Liberation through Literacy

by Talisa_Timms | Mar 5, 2024 | News, Educators and Workforce, Early School Success

Imagine a world where all children experience liberation through literacy.

When I think about the power of literacy, I can’t help but ruminate on the foundational skills that children gain, the impact that learning has on a child’s life, and experiences that empower and engage them in their earliest and most crucial developmental years.

What if all children were exposed to the rhythm and pattern of sound, images of letters dancing on a page, opportunities to engage in imaginative play, and their lived experiences mirrored in stories they are told from birth? How might that positive exposure influence their development trajectory, foster a love for learning, empower their sense of self, and ultimately, enrich their lives?

Early literacy supports the recognition of rhythm, patterns, letters, and sounds, encouraging children to engage in playful inquiry. It creates opportunities to enrich social and emotional development through stories and books. Beyond the conventional components of literacy lie opportunities for children to explore their identities, develop a sense of belonging, and celebrate differences in community.

Liberation through literacy

Liberation through literacy is found when we acknowledge children’s inherent right to find enjoyment in building foundational literacy skills. Liberation is found when we continue to nourish their literacy development and equitably support their families with the resources needed to thrive at every stage of development.

This is reflected in the biliteracy strategies and practices led by our phenomenal Early School Success partners, Forest Grove School District (FGSD) and Beaverton School District (BSD). The leaders of this work are committed to providing high-quality early biliteracy opportunities for their students’ healthy development and lifelong learning.

Angella Graves, FGSD principal and early learning coordinator, recently shared Cornelius Elementary School’s approach to biliteracy with me. “At Cornelius Elementary School, we begin with the understanding that students can learn multiple languages at a young age by strengthening their first language and through multiple experiences in their second, which is why we begin with biliteracy from the start,” Angella explained.

“Learning to read is a civil right, and learning to read in one’s first language should also be a civil right. We want our students to be super bilingual, biliterate, and multicultural and that starts with biliteracy!” she said

Before the pandemic, only 46 percent of all students in Oregon were reading proficiently by the end of third grade. When kids don’t learn to read by third grade, the chances of dropping out of high school increase four fold (Hernandez, 2011). In response, the 2023 Oregon Legislature created its biggest early literacy investment in decades, the Early Literacy Success Initiative. We applaud this investment and believe it has the potential to change outcomes for students across the state.

To support these efforts, Children’s Institute partnered with the Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest (REL NW) to collect existing, readily accessible resources on evidence-based literacy practices for children ages birth through grade 3. I invite you to explore these resources here.

I encourage you to pause and think deeply about how your own experiences influences who you are, and how you show up as a champion for children. I hope it brings you back to warm and joyful memories, or perhaps you can find inspiration in reimagining the world of early literacy for the youngest learners in Oregon, and beyond.

State Partners Celebrate Early Childhood Inclusion

by Celeste Yager-Kandle | Feb 23, 2024 | Preschool, Educators and Workforce, Parents and Families

Oregon Early Childhood Inclusion (OECI) partners convened at Oregon State University for an annual celebration of statewide work to bring high‐quality, inclusive preschool policies and practices to all levels of Oregon’s early care and education system.

The OECI celebration is a culmination of decades of dedication from people engaging in early childhood inclusion work from many perspectives including at the provider level, at the community level, and in school districts and classrooms.

Families, early learning and care providers, and special education practitioners have said that supporting children aged birth-to-five experiencing disability is a core equity priority in Oregon.

State Partners Celebrate Early Childhood Inclusion (2)

To address this, multiple organizations, state agencies, family advocacy networks and policy change makers have come together as part of the Oregon Early Childhood Inclusion Initiative to develop a state team that helps to guide implementation across communities and elevate the voices of the people they serve.

“It looks at the core needs of children, families, providers and educators, and it brings us together under a comprehensive framework at every level of the system, so that we’re all working and walking in the same direction toward belonging, towards wellness, towards true access and meaningful participation,” said Meredith Villines, early childhood coherent strategies specialist at the Oregon Department of Education.

The initiative is also an important step in Oregon’s plan to eliminate suspension and expulsion practices in preschool by providing educators with tools and support, including coaching and professional learning, to support children with higher needs.

“It has been wonderful to attend this celebration and hear from teams who are using these strategies to build inclusive classrooms in their communities,” said Marina Merrill, director of research and strategy at Children’s Institute.

Merrill sits on the OECI state leadership team. She says that high-quality preschool education is powerful for young children’s learning and development, but that conversations about equitable and inclusive preschool are overdue and OECI is working to change that.

“The Oregon Early Childhood Inclusion Initiative is working to remove the barriers at all levels of the early education system to ensure that children with disabilities can access and fully experience high-quality preschool education in the same classrooms as their typically developing peers,” said Merrill. “I look forward to continuing to work with the OECI state leadership team to expand this work to more communities across Oregon.”

Inclusive Early Education for All Children

by Rafael Otto | Feb 16, 2024 | Podcast

Summary

In this episode of The Early Link Podcast, host Rafael Otto sits down with Liane Chappell, at the Hillsboro Early Childhood Center in Hillsboro, Oregon, to talk about Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education. Chappell is the principal at the Early Childhood Center, located at the Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD).

The goal of the Early Childhood Center is to serve kids who have delays and disabilities, and to help them make progress in the areas where they need support. Notably, their aim is to serve every child in an inclusive, natural environment – whether that’s at home, in the classroom, or running errands with their family.

“I’ve always had a passion for inclusion and for wanting to see kids with disabilities be a part of their community like every other kid,” said Chappell. “That’s what has driven me throughout my time at NWRESD and even prior to that in early childhood. I’m working to see every kid be included and get the opportunities that they deserve.”

We think you’ll want to hear the rest of Liane’s story. Listen now!

Children's Institute · Inclusive Early Education for All Children

More about The Early Link Podcast

The Early Link Podcast highlights national, regional, and local voices working in early childhood education and the nonprofit sector. The podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Rafael Otto, Children’s Institute’s director of communications.

Listen to more Early Link Podcast

From Vision to Impact: Early School Success in Action

by Aditi Sharma | Jan 3, 2024 | Educators and Workforce, News, Professional Learning, Early School Success, Equity

As we step into a new year, we are reflecting on the journey of Early School Success (ESS)—a journey that has been shaped by collaboration and a shared commitment to create aligned early learning experiences for children in preschool through fifth grade. ESS represents an ongoing, collective effort to cultivate growth, resilience, and academic achievement for young learners. Rooted in evidence-based strategies, ESS strives to bridge the gap between research and practice, and seeks to build educational systems that actively support a range of educational needs.

We have come a long way since the inception of ESS and appreciate the path that we have travelled to get to where we are now. We look forward to the next phase of this work, which will focus on reaching more students through deep partnerships with school districts and educators.

The Early School Success Approach

The School-Based Initiatives (SBI) team at Children’s Institute partners with school districts across Oregon. One of the key bodies of work within SBI is Early School Success (ESS), which supports educators and school leaders to align family engagement, developmentally appropriate teaching and learning, and other school supports for children. This ensures continuity from preschool through the elementary grades and sets a foundation for lifelong learning. Current ESS partners include Beaverton, Forest Grove, Lincoln County, and St. Helens school districts.

Additionally, ESS reaches more educators and students through our Early School Success Academy (ESS Academy), which is open to all school districts and education service districts (ESDs) in Oregon. ESS Academy is a virtual cohort-based learning experience that guides district teams through a year-long professional learning series. In our 2023-24 ESS Academy cohort, nine school districts and ESDs across Oregon are engaged in alignment and building systems to strengthen early learning.

At their core, ESS and ESS Academy create a holistic vision and nurture learning environments beyond traditional educational models, tailored to each child’s unique needs. Our approaches are community-driven and draw upon the strengths of improvement science and human-centered design. This work aims to address the root causes of educational inequity and dismantle systemic barriers to school success.

Charting the course forward

After five years of meaningful engagement with school district partners, ESS is transitioning into a strategic five-year expansion. The next phase will focus on continued support for rural school districts and ESS Academy expansion.

After the first four years of partnership, Beaverton and Forest Grove school districts are set to become learning labs, spreading ESS and improvement processes across their elementary schools. As we continue this work well into the future, we plan to increase the number of schools benefiting from ESS, ensuring innovative models, support, and resources reach more districts, schools, and educators. We will also be able to provide more resources and reach more districts, schools, and educators. 

Our partnerships make ESS successful

Now, more than ever, the success of Early School Success is deeply intertwined with the dedicated support of educators and school districts. Over the last five years, CI’s engagement with two unique cohorts of educators has provided direct coaching to 114 educators and impacted over 3,000 students.

“I have worked with Children’s Institute for the last three years and as an educator, I have learned so much from them,” said Dani Boylan, director of early learning at Helens School District.

These powerful partnerships highlight tangible outcomes in the classroom. For example, children who attended Toledo preschool learned the flow of their school day by managing an interactive visual schedule; and in Toledo kindergarten classrooms children use the same process, making the transition from one learning environment to another consistent.

CI also partners with four different culturally specific organizations for the Early School Success Academy—CAIRO, Y.O.U.T.H, S.P.I.R.I.T.S, and Adelante Mujeres—which further strengthens professional learning for educators to find solutions that work best for the communities they work with.

Boylan explained that the partnership has made the St. Helens School District stronger with administrators, teachers, and families better understanding the importance of early learning and all that it entails.

“This partnership has made my district stronger as a team. Administrators, teachers and families are seeing the importance of early learning and all that goes with it,” she said.

“Together, we’re helping children be more successful by working with teachers to make the transition more effortless for preschool to third grade.”

Interested in bringing ESS Academy to your district? Contact Shawnté Hines at shawnte@childinst.org.

2023 In Review: Our Top Ten Moments

by Suze Wehr | Dec 20, 2023 | News

As 2023 draws to a close, we are celebrating on a high note and want to express our deepest gratitude for everything we accomplished together this year!

As champions for children, our collective efforts made a critical impact on Oregon’s early childhood landscape, from individual families to important legislative wins, and internal growth. Our policy team worked with community partners to successfully advocate for major state funding in early childhood. We brought more people onto our staff team, which included the addition of a new Senior Health Policy Advisor role. Meanwhile, our School-Based Initiatives team helped school districts across Oregon increase preschool enrollment and supported over 73,000 children! And as we reached our 20th anniversary, we celebrated this milestone with our largest supporter gathering yet at the Champions for Children–20 Years of Impact luncheon.

These achievements directly impact the lives of Oregon’s children. Families will have greater access to child care facilities. Educators and administrators will have the additional support they need to help children learn. And thousands more of our youngest learners across the state will have access to the love, care, and education they need—and so deserve—to thrive. This includes opportunities to attend preschool, receive inclusive care, and develop literacy skills. This is the work that inspires us every day and we are excited for what the year ahead will bring, with our partners and supporters alongside us.

To recap the past year, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite moments from 2023. Take a look!

This is an image of an early childhood classroom

This is an image of a CI staff member in a session with a group of educators

This is an image of a group of educators gathered at tables in a well lit room

This is an image of the Governor signing bills into law at the Oregon Capitol surrounded by early childhood advocates

This is an image of early childhood advocates wearing matching scarves and getting ready to for lobby sessions at the Capitol.

This is a screenshot of Kali Thorne Ladd presenting for Promise Ventures Fellowship pitch competition

This is an image of Improvement Specialist Talisa and an educator mid-conversation

This is a group shot of CI staff members at a team lunch.

This is an image of CEO Kali Thorne Ladd, board member Maddie, and another guest at the 20th Anniversary event.

This image shows a group of happy CI staff members laughing together during the anniversary event.

This is an image of a large picnic taking place in a field in Yoncalla

Top 10 Moments of 2023

1. Celebrated 20 years of Children’s Institute’s impact at our Champions for Children luncheon with over 550 people!

2. Honored Ron Herndon’s legacy with the 2023 Alexander Award.

3. Brought new staff onto our team! We are so glad that Aditi, Andi, Elena, Destiny, Julio, and Suzanna joined us in 2023.

4. Worked in collaboration with partners to help secure $100 million for early literacy and $55 million for early childhood infrastructure in the 2023 legislative session.

5. Convened our first in-person advocacy event since the beginning of the pandemic with Early Childhood Coalition partners at the State Capitol!

6. Participated in the Promise Ventures Fellowship.

7. Celebrated 10 years of Yoncalla Early Works!

8. Hosted the first Early School Success leadership camp for educators.

9. Kali Thorne Ladd appeared on Hello! Rose City, Afternoon Live, and AM Northwest!

10. Secured a new office space at the Crown Plaza in downtown Portland.

We invite you to reflect on these with joy and inspiration, as these are all a result of our collective vision and impact. We are excited about all the possibilities in the coming year!

In community,
Children’s Institute Staff and Board

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