Public Preschool in Oak Park
High-quality preschool experiences that support the development of the whole child promote the success of at-risk children in school and in life. Three agencies in Oak Park receive grants to provide state funded Preschool for All programs for at-risk children: ABC Toon Town II Educational Center, Oak Park Elementary School District 97 and Oak Park River Forest Day Nursery. Additionally, CEDA offers a Head Start Program.
In June 2009, Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education made a two-year commitment to the Collaboration to help coordinate recruitment of at-risk children into the programs, facilitate collaborative curriculum planning, implement a common assessment process, and provide professional development activities to program leaders and staff. The goal of these activities is to assure that all of Oak Park's at-risk children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed.
Recruitment
The Collaboration leads a committee composed of the directors of the four public preschool programs to coordinate outreach and recruitment of children and families. The group has developed common recruitment materials, and works together to assure proper program placement of children. The committee has identified and used multiple methods for outreach including word-of-mouth campaigns, participation in community outreach activities and a formal referral process with more than 25 social service agencies in Oak Park.
Curriculum and Instruction
The Collaboration works with the four public preschool programs to develop goals for professional development and to facilitate a shared learning community focused on instructional improvement. Areas of focus have included Behavior Management, Child Development and Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Academic Versus Play Debate, Stages of Play: Cognitive and Social, Print Rich Environments and Talking to Children.
Common Screening and Assessment
Through cooperative planning and facilitation, the four public preschool programs agreed to use the same screening and assessment indicators and tools to establish baseline data and to assess children's growth and learning. The Collaboration's Professional Development Coordinator provides significant technical assistance to all programs on effective use of the web-based online assessment tool to monitor children's progress.
