A Foundation Of Learning

FOCUS

A Foundation Of Learning

D.C. program addresses achievement gap for 3- and 4-year olds

By Natasha Parrilla and Kelly Trygstad

August 2017

Vol. 38 No. 4

Every teacher has experienced the achievement gap in his or her classroom at some point and not known what to do. Instructional leaders face the challenge of supporting teachers to close this gap, and a variety of research-based philosophies and strategies in the field address this challenge. AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., is working to close the achievement gap before children enter kindergarten by providing 3- and 4-year-olds with the social, emotional, and academic foundations that enable them to thrive in school — and increasing educator effectiveness is a critical component of that. There is a substantial academic performance gap between children in economically disadvantaged communities and their more economically advantaged peers (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Since the passage

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Natasha Parrilla (natasha.parrilla@appletreeinstitute.org) is professional development specialist at AppleTree Institute for Education and Innovation and a 2016 graduate of the Learning Forward Academy. Kelly Trygstad (ktrygstad@appletreeinstitute.org) is director of professional learning at AppleTree Institute for Education and Innovation.

References

Aud, S., Hussar, W., Planty, M., Snyder, T., Bianco, K., Fox, M., … Drake, L. (2010). The condition of education 2010 (NCES 2010-028). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

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 pre-kindergarten programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), 166-176.

District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education. (2017, February). The state of pre-K in the District of Columbia 2016 Pre-K Report. Washington, D.C: Author.

Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.

Pianta , R., La Paro, K., & Hamre, B. (2008). CLASS Classroom Assessment Scoring System manual: Pre-K. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Yoshikawa, H., Weiland, C., Brooks-Gunn, J., Burchinal, M.R., Espinosa, L.M., Gormley, … Zaslow, M.J. (2013). Investing in our future: The evidence base on preschool education. Ann Arbor, MI: Society for Research in Child Development.