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The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) in conjunction with its
partners, Education Development Center Inc. (EDC),Connecticut Charts-A-Course
(CCAC), the Special Education Resource Center (SERC) and the Center for
Community School Action Research (CCSAR) of Southern Connecticut State University, is pleased to submit this
proposal "Striving to Achieve Reading Success
(STARS): Connecticut's Early Childhood Educator Professional Development
Initiative". We believe that our proposed approach and collaboration address a critical
professional development need by providing a coordinated, holistic approach for early
childhood educators and a continuum of career development for early childhood
teachers working in four of Connecticut's poorest cities: Bridgeport, Meriden, New
Britain and New Haven.
To ensure that the project meets its stated goals, CCSAR has designed an evaluation
that examines both process and outcomes. CCSAR will employ a strategic array of
methods, including classroom observation, teacher interviews, child performance
measures of language and literacy learning, and higher education faculty self reports
that will offer a complete profile of this initiative.
Connecticut is a state of contrasts. With the highest per capita income in the nation
and several of the country's poorest cities, residents often refer to the "the two
Connecticuts." the economic and social divide between the two worlds is immense,
and children's achievement differences are significant. Connecticut has been working
diligently to build a statewide system to improve achievement of children who reside
in high-risk communities through its School Readiness and Early Reading Success
strategies. As a result more 3- and 4-year old children receive an early
childhood education. Children in grades K through 3 will have teachers who have been trained
in the scientific based reading research as outlined in Connecticut's Blueprint for
Reading Achievement: The Report of the Early Reading Success Panel (Connecticut
State Department of Education, 2000). Despite our efforts, a significant gap
remains, especially with respect to a comprehensive professional development strategy for
Connecticut's early childhood educators. They still do not have the advantage of a
professional development strategy comparable to that of K-3 educators-one that
ensures teachers' knowledge of and skills in language and literacy practices.
Our intentions over the life of the project are to strengthen and expand:
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the early language and literacy practices of early childhood educators by
providing research-based, credit-bearing professional development to 280
preschool teachers and their supervisors. EDC's Literacy Environment
Enrichment Program (LEEP) is the centerpiece of our approach and boasts impressive outcomes for teachers' practices and children's literacy-related
learning;
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the literacy-related foundational training offered by Connecticut
Charts-A-Course to 300 Child Development Associates (CDA) candidates; and
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the capacity of 80 teacher education faculty from 19 institutions to provide
research-based language and literacy instruction to both inservice and preservice
teachers.
We believe our systemic approach will lead to lasting and sustainable changes in both
teacher preparation and inservice and will move us steadily toward our ultimate goal
of improving the early language and literacy development of children so that they may
enter school ready to become successful readers.
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