Events


Early REACH Initiative

REACH Center and the Culturally Relevant / Anti-Bias (CRAB) Education Leadership Group (a group of Seattle early childhood professionals that grew out of Louise Derman-Sparks Anti-Bias Curriculum book). 

Kristen French, Marilyn Chu, and Barbara Yasui spent the past year revising the Early REACH training.  Kristen is a REACH Certified Trainer, Assistant Professor of Education and Director of the Center for Education, Equity, & Diversity at Western Washington University (WWU).  Marilyn Chu is Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education at WWU and a CRAB group member.  Barbara Yasui is a REACH Senior Trainer and CRAB group member.

Early REACH addresses diversity and equity issues through developmentally appropriate practices.  It aligns with key standards—NAEYC Cultural Competence Benchmarks, Head Start Dual Language Checklist, Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence Standards, and others.

The content uses the REACH 2-day training as a framework and includes the following:

  • REACH Basic Principles
  • Diversity Perspectives
  • Parent Panel
  • Understanding Prejudice, Power & Diversity
  • Early Childhood Scenarios

 
  • Children’s Identity Development
  • Anti-Bias Education Goals
  • Working with Families
  • Adapting Classroom Curriculum
  • Moving to Action

In May the revised curriculum was piloted as a 2-day training for a group of 23 early childhood professionals from Whatcom County.  The majority were from Head Start; the remainder were from four school districts.  This pilot was funded through a Gates grant and administered by the Northwest Educational Service District.  Two half-day follow up trainings have been scheduled for October 2010 and April 2011.

Here’s what participants said about Early REACH:

"Thank you to all the facilitators for addressing this topic in a sensitive way. 
Thank you also for being honest about your own mistakes and learning opportunities.  Very inspiring!"

"Reaffirmng--builds on strengths of teachers, students, parents."

Look for Early REACH awareness workshops at the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children annual conference and the Washington State Association for Multicultural Education annual conference in October 2010.

An Early REACH training in partnership with Highline Community College in Des Moines, WA is scheduled for March 3-4, 2011.