Introducing the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment

Introducing the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment

Administrator: The broadcast is now starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode.

Suzanne Thouvenelle: Good afternoon, everyone. We're so happy to have you join us this afternoon for Introducing the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment. We have a team of enthusiastic presenters with us today, and we're going to spend the next hour in a highly engaging interaction with you as participants. We've already had a number of people using the Questions Box to type in specific areas in which they're interested. And 'm so happy to see that it's all about what you're going to find out in the webinar.

So, without further ado, let me show you our presenters today. We have Jennifer Amaya-Thompson from the Office of Head Start. She's the culture and language lead. And I'm Suzanne Thouvenelle. I'm from HSICC. I'm your host. Karen Surprenant is the representative of the National Center for Program management and Fiscal Operations. And then, Deb Mazzeo is from the National Center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning. So, we'd like to hear who you are.

So, I'd like you to look at the options on our poll, and take a minute to choose one. And if you don't see your role there, please type your role into the, the Question Box so we can know how many different types of program positions are represented today. So, we'll take about a minute and half, and hear from you, and then, we'll close the poll, and we'll see what percent of people are in each of those roles in their programs. Okay. If you haven't cast your vote, please do. We're almost at the end of the time available for this.

So, let's give it about 10 more seconds, Daniel. Especially if you're writing a long other category. I think we just have so many participants, we're really thrilled. Okay. I think we're ready to -- quantify this. So, let's look at our results here. Directors, managers, and administrators. We sort of anticipated that that would be our largest group. There's about 47 percent. And then, 27 percent Head Start. There's some Regional Office staff. And then, a number of T/TA providers. And we're so especially elated to welcome our Child Care Development Fund grantees. We have others as faculty from higher ed. National Center staff. Quality improvement specialists, and Head Start State Collab representatives, as well as disabilities and mental health coordinators. And now, I'd like to introduce the webinar overview. So, let's look at where we plan to go today. As we mentioned, it's a highly interactive format. We began with the first pole, and you've all even started submitting questions before that.

So, we want to offer an introduction to the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment, the tool itself, the User's Guide. And then, we want to access the DLL live, online, on the ECLKC. We'll demonstrate how to use the DLL tool and the results of the ratings to strengthen management systems and program services. We have -- Deb Mazzeo from DTL who will feature program service areas. And then, Karen Surprenant from PMFO, who will focus on management systems. And they'll offer some specifics on those two areas. We want you to understand how to implement the DLLPA to inform your work. If you're a TA provider, or a program director, or a staff participant. And then, we'll generate some next steps to follow. I wanted to turn the podium over to Jennifer Amaya- Thompson from the Office of Head Start. And she's going to offer the official welcome.

Jennifer Amaya-Thompson: Thank you, Suzanne. Good afternoon, everyone. I am excited to be with all of you today. As of yesterday, we had over 1000 participants register for the webinar. As the content lead for culture and language in the Office of Head Start, at the Administration for Children and Families, I am thrilled to work every day with highly-committed colleagues from multiple [Inaudible] offices and divisions, the Early Childhood National Centers for Training and Technical Assistance, and all the key partners to ensure that culturally and linguistically responsive practices are integrated throughout the T/TA system. I want to especially acknowledge the Head Start Information and Communication Center, the National Center for Program Management and Fiscal Operations, and the National Center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning, who collaborated in putting together today's webinar.

I also wanted to thank our partners, including [Inaudible], OHS [Inaudible] program officers, our colleagues from Talmund, Regional T/TA staff, and many others who have been involved in the revision and the development process of the new Dual Language Learners Program Assessment. We are grateful for the time and the commitment shown by the early childhood community. The purpose of the DLLPA is to assist Head Start, Child Care, and pre-K programs to assess and management systems and services to ensure the full and effective participation of children who are dual language learners and their families. In Head Start, this comprehensive management system is referred as a coordinated approach for dual language learners. A coordinated approach is not new to Head Start, as this informs both management systems and program service delivery.

The DLLPA can also help programs ensure the integration of culturally and linguistically responsive practices for all children, including those who are not dual language learners. During today's webinar, in addition to interviews and in accessing the DLLPA online on ECLKC, our colleagues will feature a specific sections of the DLLPA to demonstrate the use and implementation of the tool to strengthen and improve your program's efforts to support our needed approaches, and to promote the school readiness for children who are dual language learners, and to engage their families. Before I share with you additional highlights of the DLLPA, I want to provide you with national and Head Start demographics that inform and remain, and remind us of the diverse children and families served by our early childhood programs. Just like the United States population at large, Head Start families represent the increasing diversity of our nation. The United State population is becoming increasingly diverse, particularly with respect to the rapidly growing number of dual language learners.

 Dual language learners means a child who is requiring two or more languages at the same time, or a child who is learning the second language while continuing to develop the first language. Over the last few decades, the number of young dual language learners in the United States rose from 4.2 million in 1990 to 7.5 million in 2014. This is an increase of 81 percent. Close to 33 percent of all young children under the age of 5 are dual language learners. In Head Start, at a national level, with a 2016 program information report indicated that more than 30 percent of Head Start children are dual language learners, and that there are more than 140 languages represented in Head Start programs.

Language diversity is growing rapidly in most areas of the country. Since this data shows that the top five languages as spoken by parents of dual language learners in the United States between the years of 2011 and 2015 were Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic, which are also reflected in the languages spoken by our Head Start families. We also wanted to highlight for you the multiple race and ethnicities served by Head Start programs are percented. Now that I have provided you with a national landscape in the Head Start data of the growing diverse populations served by the early childhood programs, I want to share with you key highlights of the DLLPA. A year ago, when we begun the revision and the development of the DLLPA, we had an opportunity to anchor the tool in the Head Start Program Performance Standards, which retains its system regulation, and include a new standards for ensuring culturally and linguistically appropriate services for all children birth to five.

We also aligned the tool with the 2007 Head Start Act requirements to support children who are dual language learners and their families. The DLLPA includes researched-based responsive practice for implementation of the regulations. Our tool also updates and replaces the Program Performance Checklist file in the organizational capacity originally developed by the Office of Head Start National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness. For many of you on this call, you're highly familiar with this new tools, as they supported your work with the dual language learners children and their families. The new DLLPA also reflect and uses as guide the Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Readers. Now, I hope you are ready and excited as we are to access and learn about the DLLPA online tool, and identify the strengths and potential areas of improvement to effectively serve children who are dual language learners and their families. Before I end my remarks, I also want to thank all of you who are participating in today's webinar for your ongoing efforts, your daily commitment, and your passion to provide high-quality services to all children. Once again, thank you for staying for this opportunity.

 Suzanne: We're going to go live to the ECLKC, and I'm going to answer a couple people who have been asking where can we find the new Dual Language Learner Program Assessment. Many of you will recognize this as being the homepage of the ECLKC. So, if we scroll down, to the most popular resources, the one on the far right, is where we'll find a link to the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment. So, you can see right there. And because some of you who were on early asked questions about where to find culture and language resources, we're going to go back up to the top of the screen and go to the Cross-cutting Approaches: The Language and Culture section, and you'll see Dual Language Learners Program Assessment is right here at the top. And for those who wanted other additional resources, there are many imbedded in the Dual Language Learners Program Assessment that relate to management systems and comprehensive services, specifically. However, these are the over, broad cultural and language resources that you can easily find as part of cross-cutting approaches.

So, we'll go right to the top one. It's highlighted here, where it says "Learn More." This will take us exactly to the User's Guide. The User's Guide is important for those of you who are not familiar with the DLLPA, and that might be most of you at this point. On the left hand side, where it says, "Outline," it will show you what the sections of the User's Guide are. And the first section that you're going to go to, so you'll understand how it's organized is called "How Is It Organized." And in this section, it will specifically identify the management systems and the program service areas that are addressed in the 10 sections that are actually the rating part of the guide. At any page on this guide, you can scroll down to the bottom, and there's a little blue box that says "Take the DLL Program Assessment." So, we're going to click right there. And I'm just going to briefly show you the elements of each of the sections. You'll notice at the top, there's a, a line 1-12, that will kind of help you keep progress, or let you know where you are during your use of the online tool. The first section is communication, and if we click to the dropdown, you'll see that this will offer the Program Performance Standards that specifically address the management systems and communication in particular.

Underneath that, there are culturally and linguistically responsive practices. These are from research-informed practices for working with children and families who are dual language learners. So, this is the rating scale, from 1-5. And every program answers based on their own individual assessment within the program of how they think they're doing with respect to the effective practice that's listed. If you don't think that this practice is in particular important or a part of what your program includes, you can always have the option of N/A. As you scroll down through the items, and when you get to the bottom of the screen, if we had completed this, and we'll do that for Sections 4 with Karen and 10 with Deb, you would get a total score at the bottom. And then, if you click the resource-related Relevant Resources for Communications, it will automatically give you links for where you can find additional information about that. We're going to go to the -- once you've completed all sections, or as many sections of the DLLPA as you'd like to, you can go to the section that gives you a summary.

And once you submit all of your responses from the sections you've completed, you can bring up this summary which identifies the possible totals for each section, and what your own program's total is. So, that will give you a broad brush of your own program efforts in the area of integrating dual language learners and their families within program services, and how your management systems address that. If you go to the next slide. We're going to be going to highlight the last selection on the User's Guide allows you to print a PDF of each of the 14 sections individually or the entire Guide. And people have found this to be very useful. Printing the individual selections of sections will let you form your teams to consider your own progress in those areas. Now we're going to hear from Karen Surprenant, and she's going to demonstrate the use of the DLLPA to enhance the management systems. And then, we'll hear from Deb Mazzeo about the comprehensive service areas. So. Karen? We're ready for you.

Karen Surprenant: Okay. Thanks very much, Suzanne, and good afternoon everyone. It's great to be able to be here to talk about this important tool, and to support the work that you do every day for children and families. As we begin -- as we introduce this new tool, I'd like to think about it and talk about it in the context of program management. And you'll see, we have the Management Systems Wheel on the next slide there to illustrate this concept, thinking about Head Start management systems. As we know, the requirement for a coordinated approach to service delivery for dual language learners and their families is one of four required approaches. The other three are in the areas of Training and Professional Development System; the Full and Effective Participation of Children with Disabilities; and the Management of Program Data.

Coordinated approaches are a way of ensuring that, that services meet diverse needs, and that the maximizing resources while using a systems lens to service delivery. To fully appreciate and understand coordinated approaches, it's important to remember that this requirement falls under Subpart J 1302.101, which is entitled Management Systems. And you can see at the beginning of that section, that talks about management implementation and what it encompasses. And it encompasses a strong operating infrastructure that supports fiscal management, program operations, human resources, and leadership and governance. A steady focus on professional development and continuous quality improvement, and we see that as a thread throughout the Performance Standards -- the importance of continuous quality improvement. It encompasses budget and staffing support that results in continuity of care for enrolled children, and an automated record keeping system that supports effective oversight. So, we need to think about these things as we think about a coordinated approach, and designing coordinated approaches. The DLLPA uses systems and services approach.

You saw it at the beginning that there was four systems, and several services that are addressed in the DLLPA to express services to dual language learners and their families. The tool is helping you to gather valuable data that's going to support the process of planning to ensure the full participation of children who are dual language learners. Considering several management systems and several aspects of service delivery. We're going to take a look at a couple of those, as Suzanne mentioned.

Management systems that emphasize the coordinated, program-wide approach are key to providing high-quality services to children and their families. So, let's take a look at the program planning cycle, the Head Start planning cycle. We have a new and updated one. You might not have seen it yet, but we really, we really like it. It's important to think about your utilization of this tool and the data that it generates in the context of your planning cycle. Planning and implementation of coordinated approaches is ongoing. You know, [Inaudible] at the beginning of each program year, and on an ongoing basis, developing [Inaudible] coordinated approach. To outline this further, Let's consider the following suggested processes for integrating this tool into your planning process. Community assessment, and you see the assessment up in the far right hand corner, which is Conducting a Comprehensive, or Inclusive Learning [Inaudible] five-year cycle, or an updated one each year, do that as a process. Programs are provided the data on dual language learners and their families.

You're learning about their strength and their needs. You're identifying potential partners to support service delivery. At this point, there, the tool that can be used in a number of ways. And you can gather the data as early on in the planning stages, and it may help you identify further goals and objectives, and establish action plans for the provision of services for dual language learners and their families. Services that will ensure their full participation and meaningful access to all it is the only option.

So, we're it there, and it may be informing some of your goals. Or, you're, maybe it's not informing any goals, but it's helping you to outline that coordinated approach, specifically that coordinated approach for children who are dual language learners and their families. You've assessed. You've established some data. You've clarified some things that you want to work on to strengthen that coordinated approach. The ongoing monitoring. The dual language tool can be used at different points in time during the program year to see how the program is progressing. So, maybe you've developed an action plan, just to go to support, any new goal that might have come up as a result of the DLLPA, or action plans to support that coordinated approach, and you want to check on that throughout the year to see how they're going along. Just as we do with our other goals and objectives, and the Head Start Performance Standards, you can inform the first direction, and then you see something that you can do a better job as identifying the tool, or one of them be objected, and your gathering data along the way. You can also, as you get to the end of the program year, complete the DLLPA again, and see what the change in score has been. At that point, you are identifying which data that you're bringing to the self assessment.

You know, you can bring that additional data and say, "Look at the progress that we've made in our services to dual language learners and their children." And you can also identify here's what we can do even better next year. So, the cycle begins. So, we can see we've woven the tool into the planning cycle, we've used data for planning, for monitoring, and continuous quality improvement. So, let's take a look at Section 4 a little bit more. I'm going to take a look at the section, and then I'm going to also give you an example of, of the section's use, and how it might impact service delivery and program planning. So, you can see at the top of this section, [Inaudible] section 4, there we go. A little bit higher there. You should see the numbered line, and then it thens mention [Inaudible] at the top of the section. We want to be in 4. David. Program Planning -- There we go. So, you can see that 1 through 4 are you, meaning that this particular program has completed items 1 through 4. One through 4 are the management systems. And the other ones are services. So, the first one being communication.

The second one human resources. The third one, training and professional development. And the fourth one, Program Planning and Service System Design. You can do them in order that you choose. You determine who it is going to complete them. It's  a tool for you to use in a way that makes sense for your program. This section focuses on the collection and use of data from the community assessment about the cultural and linguistic diversity of children and families so that you are ensuring that program- wide approach. It also looks at fiscal principles to ensure sound fiscal practices, and ensure that [Inaudible] data is useful for that continued improvement. Just like the other section, this section starts with the regulation. You need to drop down and see quotations from the Head Start Act or the Performance Standards that relate specifically to this section. So, here in this section you have the community assessment requirements. So, regulations, you got the coordinated approaches and achieving program goals. Will also mention that there's a [Inaudible]. I'm just reinforcing that so you can get a sense for what this tool is like. And that citations link will take to all the standards in Head Start at citations that are referenced in this tool. So, let's take a look at some of the question in this section.

And as you take a look at them you'll see that these questions that reflect culturally and linguistically best practice in this section, is around recruitment strategies. They're around leadership and training. We got coordinated approaches. They're around diverse representation and leadership, and opportunities. And then, there's also some on budget, on fiscal considerations. Is the program sufficiently allocating resources to address needs in terms of staffing, materials, professional development? That's the thought, basically, responsive choices. So, programs rate themselves using their best judgment, with 1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest. It's the honor system. This is, again, this is for you, for your program. You're not reporting this to anybody, so it certainly -- It's in your best interest to give you some good, accurate data about what you see happening. For some indicators, you'll be rating based on the frequency of the practice. So, you know, if you, again, have just done something once two years ago, you might not want to [Inaudible] it's something that you think you'll [Inaudible] be doing more frequently. The [Inaudible] has identifying evidence and documentation.

Once the ratings are complete, this section is scored. And there's also, as Suzanne mentioned, there's the resource list. As you scroll down, you'll see resources related to Program Planning and Service Systems Design. Each of the sections will have their own resource list with live links to [Inaudible] those resources. In this section, there's a variety of resources around data planning, self assessment. I want to point out one of our newly revised resources, [Inaudible] the official name is Foundations for Excellence. That's now available on ECLKC. So, as Suzanne said, I want to take a look at section 4 and kind of give an example of its scoring, and how it could be used for planning, for continuous improvement, and the like. So, so in this example, this case, this program has an advisory committee. And they're completing their DLLPA prior to their annual training meeting. And in this situation, they're going to use the advisory committee. They have one in the area of health, children services, and family engagement. And the managers in each program area have been involved [Inaudible] in the completion of the development section. So, they're going off on their own, and their having their meetings, and their talking about, you know, the assessment of these areas. You might have a management team complete the two working in partnership with Policy Council or governing body representative. It's your decision as to who will complete the tool. So, you'll see in a range scores in this section. And for this example, I'm going to look at three areas, and kind of cluster these things together. I'm going to look at -- I'm going to talk about recruitment, coordinated approaches, and budget, that I can kind of [Inaudible] develop an example that you can relate to.

They've given themselves a 1 in the first item, which is, which is intentionally use a variety of strategies to identify and recruit eligible children and expectant mothers from all cultural and linguistic groups in this service area. [Inaudible] processes have been the same year after year. And that they should be more intentional in their efforts for cultural and linguistic groups that they just identified through the community assessment process. And the gathering this data, you need to need -- you need to use it and be more intentional in how we recruit. They gave themselves some tools on items that there, on coordinated approaches. And the management team, they feel like they're strong in a coordinated approach to service delivery in all the areas. If there's like, there's something that we've always done in Head Start. But they feel as though they can be more intentional about it, that they could articulate it better. They're not sure that staff can articulate it truly understand what it means, and what their roles and responsibilities are. They want to do more training and more communication with leadership about that. So, that kind of scored themselves a little lower there. And then, in terms of the items related to the budget. They recognized, well, they are dedicating resources to support their work with DLL children and their families, that, too, can be more intentional. They then recognize that they have not dedicated resources for recruiting and retaining bilingual personnel. And this is really enlightening for them because staff thinks it's an issue, and they have a goal around recruiting and retaining qualified staff, feel like they could have paid more attention to bilingual personnel.

 So, this total for this section is 37 out of a possible 70, which translates to 53 percent, and they would like to bring this score up. So, let's see how this plays into the whole planning section. This particular group, this is only one of all the sections, identified some recommendations to bring to their full planning committee. And the other groups did the same. And the planning committee met. They heard reports and recommendations from all the subgroups the DLLPA. And they were to decide how to best incorporate these recommendations. As the groups pointed out, they looked for common themes that might lead to a new broad goal. They looked for recommendations that might support their coordinated approach to service delivery. And they looked for things that just could be easily implemented immediately without a goal or a plan. So, for this section, for the Section 4, the team agreed that they needed to address their recruitment efforts in their goals and objectives. In their case, they already have a goal around enhanced services to dual language learners and their families, and they had several objectives.

This would be an additional objective, an action plan for a specific strategies, that they could, that they could have. They also, in the area of coordinated approaches, they assigned some team members, some management teams to develop action plans for each of the four coordinated approach, to get their coordinated approach down on paper, to incorporate the recommendations they've identified, and they want to make sure that their coordinated approach addresses fiscal recommendations, so that they consciously dedicating resources that support families of dual language learners. So, that coordinated approach and for the other three coordinated approaches. So, they identified indicators from [Inaudible] goals and objectives, which is in the classes, in the activities that they aligned, that they outlined in the coordinated approach.

They want to coordinate it and see how it plays out and how they were approved. So, they wanted to see things on an ongoing basis just as they monitor their goals and objectives and compliance of the Performance Standards. So, throughout the course of the year, they strengthen their recruitment efforts for the upcoming year. They utilize input from staff and programs, and leadership to develop a plan for coordinated approaches, and they work with the finance committee to identify resources to support that effort. At the end of the program year, they've completed the DLLPA again, and they saw the improvement in their scores.

They decided that they're bringing their self assessment, those new scores, the self assessment to look at the DLLPA in its entirety, with the based on form, and they're going to improve score, and to see what they're going to do for the upcoming year, how they can incorporate any recommendations that come out of self assessment into their planning for that upcoming year, which is just [Inaudible] a Head Start planning cycle indicates in our systems [Inaudible] quality improvement. So, I hope that gives you a sense. I also want to mention that as your identifying areas that they want to improve, it's also an opportunity to identify Training and Technical Assistance needs. They might not have all of the answers in areas that they want to, to improve. So, they might be using that data up in the beginning in their planning to inform their Training and Technical Assistance plan. So, that was a lot of information. I hope that the example was helpful and not [Inaudible] to -- I want to turn it back over Suzanne, who's going to give you an opportunity to ask a few questions. Suzanne?

Suzanne: Thanks, Karen. We really appreciate your insights, having worked with programs before. We have gotten lots of questions, and we're probably not going to be able to answer every single one of them, or we take the rest of the hour. So, I'm just going to go for the easy ones. And then, there's two ways that we'll be able to address the questions in the future. We'll collect all those, and then, try to respond to them in some systematic way. But, we're going to have a My Peers early childhood community open forum discussion related to the DLLPA. And you'll hear about some details from that later on. Since I'm looking at the questions directly, I'm going to take the easy ones.

So, here was --

[Laughter]

And this was -- and it was my oversight entirely -- that in talking about the scoring, someone asked how, how is it scored, 1 to 5. And, well, 1 is the least frequent and the 5 is the highest value or the most frequent. Because I believe Karen mentioned that was for the two dimensions you could either look at the practice in terms of how often it's performed, and how often you do it, or an indicator of the level of quality you feel that you provide in implementing that practices.

So, in every section, you rate the question on a scale from 1 to 5, highest to lowest. So, when answering the rating of each practice, you use the best judgment for you based on your program's current practices. So, that's totally up to you. These are scores that are not tech -- not -- the scores are not collected by anyone. And there's no monitoring. It's strictly for your own program's use. There's a detailed discussion in the DLLPA User's Guide about the scoring and about fitting the data, and what it would mean to you. So, one of the questions that I'm going to read. And I'll ask my colleagues if they have a response for that, is a question about whether or not this Dual Language Learners Program Assessment can be used in child care settings. Would anybody care to chime in? Okay. [Laughter] Wow.

 Karen: So, I wanted to say -- wanted to take that. And I would say absolutely. And -- the decision that you don't have some of the requirements that the Head Start program has in terms of planning and oversight, like that. But certainly best practices, best practices for children in whatever setting that it is. So, I would certainly think it would be valuable to -- Deb, do you want to add anything to that? From an education perspective.

Deb Mazzeo: Sure. Absolutely. So, it definitely is applicable to child care programs, home visiting programs. And so, any user of the tool should consider rating themselves on the items as it's applicable to their specific type of program. And so, just, you know, remember that there's always that N/A option, too. And that doesn't affect the score in any way if you are given N/A. It just wouldn't be calculated. So. But yes, it is definitely applicable to a variety of programs and the, you know, birth to five spectrum.

Jennifer: And just to add a little bit more about the response of the question. Absolutely. When worked on the development and the revision of the tool, we ensure that we included our partners from the National Centers of the Office of Child Care, and colleagues that provide services to children within Head Start that are also partnering with Child Care programs. And we integrated the input and the feedback of the development of the tool. So, the tool itself is truly a demonstration of how you can utilize the tool in multiple program types, and multiple programs funded by different -- or, whether it's the Office of Head Start, or the Office of Child Care, or any other keys that are partner.

Suzanne: I think that as we go into our next section where we look into the teaching and the learning environments, it will become really clear where the practices are generic in terms of classroom practices with children, and how those can address child care. So, without further ado, we don't have anymore time for questions. And we'll move on.

Deb: Alright. Well, thank you, Suzanne. So, I'd also like to thank you, Karen, for your overview of the management systems. And this next part, I'm going to focus on the program service areas. And two in particular, Section number 5: Teaching and the Learning Environment, as well as Section number 10 on Transitions. And before we dive into those areas in the tool, though, I want to take a step back and reiterate the idea of coordinated approaches. You mentioned this, Karen, at the beginning in your talk about the systems management wheel, about coordinated approaches, being in both management systems and services.

And Jennifer Amaya-Thompson also mentioned in her opening that this is not new to Head Start. It is the comprehensive systems and services provided to children and families for the past 50-plus years. And these include family engagement to health services, and coaching to community partnerships. So, the DLLPA helps program improve their coordinated approaches to promote not only systems but also services, and especially school readiness for children who are DLLs, and the engagement of their families. One example of a coordinated approach is the planned language approach. Or, we call it PLA for short. The image that you see on the screen shows several components of PLA that together make up a coordinated approach to promote children's early language and literacy skills. We'll talk about them momentarily and how they relate to the DLLPA. But right now, I'd just like you to focus on the policy’s practices and systems piece of the pie. Currently, this is where the two documents that Jennifer Amaya-Thompson mentioned previously. that Program Preparedness Checklist Version 5, and the Organizational Capacity Checklist live. And those are the two documents that will be archived. And the link to this new DLLPA will replace those. So, you will expect to see changes in that piece of the pie very soon. So, with that, let's go ahead and talk about Section number 5, Teaching and the Learning Environment. This is the first of the program service areas.

And I'm going to take a little different approach in talking about this section than how Karen presented Section 4. We're going to look specifically at the resources from PLA to help us support items in this section. So, we talked about different ways about how the tool could be filled out -- by management teams, by ed managers, service staff based on their areas of specialization. Whoever is filling out the section, of course, must think about the frequency or the quality of implementation .And again, those definitions are for your program to decide. So, with this section, let's say that my program has rated itself already. And we have identified several needs. The DLLPA is going to allow us to identify those needs and to show us resources that can help us to improve in those areas. So, with item number 2, for example, it says "Recognize that children who are DLLs are individuals and represent diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds." So, in our program, let's say we have several hispanic children. And we also want to recognize the diversity of each of these children.

So, let's say one is from Argentina. Another one is from El Salvador. Another one is from Puerto Rico. We want to celebrate the diversity of all of these different backgrounds. We have a resource that's titled Including Children's Home Languages and Cultures that is found down at the bottom. And this resource, there's a hot link there. It takes you to that Strategies that Support DLLs piece of the PLA pie. This resource talks about using traditional stories, and songs, and teaching practices. And inviting families into the classroom to share their unique traditions. And they're all very different. And so, that's one way that the DLLPA tool can be used, to dig deeper into how to address these culturally and linguistically responsive practices.

If we look at another one. Let's go back to the tool and look at item number 10, which talks about accept code switching as a natural communication strategy for our children who are DLLs. So, code switching, for those who don't know, is when two languages are used in the same sentence, for example. And it's important for all staff to know that this is a natural part of development, when learning a second language. Down at the bottom, in the Resources section, we have the resource titled Code Switching: Why it Matters How to Respond. This is another resource, again, found in the Planned Language approach under Strategies that Support DLLs. It is such a great resources that gives various examples, and how adults should respond in those instances when code switching is happening in the classroom.

And I'll just talk about one last example here from this section. The fourth from the last item on the list talks about using materials visuals, and other items that reflect our families' cultures that teachers and home visitors include as part of planned teaching strategies. So, maybe we are looking in our classrooms and the cultural items are really missing. And so, there's a resource that's titled Creating Environments that Include Children's Home Languages and Cultures. This resource talks about using environmental print labels, and using photographs alongside words. Using authentic materials or realia like baskets, or a musical instruments from the different countries or cultures. So, again, think about the use of the DLLPA and that resources section to address those items that you identify as wanting to improve.

Next, I will move ahead and talk about Transitions, which is Section 10. And in this section, the items vary. Some items relate to transitions that occur within programs, and those would be numbers like 1, 7, and 8. And then, there are other items that refer to transitions between programs, which would be like items number 2, and number 5. And then, there are items that are interrelated. So, item 2 kind of goes with item 10.  Number 4 goes with number 9. So, it's important to consider these when you're looking at a section. All of those items, though, are weighted equally in the scoring of the tool. It's, it's really up to the program to define what your goals are around the various areas. And again, the standards in each section allows you to see what's required and then to go beyond that. So, for this example, let's say the education coordinator completed this section, even though it maybe the use of the entire tool and other sections have been completed, you know, by a team.

So, they've taken a team approach. And they concluded that the program does a really great job with transitions within the program. So, they use the home language and visual tools to support transitions in the schedule, which is, like, number 8. They encourage parents to use the home language to support children's school readiness, which is item number 4. But what the ed coordinator noticed was that the scores were extremely low when it came to items referring to transitions between programs. So, they scored low on item number 2 around sharing data with staff in the new setting. And they also scored low on that last item, number 10, on developing a Memorandum of Understanding with the local education agency to ensure smooth transitions for children who are DLLs.

So, why you see the score already filled in here. There was a lot of time, and reflection, and review of data in completing the scoring. And so, as they think about and, the cycle, some of those immediate next steps, the head coordinator is going to determine whether connections already exist within the LEA, possibly through family or community partnerships. They're going to work on identifying a liaison who will work with an LEA who supports English language learners in the K-12 system. They're going to develop shared goals and objectives with that individual from the LEA. And then, identify a timeline throughout the year to discuss progress on those goals, tools to measure progress, and financial supports. That also may be required. So, that might be an example of how to use that section of the tool. With that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it back over to Suzanne.

Suzanne: Thank you, Deb. That really helped people get on the ground look at how you might implement using the results of the DLLPA in your programs. We're back to a section which gives us an opportunity for audience questions again. And here's -- I'll take another easy one. I just got one. It says what does LEA stand for? LEA stands for Local Education Agency. And that usually refers to the public schools or the charter schools that might be existing in your area. We got a question about how frequently can we use the DLLPA? There really isn't a required frequency. But I like the idea that Karen brought in to us about using a baseline measure. So, whenever you begin the process, you have a measure of where you are in each -- or whatever of the 10 areas you want to focus on. And then, later on, perhaps at the end of the year, or even in the middle of your summer session before your next program planning cycle, you can implement the DLLPA ratings again, and compare those two.

There's another easy question, and I just probably have time for this, because we are down to about seven minutes, and we have another poll that we'd like to hear from you about. So, folks wanted to know how they could contact the presenters. And the easiest way to do that would be to go to the homepage of the ECLKC and there's a button up there that says "Contact Us." And it lets you write in any question or, for example, "Give me the presenter email for this webinar today." And then, we can get back with that with you individually. So, right now, you've been through about 45 or 50 minutes of a lot of rich information. You've seen a lot. You're probably thinking a lot. So, it's your turn to reflect. We'd like to launch a poll. And we're going to ask you to share with us what you're next step would be after this webinar ends. And we hope it's not have lunch, but maybe that is it.

So, chose one of these, and then, you can write in to the Question Box if you have other ideas. So, we'll take about two minutes to let you think about it, and process the exciting information you've gotten so far. Thank you. Okay. We're going to wait about five seconds, and then compile the results. We've had some great suggestions in the [Inaudible] for ways to follow up, and one of the higher ed folks is going to introduce this to their administration course. That sounds like a real way to make it real for students. Share information with their colleagues in the T/ TA Network. Did you -- Okay. We're going to share the polling results for you. So, a lot of people are going to share the URL online. Get a meeting together of team managers. That's wonderful. Review the DLLPA sections themselves to find out which are relevant. And then, 7 percent thought they would assess their program in one area just to try it out. So, those are wonderful ideas. And we'd like to hear a few final comments from Jennifer Amaya-Thompson. So, Jennifer. You want to share a few words?

Jennifer: Thank you, Suzanne. You know, if you were asking me what would I be, or what would be my next step, I could definitely assure you that I would be printing out the PDF version of the tool, reading it on my way home, and trying to implement it next week. So, I wanted to say we invite you to work with your leadership team and your staff to take or to complete the DLLPA online tool. Remember, the DLLPA tool includes the 10 steps for your program to follow. In addition, I think one of the themes that we have hard through the presentation today has been this tool is useful to you to really help your program to strengthen your systems and your services, and to identify those areas for improvement within the work that you do to support diverse populations. So, the beauty of the tool is that you don't have to complete the whole tool. You can identify the areas that work for you, and identify the next steps of action. So, thank you, everyone, for being part of this presentation today. I think we have an announcement from Deb.

Deb: Sure. So, as Suzanne mentioned, unfortunately we could not get to every question that was asked, but you can be guaranteed that we will be looking at all of those questions. And we have this wonderful opportunity to follow up around the use of this tool. So, after you've been able to have the next month to really use it out in the field, we're inviting you to join the My Peers community live chat on the DLLPA tool, which will be held on September 18, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. So, please mark your calendars, and join us on My Peers. If you're already in the My Peers community, make sure to become a member of this CLRP community for Cultural and Linguistically and Responsive Practices. If you're not familiar with My Peers, be sure to go on to the ECLKC homepage at the very bottom banner of the homepage. There's a link for My Peers so that you can join that community. So, we invite you all to participate in this follow up chat with us.

Suzanne: We're going to take this opportunity to thank you so much for your participation, and all the good questions and interactivity that you displayed in this. And here's a little message about upcoming ECLKC webinars that have orientations actually in Spanish language. And then, the English orientation will feature the Spanish language pages, and how to switch back and forth. And again, Deb's My Peers session is listed there. So, again, thank you so much. Muchos Gracias.

 Jennifer: Good afternoon, everyone.

 Deb: Bye-bye. [End video]

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