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Early Childhood Care and Education
Within the past century, scientific studies on the child development have led to the understanding that early, developmentally and culturally appropriate teaching practices are vital to how children learn and grow. In keeping with Head Start goals that all children receive a quality education that is consistent with their home language and culture, the Oregon Child Development Coalition uses The Creative Curriculum as the foundation of its teaching practices. The Creative Curriculum is based on established child development research as well as the knowledge that a solid and positive relationship between children and their teachers is crucial to meeting the social-emotional, physical, and cognitive needs of each individual child.
The Oregon Child Development Coalition values parents as the first teacher of language and culture for their children. For the Oregon Child Development Coalition children to succeed in the program, their language and culture need to be at the heart of their learning experience. The Oregon Child Development Coalition language policy states that “the preservation and continued learning in the child’s primary language is essential for the success of language development for parents and their children”. Research in the area of language acquisition has found that “children in bilingual programs outscore children in non-bilingual programs regardless of language used for testing” (Willig, 1985). In addition, “higher achievement on reading comprehension” (Krashen, 1999) and “higher self-esteem and more positive self-concept” (Duarte, 2001) are hallmarks of children who receive dual or bi-lingual instruction.
Studies such as these led to the development of the Oregon Child Development Coalition’s language policy in 2001, which directly guides its educational practices. Infant and toddlers’ home language is supported by having Spanish-speaking teachers, substitutes and center aides assigned to their classrooms. For older toddlers, the second language, English, is introduced through songs and stories. A dual-language teaching model is employed in the preschool classrooms. In this setting teaching teams are comprised of one person with a high level of proficiency in Spanish and one person with a high level of proficiency in English. New concepts are introduced in the primary language of the children in order to build on their prior knowledge base. Reinforcement of the concepts occurs in both English and Spanish. This approach is consistent with research conducted by Dr. Stephen Krashen who writes, “Developing literacy in a first language is a short-cut to literacy in a second language. It is easier to learn to read in a language you understand. Once you can read in one language, this knowledge transfers rapidly to another language.
In all areas of development—language, socio-emotional, physical, cognitive—each child is given the individualized support and opportunities to explore and build their abilities based on his or her unique needs. This approach is a key component of the Oregon Child Development Coalition’s language policy and The Creative Curriculum, as well as the Head Start Performance Standards.