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The goal of the School Readiness Committee is to provide teachers with ongoing professional development that is pertinent and provide instructional staff with the opportunity to obtain further education. Successful students are taught by teachers who are well trained and dedicated to their profession.

CCHS uses Creative Curriculum, a scientifically, research-based curriculum, in order to provide optimal developmentally appropriate learning for Head Start students. It is aligned with HSELOF, CLASS and The Alabama Early Learning Standards. Each instructional staff member took a six-hour on-line
course to help familiarize themselves on how to implement the curriculum in the classroom. Monthly planning and training takes place to review implementation and target specific parts of the curriculum.

The Education Manager ensures that teaching staff are proficient in teaching the curriculum by spending time in the classrooms to provide support, conducting formal and informal classroom observations, and reviewing lesson plans prior to implementation. CCHS uses the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3), a valid and reliable screening tool, to determine if a referral is needed for diagnostic testing and additional services are to be considered. CCHS has implemented Teaching Strategies Gold assessment to track progress for children at the start of the program, check regularly how they are progressing and share that information with the families. TS Gold allows for assessment through observation in the child’s learning environment one on one observation, samples of the children’s work and parent input.

This broad range of formats accommodates the ways children from diverse backgrounds express their competencies and helps provide a meaningful portrait of each child’s development. Ongoing assessment and monitoring of progress help educators determine if success is taking place or if intervention is needed. Training will be provided to the parent to explain what the results of this screening mean and what all of the
assessment data means.

The Education Manager will provide Practice Based Coaching by meeting with teachers to plan, model lessons, co-teach, observe, and follow up after each stage to provide specific feedback. Each instructional staff member will have an individualized professional development plan that will be
ongoing over the year, determined by the coach and teacher.