Background and Brief Overview of the Study
Standards are the baseline from which programs and children develop; without quality standards and
supportive materials to assist practitioners in their implementation, standards remain a remote concept.
The state understands the centrality of having the highest quality early learning standards and using
them as the basis for advancing pedagogy for young children and their teachers, and for developing an
effective and just accountability system. Massachusetts has taken bold steps toward improving the
quality of the state’s early learning and development standards and has sought to systematically embark
on an intensive analysis of its standards.
The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) is conducting a study of the alignment
of its Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers, Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences,
Kindergarten Learning Experiences, Curriculum Frameworks for Language Arts and Literacy and
Mathematics (for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten), the Head Start Child Development and Early
Learning Framework, and three assessment instruments for children from age three through
kindergarten entry.
As a part of its funding from the Early Learning Challenge, but not solely motivated by it, Massachusetts
sought to embark on a thorough and systematic analysis of its early learning and development
standards, and of the ways in which the current standards for young children, birth to age five, are
aligned with other extant standards, notably the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning
Framework (HSCDELF), which applies to children enrolled in the nation’s Head Start program; and the
pre-kindergarten and kindergarten-level with the MA Frameworks for Language Arts, Literacy and
Mathematics, a set of standards being used by many states in the areas of English Language Arts and
Mathematics, developed for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. In addition, Massachusetts
sought to better understand if its standards for young children were aligned with the assessments it will
be using to gauge the development of young children’s competencies and learning.
Working as consultants for the Department of Early Education and Care, Sharon Lynn Kagan, Catherine
Scott-Little, Jeanne Reid, and their teams at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro, respectively, are conducting an 18-month analysis of the alignment of the
Massachusetts early learning and development documents. The study will have a number of
deliverables.
I Content Analysis of the StandardsThe researcher will analyze the content of five documents from Massachusetts:
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The Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers (November 2010)
The Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences (2003) in all domains except English Language
Arts and Mathematics
The Kindergarten Learning Experiences (April 2008) in all domains except English Language Arts
and Mathematics
The Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (March 2011): Standards for
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten
The Curriculum Framework for Mathematics (March 2011): Standards for Pre-Kindergarten and
Kindergarten
51 Sleeper Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02210
Phone: 617-988-6600 • Fax: 617-988-2451 • commissioners.office@state.ma.us
www.eec.state.ma.us
II Alignment Analysis of the StandardsThe researcher will analyze the alignment of the Early Learning Guidelines for infants and
Toddlers, Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences, Kindergarten Learning Experiences,
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics (Pre-K
and Kindergarten), and the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework.
The team will analyze the data across three parameters:
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Balance
The balance parameter addresses how the indicators are distributed across domains and
content areas.
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Coverage/depth
The coverage/depth parameter evaluates whether the document addresses particular aspects of
learning and development, and in what depth it does so.
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Difficulty
The difficulty analysis, which requires a slightly different analytic approach, addresses the
relative level of cognitive demand reflected in pairs of corresponding indicators drawn from two
documents under comparison. The research team will compare the balance, coverage/depth,
and difficulty of two sets of documents, such as two ELDS, or between an ELDS and an
assessment document, and thus assess the degree to which the documents appear to be aligned
in terms of the breadth, depth, and difficulty of their content.
For the analyses in the first three phases, the researchers will use a proven methodology to analyze the
content of the standards and the assessments. Using a tool called the Construct Template, which
includes operational definitions for over 100 Constructs that are commonly addressed in early learning
standards/guidelines and assessments, a member of the research team will read each learning
standard/guideline (or assessment indicator) and record which of the constructs in the template the
standard/guideline or assessment item addresses. The codes for the standards/guidelines and
assessment indicators will then be analyzed to determine which early learning and development
constructs the documents address, which constructs they do not address, and the relative emphasis
they place on each construct.
III Alignment Analysis of the Standards and Assessment
The researcher will assess the alignment of the Guidelines for Preschool Learning Experiences
and the content of three assessment instruments that have been designed and used for children
from age three through kindergarten entry.
A report will be produced for each phase of the project. Each report will include a narrative description
of the findings, along with figures and graphs to visually depict the results.
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Phase 1: Report will describe the content of each ELDS document.
Deliverable I: Content Analysis of the Early Learning and Development Standards were
completed in July 2012.
The Researchers noted that Massachusetts has standards that address the birth-through-age-five
continuum. Such a focus suggests that Massachusetts recognizes the importance of all stages of
development and has operationalized this commitment through the development of standards for
young children throughout their earliest years. Second, the overlap of ages, noted in the Birth-to-15Month and the 12-to-33-Month age-groupings, indicates a strong attention to the natural variation in
young children’s normal development. This very structure, with both age-groupings addressing 12-to-15month-old children, acknowledges the individual variation present with very young children and seeks
to accommodate this variation. Third, the analysis indicated that some important differences exist
between the Infant/Toddler document and the Preschool and Kindergarten documents, with the former
being more holistic in orientation and the latter two focusing almost exclusively on just two domains.
The omission of Approaches Toward Play and Learning and the minimal emphasis on Social and
Emotional Development in the latter documents violates basic understandings of early childhood
development. Moreover, in all the Massachusetts documents, there are some important constructs that
should be considered for inclusion.
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Phase 2: Document will report results from horizontal and vertical alignment analyses
comparing different sets of ELDS, and comparing the HSCDELF with the preschool standards.
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Phase 3: Report will describe results from horizontal analyses to evaluate the alignment
between the ELDS and the assessments. A final report will summarize findings from each of the
three phases and provide recommendations to the Massachusetts Department of Early
Education and Care.