David K. Dickinson Vanderbilt University David.Dickinson@Vanderbilt.Edu

1. Language Fundamentals for Kentucky’s Early Education Initiative David K. DickinsonVanderbilt UniversityDavid.Dickinson@Vanderbilt.Edu

2. Improving Third Grade Reading • Converging efforts • National Governor’s Association Third Grade Reading • Common Core Curriculum • Annie E. Casey • Urgency: • Grade 3 is predictive of high school graduation. • Failure to graduate is very costly: • “Every student who does not complete high school costs our society an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.” Early Warning! Why Reading by Grade Three Matters. Annie E. Casey

3. Grade 4 NAEP ‘07 Kentucky was 18th

4. Kentucky’s Challenge

5. Language

6. National Governor’s Comprehensive State Strategy to Improve Third Grade Reading Proficiency

7. Extended Simple View of Reading Birth - Kindergarten Grades 1 to 4 Language Reading Comprehension Print Skill Decoding

8. Early Language Is Predictive of Long-term Academic Success • Language at ages 3 and 4 is related to reading ability in grades 3 and 4. • (NICHD, 2005; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002; Walker & Greenwood, 1994) • Vocabulary at the end of kindergarten and grade 1 is related to: • Comprehension in grades 4, 7 – 8 (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001) • Comprehension in 11th grade (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997) • Language exposure and acquisition birth – three predicts later language. (Marchman & Fernald, 2008)

9. Learning About Language Processing Abilities of Two-Year Old Children Fernald, Portillo, Zangl, & Marchman (2008)

10. Faster Processing Relates to Faster Vocabulary Growth (Fernald, Perfors, & Marchman, 2006) Faster RT group RT at 25 mo<750 ms Slower RT group RT at 25 mo>750 ms Mean number of words in productive vocabulary (MB-CDI) Children with faster mean RT at 25 months had more accelerated growth in vocabulary across the 2nd year

11. Variability in the Amount of Child-directed Speech • Infants of mothers who talked relatively more heard: • 7 times more words • 5 times more utterances • 3 times more different words • Sentences twice as long • SES did not account for variability • Infants who heard more speech at 18 months had larger vocabularies at 24 months AND they increased more in processing speed. Hurtado, Marchman, & Fernald (2008)

12. Early Language Processing Skill and Vocabulary Growth Is Key • Children who understand words faster at 24 months also have larger vocabularies (Fernald et al., 2011). • Efficiency of language processing at 24 months relates to age 8 language (Marchman & Fernald, 2008). • The size of a child’s vocabulary at ages 3, 4 and the end of preschool is related to vocabulary at age 13. (Farkas Beron, 2004).

13. Vocabulary Growth Between 30 and 36 months by Income (Hart & Risley, 1995)

14. The Way Forward

15. Transition to Kindergarten

16. Laudable Features of Your Approach • Statewide integrated vision for birth – school entry across entities that serve young children. • Press for high quality child care linked to evaluation. • Strategy for assessing young children using a broad-gauged tool and tracking children into school. QUESTIONS: 1. Will data be passed to the teachers how need it and will there be assistance to teachers in interpreting it? 2. Will there by systematic efforts to use data a. to support struggling children and b. to build on successes of children who are exceeding expectations?

17. Suggestions for Statewide Improvements in Early Language • Develop a vision that encompasses all and launch Coordinated and sustained community-wide efforts: • media campaigns • Libraries, museums • Businesses and non-profit organizations • Suggested messages: • Infuse responsive caretaking with language. • Use the world and your daily life as a classroom. • Teach language throughout the day. • Read and discuss books every day.

18. Elements of Effective Programs • Infant-toddler: • Expectations for language-support during care routines • Regular 1-1 interactions with that include talking • High quality books • Parent education related to language use • Preschool: same as infant-toddler plus a robust curriculum (commercial or teacher-developed) that has • Clear expectations for learning about the world • Specific goals for language exposure including specific vocabulary words. • All programs • Professional development • Coaching • Evaluation and feedback systems • Community connections around specific content objectives

19. A Success Story: Early Reading First

20. Early Reading First in NashvilleWilson, Dickinson & Rowe, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2013. • 11 to 13 classrooms over 4 years • State-funded pre-k with certified teachers • OWL as curriculum • Evaluation tools • ELLCO • Fidelity of curriculum delivery • Strong supports • Coaching • Professional development

21. Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation: ELLS & TELL

22. Strong Language and Literacy Support

23. PPVT Gains by Ethnicity, Language Status Year Two Year year Three

24. Letter-Word Gains By Ethnicity, Language Year Three Year Two

25. ELLCO Predicted Language Gains • ELLCO • Some very high scores ..\..\..\..\..\Videos\Finalized movies\Let's Find Out, Sm Grp Weighing.f4v • Some variability in quality • Fall-spring growth in oral language was significantly related • ELLCO scores • Fidelity to Book Reading methods • Time in learning and child engagement ratings

26. Using ELLCO for Program Improvement • Provides objective shared criteria for judging quality • Teachers and teaching teams can use it • Basis for coaching conversations • Means for tracking growth • Most effective for guiding attention to classroom organization and use of materials. • Teacher-child interaction needs to be considered in a setting-specific manner (book reading, centers).

27. Curriculum-Specific Checklists • For different classroom setting identify teaching behaviors you value and expect to see. • Specify behaviors particularly related to language. • Have a means of tracking success in implementation. • Suggested settings: • Book reading • Centers time • Group instructional settings • Meal times

28. Book Reading Fidelity Rating..\..\..\..\..\Videos\Finalized movies\Kelli U.V. Days 1 & 3 matched clips.mpg

29. Outcome Gains by Classroom Measures

30. General Strategies • Shared vision of classroom organization and child-centered pedagogy • Systematic approach to language instruction: • Book reading • Repeated readings with increasing child involvement • Focused instruction on selected words • Comprehension-oriented conversations • Intellectually rich units/themes with identified learning goals, hands on activities and trips • Intentional use of informal times to talk 1-1 • Centers time • Meal times

31. General Strategies • Support to teachers for improving instruction • Coaching • Time to plan with other teachers • Professional development linked to language growth • Materials (books especially) to enable delivery. • Connections to community resources for theme-related enrichment. • Sustained support for program implementation. It may take three years. • Strategies for dealing with teacher turnover.

32. Congratulations! • Your plans for the future are models for what the country needs to do. • Try to develop community-wide plans to foster learning birth – grade three. • Keep language and conceptual learning in mind • Aim high, children have enquiring and capable minds • Share your successes

33. Be “The One” for Each Child I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything. But still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. Rev. Edward Everett Hale from: Singing the Living Tradition, Unitarian Universalist hymnal