Measuring Early Childhood Staff Team and Program Development in the Implementation of Full-Day Kindergarten

• In Event: Early Childhood Teacher Preparation and Professional Development

Abstract

This research describes an innovative tool to measure the development of programs and practitioner teams working collaboratively in full-day kindergarten programs (FDK) and used to inform program implementation and policy. The most notable innovation of the FDK program is the government’s mandate that it be co-taught by an Early Childhood Educator and a Kindergarten teacher. This paper shares the specific findings related to the development of the program and staff team, using the unique “Indicators of Change” tool. Participants in the staff team research reported here include approximately 60 teachers and ECEs in each of three years of the full-day kindergarten program. Results are reported for the Early Learning Team, the Early Learning Environment and Parent Participation.

Authors

• Janette P. Pelletier, University of Toronto

• Julaine M. Brent, OISE/University of Toronto

• Sue Anderson, University of Toronto