NSECD’s Secrets of Success

In The State of Preschool 2011 published by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Louisiana’s Nonpublic Schools Early Childhood Development (NSECD) program received the highest possible rating (10 out of 10) for quality standards. See Louisiana’s report.

According to Tamika Carmouche, Picard Center project director for NSECD research, there are a number of possible contributing factors for the NSECD program’s success, including:

        •     Use of ELLCO. The Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observations (ELLCO) Pre-K Tool is used by monitors to observe a classroom’s general environment, including language and literacy, for high-poverty populations. ELLCO is administered twice a year within all classrooms, which is the highest frequency for such a tool, and it allows program monitors to ensure the program maintains its high quality.

               ▪     Administration of the ELLCO also includes professional development and program monitoring. The Picard Center offers ongoing support to the regional program monitors to ensure they are using the ELLCO tool with consistency across the state, and the program monitors then assess all NSECD classrooms throughout the state.

        •    Administrative support. Principals, program monitors, and teachers have a supportive and responsive level of administration for assistance and questions about program guidelines. Petrouchka Moise serves as the NSECD program director, and her office recently moved under the Early Childhood department at the Louisiana Department of Education.

Overall, the Picard Center’s recent evaluation report for the NSECD program “shows that high-quality prekindergarten programs with a heightened emphasis in language and literacy experiences are beneficial for all children, especially children of poverty," said Carmouche.

View a news release about the 2010-11 NSECD evaluation conducted by the Picard Center.

View an executive summary  with highlights from the 2010-11 full report.