Innovative Program

INNOVATIVE PRESCHOOLFIRST WEB BASED CURRICULUM

PreschoolFirst is an online, play-based assessment and curriculum resource for the infant/toddler and preschool years. Preschool First includes an open framework of more than 3,100 age appropriate activities incorporating 500 behaviors children should master to be ready for Kindergarten. Integrated with these curricular activities is a uniform, research-based assessment system for observing and continual tracking of children's development and school readiness in their most natural setting at play.

The PreschoolFirst Curriculum is built on the work of Dr. Sally Flagler, noted Neuropsychologist and Coordinator of the National Association of School Psychologists' Early Childhood Education Interest Group. Preschool First combines accountability, target based individualized learning experiences, and parent involvement into an integrated resource that promotes school readiness.

Created by Network for Instructional Television (NITV), the online learning innovator and creator of TeachersFirst.com, Preschool First is being used in district-funded early learning programs, special needs programs and independent preschool centers nationwide to positively affect the cognitive, social, physical and language development of young children. PreschoolFirst is aligned to all state early learning standards, as well as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) curriculum content and assessment guidelines, American Academy of Pediatrics developmental milestones and Head Start Outcomes Framework.

The Curriculum includes an open framework of more than 3,100 age-appropriate, hands-on activities grouped in the most popular themes typically used by early childhood educators. These original activities incorporate the 500 behaviors children should master to be ready for kindergarten as Dr. Flagler documented in her Infant-Preschool Play Assessment Scale (I-PAS).

Preschool First saves teachers time in planning and organizing activities and performing record-keeping duties, while also giving busy parents an easy way to communicate with teachers and monitor their child's development.

Integrated with the curriculum activities is a uniform, validated assessment tool for observing and continual tracking of children's development and school readiness in their most natural setting and at play. This assessment tool makes it easy for teachers to record and access observations made during daily, play-based activities. Based on observations by the teacher, the PreschoolFirst assessment tool helps educators track the developmental age of children and identify children who need extra attention as early as possible, then apply appropriate interventions, maximizing school readiness.

PreschoolFirst's two-way communications tool and suggested at-home activities to enhance classroom activities help busy parents become more involved in their child's education. The parent involvement features strengthen the home-school connection, while retaining confidentiality and security. Parents visit the Preschool First website and are provided with a unique login and password that allows them to see the encryption protected information about their child, which can only be accessed by the parents and the child's teachers. Teachers and parents alike can access Preschool First from any Internet-connected computer at anytime, anywhere.