Georgia's Pre-K Program - FPG Child Development Institute ...

Georgia Study of Early Care and Education: Findings from Georgia’s Pre-K Program
learning activities. Learning activities could occur within any of the activity settings
described above (e.g., whole group, free choice) and either inside or outside. Children’s
engagement in learning activities was coded as one or more of the following:
• Literacy (child is being read to by an adult, exploring books on his/her own or with
peers, learning about letters/sounds, or involved in activities where the teacher is
trying to build expressive language)
• Math (any activity involving counting, time, shapes, sorting)
• Science (activities involving exploring and learning about the environment, science
equipment, animals, body parts, food/nutrition, etc.)
• Social studies (child is talking, reading, or engaged in activities about their world
including issues related to culture, family, or their school. Dramatic/pretend play and
block play are counted here.)
• Art (child is engaged in art or music activities)
• Fine motor (e.g., stringing beads, completing puzzles, using markers)
• Gross motor (activities involving movement of the whole body)
Table 5. Percentage of Time Children Spent in Various Learning Activities
Centers Schools
Literacy 17% 17%
Math 15% 15%
Science 8% 8%
Social Studies 18% 16%
Art 25% 15%
Fine Motor 9% 7%
Gross Motor 7% 6%
Note: Children could be in more than one learning activity at the same time. For instance, if a child were looking at a
book about planets, that was coded as both “literacy” and “science.” Therefore, the codes in this table should not be
added together.
Finally, for each 20-second observation, the data collectors indicated if the target child
was individually engaged with the teacher or if she/he was a participant in the group with
which the teacher was working. Georgia’s Pre-K children interacted with an adult 47% of
the time in center-based programs and 48% of the time in school-based programs.
Education and Professional Development
This section of the report provides information about the highest level of education,
major, years of experience, and in-service training for program administrators, lead
teachers, and assistant teachers. In centers, the “Director/Principal” questions were
asked of the individual who ran the program. In schools, the “Director/Principal”
questions were asked of the individual who supervised Georgia’s Pre-K teachers. This
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