ood programs are responsible for creating a welcoming environment that respects diversity, supports children’s ties to their families and community, and promotes both second language acquisition and preservation of children’s home languages and culture identities.” NAEYC also published a much-anticipated follow-up to Anti-Bias Curriculum earlier this year titled, Anti-Bias Education for our Children and Ourselves. Authors Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards created this second edition to support children’s full development in our multiracial, multilingual, and multicultural world, while also integrating the core goals of anti-bias education in developmentally appropriate ways throughout a child’s education.
Because of the known value of strong family partnerships, NAEYC has also expanded its efforts to share information about successful engagement strategies development by exemplary early childhood programs. Through the Engaging Diverse Families (EDF) project, NAEYC has named 10 programs from around the country that have demonstrated these strategies. For more information about EDF and for the full list of selected programs, visit NAEYC’s website.
NAEYC is also determined to see diversity embraced with our system building with the implementation of the Quality Benchmark for Cultural Competence Project (QBCCP). The project was created to determine the key elements of cultural competence for early childhood programs and ways to meaningfully integrate these concepts within quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) criteria. More information about the project, including a tool that can be used for measurement of cultural competency, can be found on NAEYC’s website.
NAEYC’s focus on diversity will continue with the November issue of Young Children - Lessons Learned from Early Childhood Educators Across the Globe. For more information about Young Children and other NAEYC publications, visit www.naeyc.org/publications.
Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The association is the largest and most influential advocate for early care and education in the United States.
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Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is the largest and most influential advocate for high-quality early care and education in the United States.