Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive Reflective Practice in Birth – Five Settings is a new publication developed to help early childhood educators reflect on culturally-responsive practices in order to identify strengths and areas for continuous improvement. They were developed collaboratively between Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) and faculty from UAA’s Department of Psychology and Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) as a component of the “Improving Childcare Outcomes Research” project.
“We are excited to share this first major product from this collaboration,” said Dr. Diane Hirshberg, Professor of Education Policy with ISER. “We hope early childhood educators in Alaska and beyond find this a useful tool for continuing to refine their practice and find new ways to reach young learners from all backgrounds.”
The guidelines are not designed to be used to assess teacher performance, emphasized Dr. Hattie Harvey, Associate Professor in UAA’s Department of Psychology. Rather, they will complement existing standards and competency guidelines within Alaska’s early education system, and practitioners may use them to guide self-reflection on culturally-responsive practices.
The practices included in the guide are built on essential foundational practices for working with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and their families that must be present and supported within the early education setting. These include relationship-based practices and a primary focus on child and family engagement (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2019). This document guides reflection specific to culturally-responsive practices, in which relationship-based, responsive caregiving is essential and aligns with Alaska Native traditional knowledge and systems (Alaska SEED, 2019; Barnhardt & Kawagley, 2005; John, 2009).
Development of Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive Reflective Practice in Birth – Five Settings was funded by a Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), Implementation Research and Evaluation Grant (federal grant 90YE0210 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning Research and Evaluation).
More resources
Alaska standards and competency guidelines in early childhood education include:
- Alaska System for Early Education and Development (SEED) Early Care and Learning Core Knowledge and Competencies (CKC; 2018)
- Alaska’s Early Learning Guidelines (DEED, 2020)
- Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (2015)
- Making It Work: A Guide for Implementing Cultural Learning Experiences in American Indian and Alaska Native Early Learning Settings (National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning [NCECDTL], 2017).
