Grappling With Big Ideas: The Process of Program Improvement

Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 31, Issue 1 (January 2010), pages 71 – 85.

This article describes the process for change undertaken by one early childhood teacher preparation program.

While the changes were spurred in part by increasing emphases on standards and assessment systems, faculty noted concerns with how this framed the program and with how students negotiated learning in this system.

After describing these concerns, the article discusses the approach to change by utilizing the concept of big ideas.