Research.

Doctoral Research:

Exploring the Experiences of Early Childhood Educators Working with Teaching Strategies GOLD(R)

Promises on the federal and state level of better pay for early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals and ‘high quality’ publicly funded ECEC education programs has been an exciting and long-awaited vision. However, with funding comes the need for justification of those funds through different measurement structures. One of the widely used measurement structures is the Teaching Strategies GOLD® (TSG) assessment system. TSG is an assessment system in which early childhood educators enter observations and documentation of children’s work and connect them to 38 pre-established, generic learning objectives to track children’s learning and development.

There is considerable research that supports the use of TSG as a valid and consistent way to rate young children’s growth, yet there is a significant absence of the voices of the ECEC educators that are required to use TSG. In this research, I explored the experiences ECEC educators required to use TSG through the use of narrative inquiry.

Data and findings included a series of interactions including interviews, reflective conversations, and observation. Conclusions drawn from this research indicated that practicing TSG in ECEC programs can have a problematic impact on some of the ways in which educators worked with young children. These effects were most strongly noted when checkpoint dates were approaching. Additional conclusions signified that using TSG in ECEC programs affected the professional development opportunities offered by the programs as they became centered on the use of TSG, altering the ECEC educators’ perceptions of themselves as professionals.

Grants and Honors

Early Learning Higher Education Consortium Grant Award (2023-2025)

Role: Managing Partner, Umpqua Community College

The Early Learning Higher Education Consortium Grant is funded by the Oregon Department of Education and managed through the Department of Early Learning and Care. This grant was created to establish Early Learning Higher Education Consortiums that partner regional Oregon Community Colleges and Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies with a 4-Year University to support Early Childhood Educators as they progress through higher education. Umpqua Community College partners with Rogue Community College, Southwest Oregon Community College, Klamath Community College, Douglas, Lake, and Klamath County Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, and Southern Oregon University for this grant. Southern Oregon University is the housing partner.

My role as a Managing Partner was to help write the grant application, establish a two-year budget, and follow all required procedures and approval from Umpqua Community College before applying for the grant. Currently, my responsibilities as a Managing Partner are to oversee the allocation of grant funds, maintain and support the Early Childhood Student Cohort, partner and meet weekly with the Student Navigator, attend twice quarterly grant partner meetings, and submit quarterly grant reports.

Early Learning Higher Education Consortium Pilot Grant Award (2021-2023)

Role: Managing Partner, Umpqua Community College

The Early Learning Higher Education Consortium Pilot Grant was funded by the Oregon Department of Education and managed through the Early Learning Division. This grant followed the model created by the Ford Family Foundation to establish Early Learning Higher Education Consortiums that partner regional Oregon Community Colleges and Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies with a 4-Year University to support Early Childhood Educators as they progress through higher education. Umpqua Community College partnered with Rogue Community College, Southwest Oregon Community College, Klamath Community College, Douglas, Lake, and Klamath County Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, and Southern Oregon University for this grant.

My role as a Managing Partner was to establish a two-year budget and follow all required procedures and approval from Umpqua Community College before applying for the grant. In addition, my responsibilities as a Managing Partner were to oversee the allocation of grant funds, maintain and support the Early Childhood Student Cohort, partner and meet weekly with the Student Navigator, attend quarterly grant partner meetings, and submit quarterly grant reports. As a pilot partner, this grant carried the additional responsibility of providing feedback to the Early Learning Division for considerations around opening the Early Learning Higher Education Consortium statewide.

Southern Oregon Early Learning Professional Development Consortium Grant Award (2018-2020, extended through 2021)

Role: Managing Partner, Umpqua Community College (2019-2021)

The Southern Oregon Early Learning Professional Development Consortium Grant was funded through the Ford Family Foundation. My responsibilities as a Managing Partner were to oversee the allocation of grant funds, maintain and support the Early Childhood Student Cohort, partner and meet weekly with the Student Navigator, attend twice quarterly grant partner meetings, and submit quarterly grant reports. Because of the success of this grant, this model was adapted by the State of Oregon to become the Early Learning Higher Education Consortium Pilot Grant.

Douglas County & Rural Infant Mental Health Project (DC-IMH): A placed-based professional cohort model. (2018-2021)

Role: Co-Investigator

This study aimed to create a pilot place-based professional cohort model in Douglas County, Oregon for 12 cross-sector professionals who work with children 0-3 years and 10 rural Oregon 0-3 professionals. One of the goals of the pilot is to seek to identify participants who could become endorsed at all levels of the endorsement, Levels I-IV. Endorsed individuals in Levels I-IV can serve as mentors and offer reflective supervision for others in their community seeking endorsement. By seeking participants who would be able to achieve endorsement, this study seeks to grow the capacity of ITMH leadership in Douglas County, who can then provide reflective supervision to others applying for Endorsement Levels I-IV.

A second goal of this study was to create a coordinated system for rural communities that can serve as a model for other counties and agencies that seek to increase their capacity to serve children 0-3.

My role as a co-investigator in this study was to support the PI and other agency directors in the study, attend all networking meetings, transcribe and interpret data from networking meetings, reflections, and participant feedback, and participate in the planning of the next steps of the research study.

Children in the Community

Role: Research Assistant (2019)

This study aimed to explore the opportunities young children in early childhood classrooms have to observe and meet with adults in their community. To understand these opportunities, a large survey was sent to approximately 3,000 centers across the United States. My role as a research assistant was to sort the information provided in the survey and give initial interpretations of the overall results.

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Future Research Interests

Contemporary Approaches to Teaching and Learning in Today’s Early Childhood Classrooms: Educational and Policy Considerations

The profession of early childhood education and care, previously often overlooked, is now being viewed from a political standpoint as the golden ticket to fixing all of society’s issues. This has led to billions of dollars being invested nationwide to increase the quantity and quality of programs.

It has been just over four years since I completed my doctoral research. Since that time, we have experienced extreme political and social unrest, a heightened awareness of social justice, a global pandemic, and increased acts of civil violence and overt racism. Early childhood professionals report dealing with extreme behaviors from both children and families, being asked to ignore teacher-to-child ratio laws to keep classrooms and programs open, and dealing with their own personal and global trauma.

Yet, in many states, the measures being implemented alongside funding, are still focused on “readiness” and pushed down academic structures and expectations.

When I listen to the stories from my students or read their assignments, I find myself wondering if we are preparing our students for today’s early childhood classrooms or the classrooms we knew a decade ago. In this area of research, I would like to amplify the voices of early childhood professionals who are working in the classroom daily about what they deem as important, where they would like further support, and how we can create policies and educational programs that are responsive to the challenges and needs of today.

Faith and Spirituality in Early Childhood as Culturally Responsive Practice

In the United States, many non-faith-based early childhood programs either practice a “no holiday” policy or loosely work around celebrating Christian holidays. Yet a child and family’s faith or spirituality plays a huge role in their family’s culture and identity, including diet, clothing choices, how they schedule their time, and child-rearing practices. When early childhood professionals are not allowed to or refuse to, acknowledge a child’s and family’s faith or spirituality, they are refusing to acknowledge part of the child.

In this research, I would like to explore how faith and spirituality are honored in different ways in different types of programs to build a better understanding of how faith and spirituality can be incorporated into classrooms as culturally responsive practices.