Challenges Head Start Teachers Face with Dual Language Learners

In the Midwestern state, there are 164,000 of the 1,064,000 children enrolled in Head Start programs are dual language learners. Although the number of dual language learners is increasing in the United States, there is a gap in educational practice about challenges Head Start teachers and education coordinators face in working with this population. An exploration of Head Start teachers’ and education coordinators’ perspectives regarding the support teachers need to meet the challenges working with dual language learners is presented. This study was grounded in Jim Cummins’s language acquisition framework, which suggests that dual language learners’ benefit from instruction in their native language and the language of the classroom. A basic qualitative study design was used with a purposeful sample of 8 Head Start teachers, 1 Head Start education coordinator, and 1 Head Start site manager. Using semi- structured interviews, results revealed that Head Start teachers realized they need additional support to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) participants had a positive outlook on using native language both in the classroom and at home, (b) perspectives on support needed to meet the challenges of working with dual language learners varied from teacher to teacher and from teachers to education coordinators, and (c) participants had a positive outlook on teaching dual language learners while recognizing the need for support in working with these learners.

Eating Smart and Moving More for Head Start: A Pilot Study With Head Start Teachers

Our study examined the relationship between improved personal health behaviors of Head Start teachers and the promotion of positive health behaviors in their classrooms. Thirty-three Head Start teachers across seven centers received six 30-min nutrition education lessons. Dietary intake, physical activity, and self-efficacy for promoting positive health behaviors in the classroom were measured at baseline and following intervention. Significant improvements were observed for dietary intake and physical activity. Self-efficacy for promoting health behaviors in the classroom did not significantly improve. Additional education is needed to improve health promotion practices. Lessons learned contributed to program refinement. Implications for Extension are discussed.

Impact of a Preschool Obesity Prevention (I-POP) Program on Nutrition Knowledge Scores of Head Start Parents and Teachers

Objectives To determine the effectiveness of an evidence-based preschool obesity prevention intervention on rural, low-income parents’ and Head Start teachers’ nutrition knowledge relative to advice from experts, nutrient content of foods, and health benefits of foods. Methods Parent-child dyads were recruited from 9 randomized Head Start centers with 5 centers in the experimental group and 4 centers in the control. The intervention consisted of 8 weekly evidence-based nutrition education sessions for children delivered by the Head Start teachers; a teacher workshop on the use of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in the classroom; and 8 parent workshops using an evidence-based behavioral intervention, Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). The PBIS and PCIT reinforced nutrition education sessions by including instruction for positive meal-time behaviors. A repeated measures design consisted of data collected at pre- (T1), post-intervention (T2), and a 6-month follow-up (T3). T1 and T2 results of a validated and reliable nutrition knowledge survey to address the sub-objective of the main study are reported here. Results 175 parents and 75 teachers participated in T1 data collection, of which 95 parents and 64 teachers completed T2. There were no significant differences in total scores within or between parent or teacher groups, scoring an average of 34% and 38% out of 100% for parents and teachers, respectively. However, there was a significant change in the knowledge of health benefits of foods survey section (31.6% to 39.5% correct) for parents in the experimental group from T1 to T2 (P < .05). Conclusions Overall, parents and teachers had poor knowledge of advice from experts, nutrient content of foods, and health benefits of foods at T1. Parents and teachers did have minimal, indirect nutrition education during PCIT and PBIS, which may have contributed to parents’ increase in awareness of health benefits of food at T2. However, there may be a lack of knowledge of how to apply nutrition principles. Nutrition education and intervention should target parents and teachers of children with a specific aim in application of nutrition principals. Funding Sources US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health.

Remaking, reweaving and indigenizing curriculum: Lessons from an American Samoa Head Start program

In this paper, we focus on how indigenous Head Start teachers in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the US located in the South Pacific negotiated imported policy and curricular models that were not always congruent with local, indigenous approaches to educating young children. Here we place our focus on the negotiation of curriculum within these spaces and in doing so, show that through the reweaving of curriculum, western discourses and influences from the US were altered. We conclude with implications for US territories and other contested spaces across the globe.