How HighScope Teaches Reading in Kindergarten Through Third Grade (continued)

Meeting local and state standards?The High/Scope elementary key experiences in child development provide a core of developmentally sequenced curriculum objectives and performance indicators around which the High/Scope approach is built. The key experiences have been cross-referenced with both state and national standards in the major curriculum areas, including language arts and reading. Although such matches can never be exact (the standards differ somewhat from one another), the key experiences are highly compatible with most state and local standards and indicators for language arts and reading.

Supporting English language acquisition?When English is a second language, the extent of the child's literacy development in the first language is seen as a bridge to literacy in English. When possible, teachers use pictures, gestures, peer translators, and words and phrases from children's first language to establish communication as they help children acquire sounds, words, and reading/writing fluency in English.

Conclusions

Reading is a central focus of High/Scope's comprehensive approach to K-3 classrooms and curriculum. Because of its roots in cognitive psychology, the High/Scope approach emphasizes children's active involvement in the learning process. Reading instruction integrates phonologic skills and vocabulary development with work in connected text-reading for meaning and writing to express it-a principle emphasized repeatedly in the report of the National Reading Panel (2000). The High/Scope elementary approach can give schools and teachers the tools to prepare children for future literacy learning and enable them to take responsibility for setting and achieving personally meaningful goals. High/Scope teaches children not only how to read and write but also how to use and enjoy these skills throughout life.

References

Hohmann, C. F. (1996). Foundations in elementary education: Overview. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (Report of the National Reading Panel). Washington, DC: National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.

Schweinhart, L. J. (1991). Validity of the High/Scope K-3 Curriculum (Proposal to the Program Effectiveness Panel, U. S. Department of Education). Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Schweinhart, L. J., & Wallgren, C. (1993). Effects of a Follow Through program on school achievement. Journal of Research in Childhood Education 8 (1), 43-56.

For more information about the High/Scope educational approach to reading and writing, send an e-mail to reading@highscope.org

Ann S. Epstein, Director, Early Childhood Division, Ph.D., Developmental Psychology; Charles Hohmann, Director, Elementary Division, Ph.D., Educational Psychology; Mary Hohmann, Senior Early Childhood Specialist and Senior Staff Writer, B.A. English