Background
In 1962 David Weikart launched the Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan, serving low-income African American children. The curriculum that grew from it became HighScope, and the HighScope Educational Research Foundation was founded in 1970. Early versions, strongly shaped by Piaget, were called a cognitively oriented curriculum.
Active learning
HighScope holds that children construct knowledge through direct interaction with objects, people and events. Its ingredients of active learning are materials, manipulation, choice, child language and thought, and adult scaffolding.
Plan-do-review
- Plan: children tell an adult what they intend to do, where and how.
- Do (work time): they carry out their plans in interest areas.
- Review: they recall and reflect on what they did.
Large- and small-group times, outdoor time and snack complete a consistent daily routine.
Key developmental indicators
Teachers plan and observe using key developmental indicators across areas such as language, mathematics, social-emotional, physical, science and the arts, and assess with the Child Observation Record. They act as partners in play, extending children's intentions with open questions.
Long-term outcomes
Following Perry participants to age 40 found better outcomes than the comparison group in schooling, earnings and lower crime. Critics caution that the sample was small and specific.
References
- Hohmann, M., Weikart, D. P., & Epstein, A. S. (2008). Educating Young Children: Active Learning Practices for Preschool and Child Care Programs (3rd ed.). HighScope Press.
- Schweinhart, L. J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., Barnett, W. S., Belfield, C. R., & Nores, M. (2005). Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40. High/Scope Press.
- Epstein, A. S. (2007). Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool. HighScope Press.