Early Edge California Joins LMU-CEEL, LAUSD, and CABE at Jornada Pedagógica Internacional para la Educación Multilingüe Conference
Earlier this month, Early Edge participated in Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Equity for English Learners’ (LMU-CEEL) 27th Annual Jornada Pedagógica Internacional para la Educación Multilingüe (International Jornada Pedagógica for Multilingual Education), a professional development conference conducted in Spanish, and sponsored by Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE).
Our Executive Director Patricia Lozano had the honor of introducing the conference’s keynote speaker, Dr. Dina Castro, the Velma E. Schmidt Endowed Chair for Early Childhood Education at the University of North Texas.
Dr. Castro’s research focuses on quality and equity in the early care and education for bilingual children as well as children from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, in particular those living in poverty, and factors affecting the well-being of immigrant children and their families. She serves as Director of the Center for Early Care and Education Research: Dual Language Learners, a national research center funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Her work has been instrumental in the field of early childhood and in support of DLLs nationally. Since our priorities align so closely with her work, Early Edge was so pleased to have the opportunity to introduce her keynote presentation, “Bilingualism and Equity in Early Education: From Research to Practice.” During her presentation, she shared the latest research on the development of bilingual children and how these findings should guide early education policy and practice, including teacher preparation. Her presentation resonated with us, as it touched on many of our policy priorities: the need for more DLL-specific teacher training and preparation, as well as the need for children to have access to instruction in their home language.
During the conference, we had the pleasure of sharing our new Spanish-language video about the benefits of dual language programs for Early Learners! Watch the video featured on our new Spanish language portal.