California MAP* to Inclusion and Belonging… *Making Access Possible Spring 2024 Newsletter for Inclusion Facilitators
Part I: State and Federal Resources
The California MAP to Inclusion & Belonging… Making Access Possible (MAP) , funded by the California Department of Social Services, Child Care and Development Division (CDSS-CCDD), is a clearing house of resources to support the inclusion and belonging of children with disabilities from birth to age 22 in early care and education settings, afterschool care and community settings. The MAP Team also supports and promotes the Beginning Together Institute training of Inclusion Facilitators . The 2024 Spring Newsletter, presented in two parts, is focused on the latest key resources for Inclusion Facilitators and anyone interested in advancing inclusion.
Part 1 of the 2024 Spring Newsletter primarily focuses on important resources supporting inclusion gathered from the state and federal government. The most prominent new resource is the updated Joint US Department of Education and Health and Human Services Policy Statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs (2023). The renewed focus and call to action for inclusion by the federal government comes at a time when the California Department of Education is making progress in supporting and promoting inclusion in early childhood with programs, initiatives, reports and resources supporting inclusion. Links to many of those resources are found in this newsletter. New resources supporting cultural competency and dual language learners with disabilities are also featured in this newsletter.
To better acquaint readers with the MAP website the resources for this newsletter will be presented by topic area as they are posted on the MAP website. Our hope is that you are inspired to dig deeper into the various topic areas on the website.
MAP Project Resources
1. Reports and Useful Documents
This section holds readily available webpages, publications, reports and documents important to inclusion, some of which are posted in other areas of the website too. These include: publications produced by MAP; all California Department of Education publications related to early childhood available for download; federal policy statements and other important documents and reports. Many of these resources are posted in related topic areas on MAP as well.
Policy Statement on the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs
The latest must-read entries include two publications from the federal government. The joint US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services Policy Statement on the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs updated November 2023 lays out a renewed commitment and urgency for inclusion, as children with disabilities continue to face barriers accessing and fully participating in inclusive early childhood programs. An introduction to the updated Policy Statement is under Legal and Licensing .
Multi-cultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders
The 2023 edition of Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders builds on growing research about how race, ethnicity, ability, gender, and socio-economic status influence young children’s learning. It is introduced under Cultural Competency .
Resources and Links:
2. Cultural Competency
This area of the MAP website holds information, articles and publications to help us to gain knowledge and sensitivity to the diversity of cultures, languages, lifestyles and needs of families we serve and help us to understand our own biases. It includes information specific to Dual Language Learners and identifies resources in multiple languages.
Newly identified resources include a video on Supporting Children’s and Families’ Diverse Languages, an introduction to Multi-cultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders from Head Start and a practitioner brief from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations on culturally responsive practices to collaborate with families.
High Quality Infant and Toddler Care: Supporting Children’s and Families’ Diverse Languages (Video)
In order for optimal development to take place during these critical first 3 years of life and beyond, educators of young children need to meet children where they are and foster their continued learning and development. This means caring for them in ways that respect the children’s and families’ diverse cultures, languages, lifestyles, preferences, abilities, learning styles, and needs. The Magical Years Early Childhood Center in Sunset Park – a socioeconomically and culturally/linguistically diverse neighborhood in southwest Brooklyn NY – exemplifies practices and policies that do this.
Guiding questions are available to help facilitate discussion around this video.
Multi-cultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders
The 2023 edition of Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders builds on growing research about how race, ethnicity, ability, gender, and socio-economic status influence young children’s learning. These influences can impact the practices, policies, and systems of early learning programs and the parent-child relationship.
In the 15 years since the last publication, research literature in child development, equity, and inclusion has grown significantly. This edition builds on the time-tested strength of the original principles, updating the language and organizational structure to support and use the principles in daily practice.
An equity-focused mindset and culturally sustaining practices are integrated throughout the Multicultural Principles. An equity-focused mindset includes both an awareness of the historical and current injustices, discrimination, and barriers faced by disproportionately marginalized communities. It also requires a commitment to respond in ways that disrupt these inequities.
Find out about the three action categories: Explore, Nurture, and Grow. These three actions describe what Head Start leaders and staff can do to ensure program services embrace and use the principles in everyday practice. The actions encourage:
- Learning from and about one another
- Building understanding and appreciation of the culture, traditions, and values of others
- Supporting inclusive and equitable practice
Practitioner Brief: Culturally Responsive Practices to Collaborate with Families
This brief from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations uses a vignette featuring a child who has autism spectrum disorder and whose family is from Vietnam to demonstrate effective strategies for collaborating with families from other cultures.
3. Dual Language Learners
Here are three great resources to support early care and education providers in serving children with disabilities who are dual language learners. The Big Five lays out effective practices in the classroom that support learning and development. An article from Head Start talks about the unique ways that the partnership between families of dual language learners and educators is important. The third is a white paper that cites research about the capacity of dual language learners with disabilities to acquire more than one language and the classroom practices that support language development and well-being.
The Big Five for Children with Disabilities Who Are Dual Language Learners
High-quality language and literacy experiences in early childhood lay the foundation for all children’s development and learning. These resources offer practices to help education staff plan more individualized and culturally and linguistically responsive learning experiences for young children who have disabilities or suspected delays and are dual language learners (DLLs). Meeting the individual needs of children supports equitable learning and helps create high-quality inclusion environments that promote a sense of belonging for all children.
Partnering with Families of Children Who Are Dual Language Learners
Families are their children’s first educators. From birth, families nurture their children to be healthy and successful in school and in life. Head Start and Early Head Start program staff share these goals and partner with families as they work to meet these goals. There are unique ways in which these partnerships matter for children who speak languages other than English. Young children can thrive when families and staff partner closely to support home languages and embrace families’ cultures and traditions.
Welcoming-Bilingual-Learners-with-Disabilities-into-Dual-Language-Programs
This white paper reviews evidence concerning the capacity of young learners with disabilities to acquire more than one language during the preschool and school years and the characteristics of dual language programs and classroom instruction and intervention practices that support their language development, learning, and well-being in school.
4. Family Engagement
An article from Edutopia by WestEd’s Angela McGuire about proactive ways to partner with families along with an introduction to the US Department of Education Family Engagement Learning Series Briefs from 2023 give inclusion facilitators and early educators the latest insight into family engagement.
Inclusion Facilitators, please take a look at the MAP Newsletter on Family Engagement for more resources.
4 Ways to Support Partnerships with Families
The ways in which U.S. education agencies and personnel work and engage with families are constantly evolving, in both concept and practice. Increasingly, those relationships are shifting to a partnership model, in which families and professionals collaborate throughout the course of a child’s education.
An expert in special education shares strategies for building strong and enduring relationships with students’ families that every teacher can use.
US Department of Education Family Engagement Learning Series Briefs
Welcome to the Family Engagement Learning Series briefs! These briefs summarize a six-part webinar series of conversations designed to Raise the Bar for family engagement practices between school and home. The 2023 series produced by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York and Overdeck Family Foundation, provided an overview of evidence, highlighted bright spots in the field, and shared resources and evidence-based strategies to support student success with education leaders and practitioners. We believe parents, families, and caregivers are essential partners in supporting student success. Research finds that strong partnerships between home and school lead to increased academic success and engagement for students.
Of the briefs on six different topics early educators will be particularly interested in Family Engagement to Support Kindergarten Readiness and Early School Success (PDF) .
5. Legal and Licensing
State and federal organizations providing oversight of and services to children and families with disabilities, regulatory agencies and advocacy groups are found here. Key organizations in this area include the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS), the California Department of Education (CDE), the California Department of Social Services, Child Care and Development Division (CDSS-CCDD), and the US Department of Education.
CDE and CDSS-CCDD Key Web Pages on Projects and Resources Serving Young Children with Disabilities
California Department of Social Services Child Care and Development Division (CDSS-CCDD) Quality Initiatives web page provides a description and links to all of the projects and initiatives focused on early childhood funded by federal quality improvement funds.
Recently added CDE web pages include California PTKLF (Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations), Inclusive Early Education for Children with Disabilities Program Overview, UPK Mixed Delivery Quality and Access Workgroup Final Report, CDE, March 2024 and others. Inclusion Facilitators will find this cache of resources helpful as they work with different audiences.
California Department of Social Services Child Care and Development Division (CDSS-CCDD) Quality Initiatives
Current quality initiatives, projects, and programs under CDSS-CCDD are primarily funded by the federal government. They include projects that support and promote high quality early childhood environments and inclusion. Descriptions and links to all the projects overseen by the CDSS-CCDD are found on this webpage.
California PTKLF (Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations)
The California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF) describe the learning and development of most children ages three to five and a half years old in high-quality early education programs. This 2024 publication serves to update the Preschool Learning Foundations. The California Department of Education (CDE), Early Education Division (EED) produced a pre-recorded webinar of the high-level updates which are California’s early learning standards for children ages three to five and a half in center-based preschool, home-based preschool, and Transitional Kindergarten settings. The pre-recording can be found at on YouTube .
The revised Foundations will be posted on the CDE’s California PTKLF webpage in summer 2024. For any questions, reach out to UPK@cde.ca.gov.
Inclusive Early Education for Children with Disabilities Program Overview
This web page provides background information on inclusion and links to CDE’s Early Education Division inclusion efforts associated with the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Grant Program (IEEEP).
Inclusive Early Education Resources
The CDE's EED launched a web page dedicated to resources to support the field of early education professional and families of children with disabilities to increase identification, access, participation and supports of children with disabilities in early care and education programs. The web page includes a matrix of resources and targeted audiences. Additional resources are continually added.
Pathways to Partnership (P2P)
Pathways to Partnership (P2P), the California Department of Education Special Education Resource Lead (SERL) for Alternative Dispute Resolution would like to announce the launch of their website and their Spring 2024 Learning and Professional Development Series. Resources and information related to events and learning opportunities are updated regularly on the P2P website .
The P2P consortium envisions a statewide educational community with the necessary skill sets to prevent, reduce, and resolve conflicts by building trust and mutual understanding between families and local educational agencies (LEAs). P2P is a SERL with a focus building a continuum of dispute prevention and resolution among families, students, and schools.
UPK Mixed Delivery Quality and Access Workgroup Final Report
California’s mixed-delivery system intends to offer a variety of early learning and care settings to allow parents and guardians an authentic choice to meet the needs of their families. However, access to high-quality preschool programs for families utilizing subsidized early learning and care options has been undersupplied. Additionally, the current standards of quality for preschool pursuant to Education Code (EC) Section 8203 and found in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations must be reviewed and, more importantly, must be updated through the lens of equity - for children, families, and the workforce and to incorporate more recent research and understanding of what practices best support children’s development and learning. Our call to action has been initiated by the Legislature’s addition of a state-level workgroup intended to review these standards listed in EC Section 8203, as well as to review practices to expand access to high-quality preschool programs in the mixed-delivery system.
You can learn more about the purpose, members and work of this group on the UPK Mixed Delivery Quality and Access Workgroup web page
UPK Mixed Delivery Quality and Access Workgroup has completed its work. The Final Report is now posted to California Educators Together .
Inclusion Facilitators will be particularly interested in the Best Practice Recommendations related to inclusion found in the report.
US Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services Resources
The US Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services have recently released important information to guide state and local agencies and early care and education providers in supporting the care and education of children with disabilities. Inclusion Facilitators need to be familiar with these documents and the issues they represent. Early Childhood Transition Questions and Answers provides guidance on seamless transition for children with disabilities from early intervention (birth to three years of age) to preschool. The US Department of HHS produced a Dear Colleague letter on “mixed delivery”. This is timely given that CDE just completed their final Report on the same topic. Technical Assistance Resources for Part C Eligibility from the Office of Special Education (OSEP) is a web page that holds a series of recorded webinars that provide strategies and resources for identifying and serving infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities.
Most importantly the US Ed and HHS have updated the 2015 Joint Policy Statement on Inclusion. The article below introduces the updated policy statement and links to the complete document
US Department of Education 2023 Early Childhood Transition Questions and Answers OSEP QA 24-01
The purpose of this IDEA 2023 Early Childhood Transition Questions and Answers document (2023 EC Transition Q&A) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is to assist State lead agencies (LAs), early intervention services (EIS) program and providers,[1] State educational agencies (SEAs), and local educational agencies (LEAs) in ensuring a seamless transition for children with disabilities who received EIS under IDEA Part C to eligibility for and receipt of preschool services under IDEA Part B.
US Department of HHS, Dear Colleague Letter on Mixed Delivery
We are writing to encourage you to work with local educational agencies and early childhood partners in your states and communities to serve more of our youngest learners in high-quality preschool1 through a mixed delivery approach. A mixed delivery approach involves a coordinated effort on the part of States and local communities to support preschool programs across a range of quality settings, building on the expertise and capacity of existing providers and leveraging existing Federal, state, and local funding.
By forging these partnerships, early childhood leaders have an opportunity to amplify the benefits of a mixed delivery approach. The letter lays out a series of benefits including:
- Supporting parents in selecting a setting and location that best meets their child’s and family’s needs, such as providing a longer program day or more flexible scheduling offered in many child care programs, or allowing older and younger siblings to attend the same site;
- Improving access to early intervention and early childhood special education in inclusive early childhood settings to provide more seamless experiences for development and learning for children with disabilities;
- Supporting smooth transitions between preschool and kindergarten, laying a path for success in the early elementary years.
US Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services Updated Joint Policy Statement on the Inclusion of Children With Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs
The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released an updated joint-policy statement on supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. The joint statement sets the expectation that inclusion continues as a child transitions into elementary school, emphasizes the need to increase public awareness and understanding of the science that supports inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs, and reinforces the legal foundations that support inclusion. It includes a renewed commitment and urgency, as children with disabilities continue to face barriers accessing and fully participating in inclusive early childhood programs.
Purpose
All young children with disabilities[1] should have access to high-quality inclusive early childhood programs[2] that provide individualized and appropriate support so they can fully participate alongside their peers without disabilities, meet high expectations, and achieve their full potential. The responsibility to ensure that young children with disabilities and their families are included in high-quality early childhood programs is shared by federal, State, and local governments, early childhood systems, early childhood programs and providers, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools.
This policy statement from the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments) builds upon the earlier 2015 policy statement with renewed commitment and urgency as children with disabilities continue to face significant barriers accessing and participating in inclusive early childhood programs. This updated joint ED and HHS policy statement for States,[3] LEAs, schools, early intervention (EIS) providers, and early childhood programs advances the Departments’ position by:
- Reiterating the expectation for inclusion[4] in high-quality early childhood programs;
- Setting the expectation that inclusion continues as children transition into elementary school;
- Continuing to increase public awareness and understanding of the latest science that supports inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs from the earliest ages;
- Reinforcing the legal foundations supporting inclusion in early childhood;
- Reiterating and updating recommendations for State and local agencies that implement Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs, Head Start, child care, home visiting, preschools, and public schools for increasing inclusive early learning opportunities for all children;
- Updating models and exemplars of inclusion; and
- Identifying and sharing resources for States, LEAs, EIS providers, early childhood programs, schools, early childhood personnel,[5] and families to support high-quality individualized programming and inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs.
Technical Assistance Resources for Part C Eligibility, US Ed Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSEP)
Working Together to Support All Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Webinar Series
This webinar series from the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services highlights how federal agencies, State agencies, local programs, and families can work together to support infants and toddlers with disabilities' growth and development. Presenters share new materials that highlight a vision for serving all infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities and provide strategies and resources on implementing an equitable and comprehensive system that identifies, locates, and evaluates infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities.
Inclusion Facilitators may want to explore the menu of other resources supporting children with disabilities and their families available on the OSEP website.
6. Organizations for Families
Families of children with disabilities can benefit from the experience and expertise of organizations set up to help them understand and navigate the available services and supports. These organizations may provide peer to peer support, training, resources, referrals, and advocacy. They may also provide support to professionals that work with families of children with disabilities. It’s important for Inclusion Facilitators to be familiar with the organizations that serve their community. Most of the organizations that serve families with children with disabilities are found in the County Specific Resources area of the MAP website. However, the organizations below (except for Family Resource Centers) support children with disabilities from 3 years of age to age 21 or beyond and are not yet a part of County Specific Resources.
California Parent Organizations and the California Department of Education
Senate Bill 511, Family Empowerment Centers
The Family Empowerment Centers (FECs) provide training and information to families of children and young adults with disabilities, between the ages of 3 and 22. These parent-led nonprofit organizations offer specialized training, peer-to-peer support, information, and referral services. They aim to assist parents to better understand their child’s educational and developmental needs, effectively communicate with service providers, serve as a resource for the individual education plan process, participate in school reform and improvement activities, promote alternative dispute resolution, and support positive relationships between parents and professionals. Services available through each FEC vary based on the needs of the community.
Parent Training and Information Centers
Each Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) is a parent-directed non-profit 501(c)(3) organization funded and managed by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The California Department of Education coordinates with the PTICs on initiatives and opportunities for parent support statewide.
The PTICs provide a variety of direct services for children and youth with disabilities, families, professionals, and other organizations that support them. Some of the activities include:
- Working with families of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities, birth to twenty-six.
- Helping parents participate effectively in their children’s education and development.
- Partnering with professionals and policy makers to improve outcomes for all children with disabilities.
California Community Parent Resource Centers
The Community Parent Resource Center (CPRC), are managed and funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and, as described in 20 United States Code 1472, will help ensure that underserved parents of children, ages birth through twenty-six with disabilities, including low-income parents, parents of limited English-proficient children, and parents with disabilities, have the training and information the parents need to enable the parents to participate effectively in helping their children with disabilities.
Each CPRC shall:
- Provide training and information that meets the training and information needs of parents of children with disabilities,
- Carry out the activities required of PTICs, and
- Be designed to meet the specific needs of families who experience significant isolation from available sources of information and support.
Family Resource Centers for families with infants and toddlers with disabilities in early intervention. They are funded by the federal government and contract with the California Department of Developmental Services.
Families of infants and toddlers can receive parent-to-parent support from Early Start Family Resource Centers. Family Resource Centers (FRC) actively work in partnership with local regional centers and education agencies and help many parents, families and children get information about early intervention services and how to navigate the Early Start system.
Each FRC is unique, reflecting the needs of their community. They may operate as independent sites or be based in regional centers, local education agencies, public health facilities, hospitals or homes. Family support services are available in many languages and are culturally responsive to the needs of the individual family.
For more information about FRC contact the Family Resource Center Network of California . Their mission is to support families of children with disabilities, special healthcare needs, and those at risk by ensuring the continuance, expansion, promotion, and quality of family-centered, parent-directed, family resource centers.
These organizations can be found by county on the County Specific Resources area of the MAP Website .
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
The State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) is established by state and federal law as an independent state agency to ensure that people with developmental disabilities and their families receive the services and supports they need.
Consumers know best what supports and services they need to live independently and to actively participate in their communities. Through advocacy, capacity building and systemic change, SCDD works to achieve a consumer and family-based system of individualized services, support and other assistance.
Direct questions or comments about this newsletter to map@wested.org