1. LaTrenda Terrell California State University, San Bernardino Dr. Nancy Acevedo-Gil EDU C 780D

2. PURPOSE OF STUDY The purpose of the study is to examine the effect poverty plays on young children language development at Head Start and how professional development of Head Start Teachers can play a role in achieving optimum outcomes for children’s Language Development.

3. Background According to the Census Bureau there are approximately 46 million people living in poverty in the United States and of those 27% are children (Census Bureau, 2010). Poverty has long been known to be an obstacle for poor children in many areas of life, but the link to language development is particularly damaging to their future learning (Dickinson & Caswell, 2007: Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997).

4. President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty

5. About Head Start Head Start was designed to meet the needs of children and their families living in poverty with social skills, educational, nutrition, and health needs (Office of Head Start). To be eligible for Head start you must be low-income (for example: if you have four people in your family you can make no more than $22,025 a year) and you must and you must also be in one of the following categories: pregnant, be a child under 5 years old, be a child or parent with a special need, or be a foster child.

6. Literature Review This literature review examines: Role poverty plays on children outcomes, Importance of language development on children from low-income families, Role teacher child interactions play on children language development, How teacher professional development contribute to children at Head Start language developmental outcomes, Finally, the benefits of Head Start into adulthood.

7. Role poverty plays on children outcomes Black & Engle (2008) defines poverty as lacking not only material assets and health but also capabilities, such as social belonging, cultural identity, respect and dignity, and information and education Poverty has long been known to be an obstacle for poor children in many areas of life, but the link to language development is particularly damaging to their future learning (Dickinson & Caswell, 2007: Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). Children raised in low-income families are at risk for academic and social problems as well as poor health and well-being, which can in turn undermine educational achievement (Black & Engle, 2008).

8. Role poverty plays on children outcomes Evidence suggests that many of the effects of poverty on children are influenced by family's behavior, low-income families often have limited education, reducing their ability to provide a responsive stimulating environment for their children (Black & Engle, 2008). They tend to limit their children’s linguistic environment by using language that is dominated by commands and simple structure, rather than by explanations and elaboration with an increase in the percentage of negative comments made (Black & Engle, 2008)

9. Importance of language development on children from low-income families The link between language development and poverty was explored in Hart and Riley (2003) where they found that poor children heard far less words than their more affluent peers. By four years, an average child in a professional family would accumulate experience with almost 45 million words, an average child in a working-class family 26 million words, and an average child in a welfare family 13 million words, a 32 million word gap (Hart and Riley, 2003)

10. Importance of language development on children from low-income families Because of disparities in language and literacy among at risk children (McCardle, Scarborough, & Catts, 2001; Catts 1997) early education and intervention continues to be one of our nation’s top priorities in closing the achievement gap (Snow et al., 1998; Massetti, 2009; Wasik & Hindman, 2011).

11. Importance of language development on children from low-income families Cont. Vocabulary rich childcare environments, in which children have opportunities to engage in conversations that nurture explanations, narratives, or pretend talk, are essential for later literacy (Dickinson & Tabors, 2002). The more words children know, the easier it is to learn new words (Dwyer & Neuman, 2011 ). The use of vocabulary will help children later understand what they read, which is going to be so important as they continue through life using other skill sets (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002).

12. Scarborough, 2001

13. Young children who demonstrate oral language proficiency and early abilities in processing print do better in learning to read in first, second, and third grades (Scarborough, 2001).

14. The role teacher child interactions play on children language development Teacher-child interactions are a critical component of high quality preschools and strongly related to children’s learning and development (Burchinal et al., 2012). Teacher-child interactions are the daily back-and forth exchanges that teachers and children have with one another throughout each day, including those that are social and instructional in nature (Burchinal, et al. 2012). These interactions are so vital to children’s school success that it has made national attention.

15. The role teacher child interactions play on children language development The Office of Head Start has adopted the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) as a part of its triennial monitoring process, focusing on three broad domains of interaction—Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support.

16. The role teacher child interactions play on children language development Which means that every Head Start grantee across the country will be reviewed based in part on the quality of interactions observed within their classrooms (Burchinal et al., 2012). These mandates are much needed for children from low-income families because they may not get these interactions in the home.

17. The role teacher child interactions play on children language development Zan & Donegan-Ritter (2014) suggests that certain characteristics of high-quality learning environments and teacher–child interactions are associated with greater academic and social gains for children. Programs offering high quality early childhood education provide lots of opportunities for children to interact and maneuver in their environment (Zan, & Donegan-Ritter, 2014). Learning environment characteristics include high productivity, opportunities for higher-order thinking skills, and enthusiasm for learning (Zan, & Donegan-Ritter, 2014).

18. How teacher professional development contributes to children at Head Start language developmental outcomes Evidence strongly suggests that teacher professional development is crucial to children at Head Start developmental outcomes (Dickinson & Caswell, 2007). Head Start requires teachers to attend at least 15 hours of intensive specialized training annually (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of Head Start, 2007).

19. How teacher professional development contributes to children at Head Start language developmental outcomes Fueled in large part by the standards and accountability movement, and the more recent emphasis on evidence-based practice, professional development is widely viewed as the most effective approach to adequately preparing practitioners and improving their instructional and intervention practices after they enter the workforce (Buysse et al., 2009).

20. How teacher professional development contributes to children at Head Start language developmental outcomes Teacher Professional Development through whole-group workshops, coaches provided teachers with explicit instruction in and modeling of conversation strategies, such as asking open-ended questions and using rich language around the classroom (Wasik & Hidman (2011). Ongoing Professional Development positively impacted the quality of language and pre-literacy experiences that teachers created in Head Start classrooms (Wasik & Hidman, 2011).

21. The long term effect of Head Start Programs into adulthood The long term benefit of a high quality Head Start program into adulthood has been documented for over five decades showing that educational enrichment for children and families in the early years of life promotes well-being in many domains from school entry to adulthood. (Camilli, Vargas, Ryan, & Schweinhart et al., 2005).

22. The long term effect of Head Start Programs into adulthood The Perry Preschool study examined the lives of 123 children born in poverty and at high risk of failing school from 1962-1967 and found that adults at age 40 who had the High Scope Curriculum had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool (Schweinhart el al., 2005).

23. The long term effect of Head Start Programs into adulthood Follow-up studies in the Abecedarian Project showed significant associations between program participation and outcomes such as: higher reading and mathematics achievement test scores, fewer grade retentions, more years of education, and greater likelihood to attend a 4-year college (Campbell et al., 2002).

24. The long term effect of Head Start Programs into adulthood Program study investigated whether participation in the program was associated with higher educational attainment (high school completion, highest grade completed, and college attendance) at age 22. The CPC study indicated that CPC preschool participation was significantly associated with more years of education, a higher rate of high school completion, and a higher rate of college attendance (Reynolds & Ou, 2006).

25. The long term effect of Head Start Programs into adulthood Reynolds et al., (2002) found that the CPC preschool program provided a return to society of $7.14 per dollar invested by increasing economic well-being and tax revenues, and by reducing public expenditures for remedial education, criminal justice treatment, and crime victims.

26. Next Step This literature review informs my dissertation by helping me to understand the need for Head Start teacher professional development and children at Head Start language developmental outcomes. It solidifies the fact that children from low-income families are capable of attaining higher education as Long & Riley (2007) noted that higher education plays an increasingly important role in helping individuals attain social and economic success. They can go on to become productive citizens and accomplish great success in life.

27. Next Step This literature review informs my professional position by helping me understand the need to share my findings with Head Start programs throughout California to change the way we approach children’s language development through teacher professional development at Head Start. As Wasik & Hindman (2011) noted that there are few studies that have linked changes in teacher practice to child outcomes which is an important step in assessing the overall effectiveness of PD.

28. Conclusion In conclusion, there is hope for the future for all children and recognizing the factors that contribute to their success gets them closer to achieving the goals that their families have for them. Wasik & Hidman, (2011) report that their results support the utility of intensive, ongoing teacher PD in closing the gap in pre-literacy skills between young children in poverty and their more affluent peers, effectively narrowing one aspect of the achievement gap at its beginning.

29. Definitions of Key Terms Poverty is defined as the state of not having enough money to take care of your basic needs such as food, housing, clothing etc. (Duncan & Brooks-Gunn,1997). Child development is defined as the ordered emergence of interdependent skills of sensorimotor, cognitive–language, and social–emotional functioning, which depend on the child’s physical well-being, the family context, and the larger social network (Black & Engle, 2008). Professional Development is defined as teacher’s ongoing trainings: in-service training, such as specialized training workshops and coaching support (Wasik & Hindman, 2011),

30. Definitions of Key Terms High quality early childhood education is defined programs structural components, such as the number of children in a classroom, the staff-child ratio, and the physical environment of the room, the kinds of experiences children have within classrooms on a day-to-day basis, take into account how children develop and learn, and how that development and learning might best be supported, as well as teacher education and training.(Ackerman,, & Barnett, 2005). School readiness is defined as a broad set of skills that affect children’s ability to learn in school: physical health, motor skills, self-care, emotional and behavioral self-regulation, social skills, communication skills, pre-academic skills, attention, and curiosity and motivation to learn (Black & Engle, 2008).

31. References Black, M. M. & Engle, P. L. (2008). The effect of poverty on child development and educational outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136: 243–256. Burchinal, M., Downer, J.T., Field, F., Hamre, B.K., Howes, C., LaParo, K., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Pianta, R.C., Scott-Little, K. (2012). A course on effective teacher-child interactions: effects on teacher beliefs, knowledge, and observed practice. American Educational Research Journal, 49, No. 1, pp. 88–123 Buysse, V., Winton, P. J., & Rous, B. (2009). Reaching consensus on a definition of professional development for the early childhood field. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 28, 235–243. Camilli, G., Vargas, S., Ryan, S., & Barnett, W. S. (2010). Meta-analysis of the effects of early education interventions on cognitive and social development. Teachers College Record, 112, 579–620..

32. References Campbell, F. A., Miller-Johnson, S., Pungello, E., Ramey, C. T.& Sparling, J. (2002). Early childhood education: young adult outcomes from the abecedarian project. Applied Developmental Science, Vol. 6, No. 1, 42–57. Census Bureau, (2010). Retrieved Oct 22, 2014 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html Cunningham, A., & Stanovich, K. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934 Dickinson, D. K., & Caswell, L. (2007). Building support for language and early literacy in preschool classrooms through in-service professional development: Effects of the Literacy Environment Enrichment Program (LEEP). Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22(2), 243-260. Dickinson, D., Tabors, P. O. Fostering language and literacy in classrooms and homes (2002). Retrieved Nov. 23, 2014 from http://wwwtc.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/rdla170/docs/fostering_language http://wwwtc.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/rdla170/docs/fostering_language

33. References Dwyer, J. and Neuman, S. (2011). Preschoolers: A Design Experiment Developing Vocabulary and Conceptual Knowledge for Low-Income Journal of Literacy Research 43: 103 Hart, B. & Risley, T. R. (2003). The catastrophe: the 30 million word gap by 3. American Educator Long, B. T., and Riley, E. (2007). Financial aid: a broken bridge to college access? Harvard Educational Review, 77(1) Massetti, G. M. (2009). Enhancing emergent literacy skills of Preschoolers from low-income environments through a classroom-based approach. School Psychology Review, 38(4), 554-569 McCardle, P., Scarborough, H. S., & Catts, H. W. (2001). Predicting, explaining, and preventing children’s reading difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(4), 230–239.

34. References Reynolds, A. J., & Ou, S-U. (2006). Early childhood intervention and educational attainment: age 22 findings from the chicago longitudinal study, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 11:2, 175-198. Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities:Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 97– 110). New York: Guilford Press. Schweinhart, L. J., Barnett, S. W., Belfield, C. R., Montie, J., Nores, M., Xiang, Z. (2005). Lifetime effects: The high/Scope perry preschool study through age 40. Educational Research Foundation. (pp. 194–215). Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington DC

35. References Storch, S.A. & Whitehurst, G.J. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: Evidence from a longitudinal model. Developmental Psychology, 38, 934-947. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Office of Head Start (2007): Head start act Retrieved Nov 10, 2014 https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/standards/law/HS_Act_2007.pdf Wasik, B. A., & Hindman, A. H. (2011). Improving vocabulary and pre- literacy skills of at-risk preschoolers through teacher professional development. Journal Of Educational Psychology,103(2), 455-469. Zan, B., & Donegan-Ritter, M. (2014). Reflecting, coaching and mentoring to enhance teacher–child interactions in head start classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 42(2), 93-104.