Dearborn Great Start Readiness Program uses the HighScope preschool curriculum, a research based curriculum that aligns with Michigan’s Quality Program Standards for Preschool and Prekindergarten Programs from the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten (ECSQ-PK).
The HighScope curriculum provides a blueprint for organizing the classroom and planning learning experiences around the “key ingredients” of Active Learning.
In HighScope classrooms:
- Teachers provide children with a wide variety of materials.
- Children make choices and decisions about how they use materials.
- Children talk with others about their learning experiences.
- Teachers scaffold children’s learning experiences using a variety of strategies.
The HighScope Key Developmental Indicators: Approaches to Learning, Social/Emotional Development, Physical Development & Health, Language, Literacy and Communication, Mathematics, Creative Arts, Science & Technology, Social Studies are incorporated into lesson plans to provide children with intentional and purposeful activities across the curriculum.
Dearborn GSRP’s goals for children align with HighScope’s curriculum areas:
- All students will improve literacy skills-Language, Literacy and Communication
- All students will show an improvement in their math skills- Mathematics
- All students will achieve their greatest potential in a learning environment that promotes safety and respect for self and others-Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional Development, Physical development and Health
Assessment
The program uses HighScope’s Child Observation Record as an ongoing assessment tool to evaluate children’s developmental progress three times during the school year.