Early Edge Blog

First 5 California DLL Pilot Community of Practice: July 2021 Meeting Summary

September 23, 2021

By: Early Edge California, Advancement Project California, and Glen Price Group (GPG), in partnership with First 5 California and the California Department of Education

This blog is the fourth post in a new series about the DLL Pilot CoP. See here for additional blog posts.

Resources for Educators and the Field

• Dual Language Learner Supports (Shared by Carola Oliva-Olson)
• Code Switching: Why It Matters and How to Respond (Shared by Carola Oliva-Olson)

Policy Implications

• Policy makers should consider supporting counties in providing culturally and linguistically relevant, and individualized virtual DLL trainings (see virtual bulletin board below for list of suggestions).

In this important moment, California has an opportunity to build back its Early Learning system in a way that makes systemic progress towards centering the cultural and linguistic assets of children who are Dual Language Learners (DLLs) and their families. Achieving this aim necessitates a focus on improving systems of support for DLLs. The July meeting of the F5CA DLL Pilot Community of Practice (CoP) specifically focused on 1) providing culturally and linguistically relevant, and individualized virtual DLL trainings and 2) how teachers are supported to implement those skills in their practice.

The CoP grounded its shared learning on these topics with a presentation from Carola Oliva-Olson, Senior Principal Education Researcher at SRI International.

This presentation, titled “Near & Far: Transferring Knowledge and Beyond,” highlighted the importance of thoughtful planning in the design of virtual training sessions (including orientation sessions) to help participants become familiar with various platforms; sharing recordings; and meeting with administrators and coordinators to discuss how best to ensure successful participation by educators. The presentation stressed the usefulness of highlighting 3-5 key takeaways and beginning and ending each session with these takeaways.

Participants were reminded that remote trainings are often more effective with:

• Fewer slides, more interaction
• Fewer concepts, more in depth-discussions
• Breakout groups in pairs

The conversation among DLL CoP members that followed included several highlights and successes including: 

• In Monterey, Riverside, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Yolo, Quality Counts California (QCC) coaches support providers by following up after training to individualize content to providers’ settings.
• In Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Francisco, counties are working to match the languages of coaches to the home languages of providers.
• Santa Clara is utilizing SEEDS of Learning curriculum and coaches who receive specialized training to follow up after Family Child Care Home providers receive training. The goal is to support implementation of practices developed during professional development.

CoP members heard a presentation from Carola Oliva-Olson, Senior Principal Education Researcher at SRI International titled “Near & Far: Transferring Knowledge and Beyond.”

Counties also emphasized the need to and challenge in translating multiple training components, and scaffolding and familiarizing trainees with virtual learning platforms.  Several counties noted that using technology can be a challenge for many providers, including Family Child Care providers and Family, Friend, and Neighbor providers.

Finding coaches in the language of providers is another ongoing challenge. Counties are eager to work with the state to identify ways the state can address some of these challenges at scale and offered specific ideas on a virtual bulletin board.

DLL Pilot CoP members virtually brainstormed ways the State could support counties to implement virtual DLL trainings that are culturally and linguistically relevant.

As the Community of Practice continues to meet, counties look to elevate the successes and challenges and invite practitioners and advocates to join in its efforts to elevate state policy solutions that can advance local practice.

This blog will be updated regularly to share the emerging lessons learned, needed resources, and policy recommendations coming from the DLL Pilot CoP meetings. Learn more about the First 5 CA DLL Pilot.