HELPING TEACHERS USE Best practices to improve students' Success  

HighScope's training for elementary educators is based on research on best practices and more than 30 years' experience working with elementary educators in a range of urban and rural settings. 

We assist teachers in improving their classroom practices so that students can be more successful in whatever curriculum they are using. Following is a list of topics that are the basis for HighScope's approach to elementary teaching and learning. If you need further information on how to obtain training, use the Related Training links at right. If you are in interested in improving your school-wide readiness practices, use the links to Ready School Assessment. 

KEY ELEMENTS OF HighScope'S ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM PRACTICES

HighScope can customize a training for your teaching team to help you improve teaching in any of these areas:

Active learning approach. Teachers set up learning experiences so children are actively involved with people, materials, events, and ideas. In these experiences, children "learn by doing," often working with hands-on materials and carrying out projects of their own choosing.  

Daily schedule.  Children learn best when each day follows a consistent schedule, which is carefully planned to include individual, small-group, and large-group experiences and a balance of teacher-planned and child-planned activity. 

Plan-do-review. This three-step process can be a powerful learning tool that builds on children's intrinsic motivation. Each day includes a plan-do-review time, lasting an hour or more, in which children plan, carry out, and then reflect upon an activity of their own choosing.

The classroom. The physical setting plays an important role in stimulating children's learning. The room is divided into five or more distinct "interest" areas, such as reading and writing, math, science, art, and computers. In each area, a wide range of appealing materials are stored in consistent, accessible locations so children can get out the materials they need for their work and put them away independently.

Instructional activities. Teachers plan small-group workshops that focus on concepts and skills in each subject area as defined by state and local standards and the curriculum materials provided by the district. The emphasis is on hands-on projects in which children work with manipulative materials, apply skills to solve practical problems, and learn to communicate the results of their efforts in a variety of formats. Many experiences require cooperative work. 

Teacher-child interaction. Teachers learn to avoid the use of reward and punishment to manage children and instead focus on creating a positive social climate in which each child is valued and respected and expectations and limits are clear. Adults help children use a problem-solving approach to resolve difficulties and conflicts.  

Child assessment. Teachers document children's progress by collecting brief anecdotal notes recording observations of children's important behaviors and by compiling portfolios of student work samples and other kinds of documents that are evidence of children's progress. These assessment methods supplement traditional standardized achievement tests to provide a complete and balanced picture of children's progress. 

To find out how to set up a customized training focusing on one or more of these topics, use the Related Training link at right.