Why ACCESS was Developed
Early childhood faculty, the Bombeck Center Curriculum Specialist and Bombeck Center teachers began to re-examine how instructional decisions were made when early learning content standards were first adopted by the State of Ohio in 2004. Prior to that time, the Bombeck Center identified itself as a center that demonstrated developmentally appropriate practice, incorporated the Project Approach (Katz & Chard, 2000) and focused on science. As early learning content standards became a more integral part of the Bombeck Center curriculum, it became apparent that the new standards both benefited and challenged the Bombeck Center program. As a benefit, the early learning content standards were developmentally appropriate and provided opportunities to be more systematic about the concepts and skills to which children were exposed. The sheer number of standards was overwhelming and difficult for teachers to track and to teach in meaningful, connected and child-directed ways. To add to the challenge, the standards overlapped across content areas creating redundancy.
ACCESS allows teachers to easily adapt to new content standards and/or developmental guidelines because the curriculum relies on authentic assessment that can be adjusted when new content standards/statements or developmental guidelines are adopted. For example, in 2010 the Common Core Statement Standards were adopted by 45 states to represent what students in grades kindergarten through 12 should know and be able to do in the areas of literacy and math. Teachers using ACCESS reviewed the new content standards, compared them to prior standards and made adjustments to their authentic assessment system. Because the assessment system informs instruction, teachers learned the new content and incorporated it into their curriculum without having to completely revise their curriculum process. This same realignment process took place when the National Research Council released the final draft of the new science standards for grades kindergarten through 12 in 2013.
Quality First, then Support with Assessment
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ACCESS grew out of the Bombeck Center's commitment to an emergent /negotiated, child-centered, science focused and integrated curriculum that became more cohesive as the Bombeck Center's curriculum team developed a manageable assessment system. It quickly became apparent that assessment and documentation needed to be a stronger focus in the curriculum. Like many programs for young children, the curriculum team was faced with a difficult decision. To keep track of the complex and numerous content standards, the Bombeck Center needed to either adopt a commercial curriculum that was aligned with the state standards or develop a system for tracking what children know and are able to do. |
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ACCESS calls upon teachers to use aggregated assessment data to make informed decisions about instruction.
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Our roots are grounded in an emergent/negotiated, play-based and child-centered curriculum model that incorporated extended investigations and followed the interests of the children. We also found that many of the commercial curricula on the market lacked depth in the area of science which was an important part of who we were. We were careful not to allow assessment data to drive instructional decisions as was becoming common in the field. Instead, we focused on important science concepts, created experiences that allowed children to investigate the concepts while teachers tracked naturally-occurring content standards and developmental skills. |
CONTENT STANDARDS: DIVIDE & CONQUER
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Like many effective early childhood educators, the Bombeck Center teaching staff was well grounded in their understanding of developmental skills. This knowledge was incorporated throughout the program. Teachers could call on their deep understanding of development and apply it automatically as they made instructional decisions throughout the day. In 2004, the teachers did not, however, have a deep or automatic understanding of the new content standards. One of our first tasks in the development of ACCESS was to divide the standards into manageable and easy to remember chunks of which the teachers could make sense. We also needed to make connections across content area while reducing the redundancy that existed in the State standards. While becoming familiar with the new document, the teachers noted that there were different kinds of standards. Some standards, especially in the areas of science and social studies, leant themselves to deep concept development which is most effectively addressed during investigations and documented through portfolio entries. Other standards were commonly addressed during daily activities and routines. Many of the standards in this category overlapped with developmental skills and were noted in interactions with families especially during parent conferences. Progress reports and ongoing communications with families were natural methods for documenting and communicating these standards. |
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Once teachers determined that they were already documenting many of the standards through existing strategies, they were much more comfortable with collecting assessment data for the remaining standards, many of which were categorized as skills that required more intentional assessment and record keeping. The teachers developed a series of informal data collection tools that they could choose from to reflect their personal teaching style. While data collection strategies were determined by the teacher, all teachers were expected to aggregate data on ACCESS Class Tracking System (ACTS) so that they could track both an individual child's and the whole class's progress. Using ACTS, Bombeck teachers developed a method of organizing a wide range of data in a manageable system. |