Instructional Conversations in Early Childhood Classrooms: Policy Suggestions for Curriculum Standards and Professional Development

Stephanie M. Curenton, Tricia Zucker

Bloustein School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA.
Children’s Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Sciences at Houston, Houston, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2013.47A1009                

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for two early education policy levers proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that can be specifically applied to oral language instructional in the classroom: Policy Lever 2—Designing and implementing curriculum and standards; and Policy Lever 3—Improving qualifications, training and working conditions. First, I describe the efforts the United States has made in terms of oral language instruction, and second I describe a professional development model (the Conversation Compassa^?) that trains teachers to use instructional conversations with children age 2-6.

Keywords

Teacher Professional Development; Preschool; Oral Language; Early Education Policy

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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