A Head Start/College Partnership: Using a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Approach to Help Working Teachers Earn Degrees

Abstract

Education qualification requirements for early childhood teachers are increasing in many types of federal, state, and community-based early childhood programs. The 2007 reauthorization of Head Start requires all teachers to have associate degrees and 50 percent to have earned a baccalaureate degree in early childhood education by the year 2013. At the same time that teacher standards are rising, Head Start and other early childhood programs report difficulty in finding and retaining bilingual staff qualified in early childhood education. In Washington State, because the agricultural valley of Skagit County has a significant Latino population, the authors set out to support early childhood teachers in meeting higher educational requirements, including preparation to teach dual language learners. This goal led to a vision of community collaboration to increase teachers' college graduation and develop course work in which teachers experience an infusion of language and literacy strategies for working with dual language learners, children who are learning in both Spanish and English. In this article, the authors discuss the key strategies in this effort and share a collective reflection by teachers and collaborators. (Contains 4 resources.)