a group of educational establishments, as presented in the following tables.

Table 1. Scheme of Application of Assessments for Continuous Quality Improvement and External Evaluation UBC: Children’s Development and Learning

Area of Assessment Instrument Application by Classroom Teams

Application by External Evaluators

Language

Socio-Emotional Development

Executive Function

Language andEmergent Literacy

Woodcock-Muñoz (Woodcock, Muñoz-Sandoval,

Ruef & Alvarado, 2005)

UBC Test(internal elaboration)

UBC Battery(Yoshikawa et al., 2015)

UBC Battery (Yoshikawa et al., 2015)


Area of Assessment Instrument Application by Classroom Teams

Application by External Evaluators

Effective interactions

Use ofInstructional Time

Child Attendance

SIGE Attendance School Records, systematized

through the UBC Attendance Website

CLASS (Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2008; Leyva et al.,

2015) Simplified version for Classroom Application by Classroom Team, school

leadership team and Foundation team

Stallings [adapted based on (Bruns and Luque, 2014;

Bruns, Costa and Cunha, 2018)] Simplified Version for

Classroom Application by Classroom Team

Table 2. Scheme of Application of Instruments for Continuous Quality Improvement and UBC´s External Evaluation: Pedagogical Practices and Child Attendance

Frequency Determined by

Classroom Team

Frequency Determined by

Classroom Team

SchoolRecords

Collaborative Work Sustained Over Time: UBC Collaborative Network

Accompanying classroom and school leadership teams² in the innovation of classroom work is not enough to generate sustained cultural changes. The UBC model also created a Collaborative Network to learn, accumulate and disseminate practical knowledge systematically to improve teaching and learning processes (Russell, Bryk, Dolle, Gomez, Lemahieu & Grunow, 2017; Corner-Gallardo & Fullan, 2016).

The UBC Collaborative Network aims to organize the work of classroom, school and district leadership teams and other stakeholders around the common purpose of maintaining a continuous process of developing teaching and school leadership skills aimed at improving learning in the Early Childhood Education in their specific context.

Specifically, the aim of the Network is to: • Ensure that schools and school districts support UBC strategies and methodologies in their institutional policies: Educational Improvement Projects (PME), Municipal Education Development Annual Plans (PADEMs), and Local Strategic Plans (PELs), in the case of Local Education Services. • Foster learning and collaboration with a focus on the Continuous Quality Improvement of pedagogical practices and leadership at the early childhood level. • Ensure that schools maintain levels of language learning similar to the results obtained in previous years.

The work of the UBC Collaborative Network is also organized based on a driver diagram or theory of change with indicators for all of the primary drivers that are considered strategic for its conformation and maintenance.

2. Throughout the document we will understand by classroom team the preschool teachers and aides in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten, and by school leadership team the school’s academic coordinator and the principal.


Figure 2. Theory of Change or Driver Diagram of the UBC Collaborative Network

Classroom Strategies

School Districts/Regional

Strategies

EffectiveInteractions

Inter-schoolCommunities

Child Attendance

Resources

Inclusion of UBC Strategies in School Improvement Plans

(PMEs)

InstructionalTime

School Leadership Leads Data Analysis Meetings

and Conducts Classroom Observations

SchoolStrategies

Overarching Objective: Maintain UBC strategies in classrooms,

schools and school districts.

Specific Goal: 80% of the classroom, school leadership and district teams

maintain UBC strategies

Instrument: Strategies checklist


IV. Implementation of the UBC Program

Un Buen Comienzo is developed intensively during two years in each establishment; classroom teams from Prekindergarten and Kindergarten, as well as school leadership teams, participate in collaborative instances that allow them to share, reflect, and provide feedback on their classroom experiences and results. Thus, the teams learn from one other and identify good pedagogical and leadership practices, adjusting or eliminating those that do not provide the expected results.

Fundación Educacional Oportunidad’s team accompanies preschool teachers, aides and school leadership teams intensively throughout

2 years, promoting the integrated practice of all the strategies defined in the program, using the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) methodology. This work utilizes professional development and collaborative learning strategies that have proven effective in this and other innovation processes: • Coaching of classroom and school leadership teams • Feedback based on the videotape of a classroom activity (Videofeedback) • Strengthening of leadership in Early Childhood Education• Collaborative learning strategies

Table 3. Outline of UBC Implementation Strategies

Beginning in 2011, the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) methodology was incorporated into the Un Buen Comienzo program, which allowed us to work with the data gathered from the field more quickly, with the aim of adjusting the model to improve the results and requirements of differing contexts.

This methodology has been developed with the support of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) of the United States and the DataWise program of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). All UBC model strategies are implemented with CQI tools applied by classroom, school and district leadership teams.

UBC Primary Drivers

Professional Development

Practice of Specific Strategies

Practice of CQI

Practice of Effective

LeadershipCoaching Collaborative

learning

Use of Intructional

Time

Effective Interactions

Child Attendance

Face-to-facecoaching

Video feedback

Follow-up calls

Learning sessions between schools

Visits among schools

Family workshops

Municipal / territorial meetings

Attendance Committees


Why Coaching?

The concept of coaching implies that there is a mentor or expert teacher who will observe the pedagogical practices of other teachers, live or through video, and provide specific and concrete feedback to improve their practices. A good coaching process:

• Generates spaces for professional reflection and instances of collaborative work.• Provides specific pedagogical support to the classroom team in the area of focus of the observation.• Must be sustained over time and maintain a frequency that allows for sustained improvement.• Is implemented in a professional relationship based on mutual respect and trust.

Several programs around the world have shown that systematic coaching improves the quality of pedagogical practices in the classroom (Kraft, Blazar & Hogan, 2018).

V. UBC Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Results, 2014–2015, O´Higgins Region

Given the voluntary nature of participation in the program during the consolidation phase of the model, the evaluation of that cycle was carried out utilizing a quasi-experimental design, which allows a reduction in the selection bias of the sample. The evaluation of the participating and comparison groups of the O’Higgins Region in the years 2014 and 2015 is described below, in which a positive impact was registered for the UBC group not only in pedagogical practices, but also in children’s development and learning. This evaluation was carried out by the Universidad Diego Portales (Center for Comparative Education Policies, 2016) and the main results are presented below.

Summary

• The evaluation was carried out in 9 school districts, with 19 classrooms receiving the program and 35 classrooms in the comparison group. The study included the evaluation of approximately 630 children from both groups.

• In children, language, emergent literacy, self-regulation and socio-emotional development were evaluated.• In classroom teams, the quality of pedagogical practices was evaluated.

What Results Did UBC 2014-2015 Obtain?

The results of UBC in this version are of medium impact in all areas of child development and learning, and suggest a high level of maturation of the program.

In terms of language and emergent literacy results, positive effects are recorded in 3 of the 4 dimensions evaluated (Graph 1). Children participating in the program have better results in emergent reading and writing, as well as in emergent reading comprehension. The measurement did not register differences in vocabulary development.


Graph 1. UBC Effect Sizes in Language Emergent Literacy, 2014-2015

Graph 2. UBC Effect Sizes in Child Self-Regulation, 2014-2015

0,35

0,30

0,25

0,20

0,15

0,10

0,05

0,00

Emerging Reading

0.27**

Emerging Writing

0.30**

Emergent Reading Comprehension

0.20**

Vocabulary

0.00

Note: *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1Source: Adapted from CPCE (2016)


There is a positive effect on inhibitory control and self-regulation, measured through the task “Walk a Line” (effect of 0.3 standard deviations). This indicates that UBC children have greater abilities to control their gross motor skills through balance.

In the other two tasks evaluated, the ability to change cognitive domains with inhibitory control (Pencil Tap) and the abstract capacity to change cognitive domain (Dimensional Change Card Sort), no significant differences were recorded (Graph 2).

0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0,0

- 0,1Walk a Line

0.3*

Dimensional Change Card Sort

0.07

-0.07

Pencil Tap

In the measurement of socio-emotional development, UBC children have significantly higher levels than those of the comparison group in all of the evaluated dimensions. The program children exhibit less aggressive behavior and are less anxious, shy and fearful. Likewise, they interact, play

collaboratively and help others to a greater degree than those of the comparison group; they are more able to follow directions, focus on learning activities and finish them appropriately; to a greater extent, they wait their turn, think before acting, are calm and do not interrupt classroom activities.


Graph 3. UBC Effect Sizes in Socio-emotional Development UBC, 2014-2015


0,6

0,5

0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0,0Externalizing

Behavior

0,2*

Internalizing Behavior

0,54***

Prosocial behavior

0,49***

Attention

0,48***

Impulse control

0,48***

How Were these Results Obtained? Improving Pedagogical Practices through the Enhancement of Teaching Skills

For the evaluation, the CLASS instrument that describes 3 domains of the quality of interactions in the classroom was applied: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization and Instructional Support. For Instructional Support, the quality threshold is 3.25 points, according to the scale of the instrument, while the threshold is 5 points out of 7 in the domains of Classroom Organization and Emotional Support (Burchinal, Vandergrift, Pianta and Mashburn, 2010).

The results indicate the following, as seen in Graph 4:• In all of the domains, the teachers on average, have scores that improve between the initial measurement and the final one, after two years have passed.• The increase in scores for the teachers participating in the program is higher than that of the teachers in the control group, in all 3 domains.• The UBC group obtained 3.8 points in Instructional Support in the CLASS observation instrument at the end of the second year of the program, surpassing the threshold of teaching quality of 3.25 points that has been shown to produce improvement in children’s development and learning. The comparison group only obtained 3.2 points.

Graph 4. Average CLASS Results for the Cachapoal Classroom Teams 2014-2015UBC classrooms= 19 Comparison classrooms= 24

7

6

5

4

3

2

1Comparison Comparison ComparisonIntervention Intervention Intervention

4.9 5.2

4.3 4.5

2.5 2.8

Emotional Support Classroom Organization Instructional Support

5.55.9

5.1 5.4

3.23.8

Goal

Pretest

Posttest 2

Source: Adapted from CPCE (2016)


VI. Commitment of the Educational Community to Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start)

In addition to the impact of the program on pedagogical practices and children’s learning and development, UBC has achieved a commitment from the local school authorities that has been noteworthy within the public education system. School districts have incorporated elements of the program in their municipal education plans (PADEMs) and schools in their school improvement plans (PMEs), thus committing resources of different kinds to ensure the school leadership of UBC over time.

Examples of Resources

• Create and support a team of mentors for district improvement, selected in conjunction with the coordination of the program and with an availability of 4 hours a week to exercise mentoring functions.• Guarantee 2 hours per week for school teams that participate in the program (preschool teahers, aides, school principal, school academic coordinator), designated for work on UBC to study, plan, evaluate and reflect collaboratively, among other tasks.• Ensure the attendance of all participants to district meetings, learning sessions, visits among schools, collaborative work and professional development sessions. This includes permissions,

financing travel, materials for district meetings and assigning substitutes, if necessary.

Examples of School Leadership

Maintain constant communication with school leadership teams from participating schools to have the permissions for all activities that are developed within the framework of the program and ensure the appropriate use of the materials received. Likewise, send the requested information on time (monthly child attendance, results of required evaluations, etc.).

Examples of Collaboration

Participate in external evaluation studies and authorize the use of reports, studies, videos, documents or any audiovisual material, written or of any kind, made for other purposes such as professional development.

Examples of Leadership

Actively participate in coaching sessions with Foundation staff.


VII. Future Challenges: Sustainability and Scalability

The Un Buen Comienzo program has been shown to have an impact on the quality of pedagogical practices and on the development and learning of Prekindergarten and Kindergarten children living in at-risk communities in Chile, according to the results of a rigorous external evaluation.

A great challenge for the future is to accompany the stakeholders, classroom and school leadership teams in the co-construction of a model that allows them to maintain the practices of the program after the two most intensive years of implementation and more generally allows the, to continue innovating in Early Childhood Education.

A second challenge for the coming years is the creation of a model that can be scaled to a larger

population from a public policy perspective, compared to what a private foundation can do. These challenges are the second generation of questions, now that an intervention with robust results has been achieved that demonstrates the impact on pedagogical practices and development and learning in at-risk children in Chile.

These challenges are common internationally in learning communities: the first challenge is to create these communities with an impact on pedagogical practices and on children’s development and learning, and then comes the challenges of sustainability (Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Wallace & Thomas, 2006; Fink, 2016).


VIII. Contribution to Scientific Knowledge and Pedagogical Practices in Early Childhood Education

As a result of the collaboration among Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Harvard University and national universities that have participated in the external evaluations of the program, a significant set of research publications have been shared with the academic community. Among them, six doctoral theses stand out. The implementation practices of Un Buen Comienzo, as well as the data from the evaluation studies, are available for the academic community interested in researching Early Childhood Education in Chile.

Publications through July 2018:

1. Arbour, M.C., Yoshikawa, H., Duran, F., Zeribi, K., Marzolo, M., & Snow, C. E. (2017). Continuous Quality Improvement and Collaborative Learning to Improve Adaptability and Scalability in a Professional Development Programme for Pre-school Teachers in Chile. Children’s Group Global Report. Leiden, Netherlands: Consultative Group On Early Childhood Care And Development. Retrieved from www. ecdgroup.com/cg2/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ Case-Study-5_round-2.pdf.

2. Arbour, M., Yoshikawa, H., Willett, J., Weiland, C., Snow, C., Mendive, S., Barata, M.C., & Treviño, E. (2016). Experimental Impacts of a Preschool Intervention in Chile on Childrens Language Outcomes: Moderation by Student Absenteeism. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9 (Sup1), 117-149.

3. Bonnes Bowne, J., Yoshikawa, H., & Snow, C. E. (2017). Relationships of Teachers’ Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students’ Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten. Reading Research Quarterly, 52 (1), 7-29.

4. CENTRE (2018). Report on impact results Un Buen Comienzo Program Province of Cachapoal 2017: External evaluation CENTRE UC. Santiago, Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

5. Centro de Políticas Comparadas de Educación (Center for Comparative Education Policies) (2016). Un Buen Comienzo Project: Report on impact results

Province of Cachapoal 2014-2015. Santiago, Chile: Universidad Diego Portales.

6. Gómez, L., Vasilyeva, M., & Dulaney, A. (2017). Preschool Teachers’ Read-Aloud Practices in Chile as Predictors of Children’s Vocabulary. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 52, 149.

7. Leyva, D., Berrocal, M., & Nolivos, V. (2013). Spanish-Speaking Parent-Child Emotional Narratives and Children’s Social Skills. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15 (1), 1-21.

8. Leyva, D., & Nolivos, V. (2015). Chilean Family Reminiscing About Emotions and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation Skills. Early Education and Development, 26 (5-6), 1-22.

9. Leyva, D. Weiland, C., Yoshikawa, H., Snow, C., Barata, C., Rolla, A., & Treviño, E. (2015). Assessing Classroom Quality in the U.S. and Chile: Factor Structure and Associations with Prekindergarten Outcomes. Child Development, 86.3, 781-799.

10. Mascareño, M., Snow, C. E., Deunk, M. I., & Bosker R. J. (2016). Language Complexity During Read-Alouds and Kindergartners’ Vocabulary and Symbolic Understanding. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 44, 39-51.

11. Mendive, S., Lissi, M., Bakeman, R., & Reyes, A. (2017). Beyond Mother Education: Maternal Practices as Predictors of Early Literacy Development in Chilean Children from Low-SES Households. Early Education and Development, 28 (2), 167-181.

12. Mendive, S., Weiland, C., Yoshikawa, H., Snow, C., & Graham, S. (2016). Opening the Black Box: Intervention Fidelity in a Randomized Trial of a Preschool Teacher Professional Development Program. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108 (1), 130-145.

13. Molina, H., Cordero, M., Palfrey, J. S., Bedregal, P., & Arbour, M. C. (2013). Early Child Development: Health Equity From the Start in Chile. En S. Berman, J. Palfrey, Z. Bhutta y A. Grange, Global Child Health


Advocacy: On the Front Lines. Elk Grove Village: American Academy of Pediatrics. 285-296.

14. Moreno, L., Treviño, E., Yoshikawa, H., Mendive, S., Reyes, J., Godoy, F., Del Río, F., Snow, C., Leyva, D., Barata, C., Arbour, M.C., & Rolla, A. (2011). Aftershocks of Chile’s Earthquake for an Ongoing, Large-Scale Experimental Evaluation. Evaluation Review, 35, 103-117.

15. Rolla, A., Alvarado, M., Atuesta, B., Marzolo, M., Treviño, E., Yoshikawa, H., & Arbour, M. C. (in press). The Relationship Between Early Childhood Development and Later Elementary School Performance in Chile. En V. Grover, M. Rowe y P. Uccelli (Eds.), Language through Literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

16. Rolla, A., Hinton, C., and Shonkoff, J. (2012). Towards an interdisciplinary model: Biology, social interaction and early childhood development. In S. J. Lipina and M. Sigman (Eds.), Neuroscience and Education. Buenos Aires: Libros del Zorzal.

17. Strasser, K., Rolla, A., & Romero, S. (2016). School Readiness Research in Latin America: Findings and Challenges. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 152, 31-44.

18. Treviño, E., Aguirre, E., & Varela, C. (Eds.). (2018). Un Buen Comienzo for the children of

Chile. Santiago, Chile: Universidad Diego Portales Editions.

19. Yoshikawa, H., Barata, M.C., Rolla, A., Snow, C.E., and Arbor, M.C. (2008). Un Buen Comienzo, an initiative to improve preschool education in Chile: Data from the initial years of the pilot. Report to the UNICEF office, Santiago, Chile.

20. Yoshikawa, H., Leyva, D., Arbor, MC, Snow, C., Treviño, E., Barata, C., Rolla, A., Weiland, C., Gomez, C., D’Sa, N. Moreno, L., Reyes, J., Villalobos, E., Godoy, F., & Gonzalez, C. (2012). Un Buen Comienzo: Post-Test Impact Report of an Initiative to Improve the Quality of Preschool Education in Chile. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

21. Yoshikawa, H., Leyva, D., Snow, CE, Treviño, E., Barata, MC, Weiland, C., Gomez, C., Moreno, L., Rolla, A., D’Sa, N., & Arbor, MC (2015). Experimental Impacts of a Teacher Professional Development Program in Chile on Preschool Classroom Quality and Child Outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 51 (3), 309-322.

In addition, Fundación Educacional Oportunidad has made digital resources for teachers (lesson plans, videos, guidelines, etc.) available to the public through the Innovation Education Network (RIE)³ website and a future self-learning platform.

3. See http://www.fundacionoportunidad.cl/rie


4. See http://www.summaedu.org/unbuencomienzo/5. See https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/05/17/education-innovations-are-taking-rootaround-the-world-what-do-they-have-in -common/6. See https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/engage-with-us/spotlight-on-quality-in-continuous-improvement/2018spotlight-honorees/

Bibliography

Recognition

• Arbour, M.C., Yoshikawa, H., Duran, F., Zeribi, K., Marzolo, M., & Snow, C. E. (2017). Continuous Quality Improvement and Collaborative Learning to Improve Adaptability and Scalability in a Professional Development Program for Pre-school Teachers in Chile. Children’s Group Global Report. Leiden, Netherlands: Consultative Group On Early Childhood Care And Development. Retrieved from www. ecdgroup.com/cg2/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ Case-Study-5_round-2.pdf.

• Arbour, M., Yoshikawa, H., Willett, J., Weiland, C., Snow, C., Mendive, S., Barata, M.C., & Treviño, E. (2016). Experimental Impacts of a Preschool Intervention in Chile on Children Language Outcomes: Moderation by Student Absenteeism. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9 (Sup1), 117-149.

• Bruns, B., Costa, L., & Cunha, N. (2018). Through the Looking Glass: Can Classroom Observation and Coaching Improve Teacher Performance in Brazil? Economics of Education Review, 64, 214-250.

• Bruns, B., & Luque, J. (2014). Excellent teachers: How to improve learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington DC: World Bank.

• Burchinal, M., Vandergrift, N., Pianta, R., & Mashburn, A. (2010). Threshold Analysis of

Association between Child Care Quality and Child Outcomes for Low-Income Children in PreK Programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25 (2), 166-176.

• Center on The Developing Child at Harvard University (2007). A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy: Using Evidence to Improve Outcomes in Learning, Behavior, and Health for Vulnerable Children. Retrieved from http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu

• Center on the Developing Child (2018). In short: the executive function. Skills for life and learning. Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/translation/enbreve-la-funcion-ejecutiva-habilidades-para-lavida-y-el-aprendizaje/

• CENTRE (2018). Report on impact results of the Un Buen Comienzo Program, Province of Cachapoal, 2017: External evaluation, CENTRE UC. Santiago, Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

• Centro de Perfeccionamiento, Experimentación e Investigaciones Pedagógicas (CPEIP) (Center for Perfection, Experimentation and Pedagogical Research), (2008). Framework for good teaching. Santiago, Chile: Ministry of Education.

UBC has been recognized as an educational innovation program with evidence by SUMMA, the Research and Innovation in Education Laboratory for Latin America and the Caribbean⁴, and as one educational innovation with evidence of results worldwide by the Brookings Institution⁵.

UBC has also been recognized as an outstanding program in the application of Continuous Quality Improvement for the quality of education by the Carnegie Foundation (2018 Spotlight Honorees)⁶.


Acknowledgments

Fundación Educacional Oportunidad thanks the following institutions for their contribution to the development of the Un Buen Comienzo program, without which their collaboration would not be what it is today:

• Harvard University – Graduate School of Education: for the design and support in the evaluation and implementation of Un Buen Comienzo from the beginning until the end.

• Harvard University – School of Public Health: many thanks to Judith Palfrey and MaryCatherine Arbour for their interdisciplinary collaboration and work across sectors.

• DRCLAS Regional Office: for being the counterpart in Chile of Harvard University and supporting us in everything.

• University of Virginia and Teachstone: for giving us the CLASS assessment instrument and teaching us how to train about CLASS.

• Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI): for having accompanied us for 7 years in adapting the Continuous Quality Improvement methodology to the educational context.

• Carnegie Foundation: for allowing us to learn more about Continuous Quality Improvement in the educational context of the United States and to be able to share our experience with others who are just beginning.

un buen comienzo (ubc) (a good start) program · 2019. 10. 30. · fundación educacional...

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