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PreK On My Way Case Study Report
5. Findings This section details the findings from the case study data collection activities and is organized by research question. The findings are not generalizable to all PKOMW classrooms; instead, we purposefully selected two classrooms from both districts so we could learn from successful PKOMW implementation.
Key Successes • Positive feedback from teachers on PKOMW curriculum and training • Active child engagement with the curriculum • Hands-on and interactive nature of the curriculum
RQ1. How Is PKOMW Implemented? In this section, we share the perspectives of teachers, center directors, and district staff members of their experiences implementing the PKOMW curriculum. We describe teachers’ early successes and early challenges with implementation, in addition to their strategies for working around challenges. We conclude this section with information on the training received.
Implementation Successes
Both districts started PKOMW implementation in fall 2021. Teachers reported a range of early successes during implementation. District B staff members reported that they valued how literacy-rich the curriculum was and the access to diversity and representation in the stories. District A staff members mentioned receiving positive feedback from teachers on the PKOMW curriculum and training. “ We had staff that were really excited about the literature in the program and were really excited about the stories that they were reading. We got a lot of feedback about those.... It was just the different titles of the stories … , some really good books and new stories… t he diversity in the literature.”
Teachers reported active child engagement with the PKOMW curriculum, with students participating with, and eager to learn from, the PKOMW curriculum in small- and whole-group activities. One teacher reported that her children were using the PKOMW vocabulary words in conversations throughout the school day and were very successful in answering questions about the text. She shared that her children heard the word stump in a PKOMW lesson and would point out tree stumps
“[ During large-group activities students] are hearing other students participating and sharing, they want to do that more, they want to hear their friends to hear their thoughts. I think it’s helped with participation .” - PreK Teacher
outside. Another teacher reported that children were more engaged during large-group discussion, especially those who previously participated less in large-group discussions. She explained that children who did not normally participate heard other students sharing during a PKOMW lesson and wanted to participate more themselves. Teachers also reported that children enjoyed the hands-on and interactive nature of the curriculum materials, especially components of the curriculum like guided questions, small-group activities, the stories, and the vocabulary.
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