Building Cultural Inclusivity in Head Start: Co-constructing a Home-to-School Approach

• In Event: Centering Family Voice: Partnership Interventions with Marginalized Families

Abstract

The Readiness through Integrative Science and Engineering (RISE) Project is a comprehensive approach to teacher professional development (PD) designed to support increased focus on science, technology, and engineering (STE) teaching and learning that is culturally inclusive and ecologically responsive in preschool classrooms (AUTHORS, 2021). As such, the RISE approach is rooted both in (a) empirically supported PD components (i.e., continuous, hands-on workshops, individual in-classroom coaching support, and peer learning communities; Klein & Gomby, 2008; Zaslow et al., 2010); and (b) theoretically predicated approaches to co-construction of curriculum (i.e., joint activities [Rogoff, 2003], funds of knowledge [Moll et al., 2005]). Key to this symposium, the RISE home-to-school approach (AUTHORS, 2022) centers minoritized voices in the formal curriculum to build on what children (and their families and teachers) already know and do. In RISE, a home-to-school approach was operationalized in two ways. First, teachers are encouraged to move away from a sole focus on school-based, largely visible forms of family engagement to validating both visible (school-based) and invisible (home- and community-based) forms of family engagement (McWayne & Melzi, 2014). In addition, RISE teachers co-create both direct and indirect ways to engage with families’ routines and practices (Weisner, 2002), their funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 2005), and other aspects of children’s out-of-school lives to inform culturally inclusive curriculum. Three mantras that guide RISE’s home-to-school approach are (1) Parents are equal partners; (2) Culture is what we do every day; and (3) Learning builds on familiar knowledge.

In this presentation, we will discuss the results of ten years of work among the RISE team (i.e., researchers, teachers and parents) as they co-constructed a comprehensive PD approach and a set of culturally inclusive STE learning experiences in Head Start (AUTHORS, 2020). Specifically, we will present select findings from a randomized control trial (RCT) with a total of 58 classrooms in a large, northeastern, urban Head Start program serving a large proportion of dual language learning children (67%). Quantitative results showed positive effects of the RISE approach on preschool teachers’ attitudes toward and beliefs about science teaching, their science and engineering practices (independently observed), their beliefs about the benefits of PD, and their ability to establish meaningful home-school connections for purposes of curriculum building (AUTHORS, 2021). The main focus of the presentation, however, is on the framing, process, and mixed methods results related to family engagement in the STE curriculum. Results from mixed methods studies showed that as teachers made shifts to a home-to-school approach (AUTHORS, in press), participating families reported experiencing fewer cultural and relational barriers to their engagement in their children’s education program (see Table 1; AUTHORS, 2021). However, this road was “windy,” and teachers varied greatly in their implementation of a home-to-school approach. See Figure 1 for a depiction of implementation variation in the RCT phase. These variations in implementation and outcomes will be presented in more detail, and implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Christine M McWayne, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Jayanthi Mistry, Tufts University

• Virginia Diez, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Sunah Hyun, Tufts University

• Wendy Ochoa, San Diego State University