What is Project CLASS?

What Programs and Services does Project CLASS offer?

Why is Project CLASS Needed?

Why Focus on Children 3-5 Years Old & 6-10 Years Old?

What are Core Building Block Social and Relationship Skills?

What are the Key Project CLASS Components?

Why does Project CLASS Work?

Who is Project CLASS Currently Helping?

What are Project CLASS Results?

Is Project CLASS Research Based with Demonstrated Outcomes?

Who Can Benefit from Attending Project CLASSTraining?

What will I experience at the Project CLASS Basic Skills Training?

What will I learn from Project CLASS Training?

Why would I choose to attend the Project CLASS training? (My child is already fairly well behaved).

If we really don’t have many problems with behavior in our school or daycare,
what will we gain from the Project CLASS training?

Is Project CLASS Offered Outside of the Houston Area?

How do I find out more about Project CLASS programs and services?

Q: What is Project CLASS?

Project CLASS stands for Children Learning Appropriate Social Skills.
Project CLASS builds social skills development in children 3-5 years old & 6-10 years old.
Project CLASS strengthens social skills teaching abilities in caring adults.
Project CLASS is extraordinary TRAINING integrated with invaluable teaching & learning tools that are fun, engaging and remarkably effective.

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Q: What Programs and Services does Project CLASS offer?

Project CLASS has a wide variety of programs and services.
The Project CLASS core competency is Training. Project CLASS Training focuses on skill development and skill implementation, with the outcomes of improved people relationships.
Project CLASS programs and services includes Project CLASS for Elementary Schools, Project CLASS for Early Childhood Centers and Pre-Schools, Project CLASS for Daycare Centers, Project CLASS for Families, Social Skills Universe (a unique field trip experience), SSU on the Road (which brings Social Skills Universe to the schools), and a Train the Trainer program. Project CLASS is developing Television & Theater projects, E-Learning opportunities, and a Resource Center.

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Q: Why is Project CLASS Needed?

Whether at home, school, work or in the community, good social skills are necessary for success. All children must learn and use core foundational building block social and emotional skills to get along with others and succeed in life.

How parents, teachers, daycare staff and other caring adults teach these skills makes a world of difference. Our caregivers need help, support and tools to assist children in learning these skills.

• Many teachers report spending 30-75% dealing with behavior problems instead of teaching academics.
• Daily news reports are overloaded with examples of conflict and people not getting along with others.
• The cover of Newsweek trumpets undisciplined children and problems accepting limits.
• Disrespect, rudeness, anger outbursts are far too often what we experience as the daily norm.
• Employers demand the need for personnel with “people skills.”

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Q: Why Focus on Children 3-5 Years Old & 6-10 Years Old?

Research indicates that amplified learning is possible during a child’s early and formative years. While the “younger the better” rings true, practical considerations temper this principle. By focusing on 3-10 year old children, Project CLASS merges the best of two worlds: 1) the learning potential of young children and 2) the accessibility and trainability of adults who care for and teach these children.
More skills are learned with better results by concentrating on 3-10 year old children and their adult care providers.

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Q: What are Core Building Block Social and Relationship Skills?

Social skills are the skills necessary to get along with others and form constructive relationships. These skills are the starting point for positive relationship development. These skills are also the elemental foundation for more complex skills in the future. Project CLASS skills include: Looking at the Person Talking, Paying Attention, Following Instructions, Accepting Feedback, Accepting No as an Answer. These and other Project CLASS skills underpin the development of values and character.

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Q: What are the Key Project CLASS Components?

Training is the core competency of Project CLASS. The key components of the training include:

• Clear & Specific Focus on children 3-5 years old & 6-10 years old.
  Research indicates that amplified learning is possible during these formative years.
• Skills Content
  Project CLASS skills are clear, simple, focused, accessible, consistent, immediately beneficial.
• FUN & Engaging Approach
  Project CLASS integrates songs, music, movements, stories and theatrical activities for impact.
• Optimized Learning
  Project CLASS works in conjunction with child developmental realities, brain functioning, effective modes of learning, and attention span parameters.
• Workshop Training & Integration Follow-up Experiences
  Project CLASS recognizes that skills development is a process rather than a single training event.
• Teaching-Learning Tools & Resources
  Implementation & follow-up are strengthened by providing posters, CDs, story books, visual aids.
• On-going Feedback & Assessment
  Consistent user & outcome evaluation are integrated and looped back for training and development purposes.

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Q: Why does Project CLASS Work?

The formula for why Project CLASS works is:
CONTENT + IMPACT + ENGAGEMENT = LEARNING
Project CLASS incorporates Skills Content that is clear, simple, focused, consistent and immediately beneficial. Project CLASS integrates a FUN and Engaging Approach that includes songs, music, movements, stories and theatrical activities for Impact. Learning is optimized by working in conjunction with child developmental realities, brain functioning, effective modes of learning and attention span parameters.

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Q: Who is Project CLASS Currently Helping?

Project CLASS is currently serving over 16,000 children in 33 Houston area elementary schools and early childhood centers.

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Q: What are Project CLASS Results?

Children demonstrate improved social skills. Adult care providers demonstrate strengthened social skills teaching abilities. Teachers and principals report spending significantly less time dealing with student discipline problems and report increased student academic learning.

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Q: Is Project CLASS Reasearch Based with Demonstrated Outcomes?

Project CLASS is built on an extensive foundation of research studies conducted through the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas) and the Achievement Place Research Project.  (Bibliography. www.teaching-family.org).  Dulak and Weissberg (2005) did a quantitative analysis of 300 research studies demonstrating the beneficial impact of social and emotional programs on academic performance, on-task behavior and constructive relationships.  Project CLASS effectively develops social skills in children and effectively strengthens social skills teaching abilities in adults (Mena 2001, 2005).

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Q: Who can Benefit from Attending Project CLASS Training?

Any adult who lives with, cares for, works with or teaches children 3-5 years old and 6-10 years old can benefit from Project CLASS training. Project CLASS training is designed to be a valuable resource for parents, grandparents, teachers, daycare staff, youth ministers, childcare workers, teacher aides, after-school program staff, etc.

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Q: What will I Experience at the Project CLASS Basic Skills Training?

SKILLS & FUN, FUN & SKILLS. The time will fly by as you have FUN building your teaching SKILLS.
The Workshop is interactive and hands-on. Right from the outset, you will be putting into practice the skills that are taught. You will learn, through demonstration and participation, how to use the teaching-learning tools, such as the songs and stories, to help effectively teach social skills with your children. You will leave with everything you need to turn your children into “Social Skills Superstars!”

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Q: What will I Learn from Project CLASS Training?

Project CLASS Training is hands-on, experiential training focused on acquiring specific skills for social skills development in children 3-5 years old and 6-10 years old. Project CLASS training is structured around two areas of practical content: specific social skills for children & specific social skills teaching abilities for adult care-providers. Both sets of skills are clear, organized and designed for immediate implementation. The skills focused on are “best practices.”

Project CLASS Training teaches both sets of skills, children’s and adults’. Integrated into the Training are teaching-learning tools and resources (music, songs, movements, stories) designed to capture the attention of the children and make learning social skills FUN! In addition, the teaching-learning tools amplify adult teaching effectiveness.

In your relationships with children, you will strengthen your ability to:

• Concentrate your teaching on important, simple, clear, defined, user-friendly social skills
• Notice and communicate what your children are doing and not doing in their social behavior
• Communicate with language and intention that help children implement social skills
• Respond in a consistent and effective way to your children’s appropriate and inappropriate social skills behavior, facilitating their social skills development
• Effectively “set expectations” for social skills behavior
• Effectively use “praise and positive attention” directly linked to social skills behaviors
• Effectively use “reminder prompts” directly linked to social skills behaviors
• Effectively make use of “consequences” directly linked to social skills behaviors
• Make social skills teaching FUN by using music, songs, movements and stories
• Avoid a number of pitfalls that lead to power struggles with your children
• Feel confident that you know what to teach and how to teach social skills effectively
• Teach social skills positively with positive results

The Project CLASS Training experience and process are designed for skill development. Workshop Training involves skills demonstration and skills practice. Project CLASS Training typically occurs in groups of 30 to 50 attendees, with a 5:1 ratio of attendees for each trainer. Groups of 50 attendees involve 10-12 Project CLASS trainers. By staffing Project CLASS training with a high number of trainers and a comparatively small number of attendees, there is the opportunity for individual and small group attention that are ideal for skill acquisition in a compressed amount of time.

Importantly, Project CLASS Training is designed to be easy to put into practice and is likely to result in immediately positive results with your children. In the course of your Project CLASS Training, you will receive a set of Project CLASS posters and two CDs. These support materials are invaluable teaching-learning tools, and are designed for practical and motivational benefits. We routinely receive reports from parents and teachers that children ask to listen to the social skills songs and want to do the social skills movements as preferred activities.

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Q: Why would I choose to attend the Project CLASS Training?
(My child is already fairly well behaved).

Good social skills are critical to success both in school and in life. As children get older, they are subjected to more and more negative influences, from peers and from society. A strong foundation in social skills is vital to children’s continuing use of these skills. Project CLASS training teaches adults the most effective ways not only to teach children social skills, but to reinforce their continued use.

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Q: If we really don’t have many problems with behavior in our school or daycare, What will we gain from the Project CLASS Training?

Good social skills are critical to success both in school and in life. As children get older, they are subjected to more and more negative influences, from peers and from society. A strong foundation in social skills is vital to children’s continuing use of these skills. Project CLASS training teaches adults the most effective ways not only to teach children social skills, but to reinforce their continued use.

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Q: Is Project CLASS offered outside of the Houston Area?

Currently, all Project CLASS training is offered in the Houston area. Project CLASS training is open to any interested adult. Through the Project CLASS “Train the Trainers” program, individual schools, daycare centers, school districts can receive training to implement Project CLASS, locally and outside the Houston area.

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Q: How do I find out more about Project CLASS Programs and Services?

For Information: 713-868-1943 x 242. www.projectclass.org.

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