Stories of SuccESS: A Day of Learning at Cascade Locks Elementary

by Aditi Sharma | Apr 30, 2026 | CI Publications, Instructional Alignment, Professional Learning

As part of our Stories of SuccESS series, we’re highlighting moments from the field that reflect how communities across Oregon are strengthening early learning systems. A site visit through the Early School Success Academy offers a close look at how aligned instruction and sustained collaboration are shaping early literacy across classrooms.

On March 11, educators gathered at Cascade Locks Elementary for a site visit hosted by the Columbia Gorge Regional Educator Network. Among them was Shawnté Hines, who leads Children’s Institute’s Early School Success Academy – a year-long professional learning experience for educators across the state!

The visit offered educators an opportunity to observe classroom practice together and reflect on how it connects to their own schools and systems. Inside the classrooms, the focus was on early literacy. In kindergarten and first grade, students moved through a structured literacy block that balanced whole-group instruction, small group work, and independent practice. Call-and-response routines kept students engaged. Teachers offered real-time feedback and created space for students to practice and self-correct. Each child was met at their level.

For Shawnté, the visit made instructional alignment visible. Across classrooms, expectations were consistent. Transitions were smooth. “I saw that in a short period of time, every student received focused attention. It was clear that the structure of the block allowed for both group learning and individualized support without losing pace.”

That consistency reflects years of work. Since Principal Adrienne Acosta joined Cascade Locks Elementary, educators have worked to align instruction across early grades, with a sustained focus on explicit phonics instruction and collaboration.

Teacher voice was present throughout the day. Instruction was not static. Educators have continued to test, refine, and build on their approach together. In classrooms, that showed up as responsive teaching, clear routines, and a willingness to meet students where they are while continuing to adjust practice.

Students were active and engaged. There was a sense of ease and joy in how they moved through their learning, with clear routines and strong engagement.

“While in their focused small groups, students’ ability to self-correct highlighted a culture rooted in trust and community. A classroom where mistakes were a part of the process, and not the focus for the teacher’s constant correction. These students confidently took academic risks in front of their peers and took genuine pride in their own learning.”

– Shawnté Hines, Professional Learning Specialist, Children’s Institute

For visiting educators, the experience offered a shared reference point. Familiar materials and strategies took on new meaning when seen in practice across classrooms.

This kind of learning continues beyond a single site visit. Educators return to their own schools with new questions, shared observations, and a clearer sense of what aligned practice can look like.

“Cross-district professional learning opportunities like the ESS Academy are vital for the region because it breaks the isolation often felt by small, rural schools. It allows for the pooling of specialized resources, ensuring that a student’s zip code doesn’t determine the quality of their literacy instruction. The ESS Academy also allows for educators to explore challenges specific to their context and unique student needs. We don’t often have opportunities for job-embedded professional learning that is driven by educators and the students they serve, ESS Academy brings us that!”

-Gabrielle DeLeon, Regional Educator Network (REN) Coordinator, Columbia Gorge ESD

Interested in learning alongside educators across Oregon?
Join the 2026-2027 Early School Success Academy.

How Research Partnership Is Improving Early Learning Alignment, From the Ground Up

by Aditi Sharma | Apr 28, 2026 | Educators and Workforce, News, Research and Evaluation, What We're Reading

Republished with permission from Education Northwest.

Dr. Marina Merrill knows that if you want systems change in education, you need to put practitioners in the driver’s seat.

Dr. Merrill directs research and strategy at Children’s Institute. For the past 20 years, the organization has worked across multiple avenues—research, practice, policy, and advocacy—to improve opportunity for children across Oregon. Their recent initiative, Early School Success (ESS), focuses on improving instructional and relational alignment between early learning and elementary education—all part of their campaign to ensure that every child is Great by Age 8. At the heart of ESS are practitioners: educators who have the power to make sustainable change in classrooms.

When Dr. Merrill and her team partnered with Education Northwest to evaluate ESS, they knew they needed a rigorous, creative study design to prioritize practitioner voice. Together, the evaluation team is leveraging data from educators to make meaningful systems change, from the ground up.

Document and Measure

Children’s Institute launched ESS in 2019 with the goal of helping school districts across Oregon improve alignment from preschool through grade 5. Too often, early childhood and K–12 education systems operate independently. When preschools and kindergartens play by different (often unwritten) rules, kids and families are left to navigate the transition on their own. By contrast, improving alignment across the systems can improve transitions, sense of belonging, and quality of instructional experiences for every child.

From the outset of ESS, Children’s Institute knew that a strong research partner would be critical, not only for continuous improvement but also sustainability and scaling.

“We’ve been so busy facilitating meetings and getting everything up and running that it’s been hard to take the time to document all the pieces of this initiative,” said Dr. Merrill. “It is incredibly valuable to have Education Northwest document everything in a way that we can go back and share it with other communities and schools that are interested in this doing this kind of meaningful systems change work and transforming their district’s culture into learning organizations.”

Early on, Children’s Institute and Education Northwest developed a shared understanding of ESS activities and goals. Later, Education Northwest evaluators proposed different measures to capture what Children’s Institute wanted to learn: for example, how teachers experience ESS, or complex multilevel outcomes that unfold across the early learning-to-elementary experience, such as embedding playful, content-based inquiry across grade levels.

“We have the deep relationships and the experience working on the ground, and Education Northwest helps us think about how we might creatively measure what we’re trying to do, which includes a lot of complex components,” said Dr. Merrill.

The Children’s Institute’s deep understanding of district context has been critical to effectively evaluate what’s happening on the ground. Because ESS partners with diverse districts across Oregon—in terms of geography, size, curriculum, data capacity, and student demographics—the evaluation had to be responsive to each community.

“We knew that context would matter from the get-go,” said Dr. Merrill. “We didn’t have existing measures that we could use across all districts. Districts aren’t collecting the same data. No one district has the same curriculum approach, literacy or numeracy approach, or set of progress monitoring tools. You have to know each district very well, learn what their priorities are and what tools they’re using. And that takes a lot of time. It just does. We had to work and build trust with these communities at multiple levels: the teachers, the administrators, even families, in some cases.”

Prioritize Practitioner Experience and Expertise

At its core, ESS is about shifting and improving what happens in the classrooms every day.

“ESS is grounded in improvement science, and we know from the research that in order for sustainable change to happen in systems, it has to come from the people that are closest to the work,” said Dr. Merrill. “Teachers are the ones that will make these shifts, and they understand better than anyone what their context is. They know what supports children’s learning and they understand what’s getting in the way.”

In order for sustainable change to happen in systems, it has to come from the people that are closest to the work … teachers.

From the beginning, ESS treated educators as professionals and co-designers—not just recipients or end users of innovation.

“We see that when teachers are engaged, participate in defining their aims and their change practices, and have the opportunity in real time to test those changes and interpret their own data, the work feels more relevant. It feels respectful to their time and to their expertise, and it’s genuinely much more useful when they are in the driver’s seats,” said Dr. Merrill.

Following the initiative’s approach, Education Northwest prioritized educator voice throughout the evaluation. Each year, the team built in surveys and focus groups to ask teachers, principals, and district leadership how ESS implementation was going and how they perceived impact.

Use Real-Time Data for Real-Time Improvements

After data collection each year, Education Northwest evaluators reconnected with the Children’s Institute team, who leveraged their deep knowledge of district context to help make sense of the data. Their insights not only informed the evaluation findings, but also shaped the future of the initiative.

With regular opportunities to interpret and discuss the evaluation data, Children’s Institute has been able to make meaningful adjustments in real time.

“Through the evaluation, our partners are honestly reflecting back what’s working well and what’s not,” said Dr. Merrill, “and our team has been incredibly responsive to the data and pivoting our practice in real time: pretty much immediately taking the feedback and shifting how meetings are run, how data is collected, putting together new tools and resources to be responsive.”

Our team has been incredibly responsive to the data and pivoting our practice in real time … immediately taking the feedback and shifting how meetings are run, how data is collected, putting together new tools and resources to be responsive.

Build Evaluation Capacity

Looking ahead, Children’s Institute aims to use what they learned from the ESS evaluation to plan the organization’s future work and prioritize opportunities for high impact. An immediate goal is to bring multiple initiatives under the umbrella of ESS and begin measuring them.

To this end, Education Northwest will collaborate with Dr. Merrill and her team to develop toolkits for measuring each program. The effort will follow a similar process to the ESS evaluation: first develop an understanding of the program and its intended outcomes, then develop measures specific to each program. Ultimately, these toolkits will strengthen the Children’s Institute’s capacity to evaluate their own programs.

Building on what worked well in the ESS study, Education Northwest plans to continue providing rapid feedback memos on the data collection.

“Our goal is to continue to build out and use our work on the ground, as well as the evaluation findings, to build on Oregon’s evidence base around what supports young children in the earliest years of their schooling,” said Dr. Merrill. “We continue to try to move the needle and remove on-the-ground barriers for practitioners. We’re excited to get these new toolkits from Education Northwest to keep advancing our learning and supporting educators in their work.”

Children’s Institute – Early School Success Evaluation Report
Original article by Education Northwest

Oregon Early Childhood Inclusion Impact Report 2026

by Aditi Sharma | Apr 22, 2026 | What We're Reading, CI Publications

Oregon’s early learning system is stronger when inclusion, belonging, and family partnership are built into how communities work—together. We are excited to share the latest updates from the Oregon Early Childhood Inclusion(OECI) Initiative. The latest OECI impact report showcases the significant progress made in creating inclusive environments for all children.

Dr.Marina Merrill has served on the OECI State Leadership Team since the very beginning, helping guide this work in partnership with state and community leaders.

“This progress is a powerful move in the right direction for children with disabilities and their families—made possible through collective effort and strong partnerships across Oregon.”

– Dr.Marina Merrill, Director of Research and Strategy, Children’s Institute

Discover more about the key achievements and ongoing efforts to support equity and inclusion in early childhood education.

Download full report

Inside Échale Ganas: How educators across Oregon are rethinking multilingual learning

by Aditi Sharma | Apr 21, 2026 | Educators and Workforce, Professional Learning, Early School Success

Across Oregon, multilingual learners make up a growing share of students, creating an opportunity to design classrooms that reflect and build on the languages, cultures, and identities they bring.

On April 10, educators from across Oregon gathered in Salem for Échale Ganas, a bilingual professional learning experience focused on reimagining classrooms to support multilingual students and families.

Participants included preschool and elementary educators from districts and early learning communities across Eugene, Hillsboro, Hood River, Newberg, Reynolds, Clackamas, and Yamhill. Some were attending for the first time, while others had returned after attending the previous session in November – and this time, brought colleagues with them.

That mix of new and returning participants pointed to something growing: a need for professional learning spaces that center multilingual practice and offer educators opportunities to learn from each other across districts and to stay connected to this work over time.

How the day was designed

Échale Ganas is designed and led by Julio Bautista, Continuous Improvement Specialist at Children’s Institute. He created the session as a networked learning experience, with classroom practice at its center. Rather than focusing on one approach or instructional model, the day emphasized shared inquiry. It created space for educators to share what they’ve been trying, what’s working, and what they are still figuring out. They were invited to examine their own classrooms/learning environments and consider how multilingual students experience them—visually, linguistically, and socially. As part of that design, the session also introduced translanguaging as a key framework for thinking about multilingual learners.

A shift in how language is understood

Participants engaged with the idea that multilingual learners do not use languages in isolation but move fluidly across them. For many, this wasn’t entirely new; they recognized it from their own classrooms or lived experiences. One participant shared, “Translanguaging is a superpower!” That framing helped reorient the conversation. Instead of focusing on how to manage multiple languages, the focus moved toward how to build from them. Naming it helped bring more intention to how educators can support multilingual learners in their classrooms.

Looking closely at classroom practice

In small groups, participants shared images from their classrooms and early learning settings. Educators described the thinking behind specific choices – such as incorporating family photos at child height, selecting materials that reflect students’ identities, or creating opportunities for students to communicate using their full linguistic repertoire.

Each example led to a shared set of questions: What would students hear in this space? What would they see? What would they feel?And just as often: what might still be missing?

This focus on classroom environment shifted the discussion towards how classrooms are designed from the beginning – what is visible, what is centered, and what students are invited to bring with them. It also surfaced what educators named directly: the need to move beyond a narrow view of language in schools.

“I am thinking about how other languages and cultures are represented in our school, beyond English and Spanish.”

For some, it meant reconsidering whose languages are visible. For others, it meant thinking about how classroom environments can better reflect the full range of students’ identities.

That same fluidity was present throughout the session. Conversations moved between Spanish and English, often without pause. People shared ideas in the language that felt most natural to them, and others followed along, asked questions, and added to the conversation.

“Me dio mucho gusto asistir y aprender más sobre cómo incluir la educación bilingüe para los niños y familias para continuar trabajando para que haya educación multilingual y que nos hayan dado la oportunidad de hacerlo en el idioma que nos fuera más cómodo que para mí es español.”

“I was very pleased to attend and learn more about how to incorporate bilingual education for children and families—continuing our work toward achieving multilingual education—and that we were given the opportunity to do so in the language we felt most comfortable with, which, for me, is Spanish.”

It made the space feel more open, more collaborative, and more aligned with the realities of the classrooms they serve.

The session also created time for educators to think about what translanguaging could look like in practice. The focus was on small, immediate shifts, something they could try the next day. In systems as complex as schools, change often starts with what is doable. For many, those shifts were grounded in relationships with students and families.

Impact beyond the room

So far, Échale Ganas has reached educators across more than 20 districts and early learning communities in Oregon. As districts continue to strengthen how they serve multilingual students and families, professional learning spaces like Échale Ganas play an important role.

They create opportunities for educators to reflect on practice, learn across systems, and test new ideas. These shifts show up in classrooms, shaping how students experience language, belonging, and identity.

For multilingual students and families, this shift can mean the difference between adapting to school and seeing themselves reflected in it.

Interested in joining our next session? Reach out to Julio Bautista at julio@childinst.org
Learn more about Échale Ganas here!

Stories of SuccESS: Building Community Connections Before Kindergarten

by Aditi Sharma | Apr 8, 2026 | Community Engagement, Early School Success

As part of our Stories of SuccESS series, we’re highlighting moments from the field that reflect how communities across Oregon are strengthening early learning systems.

On March 9, Children’s Institute’s remote rural coach, Erin Helgren, partnered with the Four Rivers Learning and Parenting Hub and Columbia Gorge Education Service District (ESD) to host a preschool to third grade (P-3) panel and learning session in Condon, Oregon. The event brought together rural early learning leaders, K-12 leadership, and regional partners to share learning and begin exploring what stronger alignment could look like in practice.

Building connections

A key focus of the session was strengthening alignment between early learning providers and school districts. The aim was to better serve children and families before and during the transition into kindergarten.

Like many communities across Oregon, collaboration between early learning and K-12 is an emerging practice. This gathering created a rare opportunity for partners to come into the same space.

Over discussion and lunch, early learning partners, the ESD, and school district leaders began connecting in new ways—sharing experiences, asking questions, and exploring what it could look like to move forward as partners. Curiosity, openness, and a shared commitment to children and families in their community was palpable in the room.

“We were honored to welcome such a knowledgeable and experienced group to Condon. Their visit created a meaningful opportunity for our partner school districts to better understand the ‘why’ behind this work. Through candid reflections on both challenges and successes, the panel fostered a strong sense of connection and relatability. This marks an important beginning for efforts that matter deeply to our communities, with the shared goal of creating smoother transitions for students, families, educators, and schools.”

-Shira Skybinskyy, Director, Four Rivers Family Early Learning andd Parenting

Together, these conversations pointed to something larger: a growing opportunity to better align systems in support of children and families.

Why this matters

Rural districts across Oregon are working to strengthen early learning strategies to improve kindergarten readiness and better meet the needs of children and families.

When early learning and K-12 systems are more aligned, the impact shows up in everyday experiences.

Educators have a clearer understanding of each child’s needs. Families experience a more coordinated system of support from the start. Transitions into kindergarten feel more connected.

In rural communities, this kind of alignment has the potential to reach nearly every child and family.

What this could change

For educators, this alignment creates opportunities to collaborate across systems, strengthen relationships, and build more consistent, responsive learning environments.

For children, it means entering school with stronger foundations—and being known, supported, and set up to succeed from the very beginning.

Looking ahead

Partnerships like these are becoming increasingly important as communities navigate growing needs and limited resources, to help strengthen how systems work together for children from the very beginning.

Through rural coaching, Children’s Institute partners with communities to strengthen and sustain connections across early learning and K-12 systems, an approach that helps build more aligned, responsive systems for children, families, and communities.

When this work continues, the changes are tangible: stronger relationships between educators, shared understanding, and more coordinated approaches to supporting children and families both before and as they enter school.

Curious how this could take shape in your community? Explore our rural coaching work.

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