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| Closing Remarks |
February 26, 2002
Jerlean
Daniel, Senior Advisor
Head Start Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Literacy is a social as well as a cognitive endeavor. In the lives of young children, social-emotional development and cognitive development are inextricably linked. Adults who are raising, caring for, and educating young children are critically important to the development of early literacy skills and dispositions. Professional settings require adults who know the development of the whole child, including the developmental continua of literacy (talking, reading, and writing).
Early childhood education is long overdue for being held accountable for the cognitive development of young children. A focus on early literacy is an opportunity to further professionalize our practice, to round out our "whole child" approach, using a range of developmentally appropriate teaching strategies that reflect current research. Young children need daily opportunities to access early literacy experiences through five gateways to language and literacy development. Those gateways are talking, playing, reading, writing, and learning the code, which includes alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. A written curriculum and ongoing assessment allow adults in early childhood settings to intentionally plan and carry out language-rich experiences using the gateways to build the child's vocabulary: problem-solving and reasoning skills through conversation as well as book discussions; ability to explain and negotiate; and phonological awareness. Children still have choices, but they have been carefully planned for throughout the room. Warm, attentive teachers or caregivers use a range of teaching strategies, give children time to submerge themselves in the literacy experience, and offer children authentic praise.
The other adults in a young child's life—the kith and kin—are also critically important, particularly as children enter care as infants and toddlers. Language is the way groups transmit culture. Programming that is not sensitive to cultural diversity could be viewed as an assault on a culture. Careful planning and the inclusion of families in language and literacy activities cannot be overstated. The home language of young children must be supported even as they are learning English. We must put the language issues "on the table" so that all of the important adults in a child's life are in partnership working toward language and literacy outcomes.
Once again, the child care's infrastructure issues are pivotal to successful language and literacy programming. A stable, well-trained, adequately compensated workforce is an imperative. Child care workers enter the workforce with a wide range of training and education backgrounds. Some have literacy levels that are less than adequate given the roles required of adults by current research. We need to be open to employing diverse strategies based on the principles of adult learning to enhance child care quality. Collaboration among child care, adult education, higher education, government, school districts, and others will be needed to get the job done. Child care quality monies and Early Reading First Grants from the Department of Education are two sources of funds for this work. In our current state, thoughtful attention to literacy is past due. Pay attention to the research and get started.
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in Early Care and Education Settings: National Leadership Forum Summary
Materials
| The document is for informational purposes only. No official endorsement of any practice, publication, program, or individual by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Child Care Bureau, or the National Child Care Information Center is intended or is to be inferred. For additional information on this or related topics, please contact the National Child Care Information Center at (800) 616-2242 or info@nccic.org. |
