This project consisted of two parts. The first was to provide early childhood professionals in the City of Flint with access to HighScope’s high-quality curriculum through training and coaching. The goal was to increase the quality of care and education for children from birth to age five residing in Flint. The second part of this project was to conduct a city scan to collect information about the quantity and quality of existing early childhood programs and services in Flint, and determine gaps in the existing services to assess the strengths and challenges of the community’s early childhood programs. During this project, HighScope interviewed key stakeholders, reviewed existing reports, and developed and distributed surveys to gather additional information from Flint early childhood practitioners.
On average, preschool and infant-toddler teachers involved in the project were able to improve their knowledge of HighScope concepts and best practices in early childhood education and apply this newfound knowledge in their classroom teaching practices. The combination of training and in-class individualized coaching enhanced teachers’ ability to apply their knowledge while implementing best practices — a transition often found to be difficult with training alone. As a result, Flint teachers are implementing the HighScope Curriculum with greater fidelity, and children are attending higher-quality classrooms (as measured by the Program Quality Assessment [PQA]) with teachers who are better prepared to teach and care for them.