“NAEYC’s Key Attributes of Quality Preschool Programs” Applied to the Jordanian Kindergarten Context

摘要

Jordan’s education system is currently undergoing rigorous and comprehensive reform processes that focus on improving the status of educational policies and experiences for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Kindergarten education in Jordan has been dominated until recently, by the private-sector. For the past decade, the Ministry of Education has taken initiative to provide government-funded kindergarten programs. The main objective of this research was to evaluate program practices implemented by private and public-sector programs and examine their alignment with Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Using NAEYC’s “Top 10 Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom” as evaluative guidelines, observational data was collected from 118 classrooms (50-private, 68-public). Demographic data were also obtained from classroom teachers; level of education, specialty, and years of experience. The results of the analysis revealed significant differences in application of the 10 NAEYC guidelines between public and private-sector programs. Ministry of Education kindergarten classroom practices were found to be closely aligned to best practices compared to private-sector programs. Also, teachers with bachelor’s degrees and those with early childhood education backgrounds outperformed their counterparts in the application of Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Years of experience yielded no significant results for this sample of teachers. Reflecting on the results of this study, several recommendations were posed.