Fitting It All In
Remembering What’s Really Important
Professional Development Institute
Heartland Early Childhood Paraeducator Grant
Camille Catlett
Shifting Paradigms
Know & •be able to do
•EvidenceEvidence based practices
Shifting Paradigms
NAEYC
standards
•Developmentally
appropriate
practices
DEC
standards
•DEC recommended
practices
How do you currently use DAP in your work?
Parts of a Whole
Culturally
Appropriate
Individually
Appropriate
Developmentally
Appropriate
Use DEC Recommended Practices to . . .
Promote discussion of intentional teaching
practices (example: C2)
Guide observation (example: C1)
Promote reflection (example: C4)
Build rubrics (example: F6-7)
Ways of Making Shift Happen
Looking
Ahead
What’s on
the Horizon?
Tools You
Can Use
What’s on
the Horizon?
Continued
emphasis
on early
childhood
systems
through
RTT-ELC
grants
•
CA, DE, MD, MA, MN,
NC,OH, RI, WA have grants
•
CO, IL, NM, OR, WI have just
submitted applications
Grants
bring a
focus on . .
•
Kindergarten readiness
assessments
•
Tiered quality rating and
improvement systems (new
acronym = TQRIS)
•
Tools for assessing quality
(environmental rating scales,
Classroom Assessment
Scoring System/CLASS)
Debate
continues on
the age range
of early
childhood:
What are the
implications
of each
option?
•
Birth through 8 (or grade 3)?
•
Age 3 through grade 3 (or
grade 4)?
•
Birth through 5?
Evidence
continues to
mount for
the value for
play being
lost
How are
you
preparing
your
students
to defend
play?
Is there an
early
childhood
course into
which you
could NOT
appropriately
incorporate
an emphasis
on play?
Evidence
continues to
mount of an
increased
emphasis on
academics at
earlier and
earlier ages
Do you know a teacher who “does” calendar?
Calendar: What’s age appropriate?
Age Range
Expectation
Birth through three
No mention of calendar skills
Four through five
Let children write on old
calendars, order forms, check
registers, or grocery lists.
Develop daily pre-calendar
activities (identify numbers on
a calendar, briefly expose
children to time concepts such
as a day, a week, etc.)
How are
you
addressing
the
interplay
between
DAP and
academics?
http://www.naeyc.org/files/n
aeyc/file/Publications/Article
Examples/02Neuman.pdf
The fastest growing
segment of the population
is children of immigrants
age 0-6 many of whom
(96%) are US citizens
Projections indicate that by
2030, 41% of the nation’s
children will be culturally
diverse
One in four
children under
age 3 lives in a
family in which
one or more of
the parents were
born in another
country.
(U.S. Census Bureau,
2007)
Nearly seven out of every 1,000
pre-kindergarteners are expelled each year—an
estimated 5,117 preschoolers in all. The rate is 3.2
times higher than the national expulsion rate for
children in grades K-12. (Gilliam, 2005)
Boys are expelled
4.5 times more than girls;
and African-Americans are
twice as likely to be expelled as
Latino and Caucasian kids and
more than five times as likely as
Asian-American kids. (Gilliam, 2005)
One out of every 45
American children go to
sleep without a home of
their own each year
(National Center on Family Homelessness, 20012)
Improving
Quality:
What a
teacher
does really
matters
Children form academic trajectories
early in their school careers that tend
to be stable and difficult to change
over the course of their schooling
(Alexander & Entwisle, 1993)
Children’s negative perceptions of
competence and attitudes become
stronger and harder to reverse as
children progress through school
(Valeski & Stipek, 2001)
Improving
Quality:
What a
teacher
does really
matters
“If a bad year is compounded by
other bad years, it may not be
possible for the student to recover”
(Hanushek, 2010)
An effective teacher can have a
stronger influence on student
achievement than poverty,
language background, class size,
and minority status
(Aaronson, Barrow, Sander, 2007; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Jacob, Lefgren,
& Sims, 2008; Kane & Staiger, 2008; Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges,
2004; Rivkin, Hanushek,& Kain, 2005; Rockoff, 2004; Rothstein, 2010)
Improving
Quality
High-quality, culturally
responsive early learning
environments are critical to
closing the achievement
gap between children living
in poverty, especially
children of color, and their
peers.
(Whitebrook, Gomby, Bellm, Sakai, & Kipnis, 2009, p. 1)
Improving
Quality
Culturally responsive
interactions between
teachers and
young children are more
likely to support progress
toward children’s mastery
of language, literacy,
science, and math skills
(Au & Jordan, 1981; Boykin, 1986; González et al, 1993; Roseberry, Warren & Conant, 1992; Tharp, 1991, 1992)
Lessons
Learned
from First
School:
Promote
Caring
We believe that this work is difficult
and complex-that seeking simple
answers to pervasive problems is not
productive.
We support teachers as they look at
their classrooms through the lenses of
race, language, culture, ability and
poverty
We developed a set of guiding
principles and intentional approaches
that focus on different things than
have traditionally defined quality.
Culture of
Caring
Nurturing Positive
Relationships
Developing the Whole Child
Strengthening Self-Efficacy &
Identity
FirstSchool 2012
Culture of
Competence
Prioritizing communication
Promoting self-regulation
Supporting independence
Fostering peer interactions
FirstSchool 2012
Culture of
Excellence
Balancing Teaching
Approaches
Integrating and Balancing
Curriculum
Building Higher Order
Thinking
FirstSchool 2012
Tools You
Can Use
CONNECT
The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge
http://connect.fpg.unc.edu/
Module 1: Embedded
Interventions
Module 5: Assistive
Technology Interventions
Module 2: Transition
Module 3: Communication
for Collaboration
Module 6: Dialogic Reading
Module 4: FamilyProfessional
Partnerships
Module 7: Tiered Instruction
(Social emotional development
& Academic learning)
Research
Synthesis
Points on
Quality
Inclusive
Practices
NPDCI
CONNECT
It’s just a
piece of
paper
How Do We Move from
paper to PRACTICE?
Moving from
Policies & Research to Practice
ACCESS
PARTICIPATION
SUPPORTS
Define each key feature of inclusion
 Share professional development resources
related to each feature
Landing Pads
A sampling of evidence and resources, related
to each feature, to support your learning and
professional development needs
Find them online at
http://npdci.fpg.unc.edu/resources/qualityinclusive-practices-resources-and-landingpads
NPDCI
CONNECT
8 New Landing Pads Just Released!
NPDCI
CONNECT
Defining Features
Access – means providing
a wide range of activities
and environments for
every child by removing
physical barriers and
offering multiple ways to
promote learning and
development.
Access
Evidence-Based Practices that
Support ACCESS
Universal Design (UD)/Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Assistive Technology (AT)
EBP: Universal Design and
Universal Design for Learning
UD and UDL mean the removal of
physical and structural barriers
(UD) and the provision of multiple
and varied formats for instruction
and learning (UDL).
Why Do It?
NPDCI
CONNECT
Read About It
NPDCI
CONNECT
See For Yourself
Photo from
CONNECT
Module 5
CONNECT
See for Yourself
NPDCI
CONNECT
See for Yourself
National Center to
Improve Practice Early
Childhood Guided Tour
NPDCI
CONNECT
National Center
for Quality
Teaching and
Learning
Fred Rogers
Center Early
Learning
Environment
Curriculum Toolkit
Learning
Table
Resources
Silence is a Powerful Statement
I didn’t know what to say . . .
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlWpVm
eEeb0
Children’s Awareness of
Human Differences
www.adoptionstogether.org
During the
first two
years
Infants find
skin color
interesting
Infants
recognize
familiar faces
 Toddlers can correctly place
photos of themselves in their
correct racial/ethnic group
 Toddlers begin to
ask questions about
differences
 Toddlers begin to imitate others
“Just like Mommy or Daddy”
www.creative tots.com
Two year olds…
 Classify people by
gender
 Can tell the difference
between black and
white
 May begin to use social
labels: “I’m a girl”
Three and Four year old children…
 Ask “why”
 Become aware
negative stereotypes
and feelings about
people including
themselves
 May show discomfort
or fear to someone
who is different in
some way
“Boys can’t be
princesses!”
“You can’t have two
mommies”
From ABC’S What Would
You Do? “You can’t be a
Princess!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFn81_HAvWg
Three and Four year old children…
 May tease or refuse to
play with someone who
is different
 Begin to seek labels for
racial/ethnic identity
 Do not have gender or
ethnic constancy
 Mask fear of differences
with avoidance or
silliness
“You cut your hair.
Now you got boy
hair”
“That’s a boy’s toy”
“When I get big I am
going to have skin
like you.”
Five and six year old children….
 Develop a core sense of racial identity and negative
societal biases can undermine their self-esteem
 Can identify stereotypes
 Show aggression through insults and name-calling
www.scholastic.com
“She can’t be my
friend she has ugly
clothes”
“ I got the most
toys”
What messages do
children receive
about newly
bought things?
“Wow! Look at
your shiny new
shoes”
Five and six year old
children….
 Develop their own conclusions about
differences if not guided by adults
 Describe both poverty and wealth in
concrete terms – the number of possessions
Seven to nine year old children…
 Continue to develop and
elaborate on their ideas
of differences
 Begin to identify with
groups and are interested
in learning about these
groups
• Beliefs about differences
remain constant and
solidified unless the child
experiences a life
changing event
 Want and need accurate
information
www.avianocenter.com
Sources
Bilson, Julie (1999) Overview: Development of Ethnic,
Gender Disability & Class Identity & Attitudes
in Children and Youth, handout.
Wolpert, Ellen (2005) Start Seeing Diversity, Redleaf
Press, St. Paul, MN
York, Stacey, (2003) Roots and Wings, Revised.
Red Leaf Press, St. Paul, MN.
Four strategies from Teaching
Tolerance
• Interrupt
• Question
• Educate
• Echo
What would you say?
What would you say?
Charlie, a teacher in a kindergarten class that
serves many children who qualify for free or
reduced lunch asked the children about the
work their parents do. He was surprised to hear
4-year old Katie reply, “Nothing. My mommy
doesn’t work.”
What would you do?
http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/
In the end, we will remember not the
words of our enemies, but the silence of
our friends.
Martin Luther King