Program Modules

• Module I: World As a Classroom Workshop Series
• Module II: Train-the-Trainer Workshop Training
• Module III: Program Sustainability
• Module IV: Community Resource—Website

Module I. “World as a Classroom” Workshop Series

Parents and families are provided with parent education and support through a one-month workshop series: The World as a Classroom. The major theme of the workshop series is Learning around the House and in the familiar Environment. The content of the workshops includes activities that can be conducted by all family members and that reflects the needs, interests, and cultural beliefs of families. Activities reflect re-designed activity boxes developed by New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development (NDI). These activity boxes focus on promoting brain development.

The program focuses on activities that can be done at home and in the environment at relatively no cost to the family. This helps parents understand that learning can take place anywhere, including the home and can be very inexpensive. Activities are demonstrated at 4 workshops over a one-month time period for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes each week. Because the program focuses on the readiness skills of pre-kindergarteners, activities in each area of the house focus on children between 3 and 5 years of age. However, these activities can be applied to children of various backgrounds and age groups.

Parents and staff are encouraged to collaborate during the program in order to empower parents in their child-rearing roles. Collaboration between parents and staff also ensures that the program methods and content are responsive to the parents’ needs. Furthermore, collaboration between parents and staff helps promote the home to school transition for children. Parents are encouraged to bring young children to the workshops to eliminate any need for child-care.

Program Content/Curriculum
The workshops follow the Arizona Readiness and Kindergarten Standards very carefully and include Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, The Arts, and Workplace Skills. The program was designed to ensure that students have learned the knowledge included in these standards by the time they enter kindergarten. Through careful research on the skills necessary for success in kindergarten, the curriculum content is focused around three areas of development: Logical Mathematic Knowledge, Language and Literacy, and Social Competence.

Program Pilot

The Leaps and Bounds Program was piloted in February of 2004 in Roosevelt and Isaac school districts with great success. Because there was a huge demand to continue the workshops in the valley, the Office of Youth Preparation decided to continue funding the project. As of July of 2007, we have completed the World As A Classroom Workshop Series at 33 school sites, including Roosevelt, Isaac, Phoenix, Chandler, Cartwright, Tempe, Murphy, and Fowler Elementary school districts, while serving over 340 families with children between the ages of 3 to 5 years.

Program Evaluation of the “World as a Classroom Workshop Series”

Through the evaluation of the “World As a Classroom Workshop Series”,we have provided evidence of the impact of the Leaps and Bounds Program on parents’ understanding of school learning and readiness. A variety of measures have been used to determine if the program was successful. These measures include parent questionnaires, participant-observations, and follow-up interviews. Parent Questionnaires were completed by parents that participated in the Workshop Series and those that did not and were used to determine if there was an increase/decrease in parental involvement in the home after attending the workshops. Participant-observations were completed on a sample of participants to determine the quality of parent-child interactions throughout the workshop series. One-Month Follow-up Interviews were conducted to determine parents’ views of the workshop series and the benefits of the program.

Program evaluation indicates that participants are spending an increased amount of time facilitating similar learning experiences at home. Results indicate that families are spending an average of 3 more hours per week engaging in activities modeled in the workshops (t=-11.940, p<.000). F eedback from parents has also been very positive. Parents commented that they feel “more important” and “empowered” to act as their child’s first teacher. Most interestingly is that fact that parents reported that their children appear to be the initiator of the events in their homes, often asking parents if they could do “that counting thing again.”
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Module II. “Train-the-Trainer Workshop Training”

The Train-the-Trainer workshop session is offered each semester and provides members of the community with one-on-one training on the Leaps and Bounds “World as a Classroom Workshop Series.” During the four-hour training, members of the community are provided with detailed instructions on how to conduct the World as a Classroom workshop series.  Dr. Billie Enz, Early Childhood Education Professor at Arizona State University, provides a one-hour presentation on infant brain development and why the first three years are most important to the developing child. All partnerships will be required to follow the lesson plans and activity cards developed and copyright protected by the Leaps and Bounds Program. Community Partnerships are expected to purchase their own materials necessary to conduct the Leaps and Bounds Workshop Series at their site.
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Module III. “Program Sustainability”

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Module IV. “Community Resource—Website”