Developing a Kindergarten-Readiness Program for Dual Language Learners

Developing a Kindergarten-Readiness Program For Dual Language Learners A Toolkit for Organizations

LICM Toolkit Series 1

This toolkit made possible with the support of the Angela and Scott Jaggar Foundation.

Developing a Kindergarten Readiness Program for Dual Language Learners Š2017 Long Island Children’s Museum 11 Davis Avenue Garden City, NY 11530

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Table of Contents Program Background - LICM’s Together to Kindergarten ……………...…………………...………

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Getting Started and Setting up a Program ………………………………………………....………… 2 Collaborations with Local Organizations ……………………………………………………………… 4 Participant Recruitment Strategies …………………..................................………....….……… 5 Program Curricula Development …………………………………………………………….………… 6 Staffing Models/Facility Needs ……………......……………………………………..……….……… 7 Developing a Fundraising Strategy …................................................................................ 9 Guidance in Navigating Language and Cultural Differences …………………………….………… 11 Lessons Learned ………………………………………………………………………..……………… 13 Evaluation ................................................................................................................... 15 Resources for Organizations ……………………………………………………………………...…… 16 Contact Us ................................................................................................................... 18

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This publication was created to guide you in your efforts to establish a kindergarten-readiness program serving dual language learners. In these pages we share resources and lessons learned during the development, implementation and expansion of LICM’s Together to Kindergarten program serving preschoolers and their families.

Program Background Together to Kindergarten began as a response to the needs of neighboring school districts. A rapid increase in the number of immigrant families entering the school system created challenges for families as well as kindergarten teachers.

Parents needed assistance acclimating to the culture and expectations of the U.S. classroom and public education system. Teachers needed to successfully integrate and support these students given the differences in language and culture. Most importantly, the young students needed to feel comfortable and confident entering their first classrooms with new peers.

LICM staff met with teachers and parents and launched a pilot kindergarten-readiness program for both children and parents/caregivers in 2006. The program grew organically, guided by experiences of LICM staff and in response to new characteristics and needs of the communities.

Ongoing evaluation, complemented by staff observation and reflection, informs program adaptations aimed at bridging achievement gaps for these students and improving ways to address parents’ needs and concerns with practical strategies.

National Medal for Museum and Library Science Winner

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NBC4 New York – Visiones

Getting Started & Setting Up a Program Identify a need for the program: Has someone approached your organization to ask whether you offer or know of kindergarten-readiness programs for immigrant families? Typically, kindergarten teachers first recognize the need. Consider meeting with a couple of teachers and/or principals at schools close to your organization to find out more about their students & families and the most pressing needs.

Consider the source and frequency of requests your organization receives for bi-lingual educators on field trips, or other programs. As a trend, the information can identify needs.

Become knowledgeable about the bigger issues, challenges and trends surrounding kindergarten-readiness and dual language learners. Utilize sources like Child Trends to create an understanding of the context: Early School Readiness

Dual Language Learners

Identify an audience for your program: Find out more about the demographics of nearby school districts. Usually this information can be found on the website of the State’s education department. Although information is usually a couple of years behind, it will provide a reasonably accurate picture. Additional, more up-to-date information can be requested from individual districts, schools or from organizations that have approached you to communicate a need. Community demographics can be found using Census data sites and entering your state, county, city, town or zip code.

If you are considering a specific immigrant group, choose one that has a significant presence in your community. This will make it easier for you to develop the necessary contacts within the immigrant community and find program personnel who already speak the language and might be more familiar with relevant cultural norms, etc. Maintain awareness of demographic changes continuously so that you can adjust your program as needed.

Contact social service agencies in your area that serve immigrants or refugees. (A Google search using “social service agencies serving immigrant families + your city/ county” or “resources for immigrants + your city/county” should yield some starting points.) Learn more about the different immigrant groups living in your area and their needs.

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Connecting with neighboring school district administrators and kindergarten teachers will also help to identify the appropriate audience for a program. Although schools can’t typically hand out demographic information, some is usually available through district or state education websites. Information about shifts in the school or district student population can also be gleaned from conversations between your staff and teachers when they visit your site.

Have a discussion with your colleagues about the ways in which starting a program can advance your organization’s mission.

If there are some people in your organization who have concerns about whether the new potential program aligns with your mission, it is important to resolve this so that institutional buy-in is secured. Consider interpreting the mission in broad terms with an eye toward addressing needs of the community and growing your audience.

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Collaborations with Local Organizations If you have already made contact with kindergarten teachers or administrators of a local school, they are some of your most important collaborators. They will be able to assist you with recruiting, communicating with parents and evaluation.

Other organizations that serve immigrants in your area can also serve as collaborating organizations. They can often connect you with the populations you seek to serve and may also help to get the word out about the programs you are offering, or program personnel you need to hire.

Organizations like the Salvation Army or YWCA/YMCA can be resources in your community, as many offer programs for immigrants and refugees.

Faith-based and cultural organizations can also be valuable collaborators.

Local libraries are a good resource. Be sure to connect with early childhood librarians, not only to help with recruitment and registration of program participants, but also as a resource for parents regarding literacy and other educational opportunities.

Building relationships with a variety of other organizations in your community means you can also partner with their staff to provide programs or other important content for your own program participants. LICM has been successful working with local cultural centers, language learning schools, autism-focused organizations, radio stations, restaurants and even laundromats. Be creative about who potential collaborators can be!

Make an effort to keep current on the changing needs of immigrants in your community.

This knowledge can lead to important partnerships in the community. Staff from other partnering or resource organizations can be guest speakers or co-presenters.

Pursuing collaborations like this helps to build credibility for the program within the immigrant community and also to create a continuum of support for participating families.

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Participant Recruitment Strategies Work with your collaborating community organizations to spread the word about your program and provide information to potential participants about how to enroll. We have found that recruiting participants at schools during kindergarten registration is a successful method.

If your target audience is an immigrant audience, consider what staff is in place to create a bridge/relationship with that audience. This is particularly important for recruiting participants, teaching any sort of parent component, and advising other staff on program adaptations. We have also found that the person overseeing the program should speak one of the languages of the target audience for the program.

Find local radio stations, newspapers or TV channels that serve the targeted audience. Work with them to have your representative staff on air or help disseminate information about the program.

Try a grassroots approach, connecting with local restaurants, supermarkets, stores and laundromats that serve your community. Word of mouth is often the best advertising.

Attend events at the schools and community gathering places/churches where your target audience lives.

This is especially important in the start-up phase of your program.

The staff at your organization needs to be the face of the program, so when people in community think of the program they have a point of reference.

As your program takes root and develops over time, continue to work with previous participants and collaborators to spread the word. Developing and sustaining these relationships supports trust in the community. • Recruitment Flier Samples • Registration Form Samples

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Program Curricula Development LICM’s Together to Kindergarten program encompasses:

Summer Sessions for Preschool Age Children at the Museum (4-week Program) •Half-day, English language immersion sessions where children engage with exhibits and inquiry-based art, science and storytelling activities.

•Social, cognitive, and behavioral skill-building to provide a smooth transition into to Kindergarten •Daily bus pick-up/drop-off provided •Graduation ceremony celebration

Summer Workshops for Parents & Caregivers (4-week Concurrent Program) •Half-day sessions each week (during their child’s session) • Care for siblings of participants is provided at the Museum in an effort to remove obstacles for parent attendance •Advice on how to work with teachers, advocate for their child and navigate the U.S. school system.

•Graduation ceremony celebration

Year-Round Services for Families •Free family Museum memberships •Reunion Nights for alumni and families for three years

• LICM Program Curriculum Samples – Children’s Workshop • LICM Program Curriculum Samples – Parent’s Workshop

Considerations for Developing a Curriculum for a New Program Be aware of local and national trends to identify skill gaps that your program can address.

• As an example, LICM’s curriculum for Together to Kindergarten has a STEM-learning (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) emphasis. This focuses grew out of our participation in the Expanding Repertoires of Practice project, which identified that dual language learners typically have less exposure to STEM-based experiences. The National Science Foundation-funded initiative, studied science and children’s museum programs and practices for preschool dual language learners, their families, and the community organizations and early childhood professionals who serve them.

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Start with basics such as name recognition and numbers to ensure that children have a strong foundation as they enter the school year.

Carve out time in your planned curriculum for free play where children can integrate and apply what they are working on during large and small group activities and centers. Utilize the space you have to help facilitate these opportunities (indoors and outdoors).

In terms of purchasing materials and manipulatives for your program, look at what is found in a typical Kindergarten classroom and incorporate that. School supply or teacher resource stores will have many materials for your program. Props used during “circle time” or at learning centers, as well as attendance boards, calendars and clocks, etc. are all appropriate purchases and will help to familiarize students with the feel and routines of the classroom. Kindergarten teachers may also be very willing to give you a sense of what they would like to add to their classrooms, or what they feel is missing, so that you can consider that as a way to complement what students will experience once they begin school.

Depending on the size of your organization, and the number of staff you can devote to a start-up program, you may want to begin with one four-week summer session with one class of 15-20 students to get a feel for potential capacity. We recommend starting the parallel sessions for parents/caregivers at the same time to take full advantage of synergistic learning.

If you can only do one track, we would recommend doing the parent/caregiver sessions since the parents can then support their children and be informed advocates once school begins.

Staffing Models/Facility Needs Issues to consider for staffing include: the size and scope of the program, and the intended audience.

Currently, LICM’s program serves 40 students and approximately 40-50 parents during each of its two, four-week summer sessions.

Look at teacher/student ratios in preschools near you can provide useful guidelines for determining how many staff you need for your program. One example of a scalable staff model for a start-up program might look something like this: • Program manager/supervisor (This would probably be the person who oversees education programs/early childhood/youth education programs in the organization. This person would also potentially be the parent educator.)

• Four educators per class of 20 children (This includes 1 lead teacher and 3 educators – each having a group of 5 children that they focus on closely. The lead teacher has one of these groups of five children, but also handles the entire class.)

• Look for half of your staff to be bi- or multi-lingual and are able to code-switch based on the needs of individual students in their group. Although the majority of our lessons with children are taught in English, having the ability to provide a child who needs additional support with a bi-lingual educator has been extremely helpful.

• Educators that stay with the siblings of the student participants while parents are in their sessions.

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Currently, LICM’s staffing model for Together to Kindergarten is very fluid and seasonal. During the summer about 17 staff members and an intern work on the program. Program staff also works with the LICM’s Theater staff to host the annual “graduation” ceremony at the conclusion of the summer sessions.

We have found that retaining program staff is important. This creates an historical knowledge of the program itself and allows staff to implement evaluation findings more easily. Consistency of staff year to year fosters buy-in and ownership of the program, and builds relationships with educators.

Facility Needs Considerations Think creatively about the spaces you have and what spaces you need for a program. Involve all the departments in your organization, as they may have ideas or community contacts you don’t know about.

A basic list of the spaces LICM uses for its Together to Kindergarten program include: • Classroom space (indoor and outdoor spaces can be used) • Parent/caregiver workshop space • Space for siblings during parenting workshops • Organizational resources (exhibits, here at LICM; books if at a library, etc.)

• Graduation ceremony & celebration space The need for multiple or duplicate spaces increases as the program adds audiences with different languages (if programs happen concurrently).

Consider whether nearby community spaces are available for certain program components, such as graduation. Other considerations include transportation for participants (explore options to encourage participation) and program supplies, including items like breakfast for parents on parent session days and snacks for students.

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Developing a Fundraising Strategy Non-profits seeking funding for programs similar to Together to Kindergarten should consider several funding streams including multi-year funding sources to insure sustainability of the program. Consider the services of an experienced grant writer (professional or volunteer) to assist with research and the application process. Submitting grant proposals that are clear, concise and well written is an important step to securing funding. The Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Grants Professionals Association are good resources to find help.

Talk to Others Find out who is funding projects for immigrant families and/or early childhood education in your area.

Once a funder has a proven interest in this type of program and gives in your geographic area, they are more likely to consider funding a similar program.

Seek out immigrant serving organizations in your area to learn about programs that serve this population and look into their funding sources.

Consider reaching out to community centers, religious organizations and local government entities for information on programs they are aware of and look into their funding sources.

Inquire about making connections with individuals that may have the capacity and interest in providing funding.

Be open to collaborating with other organizations who may have established funding sources.

Research Use a variety of sources to get a complete picture of potential funders.

• Consider purchasing a subscription to the Foundation Center’s Foundation Directory Online. Subscriptions are available on a month-to-month basis. This will provide your organization with valuable information regarding potential funders.

• GrantStation is another subscription-based prospect research tool. Unlike the Foundation Directory Online, GrantStation includes corporate and government prospects.

• If purchasing a subscription service isn’t feasible, some public libraries have access to the Foundation Center Directory and other resources for prospect research.

• Large national chains often give grants for community programs in their service area. Check the Corporate Responsibility section of corporate websites for general information and guidelines to determine if your program is a match.

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• A Foundation IRS Form 990 is a great source of information. They will list the organizations a foundation has supported and the amounts of their donations in the prior year. This information is helpful in determining if your project is a fit with the foundation’s interests and what levels of support you might request. Many foundation IRS Form 990s and other information can be found for free at: Guidestar

Foundation Center

• Check the websites of potential funders – they often provide a list of who and what type of projects they are funding. There are funders that are especially interested in supporting new/start-up projects.

Consider requesting multi-year funding to assist with program sustainability.

Call potential sources. Program officers can help you to determine the strength of the match with your project.

Funding Sources to Consider Contact the unit of your local government that administers the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in your area. (Often there are separate programs for both your county and/or city–we recommend contacting both.) The CDBG program re-grants federal funding for programs that serve low or low/moderate income families, which may include programs similar to Together to Kindergarten.

Reach out to the administration of school districts and libraries in your area to inquire if they would consider partnering with your organization as a service provider for any of their government grant supported initiatives for pre-k students and families.

The United Way often provides funding for programs that serve “underserved” or “at-risk” children and their families. Contact your local chapter for information.

Museums and libraries might also want to consider an application to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Museums For America grants program. They provide grants of up to $500,000, and organizations may apply every year. Review their guidelines here.

• Please note: IMLS Grants are awarded in amounts up to $500,000 with a one-to-one match, but for grant requests of $25,000 or less, no match is required.

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Guidance in Navigating Language and Cultural Differences “The participation of families from different cultures requires knowledge of and adaptations to cultural needs and differences. LICM met this challenge by hiring staff members from the cultures being served in the program and being flexible about program adaptations. When we launched the pilot program, we worked with an adviser, Jeri Robinson from Boston Children’s Museum, to identify and address challenges, including which communities to select, how to handle recruitment, how to schedule parent workshops for differing needs, and of course, how to find funding. Over time, Museum staff has learned from these challenges and developed a model program initiative that LICM has expanded and successfully solicited funding for, for several years. “

–Suzanne LeBlanc, LICM President – from ASTC Blog – Migration & Museums When we first started the program at LICM, we had classes that were comprised of children that came from homes speaking the same language, i.e. Spanish speakers or Creole/French speakers. As we began to integrate one of the classes to include both sets of children, we began to see issues pop up with children not wanting to hold hands with other children that had darker skin, etc. In part, this could have been due to living in an insulated community and home and not having much exposure to other cultures. To address this, we tweaked our curriculum to include lessons that celebrated many cultures, including what we called “stART” (story + art) lessons and books, music, and something as simple as learning how to count in the other languages represented in the program.

Additionally, discussions on how children could demonstrate friendship and kindness to each other became a Circle Time activity so that all students could offer ideas and receive lessons in being empathetic.

Our Lead Teacher and Parent Educator also addressed the parents on the topic in the Parenting Workshop.

Think about how to build a foundation of awareness and appreciation of the differences that everyone in the class (including teachers) brings to the Museum.

• Sample stART lessons We spoke to the parents about promoting cultural sensitivity and working with the children to help them appreciate one another’s different cultures. The parents were so excited about this during a recent summer session that they came in with homemade food from their cultures to share at breakfast with one another.

We learned that it often strengthens the class when it is integrated, once the initial pilot program has been thoroughly analyzed and assessed. While LICM still has classes that are entirely Spanish speaking, due to demographics, we found that integrating multiple cultures was truer to life and also reflected what their school experience would be like.

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Our graduation experience also allows for more cultural awareness and appreciation. Parents and children learn songs and dances from their own and others’ cultures and perform for the group. Graduation also involves a potluck where Parents/Caregivers are encouraged to bring traditional cultural dishes to share.

Be sure to have program staff who are of the culture or community you are working with to ensure effective communication, adherence to cultural norms and fewer missteps.

Resources designed for teachers about navigating cultural differences in the classroom can be adapted and transferred to environments outside of school, such as museums or libraries: • ¡Colorín Colorado - ¡Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

• Closing the Culture Gap - Culture, Language, and Economic Differences in C.A.R.E. - Strategies for Closing Achievement Gaps (National Association of Educators, 2011), See Chapter 2

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Lessons Learned Focus, Length & Location LICM’s Together to Kindergarten program began in 2006 in response to needs we found in our local communities and schools. The demographics on Long Island were changing. We heard from LICM staff and local kindergarten teachers that immigrant children were behind in several areas as they entered kindergarten. Most had no preschool experience, which meant they need to “catch up” on lessons their classmates had already learned. We also found that parents weren’t always aware of how to best engage with U.S. schools and advocate for their children’s education.

We approached our first year as a pilot year and provided classes for the children and parents in different formats and locations. Working with five different local school districts, the Museum provided classes in both the Museum and a local school for two-week sessions.

We suggest starting small, but a minimum number of students is needed as you want to replicate a classroom setting.

Experience from the first summer prompted program adjustments. Instead of involving five school districts, we narrowed our focus and concentrated on one school district. This allowed LICM program staff to become more familiar with the schools in the district, the kindergarten teachers and the programs serving preschoolers and their families; resulting in a much stronger program. This set the stage for evaluation, program adjustments and future expansion. The Museum has since expanded beyond one district and language, but the lesson of starting small and developing a deep connection remains important.

During our pilot year, we also discovered that two weeks wasn’t long enough to have a strong impact on either the children or the parents. We changed the session length to four weeks; allowing the parents and children to establish a rhythm in their classes and the teachers to develop scaffolded learning in their curriculum. LICM continues to provide sessions of four-week duration; which allows children to settle into the routines of a school day and strengthen skills being targeted in the curriculum.

The final tweak we made after the first year of the program was to hold all of the sessions at the Long Island Children’s Museum. The hands-on, inquiry-based learning experience participants receive at the Museum generates a strong foundation for the children to build upon as they enter the school system. Parents have the opportunity to see how the Museum serves as an educational resource that will extend their children’s learning as they enter school. This first-hand experience increases the likelihood that families will use their complimentary memberships and come back to play in the Museum after the program ends. It also gives both children and parents practice riding a school bus and handling bus stops.

We have adjusted the days of the week and format for the parent/caregiver workshop sessions each summer to fit the needs and schedules of participating parents. We have also created extended sessions so parents only meet twice in the four-week period so they do not need to take as much time off from work.

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Remaining Responsive As we have moved through the years with the Together to Kindergarten program, new lessons present themselves that we hadn’t anticipated or planned for in year one of the program. One example of this is how to best support families with children with neurodiversities.

Together to Kindergarten is typically the first structured, school experience for participating children, and behaviors may exhibit themselves during the first few days that indicate that early intervention strategies or evaluation are needed.

We begin by observing children who are exhibiting behaviors consistent with neurodiversity in an attempt to identify supports that we can immediately put into place in the classroom. Multiple staff members will spend time in the class observing and interacting with the child. Educators are given tips on refocusing or redirecting when needed and provided with assistive devices, such as weighted lap pads or fidget items, which might help the child.

Our educators involve caregivers in the process and speak with them to find out what approaches or methods they use or could employ at home to help their children focus or settle. Some parents are aware of the behaviors, but not always. In these cases, we educate them about behavior indicators and talk about potential resources, including suggestions for an evaluation either prior to school or once in school. Resources you may want to provide include: local Early Intervention organizations, state education department website and Special Needs organizations. Every effort is made to support the caregiver so that they are prepared once their child enters the school system. The evaluation process is explained, as well as what IEPs (individualized education plans) are and what their legal rights are if their child does receive an IEP. We recommend that parents notify the district so that the evaluation process can be started as early as possible. On occasion, we have had Museum staff join parents at school evaluation and IEP meetings to ease anxiety and to translate.

We have recently made this topic part of the parent curriculum and brought in outside speakers to discuss neurodiversities.

There are times when a child’s needs are greater than what the Museum has the staff or training to accommodate and we must remove a child from the program. In this circumstance, we provide parents with multiple resources so they leave the Museum experience feeling supported.

LICM has also assisted parents with resources including immigration and naturalization resources, a subject of interest to many of our participants. We have invited legal service organizations to our parenting programs to answer questions from the audience.

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Evaluation LICM’s evaluation of the Together to Kindergarten program has evolved as the program itself has evolved.

We have worked with outside consultants/early childhood experts to provide observations and guidance, as well as external professional evaluators to create a logic model and to measure progress toward achieving stated goals.

Throughout the program, a combination of evaluation data gathered from program participants (parents as well as children) and kindergarten teachers plus LICM staff observation, reflection and discussion has been valuable for the program’s growth.

LICM typically conducts the following evaluation activities: Pre- and post-program questionnaires that are completed by parent participants. Questionnaires are provided to parents in their language of preference. Questions related to concepts covered in the program, parents’ strategies for supporting school-readiness, perceptions of their role in their children’s transition into classroom education, and their observations of their children’s progress in becoming ready for kindergarten. LICM staff scribed for parents who had difficulty with reading/writing.

• Pre-Program Questionnaire • Post-Program Questionnaire Participating students’ skills are assessed at the beginning and the end of their summer sessions (counting, letter and number recognition, days of week, etc.) The educators also fill out an assessment form each week as part of the student’s portfolio. Asking children to create drawings of their classroom memories can be a helpful assessment tool as well.

• Student Assessment Form LICM staff communicates with district kindergarten teachers through focus groups, advisory committees or just informal conversations. Get a sense from them about how often you can or should check in. It’s important to continue gathering information about what the needs are in each specific school/ community and to assess the degree to which your program is meeting those needs. Program adjustments can be made based on changes in needs or new information. If we are off-base in some aspect, adjustments can be made.

For organizations developing new programs, we recommend incorporating an evaluation process that identifies goals and/ or desired outcomes for the program and gathers input from teachers/administrators, parents and participants at the start and the finish of the program. More detailed evaluation activities may be developed and conducted following a full cycle of the program.

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Resources for Organizations As part of our development of this toolkit, LICM compiled a bibliography of sources having to do with kindergarten-readiness and immigrant populations, which is available here.

Additional resources are listed below. As new sources of information are identified or become available, we will update this page.

Reimagining School Readiness: Position Paper and Literature Review (2016) Center for Childhood Creativity at the Bay Area Discovery Museum • School Readiness Position Paper (PDF) • School Readiness Literature Review (PDF)

Migration and Museums February 9, 2017 (2016 Dimensions) Emily Schuster This blog is an extended version of an article that appeared in a special edition of Dimensions magazine on equity, diversity, and inclusion. It includes summaries of several programs, including LICM’s, the Breaking Ground project at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose and the Science Museum of Minnesota – one of which involves a series of research papers completed by the Wilder Foundation about immigrant populations in the Twin Cities: Speaking for Ourselves: A Study with Immigrant and Refugee Communities in the Twin Cities looks at the experiences of Hmong, Karen, Latino, Liberian, and Somali immigrants and refugees living in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. This summary highlights what Speaking for Ourselves participants had to say about education. It highlights common themes, and suggests potential strategies to support these communities.

CHISPA CHISPA (Children Investigating Science with Parents and Afterschool) is a national collaboration between the Frost Museum of Science, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the ASPIRA Association, and a network of 10 other science museums located in cities with growing Latino populations, working together to build stronger communities and increase the engagement of Hispanic children and their families with science and local science resources.

The project builds on the previous investment of NSF resources in development of the Afterschool Program Exploring Science (APEX) model, developed by the Frost Museum of Science, and will expand its reach and provide additional elements to increase family engagement and ensure future sustainability.

As part of the afterschool science engagement, participating community-based organizations are using the APEX Science curriculum which includes 32 inquiry-based lessons that provide opportunities for indoor and outdoor investigations throughout the school year to engage elementary-age children in science.

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Explora is a CHISPA partner CHISPA is one of a few Explora programs geared toward immigrant families; patience was required to build success. It took time for families to understand the value of Explora and, more importantly, to develop relationships with Explora staff that provided the warmth and welcome families needed to feel comfortable at the museum or engaged in materials-rich, science-intensive afterschool programming at community centers. The time was worth the investment. One couple, immigrants from Mexico who only speak Spanish, recently said, “We are grateful to have somewhere for our daughter to go after school that is better than a babysitter and that will help her. We don’t know science, but now she will” (translated from Spanish).

Andres Barrera Guerrero, educator, and Sarah Pratt, science writer and educator, Explora, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Museums, Migration and Cultural Diversity: Recommendations for Museum Work Network of European Museums See Sections 4 and 5 in particular: • New opportunities for outreach work (section 4) • Recommendations (section 5)

Migration Museum (UK) “The Migration Museum Project is increasing knowledge and appreciation of how migration has shaped Britain across the ages through the creation of an authoritative and inspiring permanent national Migration Museum, a far-reaching national education program, and a knowledge-sharing network of museums and galleries across the UK. Since 2013, we have staged an acclaimed series of events, exhibitions and education workshops at a wide range of venues across the UK, shedding light on the lively part that migration plays in the national life, and helping us to hone our strategy and receive input and feedback from individuals and communities as we work towards our goals. Our exhibitions and events have been attended by over 100,000 visitors, while more than 3,500 school children have participated in our education workshops.

The new Migration Museum at The Workshop is a major step forward for MMP, building on our previous work and providing a showcase for the permanent Migration Museum for Britain that we are creating. Being based at a central London venue until at least February 2018 will enable us to raise our profile, expand audience reach, deepen links with community groups and schools, and test ideas for the permanent museum that we aspire to create.

We are also establishing an Arts Council England-funded Migration Museums Network, bringing together heritage-sector organizations across Britain to share knowledge and best practice, with the aim of increasing and improving outputs related to migration across the UK heritage sector.”

– migrationmuseum.org 17

Child Trends Child Trends is the nation’s leading nonprofit research organization focused exclusively on improving the lives and prospects of children, youth, and their families.

¡Colorín Colorado ¡Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation’s capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

Contact Us Have a question about LICM’s Together to Kindergarten program?

Contact us at earlychildhood@licm.org

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Long Island Children’s Museum 11 Davis Ave, Garden City, NY 11530 (516) 224-5800 • www.licm.org

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