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Preschool Enhancement Project-Adair County
Staff Involved: Deb Hall and Donna Donald

Problem:
Child care is a fact of life in Iowa today. Many children attend regulated preschool programs. While teachers strive for high quality in their programs, they do not always understand what a high quality program looks like or the effectiveness of their program.

Response:
Adair County Extension received a preschool enhancement grant from Adair County Empowerment Board for the 2005-2006 school year. This was a continuation of a grant first received for the 2003-2004 school year. The two goals were to increase accessibility and enhance quality of the preschool experience.

One component supported an observation and consultation for each preschool by an interrater reliable observer using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R). This evaluation instrument measures and describes what high quality programs should look like in seven key areas. It can be used to validate strengths and identify areas for improvement.

In addition, the county extension education director facilitated four networking sessions. All preschools participated in at least 3 of the 4 sessions. Topics for the networking sessions included: Quality Rating System, nutrition and physical activity, assessing student progress, and building relationships with parents.

Impact:
The family life field specialist did the observations, reports and follow-up consultations with six preschools. This took place over the time period of October 2005 through April 2006. The preschool programs then each received $600 to purchase non-consumable program materials for the identified areas for improvement.

The assessment consists of seven subscales. Each subscale examines a number of items that are scored from a range of 1-7 with 1 (inadequate), 3 (minimal), 5 (good), and 7 (excellent). The summary of observation scores for these six preschools is as follows:
Space and furnishings range of 2.25 to 4.25 – average of 3.48
Personal care routines range of 2.33 to 3.40 – average of 2.61
Language-reasoning range of 4.00 to 5.50 – average of 4.25
Activities range of 2.80 to 3.90 – average of 3.52
Interaction range of 5.25 to 6.40 – average of 5.88

Contact:
Donna K. Donald
 Family Life Field Specialist
Iowa State University Extension
309 North Main, Leon, IA 50144
Phone 641-446-4723; Fax: 641-446-6142
Email ddonald@iastate.edu

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Last update: July 12, 2006  
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