Community Forum: “Relationships with Children Matter” Recap

Community Forum: “Relationships with Children Matter” Recap

March 26, 2015

The third segment of our “What Matters Most” Community Forum was held on March 24^th at the Chapman Cultural Center. We were delighted that over 45 parents, childcare teachers, and local educators took the time to come and learn about how effective teacher-child interactions are an active and crucial ingredient for children’s social and academic development.

Our keynote speaker was Sedra Spano, M. ED., a Regional Director at Teachstone where she works with states in the southeast regarding their use of the CLASS and CLASS-based professional development. Sedra explained to the audience how research using the CLASS Assessment provides compelling evidence about the nature of teacher-child interaction in ECE settings and the ways in which these interactions promote children’s social and academic development.

The 4 overarching conclusions emerging from this research are:

Effective teacher-child interactions are an active and crucial ingredient for children’s social and academic development
Children in ECE settings are not consistently exposed to effective teacher-child interactions
To maximize the impact for children, quality improvement efforts need to focus explicitly on teacher-child interactions
Carefully designed and implements professional development support can improve the quality of teacher-child interactions

Following Sedra’s talk, she was joined by a panel of early childhood experts including Dawn Huntley (Strategic Innovations, CEO); Leigh Kale D’Amico, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina, College of Education Assistant Professor); and Terry Pruitt, Ph.D. (Spartanburg County School District 7, Deputy Superintendent); for a lively discussion about why effective interactions between children and their teachers matter and make a difference.

Thank you so much to our keynote speaker and panel participants for sharing their time and knowledge of Early Childhood Development with us. And a special thank you to the community members who made time to hear about “what matters most” in the development of their children’s lives!