Economic research makes it hard to deny that investment in early childhood development
is the smartest strategy that we can make.
There's really no more fertile period of time for investing in human capacity.
We're having a national debate right now about effective teaching.
We're focusing in ways that we never have before on the importance of the teacher that
is in the classroom with the children.
What we're learning is that there are elements of what teachers know that are important,
but it's far more important what teachers do with children in those classrooms.
"That is delicious!
OK, I want that.
Alright, get that now.
Don't forget!"
Dozens of studies now from all across the country converge really on the finding that
it is the qualities and nature of interactions between the adults and children that are responsible
for the learning and development of those kids.
There are a lot of ways to define quality.
Our way of measuring quality involves observing the interactions that occur between teachers
and student in those settings.
We use the Classroom Assessment Scoring System to do that.
We've been able to show in almost thousands of classrooms across the country that indeed
when one uses a standardized reliable way of looking at interactions, that what we're
looking at is predicting children's learning and development.
When we look at the interactions that adults have with kids, we generally think of them
in terms of how emotionally supportive is the adult toward the children, how much does
the adult organize the child's activity and attention and time in the classroom, and what
is the adult doing to foster cognitive development that stimulate language and conversation with
the children.
On the emotional side of things, we're looking for how warm those interactions are, does
the teacher genuinely enjoy the child, and is there some reciprocity in that enjoyment?
"Oh, Fideles says we have cheer for him.
So we've got to say 'Go Fideles!
Go Fideles!
You can do it!
Go Fideles!
Oh you did it!".
A child should feel that they are supported in their growth of self esteem, in their use
of curiosity, and persistence and resilience.
All the types of life-long management skills that we want every individual to have find
their seeds in these very young years.
"Can you help me make it like this monster?"
"OK, first draw a line here, and then point here, then make the ears, eyes, nose..."
"Help me.
I can't" "Here, that's how you do it!"
"Aha!
That's too funny" "Sorry!"
We also pay a lot of attention to how teachers manage time and manage behavior and activities.
So, we like to see teachers structure learning environments in ways, or learning activities
in ways, that allows kids to move and allows kids to make noise and allows them to really
kid of express themselves individually.
[singing] But I think one of the more important elements
that we see of interaction are the ways in which adults provide ways that stretch the
children's thinking.
"Number 10" "Is 10 on the top or should 10 be on the bottom?"
"Bottom" "OK.
And then what comes before 10?"
"7" "What's this one?"
"9" "so, 10..."
A child might be fiddling with a puzzle or trying to learn a new word and the teacher
wouldn't give them the answer but would just come in and try to offer some hints that would
help the child perform the task a little bit higher level, hopefully have an experience
of success, and then celebrate that success together.
"Would you be able to show 0?"
"No zero" "You don't have to show zero, why?
Zero is how many?"
"Nothing" "How many is zero?
Nothing!
Excellent!
Good job, Jack!
You know your numbers really really well."
The ability to actually measure, assess, and then support effective interactions in a classroom
has given us a great opportunity.
We're opening up a field of understanding, measuring, and improving the quality and effectiveness
of teachers' interactions with kids that I think has enormous promise.
I think it actually has the potential to move education forward.