Webinars

Children of Immigrants Series: Webinar III

https://www.fcd-us.org/children-immigrants-series-webinar-iii/

Understanding Immigration Status, Community Support Systems, and Pedagogical Approaches as Key Factors in Supporting Children’s Learning

Original Recording Date: Thursday, December 7, 2017 

PLAY RECORDING (90 Minutes)

Description: In many school districts and early childhood settings across the US, young students are increasingly children of immigrants. The educational progress of immigrant children can be marked by challenges related to parental legal status, socioeconomic disadvantage, and inadequate language supports in school.  Towards building more supportive learning environments, this webinar highlights effective multi-pronged interventions and pedagogical strategies for supporting the academic and social-emotional development of first-generation children of immigrants. Specifically, this webinar will cover the following topics:
  • Immigrant parent legal status and educational outcomes for US-born children
  • Community and school supports for first-generation children of immigrants
  • Culturally relevant and supportive prekindergarten to 3rd-grade settings
  • Quality of pedagogical approaches in dual language Head Start classrooms
  • Research and policy recommendations
  • Q&A Discussion
Presenters   
Jennifer Keys Adair, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas, Austin
Kalina M. Brabeck, Ph.D. Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership and School Psychology at Rhode Island College

Eric Dearing, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and Senior Researcher, Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development.

Moderator & Discussant
Carola Oliva-Olson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, School of Education, Early Childhood Studies at the California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA

Speaker Bios

Jennifer Keys Adair, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Adair works with parents, teachers, administrators and young children to offer more dynamic and sophisticated learning experiences to children from resilient, marginalized communities in the US and globally. Her areas of expertise include each childhood education for children of immigrants, project-based learning and the importance of young children recognizing racial discrimination and valuing cultural differences. Dr. Adair is a former Young Scholars Fellow with the Foundation for Child Development and a current Spencer Foundation major grant recipient. Dr. Adair has published in numerous journals including Harvard Educational Review, Race, Ethnicity and Education and Teachers College Record. She conducts research and lectures in multiple countries, most recently in Austin as part of Blackademics and SXSWedu. Dr. Adair’s work and expertise can also be found in a variety of news outlets including The Conversation, Washington Post, CNN and National Public Radio.

Kalina M. Brabeck, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership and School Psychology at Rhode Island College. She is an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College, a Foundation for Child Development Young Scholar, and a Roger Williams University Latino Policy Institute Research Fellow. Dr. Brabeck has worked as a researcher, advocate, and clinician with Latino immigrant families for the past 15 years. Her research explores the intersections among socio-structural challenges (e.g., poverty, racism, immigration status), family processes, and individual mental health and wellbeing. Since 2007, she has focused on the consequences of U.S. immigration policies and practices for Latino immigrant families and children. She was Principle Investigator on a mixed-methods study, funded by the Foundation for Child Development, that explored the impact of Latino immigrant parent legal status on health, academic, and social/emotional outcomes for U.S.-born children ages 7-10.

Eric Dearing, Ph.D. is a Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and a Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development. He is also a fellow in the Center for Optimized Student Support at Boston College. Dr. Dearing’s research is focused on the consequences of children’s lives outside of school for their performance in school, with special attention to the power of families, early care and education, and neighborhood supports to bolster achievement for children growing up poor. His work has been featured in the press several times and has been cited in testimony to the United States Congress and international policy white papers (e.g., OECD). Presently, as a member of the Development and Research in Early Math Learning (DREME) network, much of his research is focused on the roles of parents and early educators in low-income children’s math learning.

Carola Oliva-Olson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Studies in the School of Education at California State University Channel Island. Her research centers on developmentally, culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices in the context of families, community, and schools. Dr. Oliva-Olson studies the relative significance of three measures of classroom quality, two classroom language models, and initial language performance in predicting language outcomes for preschool Head Start and Migrant Head Start dual language learners. Dr. Oliva-Olson leads national and state efforts for Head Start, Migrant Head Start, state-funded preschool programs, California’s transitional kindergarten, and early grades in Ohio, New Mexico, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and California to ensure high quality practices for all children while emphasizing high impact practices for dual language learners and their families. She is a Center Scholar at the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University, is a member of the First 5 Santa Barbara and First 5 Ventura Children and Families Commissions, and is a member of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Early Childhood Advisory Group.