Resources for Supporting Engagement for Each and Every Family 1

Learning Table Session on Family Engagement

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Ask yourself... Have you incorporated an explicit and intentional emphasis on authentically engaging families who are culturally and linguistically diverse? Are you also engaging families who have children with disabilities? Is communication with family members shaping the quality of your work? Are family members helping you to intentionally and effectively support practices that connect home cultures and experiences to their learning?

Do your environments reflect your intentionality? Are you saturating environments with the children, families, and staff of the program and the community? 6

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 16.

Do your practices reflect your intentionality? 8

Culturally responsive interactions between personnel and young children are more likely to support progress toward children’s mastery of language, literacy, science, and math skills 17 9

An effective teacher can have a stronger influence on student achievement than poverty, language background, class size, and minority status 18 10

Sponsored by Resources for Supporting Diverse Young Children in Early Childhood Settings 12

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Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olson Edwards Chapter 2: Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Community Positive interactions with children Positive interactions with and among families The visual and material environment Curriculum planning

Learning Table Session on Improving Experiences

Multifaceted Resources for Language & Literacy National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness 17

Ask yourself... Are you intentionally and effectively supporting practices that connect children’s cultures and experiences to their learning? Are you shaping teachers’ personal capacities and attitudes to support each child’s achievement? Do program characteristics (e.g., teacher- child ratios, time for small groups or one- on-one interactions, materials in multiple languages) support individual children? Do environments authentically reflect the children, families, and communities you serve?

Are your professional development efforts growing the capacity of early childhood professionals to support young children who are culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse? One thing we can say with certainty about professional development is that workshops are not effective if building skills or dispositions is the desired outcome 19 19

A national survey recently indicated that workshops were the primary method for delivering training and technical assistance 20 While training workshops are consistently the PD method of preference in early childhood, short-term, one-time trainings have little or no impact on quality improvements 21 20

Recent research syntheses on adult learning strategies and teacher development provide some empirical basis for designing effective professional development 22 21

 Is intensive and ongoing, with multiple, sequenced, active learning experiences  Is grounded in specific practice-focused content  Builds on the learner’s current level of understanding  Includes large doses of learner self- assessment of his/her learning against a set of standards, criteria, or expert feedback  Is aligned with instructional goals, learning standards, and curriculum materials 22

OUTCOMES PD Methods % of participants who could demonstrate KNOWLEDGE % of participants who could demonstrate SKILL % of participants who could USE NEW SKILL IN THE CLASSROOM Theory and Discussion 10%5%0% Training with Demonstration 30%20% 0% Training with Practice and Feedback 60% 5% Training with Onsite Coaching 95% 23

Resources for Designing Professional Development That Will Grow the Capacity of Professionals to Support Each Child 24