CREDE Standards in Early Childhood

Joint Productive Activity (JPA)

The teacher and children collaborating together on a joint product.

• Collaboration between the teacher and a small group of children
• Creation of a tangible or intangible product
• Providing responsive assistance towards the creation of a product
• Assisting children to collaborate with peers

Language and Literacy Development (LLD)

Developing childrens’ competence in the language and literacy of instruction in all content areas of the curriculum.

• Providing opportunities for childrens’ language use and literacy development
• Modeling the appropriate language for the academic content
• Designing activities with a focus on language and literacy development
• Assisting with language expression/literacy development and encouraging children discussion on the academic topic

Contextualization (CTX)

Connecting the school curriculum to childrens’ prior knowledge and experiences from their home and community.

• Integrating new academic knowledge with childrens’ home, school, and community knowledge
• Assisting children in making connections between school and their personal experiences
• Helping children to reach a deeper understanding of the academic material through the deeper personal connection

Complex Thinking (CT)

Challenging childrens’ thinking toward cognitive complexity.

• Designing activities that require complex thinking
• Providing responsive assistance as children engage in complex thinking
• Increasing childrens’ knowledge and use of complex thinking strategies
• Focusing on concept development in order to uncover the why of the activity

Instructional Conversation (IC)

Teaching children through dialog. The two main features of an IC are identified in the name: Instructional & Conversational.

• Working with a small group of children
• Having a clear academic goal
• Eliciting children talk with questioning, listening, rephrasing, or modeling
• Assessing and assisting children in reaching the academic goal
• Questioning children on their views, judgments, and rationales in reaching the academic goal

Modeling (MD)

Promoting children’s learning through observation.

• Modeling behaviors, thinking processes, or procedures
• Providing examples of a finished product for inspiration
• Assisting children as they practice

Child Directed Activity (CDA)

Encouraging children’s decision-making and self-regulated learning.

• Providing choice in classroom activities
• Being responsive to activities generated by the children
• Assisting children in generating, developing, or expanding on their ideas or creations within an activity

CREDE ECE-7 Rubric

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An Instrument to Measure Use of the CREDE Standards
in Early Childhood Classrooms

Standard	Not Observed (0)	Emerging (1)	Developing (2)	Advancing (3)	Enacting (4)	Exemplary (5)
Joint Productive Activity	Not observed	A pair or small group of children contributes individual work (e.g.: turn-taking), not requiring collaboration to a joint product*. Children work independently without teacher involvement.	The teacher and children collaborate on a joint product in a whole-class setting	The teacher collaborates with individuals on a joint product.	The teacher and a small group of children collaborate* on a joint product. The majority of the children participate in the product’s* creation. The teacher assists collaboration using multiple forms of assistance*.Collaboration may mainly be between teacher and children, rather than among child peers.	The teacher and a small group of children collaborate on a joint product. The teacher encourages collaboration between peers working towards a joint product.
Language & Literacy Development	Not observed	The teacher designs and enacts an activity where children engage in brief, repetitive, or drill-like reading, writing, or speaking activities (e.g.: flashcards).	The teacher provides opportunities for children to express themselves through verbal or non-verbal communication*.	The teacher engages children in an activity where one of the goals* is to generate language expression and/or literacy development.	The teacher designs and enacts an activity where one of the goals* is to generate language expression and/or literacy development. The teacher develops language expression and/or literacy development using multiple forms of assistance.	The teacher designs and enacts an activity with a clear goal*. These activities are designed using developmentally appropriate pre-literacy* methods that focus on developing language within the topic of the activity. The teacher develops language expression and/or literacy development using multiple forms of assistance and adjusts his/her forms of assistance based on children’s feedback.
Standard	Not Observed (0)	Emerging (1)	Developing (2)	Advancing (3)	Enacting (4)	Exemplary (5)
Contextualization	Not observed	The teacher (a) connects classroom activities by theme or builds on current unit, OR (b) includes parents or community members in activities, OR (c) uses familiar items during lesson but may not explicitly connect the items to home, school, or community.	The teacher includes some aspect of children’s everyday experience in instruction through incidental* connections OR responds to an incidental connection made by children.	The teacher designs and enacts instructional activities that integrates* knowledge of what children’s know from their home, school or community AND invites children to think about how the activity relates to their personal experiences.	The teacher designs and enacts instructional activities that integrate* the new activity/information with what children know from home, school or community AND assists children in making a connection to their personal experiences.	The teacher integrates* the new activity/information with what children already know from home, school or community AND assists children in making a connection to their personal experiences. The goal is to help children reach a conceptual understanding.
Complex Thinking	Not observed	The teacher prompts children to use or elaborate on information provided*. These elicitations are unplanned.	The teacher designs and enacts activities that require children to use or elaborate on information provided*.	The teacher designs and enacts activities that require children to use or elaborate on information provided* AND assists with those processes.	The teacher connects activities to broader concepts and abstract ideas. The teacher assists children with a focus on advancing children’s thinking to higher levels.	The teacher designs and enacts instructional activities and assists children as they use complex thinking* strategies. The teacher’s focus is on concept development and uses probing questioning techniques that focus on uncovering the why, not just the “how” and “what” of the activity.
Standard	Not Observed (0)	Emerging (1)	Developing (2)	Advancing (3)	Enacting (4)	Exemplary (5)
Instructional Conversation	Not observed	The teacher converses* with a child or the whole class AND uses questioning, listening, or rephrasing to elicit communication.	The teacher converses* with a small group of children AND uses questioning, listening, or rephrasing to elicit communication.	The teacher designs and enacts an instructional conversation (IC) with a small group of children with a clear learning goal* AND elicits communication with questioning, listening, rephrasing, or modeling.	The teacher designs and enacts an instructional conversation (IC) with a small group of children on a clear learning goal*. The teacher listens carefully to assess and assist understanding toward the goal.The verbal and non-verbal communication ratio of teacher-child turn-taking is approx. 1 to 1.	The teacher designs and enacts an instructional conversation (IC) with a clear learning goal*; listens carefully to assess and assist understanding toward the goal AND questions children on their views*, judgments or rationales in reaching the goal.The verbal and non-verbal communication ratio of teacher-child turn-taking is approx. 1 to 1.
Modeling	Not observed	The teacher, or child, models a process but does not provide an opportunity for children to practice.	The teacher or child explicitly models behaviors, thinking processes, or procedures that children then practice OR the teacher or child provides a model of a finished product that children use for inspiration.	The teacher or child explicitly models behaviors, thinking processes, or procedures that children then practice AND the teacher instructs children while they practice or create their own products.	The teacher or child explicitly models behaviors, thinking processes, or procedures that children then practice AND the teacher assists children while they practice or create their own products.	The teacher or child explicitly models behaviors, thinking processes, or procedures that children then practice AND the teacher or child provides examples that children use for inspiration that show the step by step process or final product AND the teacher assists or facilitates peer-assistance while they practice or create their own products.
Standard	Not Observed (0)	Emerging (1)	Developing (2)	Advancing (3)	Enacting (4)	Exemplary (5)
Child Directed Activity	Not observed	The teacher designs an activity and allows children to have choice within that activity.	The teacher designs activity centers and allows children to choose from among them.	The teacher designs activity centers and allows children to choose from among them AND the teacher engages in an activity with the children.	The teacher encourages children to generate their own ideas or creations within the activity AND assists with further development or expansion of the activity.	The teacher engages children in an activity generated by children’s own ideas or creations AND assists with further development or expansion of the activity.

Glossary of Terms

Goal: In an Instructional Conversation, the goal is the development of thematic or conceptual understanding.

Assistance: Assistance is a two part process in which the teacher first assesses children’s knowledge and skills, then responsively assists development. Types of assistance may include: (a) Modeling — Providing a demonstration; (b) Feeding Back — Providing information about children’s performances as compared with a standard; (c) Contingency Management: — Providing rewards or punishments contingent on children’s performance; (d) Questioning — Providing questions that guide children to advance their understanding; (e) Instructions — Providing clear verbal directions for performance; (f) Cognitive Structuring — Providing explanations or rules for proceeding; or (g) Task Structuring — Providing assistance by segmenting or sequencing portions of the task.

Collaboration: Joint activity that results in shared ownership, authorship, use, or responsibility for a product. It can also include division of labor for coordinated sub-sections. However, mere turn taking does not constitute division of labor and, to be considered collaboration, an activity must include interaction between participants. Coordinated activities such as morning calendar, round robin reading, choral responses or calisthenics are rated at the Emerging level for JPA.

Communication:
Communication includes verbal and nonverbal forms such as gaining proximity, facial expression, laughing, touching, giving, pulling or pushing away, showing, reaching, waving, pointing, head shaking or nodding, vocalizing, gazing, speaking or repeating words, using pictures, and listening.

Conversation: At least two turn-taking cycles (teacher-children-teacher-children on the same topic/point).

Instructional Conversation (IC): ICs are inclusive of all participants whose contributions are connected to, or extend, the comments and ideas of other participants. In contrast, directed-discussions focus less on developing conceptual understanding and more on known-answer questions and skill development. Instructional conversation focuses on broad topics, main ideas, themes or concepts, is responsive to child contributions, includes participation structures that are familiar to children, and includes open-ended questions and sustained dialogue on a single topic.

Incidental connections: The teacher (a) makes connections between children’s experience or knowledge from home, school, or community and the new activity/information on an ad hoc basis to assist understanding, or (b) prompts children to make connections.

Use or elaboration of information provided: Complex thinking can involve children’s use or elaboration of information provided that includes processes such as applying, interpreting, categorizing, ordering, evaluating, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, exploring, experimenting, determining cause and effect, formulating and solving problems, exploring patterns, making conjectures, generalizing, justifying, and making judgments.

Integrates the new activity/information with what children already know from home, school, or community: (a) children’s knowledge or experience is integrated with new information, (b) the basis of the activity is personally relevant to children’s lives; or (c) children apply school knowledge in an authentic activity.

Pre-literacy methods: Pre-literacy methods are strategies used to teach children skills and behaviors that lead to successful reading. They include methods such as: vocabulary development, print awareness, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, etc.

Product: Products may be tangible or intangible. Examples of tangible products: food made together, a letter, a collage, or the reenactment of a story. Intangible products include the theme of a story, a concept, idea, procedure, or a plan of action. Intangible products are an achieved physical, psychological, or social state that integrates a series of actions.

Questions children on their views: In an Instructional Conversation, teachers’ questioning of children’s views is related to children’s prior knowledge or experiences relevant to the goal of the conversation.

Curriculum

Place-Based Science Curriculum

As part of our Mohala Nā Pua program, we worked with early childhood educators over the course of two years to develop place-based science curricula that integrate the CREDE Standards. We collaborated with several educators from preschools and elementary schools on O‘ahu and Maui.

One of the goals of this project was to provide assistance to other educators who may be interested in developing their own place-based science curriculum. Here we share Curriculum Development Process including the steps we took in the process of creating our curriculum and the resources and tools we developed to assist us in this process.

Place-Based

Place-Based education is an educational approach that uses the local community and environment as a starting point to teach language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and other subjects across the curriculum (Sobel 1996). At its deepest level, Place-based education refers to “place” beyond geography. Within any “place,” each individual has a “sense of place.” The term “sense of place” refers to “a living ecological relationship” between a person and a place, where place does not simply mean a geographical location (Gruenwald, 2003). Place is a complicated, ecological system that includes physical, biological, social, cultural, and political factors with the historical and psychological state of the persons who share the location. Place is constituted of: the Perceptual (Places are alive with cultural and ecological lives), the Sociological (Places are socially constructed), the Ideological (Places are not a reflection of society – they are society), the Political (Places are sites for the politics of identity) and the Ecological (Place is local). Sense of place, therefore, captures the dialectical relationship between students and place. A sense of place emerges from the core set of experiences one uses to make sense of the world.

Samples from Mohala Nā Pua Curricula

The educators at each school site collaboratively selected an overarching theme for their curriculum. These place-based themes were selected based on their school environment, location, student experiences and interests. Some of the unit themes selected were gardening, oceans, and Native Hawaiian plants. Here we provide Curriculum Samples and Activities developed by our Mohala Nā Pua educators, including curriculum unit overviews, lesson/activity plans, and completed curriculum unit presentations.

Acknowledgment:

The CREDE model for early childhood education was developed through a partnership with educators at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Children’s Center. Many of the video clips and photos on this website are from Children’s Center classrooms.

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