Smith, Miriam W.; Brady, Joanne P. & Anastasopoulos, Louisa (2008). User's Guide to the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Pre-K Tool (ELLCO Pre-K). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Pages: 90     Price: $30.00     ISBN: 978-1-55766-946-9

Researchers, evaluators, and supervisors have a number of observation tools to choose from when evaluating pre-kindergarten classrooms. The advantage of the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Pre-K Tool (ELLCO Pre-K) over other tools is its definite focus on early language and literacy, processes which have been demonstrated to help prevent later reading difficulties (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Although the ELLCO Pre-K clearly focuses on language and literacy, it can also be used as a measure of global quality as it contains sections centering on general classroom environments and processes. Users of the ELLCO Toolkit (Smith, Dickinson, Sangeorge, & Anastasopoulos, 2002) will find the ELLCO Pre-K comparable but will notice that items from the Literacy Environment Checklist and Literacy Activities Rating Scale have been incorporated into the observations, thus reducing the bias towards classrooms with more materials and resources and allowing the focus to remain more exclusively on the processes and the use of the materials rather than their simple presence. The User's Guide to the ELLCO Pre-K provides background information about early literacy, the structure of the ELLCO Pre-K Tool, specific directions for conducting observations in classrooms using the ELLCO Pre-K Tool, information about how the tool can be used for a variety of purposes, and the psychometric properties of the ELLCO Toolkit.

The User's Guide to the ELLCO Pre-K is essential for anyone planning to administer the ELLCO Pre-k Tool, even those who have used the ELLCO Toolkit in the past, but could also be useful for someone seeking general observation information. The most essential chapters "How to Conduct an ELLCO Pre-K Observation" and "A Review of Sample Items" provide straightforward directions for administering the observation and determining scoring for each item. Additional chapters present information on using the Pre-K Tool for professional development and research purposes. Additionally, the User's Guide to the ELLCO Pre-K contains a technical appendix. Unfortunately updated psychometric information for this younger age group is apparently not available, all of the psychometric properties detailed in the appendix are for the ELLCO Toolkit (Smith, Dickinson, Sangeorge, & Anastasopoulos, 2002), not the ELLCO Pre-K.

References

Smith, M. W., Dickinson, D. K., Sangeorge, A., & Anastasopoulos, L. (2002). Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit. (Research ed.) Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Snow, C.E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Reviewed by Maria Cahill, The University of Tennessee.