The Washoe Tribe received their Head Start grant in 1996.
We provide service to 90 children within Carson City and Douglas County. There are three classrooms on the Stewart reservation and two classrooms in Dresslerville.
We had our initial training on the Pyramid Model in 2010. Our first year we started with implementing the Pyramid Model in two classrooms. Now all five classrooms are fully involved.
Our motto is Be Safe and Be Respectful. This applies not only to classroom rules but is also part of our Parent Involvement, Volunteer Policy and Staff Commitment to Coworkers. Each center has a bulletin board where recognition can be given to individuals who demonstrate “being safe and respectful”.
The 2015-2016 school year is our fifth year of Pyramid Model implementation. In August we held our Pyramid Model roll out as part of Parent Orientation.
The Pyramid Model has been wonderful! Teachers can communicate expectations to the children and use strategies to assist individual children with behavior challenges. The more it is used the better the outcomes are for the children.
The improvement in child outcomes became evident at our November Leadership Team meeting. After reviewing current fall data, it was compared to previous years. For example, in fall of 2011, 53% of children scored ‘above cutoff’ on the ASQ-SE. In the fall of 2015 the percentage was 17%! We attribute the decrease in children with social-emotional concerns to: consistency in staffing, increased implementation by the staff through TPOT training and goals coaching, and program-wide lesson plans for the first five weeks. The social-emotional lesson planning intentionally teaches behavior expectations, routines, feelings management and problem solving.
Parents have asked and they are given guidance and needed materials to implement the Pyramid Model at home. We have also been able to offer workshops to parents.