A Head Start for All Children

This Bulletin is dedicated to all those who support English
language learners in Head Start and Early Head Start
programs.
by Jessica Knight

Where I grew up in northern New Mexico, nearly everyone spoke English and Spanish, and some of my friends also spoke Tewa, the language of the local Native American Pueblo. My home language was English, and I learned Spanish in a bilingual preschool. Our group of 4-5 year olds went on many outings to the town square where we watched weavers at work, chatted with the elders, and sometimes, used the horno (adobe oven) to make bread for our snack. I went to a very culturally diverse public elementary school. My high school was on the Pojoaque Indian Pueblo. My world consisted of friends who switched between English and Spanish, depending on who was a part of the conversation.

I became certified as a teacher of English as a Second Language and in Bilingual Education. I taught in Guatemala in an early childhood dual language setting, in New Mexico in a kindergarten/first grade bilingual combination classroom, and in Japan in a second grade Spanish immersion classroom. As I worked in these different educational settings, I was impressed with how easily the children accepted different languages, styles, and customs. They were well on their way to becoming global citizens.

When I joined the Head Start Bureau, I fell in love with the Head Start Program Performance Standards and the numerous ways they require that programs provide an “environment of acceptance” for children and families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (1304.21 (a)(1)(iii). The Head Start Child Outcomes Framework continues to promote the language and literacy development of all preschoolers and requires that English language learners show progress in their acquisition of the new language.

This Head Start Bulletin is dedicated to all who support English language learners in Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Diversity is one of the strengths of Head Start as well as one of its challenges. Whether your program works with families and children who speak the same language in the classroom—Spanish, Mandarin, Hebrew, English, or another language—or whether your program has many languages represented in a setting, you will be able to read about different perspectives on English language learners in this Bulletin.

The articles are organized into the following sections: The Community and Families; Educational Leaders; Teachers and Home Visitors Speak; Assessment; and Resources. There are discussions of program policy related to English language learners, instructional strategies, curriculum planning, challenging behaviors related to language development, and research reviews of language acquisition. A glossary of terms is included. Developmental continuity and individual differences are addressed in the articles. There are personal accounts describing how Head Start staff have been creative and sensitive in their work with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families.

The authors include academics, researchers, administrators, mentor-coaches, and teachers. They represent geographical diversity too—they come from Head Start and Early Head Start programs in urban Puerto Rico and rural Alaska; from migrant programs in upstate New York and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma; from the suburbs of Virginia, the Hawaiian Islands, and the coastal city of Portland, Maine. Appearing throughout the articles are research “nuggets” which are extracted from the longer, research-based discussions available at www.headstartinfo.org/English_lang_learners_tkit.htm. The research “nuggets” are noted by a lightbulb icon.

With a firm foundation in their home language and in English, Head Start children will be able to achieve positive outcomes and to succeed in school and in life. I hope that all of us who work in Head Start will do our best to ensure that the children and families in our programs are successful in a culturally and linguistically diverse world.

Jessica Knight is a former Bilingual Program Specialist, Head Start Bureau, residing in Hawaii.