Early Learning

Dreaming big

stonevm@washington.edu — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 17:35:58 +0000

Dreaming big

July 25, 2024

Nick Terrones

Nick Terrones, the newly appointed Director of Community Relations at Rainier Valley Early Learning Campus (RVELC), steps into his role with a vision ignited by the progressive Reggio Emilia Approach. This philosophy, rooted in empowering children through exploration and interaction, resonates deeply with Terrones, who brings a wealth of experience as an early childhood educator at Hilltop Children's Center and as the former Director of Daybreak Star Preschool.

RVELC, a collaborative project between the ��ߺ�� ߺ�� and local partners, is poised to become a pivotal early learning center at the Mt. Baker LINK station. Scheduled to open in 2027, this initiative is a major stride toward creating an inclusive educational environment that connects families, educators, and the community. The project is currently in a key phase: the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and a Request for Proposals (RFP) in Fall 2023 to select primary developers, integrating RVELC into the broader development plans.

As Terrones immerses himself in the vibrant community of RVELC, he envisions it as more than just an educational facility. He sees it as a dynamic hub where children, families, educators, and the broader community come together to foster a nurturing environment. “What excites me about RVELC is how it brings the community together,” he explains, highlighting his commitment to inclusive education and his belief that every child's voice should be valued in shaping their educational journey.

Central to his mission is dismantling systemic barriers within education, with the goal of establishing RVELC as a “lighthouse” of inclusive practices. When asked about the importance of this mission, he responds passionately, “Investing in early learning is incredibly rewarding and important. We need more advocates to support policymakers and drive change, fostering genuine and transparent communication with the ��ߺ��, the community, and beyond.”

Charting Equity and Innovation at RVELC

Though new to his role, Terrones has already begun making changes. He has initiated open dialogue through community listening posts and virtual meetings, ensuring RVELC is responsive to the diverse needs of its stakeholders. Drawing from insights gained from community members in Rainier Valley, he believes deeply in the power of community collaboration to bring about transformative change, including reshaping educational norms at RVELC.

His commitment to listening to the community has already translated into tangible actions, such as rebranding the school into a “studio school,” a decision influenced directly by the experiences and feedback of Rainier Valley residents. This departure from the traditional “lab school” model acknowledges the historical impact of educational approaches in underserved communities. It aims to create a vibrant learning environment where exploration and creativity are paramount, nurturing each child's unique talents and potential. Terrones' vision is to prepare young learners not just for academics but to thrive in an interconnected world, fostering inclusivity and embracing innovative practices along the way.

In this light, Terrones also views RVELC as a cornerstone of opportunity and representation. “You know, if we think of education as preparing children for school readiness, that's not going to encompass their entire lives,” he reflects, highlighting his broader vision. “There are educational philosophers who see the purpose of education as creating informed citizens, understanding what it means to live in this country, especially in today's world where information and connections with others are easily accessible.'

“So, I believe RVELC serves as a source of possibility, aiming to strengthen and diversify the early childhood workforce."

He emphasizes the importance of early exposure to the diversity of human experience—across race, culture, ethnicity, gender, age, ability, and more. “Our species is incredibly diverse, and it's important for children to have meaningful interactions with a wide range of people,” Terrones says, drawing parallels to the emphasis on math and literacy experiences in education. “So, I believe RVELC serves as a source of possibility, aiming to strengthen and diversify the early childhood workforce,” he continues.

He is particularly passionate about ensuring that RVELC emphasizes to young men and young men of color that early childhood education is inclusive and accessible to them as well, addressing historical disparities. He explains, “Historically, it's been predominantly women, particularly white women, leading in this field, which doesn't reflect the diversity of our world.” Terrones underscores the necessity of diverse role models in shaping educational aspirations, aligning his goals with inclusive practices and community engagement.

It takes a village to raise a child

Looking forward, Terrones firmly believes that “it takes a village to raise a child,” stressing our collective responsibility in shaping a better future. He envisions RVELC as a place that expands access to education and promotes lifelong learning. For him, investing in children today means investing in a brighter tomorrow for all.

He advocates for a holistic educational experience that fosters the individual potential of every child. As an educator and collaborative leader, his goal is for RVELC to shine as an example of educational excellence and community empowerment, inspiring positive change well beyond its walls.

Although much work lies ahead, he is excited to continue dreaming big for RVELC.

Contact

Vanessa Stone

Assistant Director for Marketing & Communications

stonevm@uw.edu

Recognizing the Experts

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:45:10 +0000

Recognizing the Experts

December 19, 2022

Photo courtesy of Cultivate Learning

A child care director when the pandemic hit, Denise Ellenwood got a call from her early learning coach about Early Achievers, Washington State's voluntary quality improvement program.

Her center wasn't signed up for the program. Even with the dollars that came with participation, money that could help families pay for child care and staff pay for continuing education, her board of directors had said no. As a faith-based organization, they feared it would make them too much like every other center. Still, Early Achievers was calling Ellenwood to check in.

"At a time when we didn't have anyone in our corner, the coach asked us what we needed and then provided sanitizer, masks and resources," she says. Over time and with continued interactions, Ellenwood learned about a transformation in progress, a reimagining that would replace the Early Achievers rating system with something entirely different: self-directed recognition and improvement.

"This strength-based approach, focused on the uniqueness of early learning providers, whether faith-based or multi-cultural or something else, excited me," says Ellenwood. She was so impressed that even though she loved her current position as director, she eventually decided to leave and become an early learning coach. Now she works to bring others the support and momentum for growth that she needed when she was in their position.

"I also love for parents to have more options to choose what environment they want for their children," she says. "For example, I'm Native American, and there's a Salish immersion school. That makes my heart so happy that in an urban setting, not on the reservation, Native American families that live in the city have access to this unique school."

Becoming One Team

"During the pandemic, we had the opportunity to adjust and adapt quickly in partnership, to shake the sheets," says Sandy Maldonado, director of Early Learning at Child Care Aware of Washington.

"The state opened up the opportunity to innovate and talked to us about options," says Juliet Taylor, deputy director at Cultivate Learning, a ��ߺ�� organization advancing early childhood education by bridging theory and practice.

Child Care Aware of Washington and Cultivate Learning work under contract with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) to support providers in the Early Achievers program. In a coordinated way, Cultivate Learning collects data, supports professional development and training, maintains learning frameworks, and leads ongoing evaluation and research alongside Child Care Aware of Washington who oversees the relationship-based services (coaching, training, mental health consulting, and family services), and supports systems development and implementation.

We wanted to collaboratively hold the torch for high quality, especially at a time of great ambiguity due to the pandemic.

Child Care Aware and Cultivate Learning and their respective teams of coaches, researchers and data collectors had ideas on rethinking the program. They also saw an opportunity to review and rework what might be duplicative across teams. So, when the state invited them to individually present options, they instead decided to prepare one joint proposal. “We wanted to collaboratively hold the torch for high quality, especially at a time of great ambiguity due to the pandemic,” says Taylor.

Amid the social upheaval, racial reckoning and the pandemic's inequitable impact especially felt in early child care, the joint proposal included revising Early Achievers around a racial equity framework and theory of change that put providers in the driver's seat.

When the state approved their proposal, a new collaborative journey began. "When the crisis in child care staffing hit rock bottom, we rallied together: higher education, community-based organizations, and a state department,” says Maldonado. “We committed to an equity lens and also a lens of complexity as we began testing a liberatory design approach. It has been hard work and delightful to co-create conditions for inclusion, show up as our true selves — me, as a Latino leader — and find both a collective sense of belonging and inspiring ways forward."

Not only that, but the state expanded the program to include providers caring for children up to age 12, opening the way to support more children over a more extended period.

A New Process to Celebrate Strengths

DeEtta Simmons, senior director at Cultivate Learning, describes the context leading up to this moment. Washington state's Early Achievers had started ten years earlier as a small quality rating and improvement system. These systems were cropping up across the nation after Oklahoma created the first Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) in the late 1980s. Twenty years later, the new systems had evolved to be more comprehensive. They sought to increase wages and family choice under an overarching banner of quality. By the time the pandemic hit, many states had adopted and scaled quality systems with money from Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grants.

"Before the pandemic, we had a diverse team of data collectors who would observe the early care and education being provided in every licensed care facility in the state,” says Gail Joseph, UW professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development and the founding executive director of Cultivate Learning. “Then we would use that information to catalyze policy and programmatic improvements such as increased access to professional development and resources for providers."

The program had many positive aspects, including learning and critical infrastructure that developed along the way. This included multi-lingual data collectors and a robust network of full-time coaches employed all over Washington state by Child Care Aware.

What is quality, and how do we define it?

While they could build on existing strengths, the program also needed an overhaul. "The way the program evolved, people felt that raters were coming to find the things they were doing wrong," says Simmons. "That's never what we intended. We're here to honor and recognize people's great work."

"What is quality, and how do we define it?" asks Joseph. "The tools we were using to measure represented a narrow way of thinking of early childhood quality, and we had come to understand that they weren't reliably predictive of child outcomes." One of the consequences was the way that a single set of measures encouraged homes to be more like mini centers. "It was a process of standardizing family childcare, getting rid of what's special," says Joseph.

Alternatively, the new approach would begin by understanding and celebrating providers' existing and unique strengths. First, though, providers needed a lifeline during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Early Achievers coaches started by reaching out.

Designed by and for Providers

"Before the pandemic, we were so focused on the pedagogical piece that we forgot the business piece," says Maldonado. So, when in-person site visits and data collection paused in March 2020, coaches called over 3000 providers weekly for the next six months. They asked if sites were still open, how staffing was, what vacancies they had, and what they needed regarding health and safety support. Then they shared resources and available funding. That was one of the calls Ellenwood received that would change her career path.

"We're stepping into this next chapter with a better understanding of what early learning business owners need to feel like they are thriving in their business, connecting to resources around systems," says Maldonado.

We're stepping into this next chapter with a better understanding of what early learning business owners need to feel like they are thriving in their business, connecting to resources around systems.

After the first six months, Child Care Aware and Cultivate Learning gathered in working groups, including providers, coaches, partners and other agencies, to develop a new system. "Before, providers were put on a train and sent down the track," says Simmons. "Now, the provider is the conductor, and they decide when they want to do the components and what they want to be recognized for."

After two and a half years of deep collaboration, the program's components look entirely different. A provider-driven program profile and video portfolio have replaced the one-shot standardized assessments of the past. Providers receive data reports along the way that can be used to set goals and create action plans with their coach.

Growing Shared Confidence

As part of trusting the program, providers must trust their coaches. Having been a coach in the past, Maldonado understands the importance of the position. "Child Care Aware takes great pride in hiring coaches from within the community, serving the communities in which they live," she says. "Many are bilingual and bicultural and are professionals that step into the full-time role having lived experience as an early child care provider. As the heart of Early Achievers, coaches provide transformational relationship-based services.”

"We appreciate how now it's more provider focused instead of a third party telling us this is what to do and how to do it," says Kayley Billington, director of the Kirkland Children's School, who signed up and became an early adopter of the program in the spring of 2022. "If we need to enhance our diversity, communication with parents, or interaction at circle time, then we will film during those times, and our coach will work with us on what they see."

The use of videos in the process gives some providers pause, but Billington understands the benefits from recently having done the same thing as a student in the ��ߺ��'s Early Care and Education program (ECE). "It's one of the most impactful ways of growing teachers in our field," she says. She describes the process of watching herself, reflecting on what opportunities she missed and how she can do better, and seeing comments from a coach and her peers. While she acknowledges that it was nerve-racking in the beginning, it quickly became familiar and a tremendous tool for development.

Ellenwood agrees. "I went through UW's coaching certificate," she says. "I didn't like being on camera at first, but it helped me reflect on my practice and improve." The coaching certificate, a credit-earning opportunity for coaches to learn best practices, is another way that Cultivate Learning supports Early Achievers. By offering opportunities for coaches to view and reflect on their practice via video review, they are better prepared to support providers.

"We can see a million different things about quality in these video clips," says Joseph. "It's a shift from 'gotcha' monitoring to providers engaging in their own quality improvement process and having it validated."

Not only that, but the program connects providers to resources they may not even know they need, like access to a mental health provider who can offer children, teachers and families additional resources and knowledge.

In addition to supporting provider growth, this effort also shines a light on the stress points of the early childhood field. Large sweeping changes are needed to ensure adequate compensation for a job that does no less than support the next generation during one of its most critical stages of development. Additionally, parents need equitable access to safe, affordable, culturally diverse programs for their developing children.

"It's larger than what we can do," says Ellenwood. "But we can be part of this change by amplifying the voices of providers and the needs of children and families. We are connected to a big support system, and we can be a big advocate for change."

"We're also excited to share this nationally," says Taylor. "Other systems have similar challenges and an interest in promoting equitable systems. There are endless opportunities for how we can learn from each other."

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Director for Marketing & Communications

wilcoxc@uw.edu

Community as Educator: Enacting a paradigm shift

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 03:45:10 +0000

Community as Educator: Enacting a paradigm shift

November 28, 2022

Students, faculty and community members attend the 2022 ECO symposium showcasing students' capstone projects.

At first, Si Kou planned to go into business, but after her mother died, she searched for a path that would hold more meaning for her. That's when she found UW's Early Childhood and Family Studies (ECFS) program.

Kou now works at The Children's Center at Burke Gilman Gardens (TCC) as its program manager. She started at TCC as an ECFS intern while earning her bachelor's degree in 2008 and has worked there since graduation.

"So much of society is tied to the gold rush, the 'eureka, I found it! It's mine," says Jondou Chen, a UW ��ߺ�� associate teaching professor in the Education, Communities and Organizations (ECO) undergraduate program. "What if instead of maximizing claims and capital as the goal, we imagined other possibilities? Having enough is important, and my enough is tied to the community around me."

What if instead of maximizing claims and capital as the goal, we imagined other possibilities? Having enough is important, and my enough is tied to the community around me.

The UW ��ߺ��'s three undergraduate programs ECFS, Early Care and Education (ECE), and ECO were designed to offer alternatives to a claiming approach to knowledge. Instead, the programs seek the rewards of actively engaging in reciprocal learning with and in the communities around them.

Small Things Add Up

Kou began finding her path after volunteering in the UW Haring Center's Experimental Education Unit (EEU). At first, she felt ill-equipped working with children diagnosed with autism, but by the time she said her goodbyes at the end of the quarter, something had clicked. "Before I turned to go, the kids said, 'Bye, Si." Because the children didn't generally say much, the moment touched her. "That's what got me into the ECFS program," she says.

Looking back more than ten years later, she marvels at how far she's come. "I can do anything now," she says. At TCC, she's experienced just about every role possible, from working in the office to teaching to helping in the kitchen. She's also a parent at the school, with one child graduating into kindergarten next year and another soon to start.

"I feel connected to the community," she says. One of the things that makes this place so special is the diversity the students and teachers bring, with many of the teachers speaking two or three languages. Kou herself is originally from Macau, China and speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Still, it surprised her one day when she saw her daughter sitting and snacking with six other kids and realized that every child in the group spoke a different language. "These are small things, but they make a big difference," she says.

The School of Life

"I see myself as a bridge," says Ruth Ayodeji, who graduated in 2015 from the ECE program and now works as the community-based learning coordinator for ECE and ECFS. "I connect the instructors, the community and the students together. I work hand in hand with them. I help them to not feel overwhelmed and also to get out of their safety zone and challenge themselves to expand their knowledge."

These are things Ayodeji knows something about. Her journey has been full of times when she felt overwhelmed and took steps she never expected to take, all the while expanding her knowledge.

"I have a learning disability," Ayodeji explains. "I grew up in a country with no services for disabled children. When I look at my life, I never dreamed about being where I am today."

The seed was planted when she was a teenager, volunteering at church as an interpreter for people who needed hearing and speech support. Suddenly she had a sense of purpose, and that's when she decided she wanted to be a teacher.

After she immigrated to the U.S., Ayodeji surmounted challenge upon challenge, getting her GED, leaving an abusive relationship, raising her children as a single mother, working as an early learning teacher, making sure children in her classroom and their parents got the support they needed to thrive, earning her bachelor's degree and eventually bringing all that formal education and lived experience to her current position with ECE.

What matters is that people are treated fairly and as human beings and receive every opportunity they can get.

At times on her journey, Ayodeji has wondered where she can make the biggest difference. Ultimately she's decided that it doesn't matter where she is. To her, it's all the same work of supporting whole people. "What matters," she says, "is that people are treated fairly and as human beings and receive every opportunity they can get."

Growing People

"Working here, it's like I'm hugging the inner child in myself every day because I would have loved this program in my school," says Penny Friedrichsen, development manager at Stem Paths Innovation Network (SPIN). A new partner with UW's ECO program, SPIN is about to take on two new interns to help in the work of supporting students in science, technology, engineering, math, and arts fields.

The Southeast Seattle organization orients itself around community needs, building relationships and using what they learn to shape what they offer. "Closing the opportunity gap, that's our mission, and our interns will be a part of that," says Friedrichsen. "Our focus is on learning by doing. As the interns move forward on their career journey, they'll get that experience too."

It's an opportunity for us as a growing organization to help interns while they also help us.

The partnership requires thoughtfulness in the development and supervision, and Friedrichsen sees this as mutually beneficial. "It's an opportunity for us as a growing organization to help interns while they also help us," she says.

University Heights Center is another Seattle organization partnering with the ECO program. For the past five years, ECO interns have learned alongside staff as the organization promotes life-long learning from a historic elementary school building. “It's not that you stop learning when you are 18 years old, the world is constantly changing, and there are always ways for us to better support our community by learning new things,” says Hunter Uechi, University Heights Center marketing and events supervisor.

The learning even continued during COVID-19 when they had a whopping 11 interns. "We are a small staff, so that was a lot," says Program Manager Shirin Subhani. "It was great. We had a lot for everyone to do, and it was a lot for us to manage, so now we have four."

She goes on to describe the growth that happens. "Within the past two years, we've had interns continuing past their internship dates because they enjoy the community they've built." She gives an example of a student who connected with the weekly senior group, even online and from China, feeling like she had many grandparents. "It felt like home to her," Subhani says.

Part of that sense of home includes connections across generations. For instance, during one of the senior groups, an intern brought in his roommate as a speaker to talk about pronouns. "It was a case where an intern said, 'I have someone in my life who has knowledge," says Subhani. "It was a great conversation that showed intergenerational learning in action where a group of seniors were ready to listen."

We show up fully as whole people. It's messy, and we welcome that.

The University Heights Center location also houses 12 other resident organizations. "Whoever is looking for help, we let everyone know about the interns," Subhani says.

Within this ecosystem, relationships come first. "We're a small staff with a big mission," says Uechi. "It's not going to start and end with us. We show up fully as whole people. It's messy, and we welcome that."

Interrelated and Evolving: The ��ߺ�� undergraduate programs

Founded in 2008 by Professor Susan Sandall, Early Childhood and Family Studies (ECFS) prepares students for careers in early learning, policy, parent and family support, social services, graduate studies and more. Depending on their focus, students learn in community for a minimum of two quarters up to every quarter. "This program is designed to give students more tools to be agents of systemic change," says UW Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development Gail Joseph, who served as the director of ECFS from 2008 to 2015.

Early Care and Education (ECE), founded by Joseph in 2013, is a fully online degree program. "The ECE program is fundamentally interested in working to advance and sustain diverse early childhood professionals by supporting community-based students and teachers," says ECE Director Miriam Packard da Silva. "Students engage in weekly, community-based learning from the first quarter of enrollment to the senior capstone.” For parents, current teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, family childcare owners, military families, career changers and more, the program focuses on flexible scheduling, removing financial barriers and allowing people to continue living and working in their communities while earning their bachelor's degree.

Using all the strengths of an online experience, such as flexibility, ECE maximizes the collective experience. "While they are in community-based learning positions, they are also enrolled in communities of reflection and practice as a cohort," says Packard da Silva. The learning is also multi-directional. "Alongside students sharing videos of themselves interacting with children and wrestling with problems of practice, as faculty, we are learning from students in community about what we're missing and how we need to change," she says.

The newest undergraduate program, Education, Communities and Organizations (ECO), started in 2016. While ECE and ECFS concentrate on learning in the early years, ECO focuses on children and youth over the age of 8. "ECO came about because of the momentum that ECFS started," says Associate Teaching Professor Jondou Chen, who was part of the planning group. "The idea was to keep pushing on the boundaries, from K-12 to early childhood, thinking more intentionally about non-formal or community-based learning spaces. We wanted to deconstruct the idea that learning, education and schooling are all synonymous."

Students in the ECO program focus on human development, equity studies and learning across contexts. This includes meaningful learning outside of school, and the role families and communities play in learning and development. The program culminates in a senior capstone series led by Assistant Teaching Professor Edmundo Aguilar. The series comes as students are engaged in internships in and with community and supports a deeper understanding of the experience.

Over the past two decades, Federal policy was one of the big drivers of change that set the UW ��ߺ��'s undergraduate programs on their current, interrelated trajectories. "As well-intentioned as No Child Left Behind elements might have been, the education mandate had major issues with supporting the learning of all community members," says Chen. "When schooling continued to have many of the same issues no matter how many tests were used to drive learning and teaching, there was increasing recognition that learning isn't limited to schools or the K-12 grades."

This change process continues to expand and gain momentum. This evolution involves an ongoing reckoning about authority and power, how the university is situated related to history, language, and community, and how students see themselves in the curriculum. Visits with a number of partners during the summer of 2022 to better understand their work and deepen contributes to the change and growth. Those participating in the visits for ECO included Aguilar and ECO Community Partner Liaison Cait McHugh. Ruth Ayodeji, the community-based learning coordinator for ECFS and ECE, and Assistant Teaching Professor Jamie Cho, who teaches the ECFS senior capstone series, made the connections on behalf of ECFS and ECE.

"The arrows are all pointing in all directions," says Chen. "We're not done yet. I'm excited to meet the next students and the next partners to illuminate the past and imagine the future. It's amazing to do community work. There's always the next meal, the next generation, the next celebration, to laugh and grieve, to have all the feelings together. It's our labor as people and why and how we exist."

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Director for Marketing & Communications

wilcoxc@uw.edu

Early Learning

Dreaming big

Dreaming big

Charting Equity and Innovation at RVELC

It takes a village to raise a child

Contact

Vanessa Stone

Recognizing the Experts

Recognizing the Experts

Becoming One Team

A New Process to Celebrate Strengths

Designed by and for Providers

Growing Shared Confidence

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Community as Educator: Enacting a paradigm shift

Community as Educator: Enacting a paradigm shift

Small Things Add Up

The School of Life

Growing People

Interrelated and Evolving: The ���ߺ��� undergraduate programs

Contact

Charleen Wilcox

Interrelated and Evolving: The ��ߺ�� undergraduate programs