Promising Futures: A Panel Discussion with Dr. Ruby Takanishi, Maria Adams, and Dr. Perla Rodriguez

by Rafael Otto | Feb 28, 2018 | Dual Language Learners, Podcast, Professional Learning

In our 20th podcast, we sat down with Ruby Takanishi, co-editor of the NASEM report Promising Futures: Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English; Maria Adams, language development specialist for the David Douglas School District; and Perla Rodriguez, principal of Echo Shaw Elementary School to discuss the needs of English learners and dual language learners in our schools, communities, and early learning systems. We learn more about the recommendations to promote the educational success of young English learners included in Promising Futures, and take a look at two Oregon districts leading the way on language development for their students.

Dr. Ruby Takanishi is a senior research fellow with the Early and Elementary Education Policy Program at New America. She is the author of First Things First! Creating the New American Primary School (Teachers College Press, August 2016), and co-editor of Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, February 2017). Dr. Takanishi is the former president and CEO of the Foundation for Child Development, a grantmaking philanthropy that launched the PreK–3rd grade movement in 2003.

Maria Adams is the language development specialist at Earl Boyles Elementary School and an English language development presenter for the David Douglas School District. Adams has worked in public education for 23 years as a classroom teacher in kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade, and as an instructor of English as a second language in kindergarten through fifth grade. She holds a Master’s degree in Special Education and a Bilingual, Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (BCLAD) certificate.

Dr. Perla Rodriguez is the principal of Echo Shaw Elementary School, one of three schools in the Forest Grove district to offer a dual language program in Spanish and English. She was named Distinguished Latino Educator in 2013 by the Oregon Association for Latino Administrators. Dr. Rodriguez was previously the principal at Cornelius Elementary School, which was designated a “model” Title I school under her leadership, the only school in the district to earn that distinction.

Please tune in, enjoy, and share.

Transcript (PDF)

A Vision for Early Learning in Oregon with Miriam Calderon

by Rafael Otto | Feb 14, 2018 | Instructional Alignment, Oregon Policy, Parents and Families, Podcast, Preschool Landscape, School Readiness

Miriam Calderon is the early learning system director of the Early Learning Division in the Oregon Department of Education. Before returning to Oregon in 2017 to lead the division, she helped build a birth-to-three system and universal preschool for the District of Columbia. She was also a senior fellow with the BUILD Initiative leading work pertaining to dual language learners and universal preschool, and served as a political appointee in the Obama administration.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Preschool Expulsion

by Rafael Otto | Jan 18, 2018 | National Research, Policy in Other States, Preschool Landscape, School Readiness, Equity

What We Talk About When We Talk About Preschool Expulsion Many people associate school expulsion with deliberate disobedience or some form of violence by older kids in the K–12 system. But expulsion affects our youngest learners, too—preschool students as young as age 3 or 4—impacting thousands of children across the country just as their school experience is beginning.

Expulsion at a young age creates a negative educational experience from the start and can predict expulsion or suspension at a later age. It also means that young children lose opportunities to learn, socialize, strengthen behavior skills, and develop positive relationships with adults and learning in general.

A recent analysis from the Center for American Progress, based on the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, found that about 250 preschoolers are expelled daily. This equates to more than 50,000 preschoolers expelled at least once from publicly funded programs with thousands more expelled from private programs each year. The analysis also found that black children “are 2.2 times more likely to be suspended or expelled than other children, and while boys represent 51 percent of the preschool population, they receive 82 percent of the suspensions and expulsions.”

We have a better understanding of how widespread preschool expulsions are thanks to research by Dr. Walter Gilliam from Yale University. In 2005, Gilliam released “Prekindergarteners Left Behind,” a groundbreaking national study that examined expulsion rates in state preschool programs. What he found has helped the field understand the complexity of preschool expulsions and develop ways to prevent expulsion and suspension for young children.

Findings from the Study
After surveying all 40 states that fund prekindergarten programs, Gilliam found that prekindergarten students are three times more likely to be expelled than their K–12 peers. The study also revealed:

State expulsion rates for prekindergarteners exceeded K–12 expulsions in all but three states

Boys were 4.5 times more likely to be expelled than girls

African-American children were expelled at twice the rate of white and Latino children and five times as often as Asian-American children

Four-year-olds are 50 percent more likely to be expelled than 3-year-olds

Expulsion rates were lowest in public schools and Head Start and highest in for-profit and faith-affiliated centers

The likelihood of expulsion decreased when teachers had access to behavioral consultation.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Preschool Expulsion Working to understand the findings, Gilliam and his team examined teacher bias when it came to observing students. Using eye-tracking technology, researchers presented videos to teachers featuring child actors interacting in a preschool setting. The children engaged in normal play activity without behavioral concerns, but the researchers led teachers to believe children might misbehave. Then they monitored who the teachers watched the most.

Invariably, even in small groups with equal numbers of boys and girls and equal numbers of black and white children, teachers more closely monitored black children, with the greatest attention placed on black boys. This proved true for all teachers regardless of race.

In addition, attempts at reducing bias by providing teachers with details about home and family life made the perceptions about behavior worse when the race of the teacher and student were not the same.

The Impact of Implicit Bias

The Child Care State Capacity Building Center (SCBC) defines implicit bias as follows: “Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes that affect understanding, actions, and decisions. These associations cause feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, and appearance. Implicit associations do not necessarily align with declared beliefs.”

The Frameworks Institute makes clear that negative stereotypes are part of the definition, where “implicit bias—the absorption and accumulation of negative stereotypes from media and culture, and the flawed snap judgments that are shaped by those hidden beliefs—is one way that race influences outcomes and creates inequities.”

In Malcolm Gladwell’s 2005 book Blink, he reviews implicit bias test results from Harvard University, finding that “our attitudes toward things like race or gender operate on two levels,” one conscious and one unconscious. He also writes, “The disturbing thing about the test is that it shows that our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values.” This means that bias is built in to our thinking, attitudes, and associations, influencing our behaviors and actions in ways we don’t fully understand.

Additionally, implicit biases are more likely to surface when teachers are pressured to make snap judgments or while working in stressful environments with a heavy cognitive or emotional load. Systemically, these kinds of pressures, combined with a lack of awareness about unconscious conditioning, lead to racial disparities in expulsion, skill assessments, and levels of discipline.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Preschool Expulsion Recent data confirms that disproportionate expulsions continue to grow. 2016 data from the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights indicate that black preschoolers are nearly four times as likely to be suspended as white preschoolers, an increase over expulsion rates in 2005. Black children also represent 19 percent of preschoolers but 47 percent of suspensions.

Expulsion Prevention in Oregon

When it comes to preschool expulsions, the most recent data available showed Oregon ranks 26th out of 52 state prekindergarten programs. It also has the seventh highest expulsion rate among all 50 states for K–12 expulsions.

In 2013, Oregon removed the zero-tolerance policies in schools and in 2015 passed legislation (SB 553) to limit the reasons for suspension or expulsion. Bill sponsors acknowledged the existence of the school-to-prison-pipeline and the connection between school suspensions and increased risk for leaving school and incarceration.

While that bill focused on students under 12, it didn’t address the needs of kids in preschool, in part because public preschool is largely disconnected from the public K–12 system.

Dawn Barberis, an early childhood specialist/OPK specialist at the Early Learning Division of the Oregon Department of Education, agrees with Walter Gilliam that expulsion remains an adult decision, not necessarily a child behavior problem. “With adequate training for teachers and supports for students,” Barberis says, “we can change how teachers relate to kids and to families, and we can break the cycle of expulsion.” Knowing this, she says, Oregon can create policy that offsets the effects of implicit bias, improves teacher skills related to behavioral and social emotional issues, and delivers resources to early learning providers.

Other states are seeing this opportunity now. Illinois, California, Maryland, and Texas recently passed legislation to protect kids from preschool expulsion, and Ohio is considering similar legislation. Connecticut has not only restricted suspension and expulsion in preschool, it provides free mental health consultation services to preschool programs aiming to improve teacher skills and change how adults address behavior.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Preschool Expulsion Donna Schnitker, president of the Oregon Head Start Association, adds that preschool classrooms are seeing more children with severe behavior problems each year, more children in the foster care system, and more families struggling with the effects of addiction. Ultimately, she says, kids and teachers need help. “There is always a key that unlocks the behavior or the issue, but you have to have the skills to do it,” Schnitker says. “Teachers increasingly want kids out of their class, but those kids are telling you something and they will respond if we can understand their actions and what’s behind them.”

That takes time and resources. While Oregon needs to better understand its expulsion issues, which will require improving state data, it’s not too soon to pass policy that gives children supports they need to learn.

More Resources

Take Harvard’s Implicit Bias Tests on Social Attitudes

Watch Videos on Preventing Expulsion and Implicit Bias

Listen to our conversation with Dr. Walter Gilliam, co-author of A Vision for Universal Preschool Education, and the groundbreaking study from 2005 called “Prekindergarteners Left Behind” that examines expulsions rates and the reasons for expulsion in state preschools across the country.

An Interview with Ron Herndon

by Rafael Otto | Jan 9, 2018 | Podcast, Community Engagement, Featured Programs, Oregon Policy, School Readiness, Equity

We invite you to spend an hour listening to our interview with Ron Herndon, a long-time community leader and activist in Portland and nationally. He has been the director of the Portland-based Albina Head Start since 1975, and his background includes more than four decades of advocacy efforts on behalf of low-income families and young children, and Portland’s black community.

Having served as chairman of the board for the National Head Start Association for 20 years, from 1993 to 2013, Herndon offers a unique historical perspective on early childhood in Portland and nationally. Today, his Head Start and Early Head Start programs serve more than 1,000 children in 33 classrooms at 25 locations in North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland. And he has recently pioneered a Mandarin language program, the first of its kind for a Head Start program in the US.

In this interview, we discuss the history of Albina Head Start, racial discrimination and segregation in Portland, and the history of state and federal policy that systematically isolated and suppressed Portland’s African-American community — actions that still have lasting impact today. Herndon also provides his commentary on the history of education in the country, what is lacking for low-income children, the importance of teacher training and family empowerment, and ideas for changing the lives of children with a commitment to their well-being and success.

Please tune in, share, and enjoy.

Interview Highlights

[1:05] The origins of Albina Head Start and Ron’s recruitment by Head Start parents.

[3:03] History of the Albina neighborhood in Portland.

[5:37] Disruption of the black community in Portland and the origins of redlining and housing discrimination.

[9:30] Gentrification versus discriminatory policies such as redlining.

[12:09] Displacement of black people from the Albina neighborhood alongside displacement of black children from black schools.

[18:45] Herndon’s role in the Black United Front to end school bussing policies in the 70s and 80s.

[24:22] Comparing school bussing policies from the 70s to voucher policies in effect today.

[31:14] The reading instruction controversy in Head Start.

[36:29] On the lack of diversity in early learning leadership.

[39:41] The innovation of the Center Training Assistant (CTA) program.

[44:44] Comments on what it takes to run a “high-quality” program and the importance of parent involvment.

[47:36] The future of Head Start and Early Head Start.

[58:04] “Children can learn what we are prepared to teach them. If we set goals and have high aspirations for children the majority of the time they will reach them.”

[1:01:44] Advice on engaging in activism today and pushing for institutional change.

RFP: Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Groups

by Rafael Otto | Nov 14, 2017 | News, Announcements

Invitation

Organizations and consultants are invited to submit one response to the Children’s Institute’s Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Groups Request for Proposal (RFP). To submit a proposal, applicants must comply with the instructions contained in this RFP. By submitting a proposal, the applicant agrees to the RFP terms and conditions. Competitive proposals will be considered for the Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Groups project.

The RFP proposal due date is Friday, December 1, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

Instructions to Submit

Please submit your proposal electronically to Elena Rivera, Health Policy and Program Advisor, at elena@childinst.org by Friday, December 1st, 2017. Please include the title “Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Groups” in the subject line.

Contact

Elena Rivera
Health Policy and Program Advisor
(503) 219-9034
elena@childinst.org

Children’s Institute Overview

Children’s Institute envisions an Oregon where every child is prepared for success in school and life. Children experience their most profound brain development in the first eight years of life, and the quality of life experiences during that time sets the foundation for all future learning and development. We advocate for strategic policies and investments in early education and healthy development, because investing early in kids and their families is the most effective strategy for improving long-term outcomes for Oregon’s children.

Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Group Background

A primary goal of Oregon’s early learning system is ensuring that all children arrive at kindergarten ready for school. There is broad understanding that multiple family, community, early care and education, and health factors contribute to children’s kindergarten readiness. However, there is no consensus about the roles that various sectors play, or how they should work together toward the shared goal of kindergarten readiness.

Oregon’s early learning system is developing an early learning plan for the state, which will include priority actions and policies to improve young children’s kindergarten readiness. Oregon’s health system is seeking to identify metrics that can be implemented to hold the health system accountable for its role in kindergarten readiness. Decision-makers and stakeholders agree that these efforts should be informed by the perspectives of families. Children’s Institute can provide critical support to Oregon by taking the lead on gathering family input on key questions about kindergarten readiness.

Focus Group Purpose and Rationale

Children’s Institute is seeking support from an independent contractor to help conduct 6-8 focus groups with families in communities across Oregon to inform the development of a health system accountability measure related to kindergarten readiness, as well as the development of Oregon’s early learning plan. The purpose of the family focus groups is to solicit input from parents and caregivers on the definition and domains of kindergarten readiness that are most important to them, as well as their perspective on the roles of the health system and early learning systemi in promoting kindergarten readiness. While Oregon has undertaken some past work to gather family input about various early childhood topics, these efforts have tended to be regional and often narrowly focused on gathering input to inform a specific program. This will be the first statewide effort to gather family input on the roles of the health and early learning sectors in promoting kindergarten readiness.

Focus group findings will inform the state’s early learning plan, the process and outcomes of a technical work group dedicated to developing health metrics related to kindergarten readiness, and will be shared broadly with other stakeholders. Importantly, focus groups also present an opportunity for Children’s Institute to deepen relationships with communities across Oregon and build awareness about the importance of a comprehensive early learning system. The goal of the focus groups is to collect input from families to answer three overarching research questions:

How do families define kindergarten readiness and what do they believe are the critical components of kindergarten readiness?
How do families describe the role that the health system plays in promoting kindergarten readiness? [What can pediatricians and other health providers do to support their children’s healthy development? What can clinics/medical homes do to support their children’s healthy development? What positive experiences have families had, and what would they like to see improve?]
How do families describe the role that the early learning system plays in promoting kindergarten readiness? [What can preschool teachers and child care providers do to support their children’s healthy development? What other early learning supports do families need/benefit from? What positive experiences have families had, and what would they like to see improve?]

Scope of Work

Children’s Institute is seeking external support from a contractor to plan and conduct family focus groups. The selected contractor will work closely with Children’s Institute’s Health Policy and Program Advisor and Kindergarten Readiness Consultant on key activities:

Develop and refine the focus group protocol, leveraging similar research undertaken in other areas of the country to ask families about kindergarten readiness.^ii,iii
Develop and refine a sampling plan and outreach materials tailored to our target audience.
Schedule and conduct 6-8 focus groups across Oregon, prioritizing communities where Children’s Institute has strong and growing relationships with partners (ranging from Multnomah County to Wallowa County).
Write individual focus group summary reports of high-level themes on a rolling basis.
Write an overall focus group summary report that identifies key findings across all focus groups.
Our target audience is parents, caregivers, and family members of children ages 0-8. We seek input from families who are living in poverty, belong to racial/ethnic minorities, live in rural communities, and have children with developmental disabilities or special health needs.

All data must be collected, analyzed, and summarized by March 1, 2018.

This short timeline is driven by the processes and timelines for launching a kindergarten readiness metric technical workgroup and developing the state’s early learning plan.

Total project budget is not to exceed $72,000.

Proposal Submission Instructions
Please submit your proposal electronically to Elena Rivera, Health Policy and Program Advisor, at elena@childinst.org by Friday, December 1, 2017. Please include the title “Kindergarten Readiness Family Focus Groups” in the subject line.

Proposals should be no longer than 5 pages long (not including example work
products), and must include:

Statement of organizational capacity, background and qualifications of individuals working on the project that includes:
- Experience conducting focus groups with parents/caregivers of young children, including: families living in poverty, culturally and linguistically diverse families, and families living in rural communities
- Example work products for similar projects
- References for similar projects
Detailed budget and timeline to complete the project within the project timeline (by March 1, 2018) and within the project budget (not to exceed $72,000). The budget should include a clearly delineated fee structure tied to each task associated with the project (e.g. focus group facilitation, travel costs, participation incentives, data analysis).

All submissions are to be for a contractor position. As such, the contractor will be independent and not considered an employee of Children’s Institute. The successful contractor shall be responsible for payment of all social security and income taxes associated with payment for said services.

Notes

i ‘Early learning system’ refers to the programs and services that promote children’s development and learning before they enter kindergarten, and includes voluntary home visiting programs, Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education services, child care, and preschool.

ii http://geears.org/wp-content/uploads/GA-School-Readiness-Framework.pdf

iii http://trustforlearning.org/assets/F_TFL_ParentasConsumers_FullResearchReport_SinglePage_100317.pdf

Download a copy of this RFP

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