EXCERPT FROM: UANews.org
By University Communications
The UA College of Education has received a grant from the Helios Education Foundation to launch a new initiative for community-based early childhood education.
A new partnership between the University of Arizona College of Education and the Helios Education Foundation will change the way early childhood teachers are prepared.
In the collaborative project, family and community members will be included as educators of future teachers.
In the first year, with $347,000 in funding, professors, teachers and community members will begin a redesign of the early childhood courses and language and literacy projects at the college.
“Community and family will be the heart of the new curriculum,” said Iliana Reyes, a UA associate professor of teaching, learning and sociocultural studies.
Also in the first year, faculty, staff and community members from the Flowing Wells, Sunnyside and Tucson Unified School districts will work together to create opportunities for UA students to meet families throughout the community and to learn about effective teacher-parent-family communication. A community liaison, who lives within the district boundaries, will be hired to facilitate these interactions.
Focusing on family knowledge – a key component of the project – will help teacher-education students recognize and build on children’s use of language and literacy when they create, convey and exchange ideas, said Reyes, the project's co-director.
"This approach will support children’s emergent literacy and will provide teachers with tools and experience to effectively support English-language learners in their classroom communities," she added.
Paul Luna, president and chief executive officer of Helios, said the organization is "extremely excited" about the project and partnership.
“This unique partnership will help redesign early childhood teacher education coursework by engaging families and communities to create culturally relevant literacy and language activities in the early childhood classroom," Luna said.
Ronald W. Marx, dean of the UA College of Education, said early childhood education needs to "aggressively incorporate strategies" that incorporate the school, community and the home.
"When school-based instruction does not build on the literacy knowledge within the home and community, it is less effective because it underestimates the knowledge children bring to the school setting and, therefore, their potential achievement," Marx said.
But teacher-education programs have rarely focused on understanding the histories, cultures and social competencies of children, their families, and their communities.
“The grant provides resources to put this focus in all of our classes – science, mathematics, social studies and literacy,” said Chris Iddings, a UA associate professor of teaching, learning and sociocultural studies who also will co-direct the project.
Iddings said all courses and assignments are being coordinated and the program will include a professional development component.
That component, she said, "will build on the voices and experiences of in-service teachers as we move toward a more comprehensive approach to educational equity.”
Additionally, teachers and teacher-education students will create literacy backpacks for children to take home to share stories from literature and to record family stories and traditions.
These stories will become a part of the teacher-education program and the early childhood curriculum in Flowing Wells.
“Literature offers the potential to transform children’s lives through connecting their hearts and their minds, so they can effectively integrate reason and emotion," said Kathy Short, a UA literacy professor.