Dialog, 17(3), 35-48 Copyright © 2014, ISSN: 1930-9325 RESEARCH ARTICLE Promoting Shared Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds among Children and Families in Early Head Start/Head Start Programs Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez University of California, Irvine Nonie K. Lesaux Harvard Graduate School of Education While recruitment and employment goals of Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/HS) programs with respect to bilingual staff are clearly outlined in the program policies, nationally, little is known about their implementation on the ground, especially in programs that serve large numbers of Latino children. The present study targeted an urban EHS/HS program that serves a large number of Spanish-speaking dual language learning families. An interview with the program’s Human Resources Director was conducted to gain insight into the program’s recruitment and retention strategies for Latino/a staff. Additionally, via the administration of a survey to lead teachers (n = 109), we sought to gain concrete insight into teachers’ language and ethnicity characteristics and to learn whether and, if so, for which purposes teachers reported using Spanish in their classrooms. Our results suggest that the two-pronged recruitment and retention strategy employed by the program likely related to the high rates of EHS/HS teachers in the program who identified themselves as Latinas and who reported using Spanish in the classroom. Such efforts appear to be a step in the right direction given the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in today’s EHS/HS classrooms. The great majority of Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) programs serve dual language learning families, with only 16% enrolling English-only families exclusively (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008; Vogel et al., 2006). While dual language learning families are a diverse group, representing numerous ethnicities and language backgrounds, Latino children from Spanish-speaking homes account for the greatest share of the EHS/HS population of dual language learners. That is, over one-third of EHS/HS children are Latino (Administration for Children and Families, 2008), and almost one in four come from families in which Spanish is the primary language (Hamm, 2006; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). These demographics represent a unique characteristic of EHS/HS programs as compared to early childhood settings, nationally. For example, a national survey found that, in comparison, only approximately 8% of 3- and 4-year old children enrolled in early childhood education settings are identified as Hispanic or Latino (Saluja, Early, & Clifford, 2002). 36 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX EHS/HS policy expects programs to strive to employ qualified bilingual staff in order to strengthen instruction for children, as well as to facilitate effective communication with parents and families (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). However, it is often difficult for programs to find, attract, and retain qualified, bilingual staff (National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics, 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). This means that while recruitment and employment goals of EHS/HS programs with respect to bilingual staff are clearly outlined in the program policies, nationally, little is known about their implementation on the ground. That is, at the site-level, we know very little about efforts to recruit and retain bilingual staff and about the actual ethnicity and language backgrounds of EHS/HS staff, especially in programs that serve large numbers of Latino children. We also know very little about whether and how Spanish is used by EHS/HS teachers in the classroom (Freedson, 2010). We do know, however, that there is some research that finds that when bilingual staff is present, it tends to be the assistant and not the lead teachers who speak students’ native languages (Joseph & Chazan Cohen, 2000). Given these questions, in conducting this study, we targeted an urban EHS/HS program that serves a large number of Spanish-speaking dual language learning families. From our visits to the program, we suspected that a substantial percentage of the lead teachers were Latina, Spanish speakers, but statistics from across the program were not available and there was little information about the extent to which Spanish was used, if at all, in the classrooms. To answer these questions, we interviewed the program’s Human Resources (HR) Director to gain greater insight into the program’s recruitment and retention strategies for Latina staff. We also administered a survey to all lead teachers to gain concrete insight into teachers’ language and ethnicity characteristics and to learn whether and, if so, for which purposes teachers reported using Spanish in their classrooms. Early Childhood Educators in the U.S. National statistics help to paint a picture of the characteristics of early childhood educators (referring to lead teachers) in this country. In general, the average early childhood educator for children aged 3 and 4 years old in the U.S. is a White woman of about 39 years of age (Saluja et al., 2002); teachers at for-profit centers are slightly younger (M=35 years) and teachers in public school settings are slightly older (M=42 years). Nearly every early childhood teacher is female (99%) and the majority (78%) is white (Saluja et al., 2002); only 6% identify as “Hispanic” or “Latino” (Saluja et al., 2002). Teachers in HS classrooms are reported to differ from the national sample in some striking ways, especially with respect to ethnic diversity. For example, less than half (48%) of HS teachers are White while over one-third (35%) are Black (Saluja et al., 2002). Furthermore, Saluja and colleagues found that 6% of HS staff members who worked directly with children identified themselves as Hispanic. However, based on information reported through the annually required Program Information Report, Hamm (2006) reports that over one-quarter (27%) of HS teachers identified themselves as Hispanic in 2005 (Hamm, 2006). The conflicting statistics relate to whether “Hispanic” is included as a category under “race/ethnicity” (Saluja et al., 2002 or whether it is a separate question, regardless of race (Hamm, 2006). This diversity carries through to language use. About one-third (29%) of HS teachers reported that they were proficient in a language other than English (Hamm, 2006). Together, these statistics suggest that BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 37 Hispanic/Latino early childhood educators account for a greater share of the population in HS settings, compared to the national average for all early childhood education settings. However, these national statistics do not tell us about how this population is distributed across programs, which vary with respect to their concentration of Latino children. Teachers’ ethnicity is particularly of interest in programs serving high concentrations of Latino children. Bilingual Staffing in Programs Serving Dual Language Learners Given the substantial population of dual language learners enrolled in EHS/HS programs, the organization has advanced the goal of recruiting more teachers who share the same language and culture as their students. One rationale for this goal stems from consistent findings that high- quality early care is associated with improved language development and overall school-related achievement (e.g., Brooks-Gunn, 2003; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network & Duncan, 2003). The most effective, high-quality center-based programs include two major components: a rich curriculum, including an emphasis on language and parental involvement, and a responsive, well-educated staff that results in a setting characterized by teacher-child interactions known to support development (Brooks-Gunn, 2005). While the vast majority of this research has been conducted with native English speaking children (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008), there are implications to be drawn for dual language learning children, especially related to their oral language development. For instance, we know that language development is intertwined with cultural norms for language use (Faltis, 2001; Heath, 1983). Therefore, hiring early childhood education teachers who share the home language and home culture of their students and families may promote more robust language learning at school while simultaneously facilitating communication with parents and families. Ultimately, this would also advance progress towards meeting two characteristics of effective programs. At the same time, the minimal research conducted with dual language learning preschoolers, the (emerging) evidence indicates Spanish is, indeed, sometimes used in the classroom but not commonplace (Barnett, Yarosz, Thomas, Jung, & Blanco, 2007; Chang et al., 2007; Piker & Rex, 2008). For example, Chang et al. found that in pre-K classrooms across several states, only a modest amount of the teacher-student interactions in classrooms with bilingual Spanish-English teachers and students took place in Spanish (17.26% of all direct and indirect teacher-student interactions); however, even this minimal amount of Spanish use resulted in higher ratings of the quality of teacher-child relationships. Shedding light on patterns of language use, in their ethnographic study of teacher-child interactions in one Head Start classroom, Piker and Rex (2008) found that the Latina assistant teacher offered Spanish- language support to the Spanish-dominant students. However, in this setting, the Spanish was primarily used for translating information previously conveyed in English by the White, monolingual English-speaking lead teacher. CURRENT STUDY National statistics tell us that Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/HS) teachers tend to be more ethnically diverse than the overall population of early childhood educators and that Spanish is used by some preschool teachers (and/or teacher assistants) in some of the classrooms. 38 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX However, there are reports that not only finding and attracting, but also retaining, qualified bilingual staff can be a challenge for programs (National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics, 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). We thus interviewed the Human Resources Director of a program serving a large concentration of Latino children to gain insight into the program’s staff recruitment and retention strategies. We also sought to specifically examine the ethnicity and language backgrounds of teachers within this program and investigated whether and, if so, for which purposes teachers reported using Spanish in their classrooms. Study Context & Participants The study was conducted in a small city in the Northeastern U.S. Of the entire population, 38% of individuals identify as Latino, 83% of whom are non-native English speakers. The city has one of the highest poverty rates in the state; 40% of the families are headed by a single mother and more than one-third of children live in households with incomes below the Federal poverty level. Within the overall EHS/HS program studied, three types of programming are offered, spanning the prenatal period (i.e., for pregnant mothers) through the end of the preschool period (i.e., child age 5), including Early Head Start (prenatal to age 3), Head Start (age 2.9 to 5), and a summer Migrant component (prenatal to age 5). The participants in this study consisted of 109 Early Head Start and Head Start lead teachers at 8 program sites. The average teacher reported having 16 students in her classroom (SD = 6), with an average of 11 students (or 69% of the class) reported to hear or speak Spanish at home (SD = 5). Interview with Human Resources Director A principal member of the research team conducted a semi-structured phone interview with the Human Resources (HR) Director in late spring 2011, following ongoing communication and collaboration for that academic year. The interview was open-ended and included 4 guiding issues as follows: 1) recruitment of teachers (e.g., from where?), 2) retention strategies and the extent to which they seem effective, 3) challenges encountered in recruiting and retaining teachers, and 4) ways in which the program bridges language differences when they exist across families and children. The interview was framed at the outset to be about these issues, generally, but especially with respect to hiring and retaining Latina teachers. Leading up to the interview, the researcher and the HR Director had ongoing communication about the overall study and discussed capacity-building initiatives, including potential further collaboration. In the course of these discussions and meetings, the program’s commitment to promoting Spanish-speaking children’s achievement was made clear by the HR Director. The interview lasted approximately 25 minutes. BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 39 Teacher Survey All lead teachers (n = 122) were asked to voluntarily and anonymously complete a researcher- developed survey during the 2010-11 academic year (see Appendix). A total of 109 surveys were returned, yielding a response rate of 89%. The two-page survey, modeled after the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES; Zill et al., 2006), included background questions (e.g., education, years of experience, ethnicity) as well as specific questions about teachers’ Spanish language use in the classroom. In addition to a question that asked about teachers’ frequency of Spanish use (if at all), we asked teachers to identify the purposes for which they used Spanish with their students, providing a range of options, including: to instruct or teach; to clarify; to give directions; to guide transition times; to comfort; and to socialize during non- teaching times. The surveys were mailed to the program’s HR Director and subsequently distributed to the 8 site administrators. The site administrators then distributed the surveys to teachers, collected them, and returned the completed surveys in a sealed envelope to the HR Director. The research team then obtained the surveys for processing and analysis. OUR FINDINGS Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies The interview with the HR Director opened with a context-setting discussion of the linguistic diversity inherent in the program and the institutional response. Specifically, the program aims to have a staff that is, collectively, bilingual and bicultural, with the specific goal of at least one teacher in every classroom who speaks Spanish. The HR Director reported that when this is not possible due to capacity issues, then there is definitely one or more Spanish-speaking teacher(s) on site who interfaces with the Spanish-speaking families. At the same time, cognizant of language barriers, similar to many other programs serving large numbers of non-native English speaking families, English as Second Language classes are offered to parents. More uniquely, however, at the time of the interview, a conversational Spanish class was planned for teachers and staff, demonstrating the program’s commitment to ensuring that teachers and parents can communicate. Following this opening discussion about the linguistic context and program response, the interview shifted to focus on recruitment and retention. As a primary recruiting strategy, the Director of the overall program and the HR Director have, for many years, made themselves (and thus the program) visible to the college community, professors and students alike, by sitting on boards and advisory committees. In turn, the HR Director reports several positive by-products or dividends of having a hand in the college scene, predominantly relating to staff recruiting and to the quality of their pipeline. For example, they have had the chance to influence college curricula focused on early childhood development to ensure that current trends and issues (e.g., diversity, health and well-being, extreme poverty) are addressed and that graduates’ skills and knowledge reflect the program’s needs. At the same time, those colleges approach the program with interns in their Early Childhood Education (ECE) program and they are met with “open arms.” 40 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX A second recruitment strategy is to visit local high schools (charter and non-charter) to talk with students not just about what EHS/HS is, but what high quality child care is and looks like in an effort to show the pipeline to the younger kids. In these sessions, they encourage students to “shadow teachers, sit in on trainings, and consider whether you might like to become a substitute teacher in the classroom, etc.” One location they target is a local alternative high school that includes many vocational programs, including an ECE program; the school is designed for high-risk youth who may not persist in a traditional academic setting. The Director and HR Director also sit on the advisory committee for the ECE program. In addition, in the service of program quality and staff retention, a primary program goal and strategy has focused squarely on advancing the education levels of the adults within the organization. While internal professional development is regularly provided, there are also incentives for staff to continue to pursue formal education. Specifically, some program money is always put aside to support educational coursework at the bachelor’s and master’s level; for example, approximately 30% of permanent teachers are parents of children formerly enrolled in EHS/HS who came in as substitute teachers and were supported to advance their education. Additionally, this program has been the recipient of a federal grant that supported a partnership with a 2-year college to provide evening educational services for the staff. As part of this partnership, some of the college teaching was in Spanish and Spanish-speaking tutors were available to support the participating Latinas. The HR Director noted that almost all graduates of this program are still on staff with them, which led to her report that, overall, the program has experienced an “extreme” amount of loyalty on the part of their teachers. This loyalty is evidenced in the program’s 9% turnover rate, mirroring that of the annual overall turnover rate of educators, but substantially lower than the HS average in the Northeastern U.S. (30%; Dennehy & Marshall, 2005). This suggests that the program’s persistent press for capacity building is effective and may, ultimately, have implications for students’ positive social and emotional adjustment as stable relationships are needed (e.g., Pianta & Nimetz, 1991; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Teachers’ Demographic Characteristics While the focus of this study was on gaining insight into the recruitment and retention strategies for Latino/a staff within a program serving large number of Spanish-speaking dual language learners and on documenting teachers’ reported ethnicity and Spanish language use, we also describe the participating teachers’ gender, education, and years of teaching experience (see Table 1). Given the available information on EHS/HS teachers’ characteristics, nationally, we were able to compare the sample statistics to these national statistics. Gender, Ethnicity, Race. As expected based on national data, the EHS/HS teachers in our sample were nearly all females (99%). However, our sample included a substantially larger percentage of Latina teachers (53%) compared to the overall national average and national average for Head Start programs (6% each). Additionally, our sample identified themselves as Black (7%) at rates similar to the overall national average (10%), but at notably lower rates than the Head Start national average (35%). BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 41 Education and Years of Experience. Only one-quarter (24%) of teachers in our sample reported having a Bachelor’s degree or higher, which is substantially lower compared to the overall and the HS national average (50% and 40%, respectively). As a result, compared to the overall and the HS national statistics, a higher percentage (29%) of teachers in the sample reported having an Associate’s degree. Our sample reported more years of teaching experience than the national average (11 years vs. 6.8 years), but reported the same amount of average years (7 years) of teaching in EHS/HS. Spanish Use in the Classroom The majority of teachers (74%) reported that they spoke Spanish. Of those teachers who indicated Spanish proficiency, when asked about their use of Spanish in the classroom, nearly all (88%) reported using at least some Spanish. In fact, over half of these teachers (52%) reported frequent or very frequent Spanish use. Using the 5 options previously described, we next asked about their reason(s) for using Spanish in the classroom; for ease of interpretation, we grouped the 5 options into 3 categories, from more to less formal reasons for using Spanish as follows: 1) for instruction/teaching and for clarification, 2) to give directions and to guide transitions, and 3) to comfort and to socialize during non-teaching times. As shown in Table 2, of the 74% of teachers who reported using Spanish, 83% reported using Spanish for multiple purposes, with over two-thirds (67%) reporting that they used Spanish for all purposes provided. Six teachers indicated using Spanish solely for instruction/teaching and for clarification, 5 reported using Spanish exclusively to give directions and to guide transitions, and 2 reported using Spanish only to comfort and to socialize during non-teaching times. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Early Head Start and Head Start (EHS/HS) programs aim to employ bilingual staff given the number of dual language learning children they serve. At the same time, however, they report difficulty in finding, attracting, and retaining bilingual staff qualified in early childhood education (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). It is important to clarify that the organization’s goal is not simply to hire teachers who share their students’ native language, but also their cultural background (National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics, 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Several areas of research support this policy recommendation, including that focused on the relationship between early language experience and language development, early language learning and overall socio- emotional development, and that focused on the relationship between language and culture. Teachers in the EHS/HS program studied—serving predominantly Latino children and families—identified themselves as Latinas at substantially higher rates than reported in overall and HS national statistics (53% vs. 6%, respectively). Moreover, the program evidences relatively low turnover rates (9%). Aside from this program’s ability to recruit and retain teachers that share the cultural background of the children and families they serve—an important step for program quality—many of these teachers also share the children’s linguistic background. Not only did most teachers report that they spoke Spanish, but nearly all of the Spanish-speaking 42 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX teachers indicated frequent use of Spanish in the classroom. In fact, teachers reported that Spanish was used for a variety of reasons, from using it for non-academic purposes such as to socialize with children during non-teaching times to using it specifically to instruct. The cultural and linguistic match we found in this study between EHS/HS teachers and families is precisely one of the key recommendations put forth by the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics (2007). These statistics are likely related to the two-pronged recruitment and retention strategy employed by the program; namely, creating a teacher pipeline at community colleges and local high schools and providing support for increasing the education levels of those within the organization. However, before specifically interpreting the strategies employed by this program, it is important to underscore that the clear goal is to employ bilingual and bicultural staff (in this case, Spanish-speaking Latino/as). Despite this clearly articulated goal, capacity issues do not allow for this occur all of the time and, recognizing the non-negotiable need to ensure that parents and staff are able to communicate, the program took several concrete steps to minimize language barriers between parents and teachers. As one example, the program ensures that, independent of whether the lead teacher speaks Spanish, Spanish-speaking teachers are readily on site to interface with Spanish-speaking families. Additionally, the program offers ESL classes to parents, a strategy that tends to be widely recommended across the school system (e.g., Breiseth, Robertson & Lafond, 2011). Most uniquely, the program was in the midst of creating a conversational Spanish class for teachers and staff, an action that further demonstrates their commitment to fostering effective parent-teacher communication, and a feasible strategy for the field, generally. With regard to the strategies the program outlined as key to recruiting bilingual and bicultural teachers, the creation of a pipeline at colleges appeared to be effective for them. As the HR Director noted, one important by-product of their close involvement with the college community was that they were able to influence college curricula focused on early childhood development, ensuring that the skills and knowledge of the students were aligned with their program needs, and facilitating internships in their program for ECE teacher candidates. Given that turnover rates have been documented to be higher among staff with lower qualifications and who feel less competent (Dennehy & Marshall, 2005), efforts to create a pipeline of teachers who reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the communities they serve, with specific attention to preparing teacher candidates to address students’ language needs, including that of dual language learners, should certainly continue (Chu, Martinez-Griego, & Cronin, 2010 Whitebook, Kipnis, Sakai, & Almaraz, 2011). This may represent a particularly feasible strategy for similar programs across the nation. Additionally, we found that the program’s focus on local high schools represented a creative mechanism for extending the pipeline to younger students. Such an approach appears to be a step in the right direction to inform students about what it really means to become an ECE teacher. For instance, by encouraging high school students to shadow teachers, concrete experiences are afforded to students that they might not otherwise have and such experiences have the potential to go a long way in planting the seed for pursuing a career in ECE. We note that the high schools the program partners with, reflecting the demographics of the local community, serve a large Latino population. In terms of staff retention, the program is well aware of increasing educational requirements and is committed to ongoing, on- and off-the-job learning. That is, like all other ECE programs, PD opportunities are regularly provided. However, in addition, the program is BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 43 focused on advancing the education levels of staff—in this case comprised of large numbers of Latino/as—within the organization. By allocating monetary resources for teachers’ completion of educational coursework, whether leading to undergraduate or graduate degrees, the program sends a clear message that their (Latino/a) staff is valued, likely contributing to the loyalty on the part of teachers underscored by the HR Director. NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSION Although these findings suggest there is reason to believe the cultural and linguistic classroom context in which these predominantly Latino children are served—and the efforts to bridge language barriers across staff and families—ought to result in positive educational outcomes, the limited amount of research that has focused on EHS/HS dual language learning families does not allow for even tentative conclusions about the link between shared teacher-family language and culture and student achievement outcomes. While the foundation is in place for improved teaching and learning as a function of cultural and linguistic cohesion across staff and families, an important next step in this area of research is to explore these potential associations with child outcomes both intentionally and deliberately. At a basic level, future research should document the extent to which teachers’ language use reports, including their reported reasons for using Spanish, relate to their observed language use in the classroom context. By providing empirical corroboration, concerns about the validity of self-reports can be minimized. Additionally, future research should investigate not only whether program’s are committed to hiring staff who share students’ native languages, but also specific expectations regarding the use of those native languages in the classroom. At a more nuanced level, studies that explore teachers’ rationale for opting to use Spanish would provide valuable information about the extent to which teachers are purposefully electing to use one language over the other (e.g., Spanish or English), informing our understanding of teachers’ knowledge related to second language learning. Such work is sorely needed as research finds that teachers and staff often do not know how best to support their dual language learning students. Indeed, the National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics (2007) reports that, at all levels of early childhood education, there is a shortage of teachers who are specialists in second language acquisition. More recently, Whitebook and colleagues (2011) report considerable variation in the extent to which students pursuing B.A. degrees in ECE were equipped to address the needs of dual language learners, with the authors noting that college instructors themselves might benefit from professional development (PD) in this critically important area. It is likely that PD opportunities for lead teachers and program staff who work directly with children and families would be beneficial, especially PD focused on the process of second language acquisition. We agree with Whitebook and Ryan (2011) that, to be effective, PD opportunities should to be tailored to teachers’ levels of expertise. In conclusion, as with all studies, the findings reported here must be interpreted in the context in which the study was conducted. Considering that minimal research has focused on preschool dual language learners, studies that include larger samples from numerous programs in regions across the country would further inform our understanding about the extent to which ECE programs that serve large numbers of dual language learners—like the one studied here— are able to recruit and retain bilingual, bicultural staff. Results of our study suggests that targeted strategies for the recruitment and retention of Latino/a early childhood educators, such as 44 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX creating a pipeline of teachers at the high school and community college level while simultaneously allotting monetary resources for the educational advancement of those already part of the organization (whether as teachers’ assistants or as parents), are effective. Such efforts evidence a program’s dedication toward promoting and responding to issues of biculturalism and bridging language differences and appear to be a step in the right directly given the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in today’s EHS/HS classrooms. REFERENCES Administration for Children and Families (2008). Head Start program fact sheet: FY2008.Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/about/fy2008.html Barnett, W.S., Yarosz, D.J., Thomas, J.H., Jung, K., & Blanco, D. (2007). Two-way monolingual English immersion in preschool education: An experimental comparison. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 277-293. Breiseth, L., Roberston, K., & Lafond, S. (2011). A guide for engaging ELL families: Twenty strategies for school leaders. Retrieved from www.colorincolorado.org/pdfs/guides/Engaging-ELL-Families.pdf Brooks-Gunn, J. (2003). Do you believe in magic? What we can expect from early childhood intervention programs. Social Policy Report, Society for Research in Child Development, 17. Retrieved from http://www.srcd.org/Documents/Publications/SPR/spr17-1.pdf Brooks-Gunn, J. (2005). Early childhood education: Investing in quality makes sense. AERA Research Points, Volume 3, Issue 2. Retrieved from http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Research_Points/RPFall05.pdf Chang, F., Crawford, G., Early, D., Bryant, D., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., et al. (2007). Spanish-speaking children’s social and language development in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Education and Development, 18, 243-269. Chu, M., Martinez-Griego, B., & Cronin, S. (2010). A Head Start/college partnership: Using a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to help working teachers earn degrees. Young Children, 65 (4), 24-29. Dennehy, J., & Marshall, N.L. (2005). Workforce characteristics of infant and toddler caregivers in centers, family child care homes, and Early Head Start programs: A Massachusetts capacity study research brief. Center for Research on Women. Faltis, C. (2001). Joinfostering: Teaching and learning in multilingual classrooms. New York: Prentice-Hall. Freedson, M. (2010). Educating preschool teachers to support English language learners. In E.E. Garcia & E.C. Frede (eds.), Young English language learners: Current research and emerging directions for practice and policy. (pp. 165-183). Teachers College Press. Hamm, K. (2006). More than meets the eye: Head Start programs, participants, families, and staff in 2005. Head Start Series, Brief No. 8. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy. Retrieved from http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0311.pdf Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Joseph, G.E., & Cohen, R.C. (2000). Celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity in Head Start. Washington, DC: Administration of Children, Youth and Families. National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy. National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics (2007). Para nuestros niños: Expanding and improving early education for Hispanics [Main report]. Tempe: Arizona State University. NICHD Early Child Care Research Network & Duncan, G. J. (2003). Modeling the impacts of child care quality on children's preschool cognitive development. Child Development, 74, 1454-1475. Pianta, R.C., & Nimetz, S.L. (1991). Relationship between children and teachers: Associations with classroom and home behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 12, 379-393. Piker, R. A., & Rex, L. A. (2008). Influences of teacher-child social interactions on English language development in a Head Start classroom. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36, 187-193. Saluja, G., Early, D.M., & Clifford, R.M. (2002). Demographic characteristics of early childhood teachers and structural elements of early care and education in the United States. Early Childhood Research &Practice, 4, 1-19. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/about/fy2008.html http://www.colorincolorado.org/pdfs/guides/Engaging-ELL-Families.pdf http://www.srcd.org/Documents/Publications/SPR/spr17-1.pdf http://www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Research_Points/RPFall05.pdf http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0311.pdf BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 45 Shonkoff, J., & Phillips (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (2006). Head Start program information report: PY2005-2006. Retrieved June 24, 2009 from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site: http://www.hsnrc.org/Content/Forum3/UserFiles/File/ENROLLMENT_BY_PRIMARY_LANGUAGE_O F_THE_FAMILY.pdf U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (2008). Dual language learning: What does it take? Head Start dual language report. Washington, DC: Author. Vogel, C., Aikens, N., Burwick, A., Hawkinson, L., Richardson, A., Mendenko, L., Chazan-Cohen, R. (2006) “Findings from the Survey of Early Head Start Programs: Communities, Programs, and Families.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/survey_ehs/reports/findings_ehs/findings_ehs_survey.pdf Whitebook, M., Kipnis, F., Sakai, L., & Almaraz, M. (2011). Learning together: A study of six B.A. completion cohort programs in early care and education: year 3. Berkeley, CA: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California at Berkeley. Whitebook, M., & Ryan, S. (2011). Degrees in context: Asking the right questions about preparing skilled and effective teachers of young children. NIEER Policy Brief (Issue 22, April 2011). New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research. Zill, N., Resnick, G., Kim, K., O’Donnell, K., Sorongon, A., et al. (2006). Head Start Performance Measures Center Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2000), Technical Report. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.hsnrc.org/Content/Forum3/UserFiles/File/ENROLLMENT_BY_PRIMARY_LANGUAGE_OF_THE_FAMILY.pdf http://www.hsnrc.org/Content/Forum3/UserFiles/File/ENROLLMENT_BY_PRIMARY_LANGUAGE_OF_THE_FAMILY.pdf http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/survey_ehs/reports/findings_ehs/findings_ehs_survey.pdf 46 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX APPENDIX Teacher Survey Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Please note that all of your answers will be kept confidential and that individual teachers’ responses will not be shared outside of the research team. The information from these surveys will be reported only in terms of average responses across all teachers. Also, please note that the purpose of this survey is not to evaluate schools or teachers, but rather to gain descriptive information about typical practice in EHS/HS. You may choose not to answer any or all of the questions. 1. In total, how many years have you been teaching (including all grades and preschool)? Number of years: _____ 2. How many of those years have you been teaching Head Start (as either lead or assistant teacher)? Number of years: _____ 3. What is the last or highest grade of school you have completed? (Mark one.) Less than secondary (high school) Some secondary school (grades 7-12) Completed secondary school (through grade 12) GED certificate Vocational/trade school Some community college Completed 2 years of community college Some college or university, not vocational school or trade school Completed 4-year college or university Some graduate level education after college Completed graduate level education after college 4. Do you have a teaching certificate or license? Yes No 5. Do you have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential? Yes No 6. Have you taken courses in early childhood education? Yes No If yes, approximately how many? ______________ 7. Have you taken courses on teaching bilingual children? Yes No If yes, approximately how many? ______________ BILINGUAL TEACHERS IN EARLY HEAD START/HEAD START 47 8. Are you currently a member of a professional association for early childhood education (for example, NAEYC, NHSA, NEA)? Yes No If yes, please list them here: ___________________________________________ Please note that this section refers to the characteristics of your current classroom – not to the summer and/or migrant program (if applicable). 9. If you speak Spanish, how often do you use it in the classroom with the students? Never Very rarely Rarely Occasionally Frequently Very frequently 10. If you use Spanish with your students, for what purposes do you use it? Please mark all that apply: To instruct or teach To give directions To clarify To comfort To guide transition times To socialize during non-teaching times 11. How many other adults are in your classroom on a regular basis? ______________ What are their positions? ________________________________________ 12. How often do these OTHER ADULTS in the classroom use Spanish with your students? Never Very rarely Rarely Occasionally Frequently Very frequently 48 MANCILLA-MARTINEZ & LESAUX 13. How many of the total number of students in your classroom speak or hear Spanish at home? Total number of students in the class: _______ Number of students who speak or hear Spanish at home: _______ Optional Questions: 14. What is your race/ethnicity? ____________________________ 15. What is your gender? Female Male