Multicultural
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Learning Objectives
By the time you reach the end of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
1. Define multicultural education and explain its benefits.
2. Describe the three foundations of culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction.
3. Compare ways of developing dual language skills.
4. Describe how to conduct fair and meaningful assessments of culturally diverse students.
5. Explain how to assess classroom practices to ensure they are aligned with the tenets of culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction.
Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Curriculum 3
Pre-Test 1. Teachers who subscribe to a “colorblind”
curriculum are not delivering culturally sensitive, anti-bias instruction. T/F
2. Children from various cultures develop so differently that it is impossible to use basic child development knowledge to design curriculum for ethnically and linguistically diverse children. T/F
3. Learning two languages confuses children and delays their language development. T/F
4. The purpose of a one-way immersion bilingual education program is to support dual language learners’ acquisition of English. T/F
5. Assessments can be modified to accommodate cultural diversity. T/F
Answers can be found at the end of this chapter.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Introduction
In the dramatic play area, Mrs. Sims observes two students acting out the rituals of puja that they observe in their homes. Puja is a Hindu religious ritual that many people perform every morning. She watches as the children place the toy fruit and flowers in a small corner of the room and begin chanting in Sanskrit and ringing a bell. This teacher, who practices Christianity, is confused by what the children are doing. She has no idea what the children are saying, and she is not sure why they have stacked all the food or are ringing the bell. Soon after other children take a seat alongside their classmates and happily join in the chanting and ringing. Mrs. Sims gets ner- vous that the children will “get out of hand,” so she tells them to find something else to pretend.
How do you think the children felt when she interrupted their play? What message did she send to them about what things are okay to pretend and what things are not? How could Mrs. Sims use this as an opportunity for the children to learn something about Hindu culture?
This example represents some of the teaching opportunities educators face when they are teaching children from culturally diverse backgrounds. It highlights issues related to ethnic tra- ditions (i.e., the children acting out the ritual), language (i.e., chanting in Sanskrit), and how Mrs. Sims might learn how to facilitate children’s group play around ethnic traditions—that is, how she can help teach children to celebrate their classmates’ games and pretend scenarios.
In this chapter, we define a type of multicultural education we call culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction, which has been described by several other researchers (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; York, 2003). Next, we describe how educators can achieve culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction through thoughtful use of language in the classroom, especially those language inter- actions used to teach dual-language learners (DLLs). Then we describe how to conduct a fair and meaningful assessment for culturally diverse children. Finally, we end with a discussion of how educators can make instructional accommodations for culturally diverse learners.
3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Although education scholars, teachers, school administrators, and policy makers disagree on exactly how to define multicultural education, they would probably all agree that multicultural education challenges and rejects racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression in society by emphasizing social justice and democracy and by promoting the con- cepts of human rights, equitable distribution of power, and equal participation in decision making (York, 2003).
York (2003) explains that the philosophy for multicultural education has its roots in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s; however, it wasn’t until the 1980s that education scholars in the early childhood field began to articulate what such a philosophy meant for teaching young children. A few key multicultural education books focused on early childhood were published in that decade, and these books were the first to clearly articulate the need for multicultural education during the preschool period and to demand it. These books are listed in the Spotlight on Research feature, “History-Making Books in Early Childhood Multicultural Education.” Among these, the publication
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Spotlight on Research: History-Making Books in Early Childhood Multicultural Education
These books can be found in college libraries, and some are still available for sale, new or used, through booksellers.
• Diversity in the Classroom (1996), by Francis Kendall, explores anti-bias education by emphasizing how the teacher can be the agent of change. Kendall fits anti-bias education within the stages of development and suggests strategies teachers can use for effectively working with families.
• Teaching and Learning in a Diverse World (2004), by Patricia Ramsey, defines what multicultural education is across all settings. Ramsey explores issues of culture, class, gender and sexual ori- entation, and developmental disabilities. This book guides educators on how to teach children to use their curiosity and compassion to make sense of a complex world.
• Alerta: A Multicultural, Bilingual Approach to Teaching Young Children (1984), by Leslie Williams and Yvonne De Gaetano, challenges programs and school administrators as well as teachers to view language and culture as essential tools for educating young children.
• Black Children: Their Roots, Culture, and Learning Styles (1986), by Janice Hale Benson, draws on sociology, anthropology, history, and psychology to describe how African-American children develop within a home culture that is distinct from the school culture, and she suggests curricu- lum reforms that might help bridge the gap between home and school for Black children.
• Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (1989), by Louise Derman-Sparks and the Anti-Bias Curriculum (ABC) Task force, which was convened to develop a practical guide to anti-bias instruction that teachers could use in the classroom. This classic work has been recently remastered by Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards and published in 2010 by NAEYC.
that began to translate the scholarly ideas into classroom practice was Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, developed by Louise Derman-Sparks and the Anti-Bias Curricu- lum Task Force in 1989. The Derman-Sparks book was influential with early childhood educators because it translated the theory and research on multicultural education into curriculum and daily activity suggestions that teachers could use in the classroom. An updated version, published in 2010, expands upon the original, covering topics that range from gender and racial identity to issues of fairness as it relates to economic class, family structure, and disability. We will talk more about what can be gleaned from this book later in the chapter.
Multicultural education contributes to children’s success by preparing them for interactions in a globalized world. Children in upcoming generations will live in a world that is ethnically, racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse. In order to successfully compete in such a global market, all children must be knowledgeable about and motivated and comfortable interacting with people from other cultures. Multicultural education can prepare children for the global market by pro- viding them with the knowledge, and sometimes even the language skills, that they will need to interact with diverse people from around the world. Training teachers to deliver multicultural edu- cation is also important because it teaches them how to develop meaningful instructional rela- tionships with diverse children and families. In fact, as Ladson-Billings (1994) explains, “If teachers are to be effective, they will need to be prepared to teach children who are not white.”
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Benefits of Exposing All Children to Multicultural Education Being exposed to multicultural education is important to all children. For those in cultural and linguistic minorities, this pedagogical model forces educators to acknowledge and affirm their cultures, and helps ensure that they are provided equitable access to education resources and opportunities. Such a pedagogical framework has the potential to empower students and parents, making school interactions more enjoyable for them and building a stronger sense of connection among minority children, their families, and the school.
Multicultural education is also important to European-American children, especially in predomi- nantly European-American, non-diverse, isolated geographic regions. In their book What If All the Kids Are White? Derman-Sparks, Ramsey, and Edwards (2011) eloquently articulate the need for multicultural instruction for children who are not culturally or linguistically in minority groups themselves. Multicultural education helps all children in the following ways:
• Teaching them to embrace cultural differences. When children grow up in environ- ments where their culture is dominant, they may develop the tendency to believe that everyone shares the same views as them or they may become uncomfortable dealing with and talking about differences. As adults they might say things like, “I am colorblind,” or “I just wasn’t raised to see differences between people.” These state- ments deny cultural differences, and reflect an unspoken view that everyone is (or should be) like them. If children are exposed to cultural differences early in life, differ- ences are seen as important and necessary characteristics of individual children and their families. Children grow up learning to accept people’s different perspectives and experiences, and they grow up with the expectation that such differences between people will need to be mediated through discussions and compromises between people who are different.
• Teaching them to be tolerant and unbiased. A denial of social injustice plagues our society, and often people are afraid to acknowledge that injustice because they do not know how to begin to address it. Multicultural education, specifically one that focuses on anti-bias, begins to empower even young children with the tools they need to address inequalities and injustices because such an instructional framework inten- tionally focuses on issues such as fairness and equality.
• Preventing them from being culturally isolated. There are some parts of the United States in which children live in communities where nearly everyone is from their same racial or ethnic group. Living in such an environment gives people a sense of false homogeneity (sameness) about the world because they grow up thinking that every- one is like them. Multicultural education connects to the diversity of the world by giving them knowledge and experience with other cultures. It allows them to learn to appreciate the similarities across human nature as well as the differences that are due to our cultural traditions and upbringing.
When early childhood educators adhere to a multicultural education framework, they are helping students embrace cultural differences, actively speak out against bias, and avoid being culturally isolated. Teachers who use this framework can have a tremendous effect—not only on individual children, but also on society as a whole—because they will be teaching an upcoming generation to be culturally sensitive and to strive for social justice, which can diminish the amount of sexism, racism, homophobia, and classism within our society.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction as an Approach to Multicultural Education York (2003) explains that a variety of approaches to multicultural education exist and each approach provides a slightly different perspective; however, they all aim to challenge oppression and encourage social justice and equality. The view to which we subscribe attempts to simplify these various approaches into what we refer to as culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction, and it focuses heavily on teaching educators to be culturally relevant while at the same time teaching them how to help children understand and actively speak out against biases in society. Culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction is not synonymous with direct instruction (or teacher-led instruc- tion); in fact, many culturally relevant instructional strategies focus on play, group learning activi- ties, and collaborative classroom discussions.
Based on the views of Gay (2000) and Ladson-Billings (1994), we define culturally relevant instruction as teaching that incorporates the cultural knowledge, experiences, and diverse learn- ing/communication styles of culturally and linguistically diverse students. We intentionally link the terms culturally relevant and anti-bias because the instruction of ethnic/racial minorities cannot be achieved without an anti-bias focus. Anti-bias instruction focuses on the social justice inequali- ties and prejudices in our social structures and our cultural stereotypes. Examples of social justice inequalities include discrimination, institutional racism, and unequal distribution of health and social services.
The updated Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010) describes four instructional goals teachers should have for their students. Table 3.1 out- lines these goals. Although Derman-Sparks and Edwards describe these instructional goals only in terms of anti-bias education, their first two goals fit nicely within the realm of cultural relevance, while the last two speak to anti-bias issues in particular.
Table 3.1: Four Instructional Goals of Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
Goals Description
Goal 1 Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.
Goal 2 Each child will express comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections.
Goal 3 Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts both the recipient and the perpetrator.
Goal 4 Each child will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.
Source: Adapted from Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
Overall, our approach to a culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction focuses on the following:
• Acknowledging that the United States is comprised of a variety of sub-cultures that have each contributed in some way to the overall fabric of its culture. This is congru- ent with Goals 1 and 2 because acknowledging the contributions of subcultures will promote a sense of pride by allowing children to see how their own cultural group has contributed to American culture, while at the same time teaching them to recog- nize the diversity that exists within our country.
• Teaching children how to appreciate diversity by helping them foster and maintain healthy and productive relationships with children from different cultures, which is congruent with Goal 2.
• Incorporating education practices and materials that reflect the cultural beliefs, values, and practices of ethnic/racial and language minorities, which will help foster Goal 1;
• Empowering families to actively participate in their child’s education and using class- room activities that bridge the learning activities in the home and school (e.g., build- ing the home-school connection), which aligns with Goal 1.
• Incorporating children’s home language into the classroom in a systematic and inten- tional way to build children’s abilities to maintain their home language as well as build their English skills, which aligns with Goal 1.
• Helping children become anti-biased by teaching them to recognize and speak out against unjust behavior, which matches Goals 3 and 4.
What Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction Looks Like in the Classroom In the early childhood classroom, culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction is exemplified by teach- ers being intentional about incorporating children’s cultural knowledge and traditions into instruc-
tional practices and teaching chil- dren to take action against the social structures and forces that perpetuate inequality. In these classrooms, teachers understand that activating children’s prior cultural knowledge should be the first step in promoting children’s learning because doing so facili- tates their understanding of new content (Zepeda, Castro, & Cro- nin, 2011).
Furthermore, teachers must realize the importance of aca- demic achievement as well as the importance of maintaining cultural identity and heritage for children’s social-emotional
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Having books with characters of different ethnicities available in your classroom encourages an anti-bias and culturally relevant multicultural education.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 What Is Multicultural Education?
development. In these classrooms, children have an active voice in rule making and deci- sion making. Teachers focus on teaching children the skills of problem solving, critical think- ing, and working cooperatively. These classrooms are filled with culturally sensitive materi- als, such as dolls with different skin colors, books that display characters from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, clothes in the dramatic play area that represent different cultures, and electronic media tools that represent minorities in non-stereotypical ways.
York (2003) devotes two chapters to the use of culturally relevant, anti-bias materials and activi- ties, and her work can be used as a reference to obtain ideas for instruction. In addition, there are also various instructional sites on the Internet that teachers can access to get ideas about classroom activities and materials that have been used in public school pre-K classrooms. Once you learn and adopt the goals of the culturally relevant, anti-bias multicultural curriculum, you will begin to develop your own ideas for the classroom—ideas that are specifically suited to the needs and strengths of the students and families in your classrooms.
Persona Dolls as an Example of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Classroom Prop To reiterate, there is no scripted culturally relevant, anti-bias classroom curriculum with a pre- defined set of classroom activities that must be followed in a specific sequence. Nevertheless, one innovative instructional prop that has been used in culturally relevant, anti-bias multicultural education approaches are persona dolls. These can help educators teach tolerance, empathy, problem solving, and conflict resolution.
Persona dolls are different from other types of dolls because they are not to be played with in a “house” area like other baby dolls that children can dress and feed. Instead, these dolls take on a personality in the class, almost as if they are puppets, and each doll comes with a book that details their life story and challenges that they must overcome. Teachers might introduce these dolls to children during small group time, share the dolls’ stories with the children, and then engage children in a conversation about what they think the dolls might do. Teachers routinely use these dolls to talk about difficult situations children and families face, like witnessing war events, having a parent in jail, being made fun of for having two lesbian moms, or negotiating inaccessible areas with a disability.
Persona dolls are used by teachers all over the world, including in the United Kingdom and Aus- tralia, as well as in the United States. To learn more about how persona dolls are given distinct characters, look up the nine AMAZE Persona dolls; to find specific ideas for how to incorporate them into your classroom, check the Teaching for Change website or Trisha Whitney’s (1999) Kids Like Us: Using Persona Dolls in the Classroom.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
Culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction encompasses all aspects of development— cognitive, social-emotional, and physical. It is grounded in the science of child develop-ment and evidence-based early childhood practice. Below we describe in detail three foundations of early childhood education, and we discuss how culture, and sometimes bias, may influence these foundations.
Foundation 1: The Science of Brain Development From birth through age 8, children are making drastic strides in their brain development, espe- cially in biologically based, “hardwired” skills of vision, language, and higher-order thinking. These hardwired skills develop quickly during the first years of life, during what has been often called sensitive periods (or critical periods) of development. A sensitive period is a window of time when specific brain regions are growing rapidly due to heightened plasticity (Huttenlocher, Cymermen, & Levine, 2002).
Figure 3.1: Sensitive Periods in Early Brain Development
According to this graph, which period is the most sensitive for language development?
Source: Courtesy of Charles A. Nelson, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Synaptogenesis (–3 months to 15–18 years?)
Months Years Decades
Experience-dependent synapse formation
Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus
Adult levels of synapses
Seeing / hearing
(V isu
al c ortex / auditory cortex)
R ece
ptive language area / speech production
(A ngu
lar gyrus / B roca’s area)
Higher cognitive functions
(Prefrontal cortex)
Age
–2 –1 0 21 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 40 50 60 70
B ir
th
D e a th
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
As you can see in Figure 3.1, the most sensitive time period for vision is through the toddler years. Although the sensitive time period for higher-order thinking skills—such as planning, problem- solving, self-regulation, and creativity—spans from birth to adolescence, a sharp rise in brain development for receptive and expressive language takes place between birth and age 5. This research tells us that early childhood is a critical period in development. For this reason, educators should strive to expose children to educational experiences that will stimulate brain development during these sensitive periods.
For example, the language-related areas of a child’s brain have the greatest potential for strength- ening their capacity during the years of early childhood. The early childhood educator, along with children’s primary caregivers, holds the vital role of providing children’s developing brains with the quality and quantity of linguistic stimulation that will take advantage of the neural plasticity that characterizes these early years. This is a particularly critical endeavor for children who receive very little language stimulation in the home.
The experiences that children have during their first few years of life are critical to their later devel- opment because the hardware of the brain is dependent upon these experiences to build poten- tial brain capacity. This is what child development scholars describe as the interaction between nature and nurture (Garcia Coll, Bearer, & Lerner, 2004). It is important to understand that biologi- cal or physical characteristics are molded by environmental forces. So how can early childhood teachers provide rich environmental experiences that will nurture children’s brain development?
Foundation 2: Evidence-Based Early Education Practices At the heart of culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction are intentional teaching and active partici- patory learning. Intentional teaching is acting with knowledge and purpose to organize learning opportunities to meet children’s developmental and learning goals in a way that purposefully scaf- folds, challenges, and extends children’s learning (Epstein, 2007; Pianta, 2003). Intentional teach- ing is central to what the early childhood field defines as developmentally appropriate practice, and teachers and researchers both agree that intentional teaching that operates from a develop- mentally appropriate framework is ideal for all children. The best way to define intentional teach- ing is to compare a scenario showing intentional teaching to one that does not.
NOT an Example of Intentional Teaching: Preschoolers are bustling around the classroom, enjoying the last 5 minutes of their free-play time. Without warning, Miss Jones says, “Come over here for circle time!” The preschoolers scramble, dropping their activities and toys and leaving them where dropped. The children are confused because there was no transition from activity to activity—no 5-minute warning, no clean up song. They head over to the rug to sit for circle time and they each take a seat. Ming and Xiangjin, best friends who are constantly talking to each other in Mandarin, sit down next to each other, happily holding hands. Miss Jones says, “Ming, you sit here,” and motions for her to sit next to Ralph, who is sitting on the other side of the rug. Miss Jones reaches behind to the book shelf and randomly selects a book. She begins to read Happy Belly, Happy Smile by Rachel Isadora, but when she gets to the second page she stops and says, “I don’t like these pictures.” Then she puts that book down and reaches for another one.
Example of Intentional Teaching: Preschoolers are bustling around the classroom, enjoy- ing the last 5 minutes of their free-play time. Miss Jones announces, “You have 5 more minutes, friends! Then we will have circle time.” The preschoolers continue to play, and
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
when time is up, Miss Jones breaks into song: “Clean up, clean up. Everybody, every- where. Clean up, clean up . . .” Children begin to transition quickly from playing to putting their toys away. At the end of the singing, Miss Jones says, “Please have a seat on the rug for circle time,” and all the children head over to take a seat. She notices that, like usual, Ming and Xiangjin are smiling, walking hand-in-hand, and chatting in Mandarin. The two girls sit next to each other on the rug, and the other children take seats of their choosing as well. Miss Jones reaches behind her on the book shelf to grab Happy Belly, Happy Smile, by Rachel Isadora, which she has read the night before. From inside the book, she takes out her planning notes, where she has jotted down the vocabulary words she wants to introduce and the questions she wants to ask the children. She reads the entire book and then begins a discussion with the children about their thoughts on the book.
Can you describe why one of these examples illustrates intentional teaching and the other does not? Notice how, in the first example, the teacher provided no transition from activity to activity, which left the children uneasy and confused about what to do next. She also did not organize a lesson plan around a particular book; instead, she grabbed a book off the shelf and then stopped reading it because she wasn’t satisfied with the illustrations.
The worst mistake Miss Jones made, especially in the realm of being culturally relevant, was that she purposely broke up the emotional support relationship between Ming and Xiangjin without providing an explanation or reason to the children. Ethnically matched peer relationships are important to young children, especially in classrooms that are not ethnically diverse and when the friendship pair shares a common language (Girouard, Stack, & O’Neill-Gilbert, 2011; Howes, Wishard Guerra, Fuligni, Zucker, Lee, Obregon, & Spivak, 2011; Kyratzis, 2010). The second example, on the other hand, demonstrates what culturally relevant, intentional teaching can look like in an early childhood classroom.
In addition to using intentional teaching, educators must support active participa- tory learning (Epstein, 2007) within their classrooms by allowing children to share control and responsibility for shaping their learning experiences. Active par- ticipatory learning is especially impor- tant for anti-bias instruction because children need to have a sense of control and responsibility in order to be able to speak out against unfairness and prejudice. The ultimate goal for anti-bias instruction is for children to internalize the message that unfairness is wrong and that they can act against it. If the classroom environ- ment is teacher-dominated, one in which only the teacher can determine what is right or wrong and where the teacher always resolves problems, then the children will never learn to believe that they have the voice and power within themselves to speak out and take action.
Corbis/SuperStock
Preparing activities, like reading a book that has specific vocabulary words you would like to teach your students, is part of intentional teaching.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
The ability to share control and take responsibility is not just learned when there is unfairness in the classroom; it is learned throughout the school day, from allowing children to make choices about what activities they engage in, to share their experiences and feelings in a nonjudgmental environment, and to be scaffolded in resolving minor, everyday disputes among peers over toys and turn-taking.
With regard to curriculum, Head Start has thoughtfully and clearly translated what early child- hood scholars know about developmental domains into the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. Although this framework was developed by the Office of Head Start to provide guidance to their early childhood programs, it is useful to all types of early childhood programs because it embodies what we know as a field about evidence-based practices.
Table 3.2 summarizes the framework. It highlights the key areas of school readiness that are nec- essary for academic subjects, and it also highlights developmental areas of school readiness that are needed to foster a sense of well-being, a positive self-concept, and a sense of cultural identity. For example, the social and emotional domain includes self-concept and self-efficacy; the social studies knowledge and skills domain includes family and community, history and events, and peo- ple and the environment. In addition, there is a domain that is specifically targeted toward DLLs, the English language development domain.
Table 3.2: Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework
Domain Domain Element
C o
gn iti
o n
a n
d G
en er
al K
n o
w le
d ge
Logic and reasoning • Reasoning and problem solving • Symbolic representation
Mathematics knowledge and skills • Number concepts and quantities • Number relationships and operations • Geometry and spatial sense • Patterns • Measurement and comparison
Science knowledge and skills • Scientific skills and method • Conceptual knowledge of the natural
and physical world • Social studies knowledge and skills • Family and community • History and events • People and the environment
P h
ys ic
al D
ev el
o p
m en
t
an d
H ea
lt h
Physical development and health • Physical development and health • Physical health status • Health knowledge and practice • Fine motor skills
(continued)
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
Domain Domain Element So
ci al
a n
d E
m o
ti o
n al
D
ev el
o p
m en
t Social and emotional development • Social and emotional development
• Social relationships • Self-concept and self-efficacy • Self-regulation • Emotional and behavioral health
A p
p ro
ac h
es t
o
Le ar
n in
g
Creative arts expression • Music • Creative movement and dance • Art • Drama
Approaches to learning • Initiative and curiosity • Persistence and attentiveness • Cooperation
La n
gu ag
e an
d
Li te
ra cy
Language development • Receptive language • Expressive language
Literacy knowledge and skills • Book appreciation • Phonological awareness • Alphabet knowledge • Print concepts and conventions • Early writing
En gl
is h
L an
gu ag
e D
ev el
o p
m en
t
English language development (only applies to DLLs)
• Receptive English language skills • Expressive English language skills • Engagement in English literacy
activities
Source: Adapted from Office of Head Start. (2010). The Head Start child development and learning framework: promoting positive outcomes in early childhood programs serving children 3–5 years old. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Foundation 3: Positive, Nurturing Relationships With Teachers Research about early childhood education clearly highlights how important positive relation- ships are to children’s growth and learning. Children thrive in classroom settings that are nurtur- ing, enjoyable, and cognitively stimulating. A teacher aims for this by making sure that both she and the other students accept and honor each child’s unique strengths and contributions. Some researchers (Byrnes, 1987; York, 2003) describe how children have certain “human rights” within a classroom environment, and York suggests that teachers display the pledge in the Spotlight on Research feature, “Children’s Rights in the Classroom,” which we have adapted to fit the language and literacy skills of the average preschooler.
Table 3.2: Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework (continued)
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
When a child has a close relationship with his teacher, that child has better school readiness, behaves better, and has better relationships with his peers (Palermo, Hanish, Martin, Fabes, & Reiser, 2007). However, teachers need to be aware that gender and racial biases they are not aware of might inhibit them from developing these needed close relationships with some of their students. For instance, research shows that teachers are more likely to report having close rela- tionships with girls than with boys and with children who are European American than an ethnic minority (Ewing & Taylor, 2009); such a bias may be an artifact of the early childhood workforce, given that the majority of teachers are European American women. In addition, Black children may be at an even greater disadvantage than their peers; many studies have found that teachers have closer relationships with White and Hispanic students than they do with African American students (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Hughes, Gleason, & Zhang, 2005; Saft & Pianta, 2001).
Whether teachers and children share the same ethnicity can affect their relationship. Research has shown that teachers and students who do not share the same ethnicity are less likely to form a secure attachment relationship, and this is especially true when there is a conflicted relationship (Howes & Shivers, 2006). They are more likely to rate children from a different background as hav- ing more problem behaviors, indicating that teachers rate children from their own ethnic group more positively (Chang et al., 2007). Conversely, teacher-child ethnic match is associated with a closer relationship, especially for Hispanic children and teachers (Saft & Pianta, 2001).
Furthermore, children in ethnic and linguistic minorities exhibit more advanced play behavior when they are enrolled in diverse classrooms in which they have at least one peer that shares their cultural heritage (Howes, Sanders, & Lee, 2008). In addition, teachers report being uncertain about the strategies needed to support the language development of children with limited English skills (Diamond & Powell, 2010). Therefore, research demonstrates that children’s ethnicity and cultural heritage does affect their relationships with their teachers and classmates, and teachers need to be aware of this and trained in how to respond appropriately.
Given that the ethnic match between teachers and students and the diversity of the classroom affect the quality of relationships, what can teachers do to ensure children are treated fairly? First, teachers must be honest with themselves about their perceptions, both positive and negative, of the children within their class. Unfortunately, teachers’ perceptions of children are formed early in the school year and do not change much throughout the school year (Dou- men, Koomen, Buyse, Wouters, & Verschueren, 2012). The best thing teachers can do is be sure
Spotlight on Research: Children’s Rights in the Classroom I have the right to be happy and to be treated with [kindness] in this room. This means that no one will laugh at me or hurt my feelings. I have a right to be myself in this room; this means that no one will treat me unfairly because of my skin color, or because I am fat or thin, tall or short, a boy or girl, or because of the way I look. I have a right to be safe in this room. This means that no one will hit me, kick me, push me, pinch me, or hurt me. I have a right to hear and be heard in this room. This means that no one will yell, scream, shout, or make loud noises. I have a right to learn about myself in this room. This means that I will be free to express my feelings and opinions without being interrupted or punished. I have a right to learn according to my own ability. This means no one will call me names because of the way I learn. (York, 2003, p. 251)
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 The Foundations of a Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Instruction
Real World Dilemma: Using Positive Relationships to Foster Good Behavior
While working as a principal in a pre-K to grade 2 elementary school that served primarily low-income immigrant families with limited English skills, Dr. Linda Espinosa was charged with creating discipline strategies for young children who were getting in trouble in school. She based them on the belief that every child benefits from a caring, positive relationship with at least one school official (a teacher, prin- cipal, literacy coach, etc.). Here is her description:
As the only on-site administrator, I was responsible for addressing behavior problems and enacting our discipline policies. I often was asked to “straighten out” young 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old children (frequently boys) who had trouble following directions, had trouble sit- ting through activities, had trouble waiting their turn, or were sometimes physically aggres- sive to their peers. These youngsters were frustrating their teachers and disrupting the learning in their classrooms.
My first response was always to spend some time getting to know each child. I considered this “golden time.” This was when I found out about their families, their pets, their favorite activi- ties, their best friends, what they liked and disliked about school, and what they were having trouble with. During this time, I also developed a plan of action with each child, detailing the school expectations and the consequences for breaking the rules. Then I set up a schedule that teamed one caring adult, sometimes me but often another staff person, with each child.
I discovered that most of the young children who acted out were looking for attention from a caring adult who helped the child feel safe and supported. This combination of individual attention, structured plan of action tailored to each child’s identified needs, and schoolwide consistency was most often enough to witness improvements in behavior. In fact, I often saw these difficult-to-manage children become more reengaged with school and exert their con- siderable energies toward creative learning.
(continued)
that they begin the school year with an open mind. Think about the impressions you form of your students on the first day that they walk into class. How can you guard against developing a nega- tive perception of your students? Even more important, think about how you can rebuild your relationship with a student of whom you have developed a negative perception.
Linda Espinosa, in Getting it Right for Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds, describes how she created a “discipline plan of action” when she was an elementary school principal that ulti- mately resulted in rebuilding relationships with students who had been previously perceived as “problem” students. The Real World Dilemma feature, “Using Positive Relationships to Foster Good Behavior,” explains the approach Espinosa took when she tried to build a better relationship with a student that a teacher had negatively labeled. Her approach included spending set-aside one-on-one time with the student, and using this time not to punish the student or talk about discipline issues, but instead to build a personal connection with the child.
A personal connection can be built by talking about what interests the child, talking about the child’s feelings and family life, or interacting with the child during an activity that he or she enjoys. Teachers can adopt such an approach for themselves by setting aside time throughout the day to interact with children who are different from them and children with whom they have a strained relationship.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Key Instructional Practices and Considerations for Dual Language Learners
Real World Dilemma: Using Positive Relationships to Foster Good Behavior (continued)
While on the playground or during my classroom visits, I deliberately established eye contact, smiled, and acknowledged the child’s good work, which helped to affirm our special relation- ship. Through these positive relationships with mutual regard, I was able to establish a context of trust; I was then able to influence and redirect behavior. My secret to enacting our discipline policies was to work hard on establishing deeper connections and caring relationships. (p. 46)
Reflection Questions:
1. Describe some of the behavior problems that the children were displaying. 2. Why do you think the use of “golden time” was so important for changing the
children’s behavior? 3. Imagine that you are having similar behavior problems with a child in your class,
and draft a plan of action that might help decrease the child’s behavior problems.
Source: Espinosa, Linda M. Getting it Right for Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds: Applying Research to Improve Practice, 1st ©2010. Printed and Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
3.3 Key Instructional Practices and Considerations for Dual Language Learners
In addition to using scientific and evidence-based classroom practices of culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction, teachers with DLL students must also consider their language acquisition needs. The DLLs in their classroom may be acquiring their second language sequentially or simultaneously; there may be one or several DLL students in the classroom, and they may be at different stages of acquiring the second language; and they may have different home languages, with which the teacher may not be familiar. Moreover, some programs use English-only instruc- tion and others use dual-language instruction. Different instructional adaptations may be needed for each of these possibilities. In addition, teachers must also consider how other students can scaffold their DLL peers and how they, the teachers, can best relate to parents who are not fluent English speakers.
Simultaneous vs. Sequential Development of Dual Language Skills Children learn a second language either simultaneously or sequentially (McLaughlin, 1984, 1995). Children who simultaneously learn a second language are learning two languages at the same time, and their development is similar to that of monolingual children’s in terms of their vocabu- lary, grammar, and early literacy skills. Children who develop a second language sequentially typi- cally start to learn this language after age 3. The rate of vocabulary acquisition may be different in the two languages; therefore, it is important to assess children in both languages. Usually, children use one language more often; this is their dominant language. However, the dominant language can change throughout the course of development.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Key Instructional Practices and Considerations for Dual Language Learners
When children learn a second language sequentially, there is a distinct progression in their skills that is due to both features of the child and features of the language-learning environment. Table 3.3 provides detailed examples of instructional strategies teachers can use to help DLL children adjust to a monolingual classroom. Table 3.4 describes the four stages for sequential dual lan- guage development outlined by Tabors and Snow (1994) and offers additional tips for helping stu- dents adjust to a monolingual classroom at each stage. However, every attempt should be made to place DLLs in bilingual education classrooms.
Table 3.3: Instructional Strategies for Educators Who Teach DLLs
Instructional Strategies
• Introduce the concept of “different” languages to the whole class. Lead the class in discussions about how people sometimes speak different languages at home, and let children know this is a good thing and that they can learn fun new words from their peers who speak a different language at home.
• Teach other students to listen carefully to their DLL peers and encourage all children to feel free to use gestures, like pointing, and big facial expressions when talking to each other.
• Be sure to use meaningful gestures and facial expressions when talking to the DLL student and when talking to the groups of which the DLL is a part.
• Learn needed words and phrases from the child’s home language, such as milk, bathroom, hungry, and emotion words, and use these words when talking to the DLL student.
• Teach other students these key words, and let them all know it is okay for them to use them when they are talking to each other.
• Provide nonverbal affection and support whenever you can; this will help you and the DLL student bond.
• Spend special on-on-one time with this child because this will help you bond with the child and create a close relationship.
• Repeatedly invite DLL families—nuclear and extended members—to participate in the classroom to share an oral story, a song, or to read their home-language version of a popular classroom storybook with the entire class.
• Give children the opportunity to use language in small groups and with their peers. If there are other DLL children in the classroom, at Stages 1 and 2, pair them up and let them know it is okay to use their home language with each other. However, by Stages 3 and 4, be careful to avoid creating language cliques; sometimes group DLL children with monolingual children.
• Incorporate music, audio books, and other teaching materials from the child’s home language into whole group instruction, as well as making them available for children to use individually.
• Learn how to correctly pronounce the child’s name and teach others how to pronounce it correctly.
• Actively speak out against teasing, ignoring, or excluding the DLL child and teach children to do the same.
• When introducing new vocabulary words, provide concrete examples via the use of photographs, pictures, or the actual objects.
• Reread storybooks several times so that children are exposed to the new vocabulary words repeatedly.
(continued)
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Key Instructional Practices and Considerations for Dual Language Learners
Table 3.3: Instructional Strategies for Educators Who Teach DLLs (continued)
Instructional Strategies
• Get the bilingual version of a few popular classroom books, and learn how to read these books during one-on-one time with the DLL, and even sometimes in small groups by announcing to the class, “Today we are going to read our favorite story in Spanish.” (If you are completely unable to speak the language, this can also be done using books on tape in the home language.)
• Label the classroom in English and the child’s home language.
• Be intentional about how you model language with the DLL at each stage. At Stages 1 and 2, it may be necessary to communicate with one word along with facial expressions and gestures, but at Stages 2 and 3, gradually begin to increase the grammatical complexity of your speech, as you continue to keep your language simple. At Stage 4, begin to model language the same way you would for the monolingual child, adjusting to make the language simpler whenever the child does not understand.
• Communicate to the parents that it is a positive thing that their child speaks another language at home, and encourage parents to speak to the child in their home language. Allow parents to borrow the DLL version of popular story books in the class.
Source: Adapted from Roots and Wings: Affirming Culture in Early Childhood Programs, Second Edition, by Stacey York. © 2003 by Stacey York. Reprinted with permission of Redleaf Press, St. Paul, MN; http://www.redleafpress.org
Table 3.4: Stages of Sequential Language Learners’ Adjustment Within Monolingual Classrooms
Stage Description
Stage 1: Continued use of home language
When the child first enters the new language environment, he will continue to speak his home language until he accepts that people do not understand him. This period can vary, depending on the child, from a few days to months.
Stage 2: Nonverbal- observational period
Once the child realizes that others do not understand her home language, she begins a period of active learning in which she rarely relies on verbal forms of communication. During this phase, the child is actively building her receptive language skills. Again, the time period for this stage varies by child. Language assessments should be avoided during this phase because they will not yield reliable results.
Stage 3: Telegraphic and formulaic speech
The child begins developing his expressive language skills in the second language by using very simple, usually two-word utterances, sentences, and familiar phrases that he has heard repeatedly.
Stage 4: Productive language At this point the child is starting to use more complex sentences and grasp the essential features of morphology and syntax. However, mistakes are still common.
Source: Adapted from Espinosa, L. (2010)
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Key Instructional Practices and Considerations for Dual Language Learners
English-Only vs. Dual Language Instruction There are two common approaches that education programs and school systems typically take toward instruction for DLLs: English-only instructional strategies and dual language strategies. The difference is important because the language of instruction that teachers use has implications not only for children’s academic and language skills, but also for how the teachers perceive their rela- tionships with children. For example, Chang et al. (2007) found that Spanish-speaking teachers interact with Spanish-speaking children more in the class, and these teachers rated their relation- ship with these children as better than the English-speaking teachers did. In fact, the English- speaking teachers indicated that their relationship with the Spanish-speaking children was conflicted. This evidence is important to understand because it shows that teachers have a prefer- ence for children who speak the teacher’s native language.
The primary type of English-only instruction is the English immersion program, in which children are instructed entirely in English because the goal is to facilitate acquisition of English; in these types of programs, English is used almost exclusively and all classroom print is in English.
Most states do not have a systematic program of bilingual education (Espi- nosa, 2010). In fact, the majority of DLLs are educated in English immersion programs in which the child is dropped into a classroom, usually with a mono- lingual teacher who has little experi- ence with teaching DLLs and a group of peers who are mainly English-speaking monolinguals.
There are several types of language immersion programs, and the research indicates that some programs are more effective than others. Individual children may have some pull-out instruction, meaning they participate in one-on-one learning sessions with a teacher or a lan-
guage specialist in which they get instruction in their home language.
The English immersion program is not the best method for children because they tend to lose their home language skills and they feel isolated from their families. In addition, these programs inad- vertently send the message that English is more valued, or academic, than the home languages.
On the other hand, research has shown that dual language immersion programs are better for children because they support skills in both languages (Barnett, Yarosz, Thomas, Jung, & Blanco, 2007; Winsler et al., 1999). A high-quality dual language program will focus on 50-50 instruction in the home language and English, with the morning dedicated to English, for example, and the afternoon dedicated to the home language, such as Spanish or Chinese (Rodriguez et al., 1995; Winsler, 1999), or the program can alternate the language of instruction each week and have chil- dren move from the Spanish/Chinese-language room to the English-language room.
Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Thinkstock
In English immersion programs, students are instructed exclusively in English in order for them to acquire English language skills.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
Dual language education programs come in two primary forms: one-way immersion and two-way immersion. In all dual language programs, instruction is divided between English and the home language. In one-way DLL immersion programs, most of the children are dual language learners. The goal of a one-way immersion program is to use the home language as a bridge to English acquisition, and help the DLLs become bilingual. In a two-way DLL immersion program, there are children who are native English speakers and children who are dual language learners. The goal for two-way immersion is for all children to become bilingual.
The language of instruction for children has important implications for how children’s skills are assessed and evaluated. It is important to take children’s language backgrounds into consideration when evaluating their skills. The next section describes how to conduct a culturally relevant, anti- bias assessment.
3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
Before talking about how to properly use assessments, it is important to first describe the purpose of assessment. Assessment is the systematic gathering of information in order to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction or to monitor progress (Snow & Van Hemel, 2008). It provides early childhood professionals with information on how well children are learn- ing, it provides teachers with information about how effective their instructional practices are, and it provides program administrators with information about how effectively their programs are being implemented.
Assessments can be used for program monitoring, professional evaluations, and to track children’s development progress. Various types of assessments are available to professionals working in the early childhood field, and they will be described in detail. For all types of assessment, validity and reliability are essential. Validity is how well the test measures what it is supposed to measure, and reliability is whether the test produces similar results, no matter who is administering it or when it is being administered.
Types of Child Assessments First and foremost, according to the 1999 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, PL 105-17), tests and other evaluation materials must be selected and administered so that they do not discriminate in terms of race or culture. These tests should be administered in the child’s native language, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so. This element of IDEA was enacted because educators realized that children who speak another language or dialect at home had been penalized on standardized tests.
Kaderavek (2011) suggests that a combination of types of assessments be used. The norm-referenced test can determine whether the child has a developmental delay; the criterion-referenced test can assess how well the child is learning the skills in class; and the dynamic assessment can determine whether a language difference is affecting the assessments of ability and skills.
Norm-referenced assessments are used to compare a child’s abilities to those of the child’s peers. They provide a statistical snapshot. Examples include the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Battery and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Results are converted to standardized scores that can then be used to refer students for special educational services or gifted and talented programs.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
These types of assessments are also used at the state and national level to document school performance. There are clear, specific guidelines for how the test should be administered, and administration must be done by trained staff who specialize in conducting assessments.
Criterion-referenced assessments are used to compare a child’s performance with an age- appropriate standard or skill. These assessments are usually organized according to the age- appropriate developmental sequence of particular skills. Examples include the Child Observa- tion Record and assessments based on the state’s Early Learning Standards. These types of assessments can be developed and readily used by teachers, although the guidelines for how these assessments should be administered are not always well defined. These assessments can be used in observation and in relation to classroom criteria, but the results cannot be used to refer children for special education services.
Dynamic assessment, or “dynamic testing,” measures children’s learning potential. Several researchers endorse it as an ideal way to assess ethnic minority children, particularly those who speak other languages, because it allows the examiner to determine children’s ability to learn rather than simply how much they know at a specific time (Elliot, 2003; Ensing, van der Aalsvoort, & van Geert, 2012; Gilliam & McFadden, 1994; Tzuriel, 2000).
Dynamic assessment uses the test- teach-retest approach. First, chil- dren are tested to get a baseline score. Then the examiner directly teaches the child the skill, which is known as the mediated learning phase, and this is followed by a retest (Ukrainetz, Harpell, Walsh, & Coyle, 2000). During the medi- ated learning phase, children are assessed for learning behaviors, such as attention span, planning, self-regulation, motivation, and response to intervention. The pri- mary purpose of the mediated learning phase is to help children understand the purpose of the test because some children might not understand the purpose of test-taking is to at least “try” to answer as many questions as possible, even if that means guessing (Hwa-Froelich & Vigil, 2004). If the child receives positive scores in the mediated learning phase and improved scores on the retest, then the examiner can infer that the low baseline score was probably due to cultural differences related to language or exposure to the test concepts.
Typically, dynamic assessments are conducted by trained professionals who might be administer- ing sections of a norm-referenced test. However, such assessments may also be amenable for teachers to use in Response to Intervention (RTI), which will be discussed in Section 3.5.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Dynamic testing measures learning potential instead of particular information the student has acquired. Some educators consider this the ideal way to assess children who are not native English speakers.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
Cultural Reflection: Merging Parents’ and Teachers’ Views Maria, a 5-year-old, was referred to Dr. Linda Espinosa (2010, p. 76) by teachers in a program she supervised because Maria was not talking during group time and rarely volunteered information to the teachers. The teachers were concerned that this young DLL child who was getting ready to enter kin- dergarten was not assertive enough. She let other children speak for her and had never been observed raising her hand, even when she had something to say. In small groups of other DLL girls, she talked and laughed—but never in large groups or with the teachers. The teachers wanted Dr. Espinosa to design a plan with the parents that focused on helping her speak her mind and express herself more frequently.
When Dr. Espinosa met with the parents to discuss the concern, she could tell that they did not view Maria’s behavior as a problem. They stated that they were raising Maria to be respectful, not aggres- sive. They wanted Maria to be obedient and not challenging. To them, having a child who talked a lot in class and asserted herself with her peers and teachers was not suitable. The suggestion that the school staff might encourage Maria to speak her mind contradicted what the parents’ believed was in Maria’s best interests.
Reflection Questions:
1. How can the teachers respect the parents’ childrearing beliefs while at the same time helping Maria develop the communication skills she will need in school?
2. How can the teachers explain to the parents, in a respectful way, how teachers and administra- tors in the U.S. school system expect students to communicate?
Source: Story adapted from Espinosa, L. (2010). Getting it right for young children from diverse backgrounds: Applying research to improve practice. Boston: Pearson.
Assessing Language Skills in DLLs When assessing a child who is a DLL, there are several additional considerations. Family members must be active informants and partners during this assessment process because the families play an important role in providing information about the child’s home language abilities, as well as their family and cultural traditions related to verbal expression. The “Cultural Reflection: Merging Parents’ and Teachers’ Views” feature box provides an example of why it is important to consult parents when assessing the language skills of their children.
In addition, when attempting to assess for language dominance, you must be aware of the devel- opmental stages of second language acquisition. Recall from Table 3.4 the stages of language development DLL children go through when they are sequentially learning a second language. It is important to note the child’s stage in order to choose the correct assessment and interpret the results correctly. In addition, Ortiz and Kushner (1997) suggest that language tests focusing on phonology and syntax should be avoided when assessing DLL children because these tests are more likely to identify them as learning disabled.
Table 3.5, based on guidance from Espinosa (2008), outlines three main purposes of assessing DLLs and provides a variety of suggestions for how to measure their language dominance, pro- ficiency, and outcomes. For example, to assess the dominant language of a DLL child, a teacher could use both a parent/family survey and systematic and repeated observation of the child con- versing with other adults and peers across several time points.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
Table 3.5: Matrix for Language/Literacy Assessment of DLL Young Children
Purpose of Assessment
Types of Measures/Procedures
Determination of language dominance
• Parent/family survey with questions about home language use, literacy interaction patterns, and English language proficiency
• Teacher observation of child’s language across multiple contexts using language sampling
• Possible use of English language screener
Determination of language proficiency
• Collection of language samples such as narratives, retelling stories, group conversations with peers, and one-on-one conversations with adults
• Standardized language measure, such as Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) and Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT), in English and home language
• Teacher ratings/observations of child’s language skills across multiple inter- actions (e.g., with peers and adults and during circle time and play time)
Determination of language outcomes
• Informal assessments aligned with curriculum goals in language instruction
• Standardized tests in English and home language • Collection of language sampling such as narratives, retelling stories, group
conversations with peers, and one-on-one conversations with adults
Source: Adapted from Espinosa, L. (2008). Data from assessing young English language learners for developmental outcomes. Commissioned paper for the National Academy of Science Committee on Child Assessments and Outcomes. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
To accurately assess DLLs’ language proficiency, children should be assessed in both English and the home language. It is advised that DLLs be tested in both languages, especially if they are learn- ing the second language sequentially, because these children typically have smaller English lan- guage vocabularies than monolingual children (Espinosa & Lopez, 2007). If DLLs are tested only in English, the results underestimate their language abilities because they may know certain words for things at home in their home language and other words for things that commonly appear in the school environment only in English. When testing for language proficiency, it is common for norm-referenced assessments to be used as well as systematic teacher ratings and observations or language samples.
A final reason why DLL children might be assessed is to determine their potential language out- comes. For these purposes, criterion-referenced assessments closely tied to the curriculum are ideal for collecting information about a child’s language growth over the course of a school year or a specified period of time. The use of criterion-referenced tests at certain intervals throughout the school year is aligned with the goals of frequent progress monitoring, which will be described in the discussion of RTI in Section 3.5. To assess long-term language outcomes, such as outcome data for the end of the school year, norm-referenced tests can also be used; these tests are especially useful in determining children’s outcomes in English versus their home language.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
Language Sampling: How Teachers Can Assess Children’s Narratives and Conversations Table 3.5 mentions language sampling as an example of an assessment procedure for determining language outcomes. Language sampling measures can, and should, be used with all children, including monolinguals. Teachers can be instrumental in the process of collecting language sam- ples for assessments because they spend a greater amount of time interacting with children than other professionals who might conduct such assessments, such as school psychologists or speech- language pathologists. In addition, teachers are ideal informants for language sampling because they have the opportunity to witness children interacting across a variety of contexts. Teachers need to know how to conduct reliable and valid language sampling.
In language sampling, systematic measures of chil- dren’s oral language abilities are collected by exam- ining a selection of the narratives they create using wordless picture books, story retellings, group con- versations with peers, and one-on-one conversa- tions with adults. Language sampling is a very well- utilized approach to collecting information about children’s language and literacy development. In fact, most of what educators and researchers know about how children communicate has been learned through research using language sampling (Chaney, 1998; Miller, 2009; Paris & Hoffman, 2004; Paris & Paris, 2003). Language sampling is an espe- cially useful tool for ethnic and language minor- ity children because it is known to be sensitive to both children’s strengths and developmental needs (Curenton, 2004; Curenton & Craig, 2011; Curenton & Justice, 2004; Gardner-Neblett, Pungello, & Iruka, 2012; Schwartz & Shaul, 2013).
Ideally, a combination of language samples—story generation/creation, story retelling, and conversa- tion—should be collected from a child in order to get a complete picture of his or her oral language and early literacy skills. One type of sample is story generation/creation; there is a line of studies that
uses a popular wordless picture book, Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969), with various groups of language and ethnic minority children (Allen, Crago, & Pesco, 2006; Curenton, 2004; Ma’rof, Redzuan, Anderson, & Ma’rof, 2012; Treffers-Daller, 2011). In this type of language sampling, the teacher exposes the child to the wordless picture book and simply allows the child to create a story using the pictures, transcribing what the child has said on each page. Afterward, the teacher can use the three level story pyramid framework to examine the complexity of the child’s story: first examining grammatical coherence (the bottom level of the pyramid), then story structure (the middle level), and finally psychological causation (the top of the pyramid). This framework allows for a culturally sensitive approach to narrative assessment because educators are able to consider cultural storytelling style in conjunction with the language features of narratives, such as the total number of words, the number of different words, and the average number of words in a child’s sentence (or utterance).
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Using a wordless picture book is a way to help children develop their language skills by allowing them to create their own stories for you to assess.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Culturally Relevant, Anti-Bias Assessment
The data from this language sampling technique can be used to help teachers understand whether children are able to use the pictures in a book to create a logical story with a character(s) who has thoughts/feelings/desires and who is trying to work out a plot (or problem to be solved).
Another language sampling strategy is the collection of a child’s story retelling (emergent reading), in which a child “retells” the teacher the story from a familiar, age-appropriate book. This is an ideal language sampling technique for teachers to use because it can easily be tied to a classroom book reading. The ability to retell a story is critical to children’s future success in school, and it has huge implications for children’s later reading comprehension abilities (Catts, Fey, Tomb- lin, & Zhang, 2002; Dickinson & McCabe, 2001; Griffin, Hemphill, Camp, & Wolf, 2004). To collect a language sample that includes a story retelling, the teacher chooses a book that all the children know well, reads that book in class, and then sits down with individual children and asks them each to retell the story.
Studies have shown that children are capable of retelling familiar stories using their prior knowl- edge of the book (see Curenton, Craig, & Flanigan, 2008; Curenton & Kennedy, 2013). In fact, Curenton and Kennedy (2013) have created an emergent reading rubric that can be used to score children’s story retelling (emergent reading) of the popular Ezra Jack Keats (1962) book, The Snowy Day. Table 3.6 details the scoring for this rubric. In addition, the story pyramid framework could be used to evaluate a story retelling (Curenton & Lucas, 2007). The data from a story retelling not only demonstrates whether children are able to recreate a logical story with characters and a plot, but it also provides information about what children understand and remember about a story, their narrative comprehension.
Table 3.6: Emergent Reading Rubric for The Snowy Day (Keats, 1962)
Item Number Item Description Scoring (Total Possible 5 7)
1 Says words that are actually on the page 0 / 1 (at least 50% of time)
2 Produces an accurate portrayal of events on the current page
0 / 1 (at least 50% of time)
3 Mentions internal thoughts and/or feelings of character
0 / 1 (at least one mention)
4 Comment illustrating memory/understanding that a stick made a third set of tracks
0 / 1
5 Comment illustrating memory/understanding that Peter is younger/smaller than the other boys playing in the snowball fight
0 / 1
6 Comment illustrating memory/understanding that Peter’s snowball melts in his pocket or is “gone”
0 / 1
7 Uses typical story words like “once upon a time,” “one day,” or “the end”
0 / 1 (at least one phrase)
Source: Curenton, S. M. & Kennedy, S. (2013). Comparison of shared reading versus emergent reading: How the two provide distinct opportunities for early literacy. ISRN Education, (2013), Article ID 936191, 10 pages, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/936191
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.5 How Early Education Programs Can Accommodate Culturally Diverse Students
The third way in which a teacher can collect a language sample is via the observation and tran- scription of a conversation between two peers, within a small group of peers, or one-on-one with an adult. In this type of language sampling, the teacher is primarily taking note of the following: (1) how much a child talks—is the conversation one-sided or is the child an active participant? (2) the primary language the child uses during the conversation—is it the home language or Eng- lish? (3) how clearly the child communicates during the conversation—can the observer under- stand what the child is saying and are the utterances relevant to the conversation? and (4) whether the child is using developmentally appropriate pragmatic language skills—is he, for example, mak- ing eye contact, following eye gaze and pointing, and gesturing meaningfully? From this informa- tion, teachers can gain a better sense of the child’s conversational skills, both with peers and adults, and they can begin to design both one-on-one teacher-child conversation activities as well as small-group, peer-to-peer conversations that will facilitate the child’s skills.
3.5 How Early Education Programs Can Accommodate Culturally Diverse Students
After assessment, a variety of approaches and strategies are available to address the needs of culturally diverse students. Tiered instruction (such as Response to Intervention, which is described below) is especially helpful for ensuring academic success. In addition, Head Start adapts its instruction and environment in numerous ways for diverse children, including DLLs, and some pre-K programs in school districts offer a variety of options for DLL students.
Response to Intervention: Blending Teacher and Child Assessments Response to Intervention (RTI) is an instructional approach that incorporates tiered instruction. Figure 3.2 depicts the three tiers of the RTI framework. Like RTI models in elementary school (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006), early childhood RTI models include school-wide instruction at Tier 1 that consists of an evidence-based, culturally sensitive core curriculum that addresses all the compo- nents of school readiness. The instruction at Tier 1 is targeted toward the skills of the average student, and the content and learning activities are those that all students should experience on a regular basis. Tier 2 of the RTI framework is targeted small group instruction, delivered to stu- dents who do not respond adequately to Tier 1 core curriculum. For those who do not respond at Tier 2, there are explicit differentiated interventions at Tier 3. These are intensive one-on-one interventions, in which children work with specialized professionals, such as reading specialists, counselors, or speech-language pathologists, to get the intervention they need; it is at this stage that children may be given formal assessments in order to determine their need for special educa- tion services.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.5 How Early Education Programs Can Accommodate Culturally Diverse Students
Figure 3.2: Response to Intervention Tiers
RTI is an increasingly popular approach to teaching children language at an early age by providing a clear and systematic informational framework.
RTI approaches are increasingly being recommended for early childhood education because tiered instructional frameworks (Figure 3.2) can systematically ensure reading success for a diverse range of learners (Coleman, Buysse, & Neitzel, 2006; Coleman, Roth, & West, 2009). Perhaps the most welcome component of RTI in preschool is that it allows for early intervention, rather than waiting for children to demonstrate reading problems in elementary school. Early childhood educators are encouraged to adopt RTI instructional approaches to (a) ensure they are providing high-quality, empirically sound experiences as part of the core classroom instruction, (b) regularly monitor children’s progress within their classrooms, and (c) provide timely intervention to children whose skills continue to lag behind normative expectations.
Progress monitoring is a key component of RTI that helps teachers determine whether children are gaining school readiness skills. Progress monitoring uses brief, criterion-referenced tests to track children’s growth and learning (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006), and this monitoring is used at all tiers of the RTI framework. In RTI frameworks, progress monitoring is used to evaluate student learn- ing, and the information gathered from such assessments can be used for three purposes: (1) to evaluate the quality of the core curriculum, (2) to identify students in need of more targeted Tier 2 instruction or Tier 3 intervention, and (3) to help teachers understand how they need to modify their instruction.
In Tier 1, progress-monitoring tools are typically universal screenings administered to all students at regular intervals (e.g., beginning, middle, and end of year) to determine if students meet pre- determined benchmarks for developmental skills; this data tells the teacher if the core curriculum is meeting the learning objectives for the program. In Tier 2, progress monitoring might include curriculum-related assessments that typically occur at the end of a learning unit. For those chil- dren who are not responding to Tier 2 instruction, a more formal assessment of their skills should
Core Instruction and Targeted Interventions
5–10%
Tier 2
School-Wide Interventions
80–90%
Tier 1
Core Instruction
and Intensive Interventions
1–5%
Tier 3
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.5 How Early Education Programs Can Accommodate Culturally Diverse Students
be conducted. Fuchs and Fuchs (2006) explain that this assessment should be based on stan- dardized, norm-referenced tests. Educators should also use progress monitoring to evaluate what changes they need to make to their curricula, materials, or instruction.
Collecting ongoing progress monitoring data can improve instruction: In a recent study with pre-K teachers, simply providing teachers with a technology-based assessment tool to monitor key language and literacy indicators significantly improved teaching quality, even without the provision of other, more comprehensive, types of professional development (Landry, Swank, Assel, & King, 2009).
How Head Start Accommodates DLLs and Other Diverse Learners In Chapter 1, we discussed Head Start strategies for meeting the needs of children in poverty. Head Start has also identified some key steps and strategies to ensure that classrooms and pro- grams meet the needs of culturally diverse learners, especially DLLs. Prior to accommodating a child based on her language, culture, or ability needs, the first step is to ascertain her language ability through observation of the child and communication with the child’s parents. This observa- tion also includes assessing the child’s abilities in the environment where the child will be spend- ing time, such as interacting with other children in the classroom.
The following are strategies to adapt various aspects of the instruction and environment in early childhood programs:
• Instructional groupings or arrangements: For any given activity, there are a number of instructional arrangements from which to choose: large groups, small groups, coop- erative learning groups, peer partners, one-to-one instruction, or independent tasks. Rather than always reading books in circles, it may benefit some children to have one-on-one reading—particularly DLL children, who may not feel comfortable com- municating in a large group.
• Lesson formats: The format of a lesson may be altered to meet the needs of a child by including more opportunities for whole class discussions, games, role-playing, activity- based lessons, experiential lessons, demonstrations, or thematic lesson organization. Children learn best from play, and this includes DLL children; thus, varied and multiple hands-on opportunities should be provided to DLL children to allow them to incorpo- rate and consolidate new information.
• Teaching strategies: A change in teaching strategies can influence a child’s ability to participate. A teacher can change strategies by simplifying directions, adding visual information, using concrete materials or examples, sequencing learning tasks from easy to hard, offering more frequent opportunities to practice skills, changing the schedule of reinforcement, elaborating or shaping responses, verbally prompting, or directly physically assisting a child.
• Curricular goals and learning outcomes: To match the needs of a child within the context of an activity, it may be appropriate to individualize the learning objectives. This can often be accomplished using the same activities and materials. If children are working on a classification concept by sorting blocks, one child may use the same blocks to work on a different objective, such as building a castle or counting.
• Adaptations to the method for responding: Sometimes children understand a concept but need a way to demonstrate that knowledge. For example, you may allow a child to point or touch or, even better, to use their native language.
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CHAPTER 3Section 3.5 How Early Education Programs Can Accommodate Culturally Diverse Students
• Environmental conditions: The physical environmental is an important aspect of any early childhood setting. Changes in lighting, noise level, visual and auditory input, arrangement of the room or the equipment, and accessibility of materials are impor- tant considerations. In some homes, children are kept away from adult “business,” so they are not used to multiple voices. Some children have not been exposed to certain materials, such as Play-Doh- or Lego- blocks. Find ways to understand the lives of children and incorporate their cultures and languages in the classroom.
• Level of personal assistance: A child’s need for assistance may range from periodic spot checks to close continuous supervision. Assistance may vary from day to day and be provided by adults or peers. Monitor the level of assistance the DLL children in your class need. Don’t assume they always need help, but be alert for periods during which they require more supervision or need different ways to communicate their knowledge.
Early Elementary Schools’ Accommodations for DLLs As early childhood programs begin to develop specific practices to accommodate young dual lan- guage learners, some strategies can be adapted from pre-K programs in the K-12 system. For example, the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has an ethnically diverse DLL population that speaks Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia), and French. Every parent enrolling a child in DCPS must complete a home language survey. If the survey indi- cates that the child might qualify for DLL services, then the district assesses the child’s English proficiency in the four domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing through an English language screener proficiency test. The levels of proficiency range from 1 to 5; descriptions of the levels are shown in Table 3.7. DCPS provides services to students in Levels 1 through 4 and exits students from support programs when they reach Level 5.
Table 3.7: English Language Proficiency Scoring for District of Columbia Public Schools
Level Name Description Services Provided by School District?
1 Entering Knows and uses minimal social language and minimal academic language with visual and graphic support.
Yes
2 Beginning Knows and uses some social English and general academic language with visual and graphic support.
Yes
3 Developing Knows and uses social English and some specific academic language with visual and graphic support.
Yes
4 Expanding Knows and uses social English and some technical academic language.
Yes
5 Bridging Knows and uses social English and academic language working with modified grade level material.
No
Source: District of Columbia Public Schools. (2012). English language learners (ELL): Programs and support. Retrieved from http://dc.gov/DCPS/In+the+Classroom/How+Students+Are+Supported/English+Language+Learners+(ELL)
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CHAPTER 3Chapter Summary
DCPS provides the following programs to children who qualify for DLL services (District of Colum- bia Public Schools, 2012):
• Content-Based English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs. The academic content areas of English/language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics are used as the vehicle for language learning and to ensure that students master academic content and performance standards. Instruction is primarily in English, although native language support is provided when necessary and when possible. These classes are taught by ESL- certified teachers.
• Dual Language Education Programs. Students . . . develop literacy skills in their native language while simultaneously learning a second language. Students must master standards in both languages. Instruction occurs in both of the languages supported by the program.
• Secondary Newcomer Literacy Program. This program supports [DLL students] . . . with a limited formal education background and prepares them to become successful both in school and in the post-secondary world. Classes provide students with core academic and literacy skills and knowledge that address gaps in their prior education. This is a full-day intensive program that focuses on literacy development, language acquisition, and mastery of academic content. In addition, the program offers orientation on adapting to the life, culture, and educational sys- tem in the United States, as well as tutoring, parent workshops, and links to community resources.
• Sheltered Content. The goal of Sheltered Content programs is for ELL students to develop English proficiency, content knowl- edge, and academic language skills such that they can enjoy success in mainstream classes with no ELL services. Sheltered classes are taught by either a dually certified teacher who holds licenses both in ESL and in the content being taught, or a content-certified teacher who has completed a minimum of 90 hours of professional development in ESL instruction.
A menu of programs such as this one, from a public K–12 school system, offers early childhood educators ideas for developing their own multifaceted approaches to preparing children and meeting the needs of the communities they serve.
Chapter Summary
3.1: Multicultural education challenges and rejects racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression in society by emphasizing social justice and democracy and by promoting the concept of human rights, equitable distribution of power, and equal participation in decision making. Culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction is one form of multicultural education that focuses on teaching educators to prepare lessons relevant to the chil- dren and families in their program and help children understand, and actively speak out against, biases in society.
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CHAPTER 3Post-Test
3.2: Culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction is based on the foundations of early childhood education: research into child and brain development; evidence-based teaching prac- tices; and positive, nurturing relationships with teachers.
3.3: DLL children learn a second language either simultaneously or sequentially. Children who simultaneously learn a second language are learning two languages at the same time, and their development is similar to that of monolingual children’s in terms of their vocabulary, grammar, and early literacy skills. Children who learn a second language sequentially typically start to learn this language after age 3, and the progression of their skills varies, based on features of the child and features of the language-learning environment. Instruction for DLLs is either English-only immersion or dual-language.
3.4: Assessments can be used for program monitoring, professional evaluations, and to track children’s development progress. There are various forms of assessment: (a) the norm- referenced test can determine whether the child has a developmental delay; (b) the criterion-referenced test can assess how well the child is learning skills and knowledge in class; and (c) the dynamic assessment can determine whether a language difference is affecting the assessments of abilities and skills. DLLs can be assessed to determine their dominant language, their language proficiency, or their language outcomes. Language sampling is an appropriate technique for both DLLs and monolingual children.
3.5: Early childhood RTI models include three tiers: (1) Tier 1: core curriculum, (2) Tier 2: targeted small group instruction, and (3) Tier 3: intensive one-on-one intervention. The instruction at Tier 1 is targeted toward the skills of the average student, and the content and learning activities are those that all students should experience on a regular basis. Tier 2 instruction is delivered to students who do not respond adequately to the core curriculum. Tier 3 instruction is explicit differentiated interventions by specialized pro- fessionals, for those students who do not respond to targeted Tier 2 instruction. Prog- ress monitoring is used to evaluate student learning and determine changes needed in curricula, materials, or instruction.
3.6: Head Start and some public pre-kindergartens have identified ways to accommodate the varied needs of DLLs and other diverse learners.
Post-Test
1. Multicultural education has its roots in which historical movement? a. Women’s Rights Movement b. Civil Rights Movement c. Gay Rights Movement d. Children’s Movement
2. Which of the following is a significant benefit of engaging children in multicultural education? a. Children embrace cultural differences b. Children become more tolerant and unbiased c. Chldren learn about different cultures d. All of these
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CHAPTER 3Post-Test
3. Children from which of the following ethnic groups need a stable, positive, nurturing, and strong relationship with their caregivers? a. Black American children only b. Mexican American children only c. Vietnamese American children only d. All of these children
4. Persona dolls are used to teach children . a. tolerance and empathy b. to create elaborate pretend play scenarios c. to develop healthy self-esteem and self-confidence d. personal grooming routines
5. In what age range are changes happening most rapidly in the brain structure responsible for language learning and processing? a. Birth to 3 months b. 3 months to 5 years c. 5 years to 12 years d. Teen years
6. The purpose of a two-way immersion bilingual education program in Spanish is to . a. support DLL children’s acquisition of English only b. support DLL children’s acquisition of Spanish only c. support native-English speaking children’s acquisition of Spanish only d. support DLL and native-English speaking children’s acquisition of both Spanish
and English
7. If you want to compare the abilities of kindergarteners in your class to those nationwide, you would use this type of assessment: a. interpersonal. b. dynamic. c. norm referenced. d. criterion referenced.
8. An example of language sampling is . a. reading a story to a child and asking her questions b. collecting a wordless picture book narrative c. having a child listen to the same story in English and the child’s native language d. asking children to read a list of common vocabulary words found in a story
9. Within the RTI framework, progress monitoring . a. is used at all tiers of the framework b. helps teachers assess the effectiveness of the core curriculum c. involves use of short, criterion-based tests d. all of these
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CHAPTER 3Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pre-Test
10. Ideally, dual language learners should be taught . a. in bilingual classrooms b. in monolingual classrooms c. at home with siblings and close friends d. in special classes that separate them from native English speakers
Answers: 1 (b); 2 (d); 3 (d); 4 (a); 5 (b); 6 (d); 7 (c); 8 (a); 9 (c); 10 (a)
Discussion Questions
1. How can the RTI framework be used to track the progression of the language develop- ment of DLLs?
2. What are the advantages of using a culturally relevant, anti-bias instructional approach with all children?
3. What can other early education programs learn from Head Start about how to accom- modate DLLs?
Further Reading
Derman-Sparks, L., Ramsey, P. G., & Edwards, J. O. (2011). What if all the kids are white? New York: Teachers College Press.
Espinosa, L. (2010). Getting it right for young children from diverse backgrounds. Boston: Pearson.
York, S. (2003). Roots & wings: Affirming culture in early childhood programs (Rev. ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf.
Answers and Rejoinders to Chapter Pre-Test
1. True. Teachers who deliver culturally relevant, anti-bias instruction actively see issues of race, class, gender, and other bias; they are not “blind” to any of the social injustices in society.
2. False. Children from all cultures develop in ways that are both similar and different, but it is possible to apply child development knowledge to design curriculum for children from all cultures.
3. False. Learning two languages does not delay children’s language development. 4. True. Contrast this with a two-way immersion bilingual education program in Spanish,
which would help both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking children to become bilingual. 5. True. This is a crucial part of multicultural education. Dual language learners, especially,
will often need specialized assessments to accurately measure their knowledge and progress.
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CHAPTER 3Key Terms
Key Terms
active participatory learning Allows children to share control and be responsible for shaping their learning experiences.
anti-bias instruction Teaching that focuses on the social justice inequalities and prejudices in our social structures and cultural stereotypes.
assessment The gathering of systematic infor- mation in order to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction or to monitor progress.
criterion-referenced assessments Used to compare a child’s performance with an age- appropriate standard or skill.
culturally relevant instruction Teaching that incorporates the cultural knowledge, experi- ences, and learning/communication styles of culturally and linguistically diverse students.
dominant language The language that a DLL uses the most often and feels the most com- fortable using.
dual language program Children are instructed 50% of the time in English and 50% of the time in their home language.
dynamic assessment Measures children’s learning potential using the test-teach-retest approach. First, children are tested to get a baseline score. Then the examiner directly teaches the child the skill, and this is followed by a retest.
English immersion program Children are instructed only in English because the goal is to facilitate acquisition of English.
intentional teaching Acting with knowledge and purpose to organize learning opportunities to meet children’s developmental and learning goals in a way that purposefully scaffolds, chal- lenges, and extends children’s learning.
language sampling Systematic assessment of children’s oral language abilities collected by examining a selection of the narratives they create using wordless picture books, story retellings, group conversations with peers, and one-on-one conversations with adults.
multicultural education A type of instructional philosophy that challenges and rejects racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression by emphasizing social justice and democracy and by promoting the concept of human rights, equitable distribution of power, and equal par- ticipation in decision making.
narrative comprehension What children understand and remember about a story.
norm-referenced assessments Used to com- pare a child’s abilities to those of the child’s peers.
one-way DLL immersion programs Goal is to help DLLs become bilingual by using chil- dren’s home language as a bridge to English acquisition.
persona dolls Dolls used to teach tolerance and help teachers engage children in dis- cussions about difficult situations or being different.
progress monitoring The use of brief, crite- rion-referenced tests to track children’s growth and learning.
pull-out instruction Children participate in one-on-one learning sessions with a teacher or a language specialist to get individual instruc- tion in their home language.
reliability How well a test produces similar results, no matter who is administering it or when it is being administered.
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CHAPTER 3Key Terms
Response to Intervention (RTI) An approach that incorporates tiered instruction, with high- quality core curriculum at Tier 1; for those students who do not respond to the Tier 1 cur- riculum, there is targeted small-group instruc- tion at Tier 2. Those who still do not respond receive intensive one-on-one intervention services at Tier 3.
social justice inequalities Social problems such as discrimination, institutional racism, and unequal distribution of health and social services.
story generation/creation The teacher shows the child a wordless picture book and allows the child to create a story using the pictures, tran- scribing what the child has said for each page.
story retelling (emergent reading) A child “retells” you the story from a familiar, age- appropriate book.
two-way immersion program Goal is to help native English speakers and DLL children become bilingual by exposing children equally to English and a second language.
validity How well a test measures what it is supposed to measure.
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