Goal 4

Early childhood educators will demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to support school readiness based on scientific research on cognitive and social development in early childhood and effective pedagogy for young children, and in the effective administration of age-appropriate assessments of young children and the use of assessment results.

• Objective 4.1: CAL-NET early childhood educators will demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to support school readiness based on scientific research on cognitive and social development in early childhood and effective pedagogy for young children as determined by multiple measures including the ClipBoard portfolios, classroom observations, and the ELLCO environmental rating scale.
  
  Progress has been made toward the achievement of this objective. The Professional Development Specialists have been trained in peer coaching and are now providing coaching to ECE professionals on a regular basis.

Goal 5

CAL-NET early childhood educators will more frequently apply research-based approaches in early childhood pedagogy and child development and learning domains, including using a content-rich curriculum and activities that promote the age-appropriate development of oral language, age-appropriate social and emotional behavior, phonological awareness, print awareness, alphabet knowledge, and numeracy skills.

• Objective 5.1:CAL-NET early childhood educators will more frequently apply research-based approaches in early childhood pedagogy and child development and learning domains, including using a content-rich curriculum and activities that promote the age-appropriate development of oral language, age-appropriate social and emotional behavior, phonological awareness, print awareness, alphabet knowledge, and numeracy skills as determined by multiple measures including the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) Early Childhood Educator Assessment, ClipBoard portfolios, classroom observations, and coaching observation rating sheets.
  
  Progress is being made toward the achievement of this objective. Teachers' overall attitudes toward what preschool teachers should do did not change significantly from the baseline to the follow-up survey. However, based on the section of the survey which asks teachers how often they provide certain activities in their classrooms, teachers are more frequently offering reading readiness, oral language, and written language experiences in their classrooms.

Goal 6

Children in classrooms with project educators will demonstrate improved readiness for school, especially in the areas of appropriate social and emotional behavior and early language, literacy, and numeracy skills.

• Objective 6.1:By June 2004, students in participating CAL-NET classrooms will demonstrate statistically significant (p<.05) positive directional changes (as measured in comparison to a randomly selected group of students from non-participating classrooms) in appropriate social and emotional behavior and early language, literacy, and numeracy skills as measured by: a) the new California preschool standards-based assessment (Desired Results), b) the PPVT, and c) the Letter Recognition Assessment.

Exemplars

The CAL-NET staff has worked diligently to ensure that the ECE Professional Development program has been successfully implemented. The following are the program exemplars.

• The E-CIRCLE classes which have been developed based on Teachscape. These classes focus on literacy and numeracy. Because they are on-line classes they can be delivered in the remote counties.
• The annual CAL-NET conferences are a definite strength. The conference provides an unparalleled opportunity for early childhood educators to meet together on a yearly basis with their peers from the north state. The keynote speakers are nationally known and respected and the presenters provide relevant and useful information.
• The fact that CAL-NET has allowed participants to self-select classes and training opportunities is a strength. There has been a greater buy-in for the program because participants are able to select trainings and classes which best meet their needs.