蜜桃影视

Georgia State University (GSU) professor Tonia R. Durden believes the impact of her work extends far beyond the Metro Atlanta area. 鈥淲e are a national model of what a minority-serving institution can achieve,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e responsible for an ethnically diverse wave of professionals moving up the career ladder in our field.鈥�

More than 900 miles to the north, Dr. Lauren 鈥淐andy鈥� Waukau-Villagomez describes the particular strengths of the teachers studying at the College of Menominee Nation. 鈥淲e have subjugated knowledge. That means we鈥檝e been disrespected and disregarded by the dominant culture. We have to learn to decolonize ourselves.鈥�

The urgent work of both women received a boost last month through the Transforming ECE Lead Teacher Preparation Programs Grant Opportunity made by the , a coalition of nine funders that includes the Ballmer Group, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Buffet Early Childhood Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the Stranahan Foundation and TSNE MissionWorks.

Dr. Ola J. Friday, recently named inaugural director of the collaborative, explains that while each grantmaker in the group has its own priorities and styles, they are aligned around a common, ambitious vision of transforming the way early educators are prepared, bringing their compensation in line with their skills and ensuring that all children have great teachers.

Totaling $10.4 million, the six grants target educational institutions across the country that are boosting the capacity of the child care workforce and making it even more resilient. 鈥淎ll six grants focus on the most important lever of early education,鈥� says Friday, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 the people doing the work.鈥�

Georgia on Their Minds

Durden, the Birth Through Five Program coordinator of GSU鈥檚 , envisions a day when early education is a career that compensates workers as professionals and treats them with respect. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still a gap,鈥� she says, 鈥渂etween how society views us and the skills and competencies we deploy every day.鈥�

The new grants will help GSU to make progress on closing this gap. It starts with spreading the word about a viable and thriving career. That includes strengthening partnerships with the local YMCA early childhood programs, Atlanta Public Schools, the (a network of 22 colleges on 88 campuses), Atlanta Black Child Development Institute, Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, and Georgia鈥檚 Professional Standards Commission.

The Birth through Five Program starts engagement as soon as GSU accepts students, rather than waiting for them to choose this concentration. Professor Durden says the Innovation Grant will help her attract students to and retain them for a program that prepares them to teach young children in and beyond her state, and positions them for career advancement. 鈥淲e believe that every early-education teacher in Georgia who wants to, should be able to get her four-year degree.鈥�

With a focus on people already working in the field鈥攁fter all, they know what they鈥檙e getting into鈥攖he program offers late-afternoon and evening classes. If a prerequisite course is offered only at 1:00 p.m., it won鈥檛 fit their work schedules. Students shouldn鈥檛 have to navigate that kind of obstacle on their own, Durden notes. The program team gets involved.

The Birth through Five Program eliminates financial and systemic barriers through and an innovative partnership with the Atlanta Black Child Development Institute that matches students with peer coaches. Nine out of 10 students in the program are Black or Latina, and the supports offered by the Birth through Five Program reflect that reality. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put this project in a bubble. You can鈥檛 ignore the historic trauma of racism and racial terror, therefore our program not only focuses on teacher preparation but also provides culturally responsive engagement to our program participants and is also grounded in racial educational equity,鈥� Durden asserts.

She adds: 鈥淥ur graduates are attaining leadership positions in the field because they have become experts in high-quality, culturally relevant child education.鈥�

Resilience on the Reservation

鈥淲e鈥檙e a small, creative program,鈥� says Waukau-Villagomez about the education department at the College of the Menominee, northwest of Green Bay in Keshena, Wisconsin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not big and bureaucratic.鈥�

She is especially proud of Sacred Little Ones, a collection of student-written and -illustrated storybooks including The Frybread Man and How the Porcupine Got Its Quills, along with lesson plans.

It might sound strange to teachers who want to leave their work behind them at the end of the day, but Waukau-Villagomez (recently named Wisconsin Indian Education Association鈥檚 Outstanding Indian Elder of the Year) says that on the reservation, everybody knows everybody鈥檚 business. Educating teachers who are culturally responsive means more than teaching the Menominee language through song, dance and nursery rhymes; it means family and personal issues are part of the curriculum. 鈥淲e鈥檙e gossips,鈥� she admits, adding, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 teach unless you make a personal 肠辞苍苍别肠迟颈辞苍.鈥�

Many of the students here are coping with work and family issues while they鈥檙e going to school. 鈥淭hey take a little longer,鈥� Waukau-Villagomez says. Markie Miller, for example, began course work in 2004, when the first of her three children was still a toddler.

鈥淢arkie pushes herself,鈥� says Waukau-Villagomez. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a hard worker. School hasn鈥檛 always been easy for her, but nothing was going to stop her.鈥�

The COVID pandemic has caused extensive economic and emotional damage on the reservation. Kelli Chelberg, chair of the teacher education department at the College of Menominee Nation, says the reservation sent out school buses outfitted with WiFi and provided laptops and hotspots. Despite these and other efforts, a number of young children became disconnected from schooling.

As with many areas of the country where families are struggling, opioid and alcohol abuse are prevalent on the reservation. Miller says she鈥檚 had to have difficult conversations with parents. 鈥淚鈥檝e had to pull them aside and say, 鈥楾his isn鈥檛 okay. What can I do to help?鈥欌�� she recalls.

Alongside the challenges of life on the Menominee reservation is a longstanding tradition of activism, most notably embodied by , who served as assistant secretary of the interior and head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1990s. Teaching children belongs to this heritage.

鈥淥ur students realize they are educational leaders,鈥� says Waukau-Villagomez. 鈥淭hey gain the courage to share their knowledge with those who don鈥檛 want to hear it.鈥�

---

Shared Knowledge and Competencies Are Needed Across the Workforce

As children progress from infancy to preschool and through their early elementary years, it is important for them to have continuous, consistent, high-quality support for their development and learning. Ensuring this continuity and quality means that all professionals who work with children need a shared base of knowledge and skills. Across age ranges and settings, care and education professionals need:

• core knowledge of developmental science and content knowledge;
• mastery of practices that help children learn and develop on individual pathways;
• knowledge of how to work with diverse populations of children;
• the capability to partner with children鈥檚 families and with professional colleagues; and
• the ability to access and engage in ongoing professional learning to keep current in their knowledge and continuously improve their professional practice.

鈥�From the Institute of Medicine鈥檚 which gathers research underlying the Innovation Grants

Disclosure: The Bezos Family Foundation provides financial support to Early Learning Nation.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.