Early Edge Blog

First 5 California DLL Pilot Community of Practice: June 2022 Summit Summary

July 20, 2022

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 twelfth post in a series of blog posts about the First 5 California (F5CA) Dual Language Learner (DLL) Pilot Community of Practice (CoP). Click here for additional blog posts.

Resources for Educators and the Field

DLL Policy Summit Resources

• DLL Community of Practice Reflection Slideshow & Presentation Video Segment
• AIR Presentation Slides & Presentation Video Segment
• Linda Espinosa Presentation Slides & Presentation Video Segment
• Panel #1: Family Engagement and DLL Identification Video Segment
  • Panelist Resource: Quality Start LA’s DLL Resources 
• Panel #2: Ensuring Professional Development on DLLs is Accessible to All Educators Video Segment
  • Panelist Resource: CDSS Child Care and Development Quality Initiatives
• Dual Language Learner Professional Development Initiative Overview
• Master Plan for Early Learning and Care

AIR Research Briefs

• All Pilot Evaluation Study Reports
• Quick Facts: Engaging Dual Language Learner Families in Their Children’s Early Education
• Research Brief: Engaging Dual Language Learner Families in Their Children’s Early Education
• Relationships Between Teacher Language Use in the Classroom and Outcomes for Preschool-Aged Dual Language Learners
• Relationships Between Classroom Practices and Language and Development Among Dual Language Learner Infants and Toddlers
• A Deeper Look at Classroom Language Approaches and How They Relate to Language Skills and Other Outcomes for Dual Language Learners
• Promising Strategies for Supporting Dual Language Learners, Regardless of the Languages Teachers Speak

Policy Implications

• Bilingualism is an asset for our children and a strength in our community. As such, policy makers must continue to support efforts to expand and strengthen dual language programs, create assessment systems that are fair and accurate for all children, and define and expand specialized training for the ECE workforce.
• Policy makers should ensure early education related opportunities and funding for the field includes specific carve outs for language translation of resources at a minimum, and ideally, for a deeper process to allow for the development of resources and tools in the authentic home language, as opposed to a translation of an existing resource in English. 
• The F5CA Pilot elevated best practices and lessons learned. Policy makers should expand upon, support, and sustain these practices for the benefit of all children in the Golden State.

The F5CA DLL Pilot Policy Summit was held on June 17, 2022. The summit celebrated the work accomplished throughout the course of the First 5 California Dual Language Learner (DLL) Pilot and the corresponding Community of Practice (CoP) sessions. The F5CA ​​DLL Pilot was a historic $20 million investment by First 5 California to understand effective, scalable, and sustainable DLL practices in diverse Early Learning and Care settings. The summit uplifted bright spots and exemplary strategies to support DLLs and their families; provided a forum to recognize continued needs related to the implementation of DLL-focused recommendations from the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care; and built knowledge of and support for DLL-focused policies.

First 5 California Executive Director Jackie Wong opened the summit with a brief overview of the Pilot. Next, a slide show and retrospective reflection celebrated the contributions of the 16 Pilot counties and celebrated the work of the CoP. Dr. Karen Manship, Principle Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), presented findings from the Evaluation Study before the webinar transitioned to two panels on the topics of “Family Engagement and DLL Identification” (Panel #1) and on “Ensuring Professional Development on DLLs is Accessible to all Educators” (Panel #2). The summit concluded with remarks from Dr. Linda Espinosa on next steps and implications for DLL policy and practice in California.

This blog post contains summaries and recordings from each of the DLL Policy Summit’s sessions:

• Pilot Overview and Retrospective Celebration of Work Session
• Lessons from the DLL Pilot Session (Presented by AIR) 
• Panel #1 – Family Engagement and DLL Identification
• Panel #2 – Ensuring Professional Development on DLLs is Accessible to all Educators
• Looking Ahead and Final Thoughts Session (Presented by Dr. Linda Espinosa)