The Ounce Research Project:
An opportunity for
caregivers to build
your skills
working with infants and toddlers |
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What is the Ounce Research Project?
What is The Ounce Scale™?
Who participated?
Project Update - December 2007
Who is involved with the study?
Questions |
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What is the
Ounce Research Project (ORP)?
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The Ounce Research Project (ORP) is
a study about how using The Ounce Scale™
affects the professional development of child care providers
and parents' understanding of their infants and
toddlers.With funding from
the McKnight Foundation and the Greater Twin Cities United
Way, ORP studied how using The Ounce Scale™
can enhance professional caregiving
practices and strengthen parenting knowledge. The focus was on learning how using the The Ounce Scale™
affects:
- caregiver and parent knowledge
and understanding of child development
- caregivers' perception of
their role
- parent-provider relationships
- provider-child relationships
- providers' everyday practices
with children
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What is the
The Ounce Scale™?
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The Ounce Scale™
is a tool to use to observe and record infant and toddler
development. The Ounce Scale™
was developed at the University of Michigan between 1995 and
2003 under the guidance of Samuel Meisels. The Ounce Scale™
has three elements:
- The Observation Record
provides a focus for observing and documenting children's
everyday behaviors and provides data for making evaluations
about development.
- The Family Album
provides a structure for parents to learn about and record
their child's development as they write down what they see,
using photos, telling stories, and responding to observation
questions that are the same as the ones in the caregiver's
Observation Record.
- The Development Profile
enables caregivers and other staff to evaluate each child's
development and progress over time, comparing their
observation data to specific performance standards.
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Project
Update - December 2007
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As of winter 2007, the Ounce
Research Project has finished its third and final round of
data collection. In total, approximately 100 family child
care providers and child care center teachers and 180
families participated in the research study. Analysis of all
the collected data is now underway.
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Who Participated in ORP?
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Child care providers were assigned
to be in one of two groups. One group received Ounce
materials and training in the fall of 2006. Providers
practiced using The Ounce Scale™
with at least two children in their care (age three or younger)
and their parent(s) from fall 2006 to fall 2007. These
providers
also receive ongoing support from their Ounce trainer. This
follow-up support consists of about three to four hours
of additional phone, in-person, and/or internet contact.
The second group received
vouchers for free Ounce materials and training at the end of
the data collection period, after fall of 2007.
Whether in the first
or second group, providers participated in three research
visits from the fall of 2006 through the fall of 2007. Each
visit consisted of an on-site observation, a short phone
interview, and questionnaires. Participants received stipends for their participation.
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Who was
Involved with the Study?
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The University of Minnesota's
Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) conducted
the evaluation. Members of the early childhood professional
community comprised the ORP Advisory
Committee. Advisory Committee members include:
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Who should I
contact if I want to learn more about the project or about the
Ounce Scale™?
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Contact the Study
Coordinator, Jennifer Cleveland, at
(jestu001@umn.edu or
612-692-5519) if you would like more information about the study.
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Comments
What Ounce
did for me was give me an avenue to present my observations to
my clients in a professional way. With this tool I look more
professional. I have been telling my clients the very things I
wrote in my Ounce Observation, only now because there was a form
and the parents had a part in the process, they took me more
seriously."
~ A child
care provider from Anoka County ~
We set up a
conference with [the child's] mother to coincide with his Ounce
Scale developmental stage and family album. At the conference we
explained to mom how we gathered our observations, summarized
them, and assessed their child's development utilizing the Ounce
Scale Developmental Profile. Next we went over the completed
conference form and summary report together. We were able to
cite specific observations to support our comments during the
conference....The next week, the same mom had another meeting
with our staff. This time it was to let us know...that she had
shared the conference materials and information with her husband
and he was 'very impressed'....They appreciated the
professionalism and thoroughness of The Ounce Scale conference
materials and the way in which they were presented. [The Ounce
Scale] has been very beneficial to our program.
~ A child
care center staff ~ |
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Project Staff
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Amy Susman-Stillman, Ph.D.
Principal
Investigator
Center for Early Education and Development
University of Minnesota
Education Sciences
Building, Suite 40
56 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Email: asusman@umn.edu
Jennifer Cleveland, MSW, LGSW
Project Coordinator
615 1st Avenue NE
Suite 225
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Phone:
612-692-5519
jestu001@umn.edu
Mary Scott, M.S.
Ounce Training Supervisor
Infant-Toddler Training and Program Development
maryscott@frontiernet.net
Phone: 651-433-2182
Jessica Pleuss, Research Associate
pleu0002@umn.edu
Michelle Englund,
Statistician
englu008@umn.edu
Anna Shkolnik, Senior Lab
Tech
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Funding
This project was funded by the
McKnight Foundation and the
Greater Twin Cities
United Way. The project culminated in December 2007.
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