and audio recordings below.
At the heart of WestEd’s nationally recognized Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) is a commitment to care for infants and toddlers that respects the diverse cultures, lifestyles, preferences, abilities, learning styles, and needs of the children and families served.
Join Peter Mangione, Director of PITC at WestEd, for an engaging online conversation series that highlights both scholarly and practitioner perspectives on the importance of providing culturally responsive and individualized infant and toddler care.
Mangione will lead four conversations with scholars and educators who have made significant contributions to the field of early care and education. Representing a wide variety of interests in the field, guest speakers and PITC staff will share their perspectives from the lens of research and program practice.
Conversations will focus on a range of topics including:
- Creating inclusive infant and toddler care settings
- Promoting early language development and communication for dual language learners
- Promoting responsive relationships and learning in home- and center-based settings
- Supporting family child-care providers
Who Should Attend?
- California First 5 Staff and Administrators
- County Office of Education Early Care and Education Program Leaders
- Early Care and Education Program Leaders
- Early Head Start Directors, Staff, and Partners
- Trainers and Coaches
- Community College Faculty
- Resource and Referral Staff
- State Education Agency Program Staff
- Researchers in the United States and abroad
Dates & Times
Sessions will take place on Thursdays from 12:30-1:30 pm Pacific Time / 3:30-4:30 pm Eastern Time.
Registration Information
Registration for all sessions is free.
To register, click the unique registration link for each session below. Register for as many sessions as you wish. You will receive an email confirmation and reminders to attend. We look forward to your participation!
Please contact Danny Torres at [email protected] if you have questions about the series or if you would like more information about registration.
Sessions
The Power of Culturally Consistent Care in Home-Based Settings
Date: May 13, 2021
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm (Pacific) / 3:30 pm-4:30 pm (Eastern)
Featured Speaker: Eva Marie Shivers, Indigo Cultural Center
Discussion Topic: The focus of this discussion will be how to support family child-care providers in providing care to children and families they serve.
Eva Marie Shivers is the Executive Director and Founder of the Indigo Cultural Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Shivers is a nationally recognized researcher on issues related to early childhood education, culture, community, and provider-child relationships. Prior to relocating to Arizona and founding the Indigo Cultural Center, Shivers was a faculty member in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Shivers has presented her child-care research throughout the country and has numerous peer-reviewed publications. She also provides research consultation to federal, state, and local policymakers especially around the issues of how to cultivate racially equitable early childhood systems. Shivers, a ZERO TO THREE Leadership Fellow (Class 2005), has served as faculty in the Harris Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training Institute at Southwest Human Development since 2008.
Everyone Belongs: Creating Authentically Inclusive and Equitable Infant and Toddler Care
Date: May 20, 2021
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm (Pacific) / 3:30 pm-4:30 pm (Eastern)
Featured Speaker: Senta Greene, Full Circle Consulting Systems, Inc.
Discussion Topic: This session will focus on how inclusive infant and toddler care settings honor and respect every child and family’s participation and nurture a sense of belonging.
Senta Greene is the Founder and CEO of Full Circle Consulting Systems, Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in the science of child and adolescent development, transformational leadership, community, and family engagement. Greene celebrates a distinguished career of 28 years in education. She has a deep commitment to inspiring educators, school leaders, and policymakers to serve all children and their families with exceptional aptitude, excellence, and dedication. Greene is a frequent writer, speaker, and advisor on cultural humility, inclusive education, family engagement, transformational leadership, and reflective practice. She has testified before the United States Congress and has been recognized at the state, national, and international levels with awards for excellence in teaching and service. Her work has stimulated innovative curriculum designs in early childhood education, groundbreaking policy development in special education, and systems change in the United States, Austria, Finland, and Jamaica. Greene has served in the role of teacher, home visitor, early intervention specialist, inclusion specialist, college instructor, consultant, administrator, and master trainer. She was also one of the original members of the Early Head Start National Think Tank and a former Disabilities and Infant-Toddler Specialist for Region IX.
Making Meaning Together: Connecting with Dual Language Learners in Infant and Toddler Care
Date: May 27, 2021
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm (Pacific) / 3:30 pm-4:30 pm (Eastern)
Featured Speakers: Ann-Marie Wiese and Edilma Serna, WestEd
Discussion Topic: This session will focus on how culturally responsive relationships with children and families can support early language development and communication for dual language learners.
Ann-Marie Wiese is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd. Her work focuses on issues related to enhancing early learning and care for dual language learners (DLLs). She currently contributes to California’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care Project and the Preschool Development Grant Renewal Project. Most recently she directed a family engagement initiative serving culturally and linguistically diverse preschool families in state preschool programs. She co-directed the project that led to the development of California’s Best Practices for Young Dual Language Learners Research Overview Papers and the California Preschool Program Guidelines related to DLLs with a series of accompanying videos highlighting program practices and instructional strategies. Wiese led a professional development effort for preschool practitioners with core seminars, on-site coaching, and a self-assessment tool of language and literacy practices to support DLLs. Wiese most recently authored chapters in the Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children and Advances in Early Education and Day Care.
Edilma Serna joined WestEd in January 2002 as Regional Coordinator in Los Angeles. She provides PITC bilingual training for Center-Based and Family Child Care Programs serving children from birth to three years old. Her past experience includes working in the early childhood field as a teacher and assistant director in her native country of Mexico since 1981. Serna is currently mentoring PITC bilingual and bicultural trainees and infant-toddler specialists in Southern California.
A Place for Me: Diverse, Engaging Environments for Infants and Toddlers
Date: June 3, 2021
Time: 12:30-1:30 pm (Pacific) / 3:30 pm-4:30 pm (Eastern)
Featured Speakers: Mary Jane Maguire-Fong (Consultant and Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at American River College) and Marcela Clark (Senior Manager at United Way Bright Beginnings)
Discussion Topic: This session will focus on how the environment can promote responsive relationships and learning in both the home and the center-based care setting.
Mary Jane Maguire-Fong is an author and professor emerita of early childhood education, American River College, in Sacramento, CA. She has been a preschool teacher, infant center director, and administrator for early childhood programs in the migrant farm worker community. She is the author of Teaching and Learning with Infants and Toddlers: Where Meaning Making Begins, recently released in a new edition, and co-author of Infant Development from Conception to Age 3: What Babies Ask of Us. She holds degrees in child development and psychology and has completed a fellowship in infant-parent mental health.
Marcela Clark lives in the Houston, Texas area and has over 35 years’ experience in the field of Early Childhood Education holding an array of diverse positions in administration, consultation, and higher education. Presently she works as a senior manager overseeing the United Way Bright Beginnings program, a citywide quality improvement program attending underserved populations. She has been a Touchpoints National Trainer since 2007. Marcela holds a Master degree in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California.