Scalable, Quality Preschool Curriculum

Challenge

Endeavor Schools is deeply committed to providing every child in their preschool programs with the highest quality, developmentally appropriate education solutions and maintaining that quality as they grow and scale. They needed a partner that could:

Solution

Endeavor found a partner that aligned with their mission and values in Teaching Strategies.

	As the top-rated whole-child preschool curriculum in the nation, The Creative Curriculum for Preschool delivered a robust academic foundation across Endeavor’s programs.
	Teaching Strategies’ connected GOLD solution offered formative assessment at the classroom level as well as program- and company-wide analytics.
	Endeavor’s educators gained access to time-saving digital tools and unlimited professional development through Teaching Strategies’ Professional Development Teacher Membership and Teacher Acceleration Program.

Results

Boosting Academic Rigor Through Play

In the fall of 2020, Endeavor began implementing The Creative Curriculum for Preschool in select play-based preschool programs, unleashing what Executive Vice President for Academics for Endeavor Schools Amy Brereton, Ph.D., refers to as “the superhighway toward knowledge development for children.”

That’s because at the heart of the curriculum is the belief that children learn through discovery and play.

Rewarding Curiosity With Inquiry-Driven Learning

Amy quickly observed how playful, inquiry-driven investigations could deepen and enrich the rigor of Endeavor’s programs.

For example, when children ask questions such as “Why do balls roll?”, they are tapping into complex physics concepts. By taking an inquiry-driven approach, The Creative Curriculum helps teachers reward that curiosity with rich, multifaceted learning that 2- and 3-year-olds can start to understand.

“Project-based work is more in-depth and more rigorous. It helps provide critical thinking experiences for children, and learning how to learn is more helpful to young children than learning how to memorize things like numbers and colors and shapes.”

Sheri Fry, Education Coordinator
Endeavor’s Kiddie Country learning center

Holistic Data to Inform a High-Quality Education

Combining Teaching Strategies’ formative assessment solution GOLD with The Creative Curriculum empowered Amy to not only measure the curriculum’s efficacy, but also provide a new, transformative level of support to the programs and the teachers within them.

“With GOLD, we can get data in a specific classroom and understand what’s happening there and what a teacher might need in terms of professional development or support,” Amy said. “We can also zoom out and look at the school as a whole. We can go even further and look at the region if we want to. And then, of course, we can look at our entire company.”

Using Formative Assessments to Advocate for Every Child

GOLD has also helped Endeavor advocate for individual students by providing ongoing formative assessment that tracks a child’s progress over time. Amy values how GOLD enables people who know each child well, such as their teachers, to conduct observational assessments in a safe, familiar environment, which provides a more accurate look into each child’s strengths and challenges.

Endeavor teachers have embraced GOLD and use it to help inform instruction in the areas of development where children need additional support.

Strong & Shareable Results to Show Program Efficacy

Despite being in the early adoption stages, Endeavor has already seen meaningful results, particularly in the first school that implemented GOLD and The Creative Curriculum.

“The overwhelming majority of the children there are right where we want them to be—or even exceeding the expectations we would have for children their age—which is a very reassuring thing to share with families and with educators,” Amy said.

Managing Change With Onboarding Support

In order for children to succeed, their teachers need to succeed, too. It’s in that spirit that Endeavor combined their in-house training with the training offered by Teaching Strategies.

“We like to ensure educators know why we chose The Creative Curriculum and GOLD,” Amy said. Having additional context through Teaching Strategies’ onboarding program has helped make educators more likely to embrace the change in curriculum and tools.

Endeavor is also offering the Teaching Strategies Professional Development Teacher Membership, which includes virtual classes to help early childhood educators hone their skills and stay up-to-date on best practices. They’re also expanding their investment to support a cohort of 30 teachers in a yearlong CDA attainment program that will kick off this summer.

“The fact that our teachers can take the training whenever they have the time is really important for us,” Amy said.

They are also leveraging the Teacher Acceleration Program to help rapidly onboard new educators, reducing staffing challenges for administrators and serving Endeavor’s goal of scaling rapidly and easily.

Elevating Teachers Instead of “Teacher Proofing”

One of the top reasons The Creative Curriculum and GOLD appealed to Endeavor is because they wanted to avoid the prescriptive mentality of “teacher-proof” products.

Amy said, “Sometimes you’ll encounter an assessment tool or a curriculum that is just telling the teacher what to say and giving them a very simple checklist. ‘Does the child do this? Does the child do that?’”

Amy believes The Creative Curriculum encourages teachers to draw from their talents and use their creativity, while providing needed structure and support.

It has also helped individual programs make space for community-based activities such as walking field trips or architectural studies in their local neighborhoods, embracing what sets their school apart without compromising the high standard of education valued by Endeavor.

Making Teachers’ Lives Easier with Tech Time Savers

Adopting a new curriculum takes time, but it can also give teachers time back.

Designed as a digital aid for teachers, The Creative Curriculum Cloud provides teachers with online access to everything they need to create enriching, detailed instructional plans. One of Sheri’s favorites is Day View, which gives teachers an overview of each daily plan and allows assistant teachers or administrators to step in for the lead teacher without disrupting planned instruction.

Bolstering Success and Scalability Through Shared Language

Amy feels that The Creative Curriculum and GOLD have equipped Endeavor teachers with the necessary lexicon to evaluate and comprehend various aspects of children’s learning, which helps them share their teaching and assessment methods with children’s families and each other.

“As more of our schools utilize The Creative Curriculum, we’ve had groups of teachers—all of whom are in the Endeavor family—chat about the curriculum, discuss their work, and share their experiences,” Amy said.

Having this common language has not only helped forge deeper connections, but also made it easier for Endeavor to grow and scale.

Letting Individual Programs Shine

As a community of different schools, Endeavor strives to ensure that each program in their network can meet high standards while also embracing what sets them apart. Equipped with comprehensive assessment data from GOLD and a flexible child-led preschool curriculum, individual programs have made space for community-based activities such as walking field trips or architectural studies in their local neighborhoods.

“So although Endeavor is a national company using an international resource, we’re using it to celebrate individual schools and communities,” Amy explained.

Realizing Its Vision for Growth and Excellence

According to Amy, not only has the partnership between Endeavor and Teaching Strategies led to better learning experiences for children, it has also helped enhance and deepen all three of Endeavor’s academic pillars—academics, relationships, and environment.

“[Teachers] are able to really enjoy the deep learning that children are predisposed to. And when you’re in a classroom with children who are super engaged and excited and joyful—and then you have data to show they are right where they’re supposed to be or even above where we would expect them to be in terms of their development and learning—educators feel empowered and inspired.”