Nearly two years ago I joined Teachstone with a deep desire and commitment to support leaders and teachers with real-time, practical, and evidence-based strategies and solutions to address the current needs of children, families, and educators. For the 20 years prior, I led organizations working at the national, state, and local levels focused on addressing the needs of children and families, especially those living in marginalized communities. As a practitioner at heart, my passion has been translating research to practice to drive impact and positive outcomes for children. This passion brought me to Teachstone.  

Having used the CLASS® in my programs, I saw firsthand the incredible impact the tool had on children and educators.  I often refer to the CLASS as an equalizer, as the CLASS tool provided our site leaders with the ability to measure and improve the quality of teacher-child interactions with a proven and research-based classroom assessment - one that is effective regardless of the credentials, education level, or socio-economic status of the educator. Not only do I believe in CLASS, but I also believe in educators and their fundamental ability to bring the best out of our children. 

"Not only do I believe in CLASS, but I also believe in educators and their fundamental ability to bring the best out of our children."

We are depending on our educators now more than ever before as we all continue to grapple with the tremendous impacts of COVID-19 on the early childhood education system.  As colleagues across the country are facing unprecedented challenges, we recognize that at the core are critical needs for children, educators, and families. The call has been for the educational system to restabilize, reopen, and recover. But, what if we see these challenges we are facing as an opportunity? The opportunity to make the future of education now. 

Now is the time to not only restabilize and recover, but to improve, innovate, and make the needed changes to create and sustain quality education within all programs, across all classrooms, and for all children. I am humbled by the incredible efforts already taken by leaders and teachers to work toward change. There is more work to be done together. 

The need for systemic change has long been established, with each year bringing forward more research findings on inequities in early childhood education. And yet, these problems still fester. 

• Nearly half of all children in the United States have experienced one or more forms of serious trauma. 
• Existing opportunity and achievement gaps along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines are widening during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Children of color - particularly black boys - are disproportionately likely to be suspended or expelled from school and care programs. 
• We’ve known for decades that early childhood programs can pay dividends throughout a child’s life, but we still have not invested in the kind of aligned, high-quality birth-to-third grade system that can best sustain these gains.
• The poverty wages paid to many early childhood educators add stress to an already stressful job. When teachers are emotionally exhausted, their interactions with children suffer. Or, educators may leave the field altogether. This turnover makes building an effective, diverse workforce challenging and expensive.

The recent challenges brought on by the pandemic brought to light an even greater need and opportunity to come together to build back better. As a community, we know too much to let these problems continue. With the historic funding amounts being put into the education landscape, it’s time to look beyond reopening and allocate these resources to reimagining education, and to rebuilding a future of quality for every child and every educator.

Together, we have the opportunity to think and plan more strategically through a systemic lens to make the equitable future of education a reality, now.

With this context, we’re making a commitment to support not only reopening, but restabilization, and innovation to drive continuous - and needed - improvements. 

In support of our vision to ensure everyone experiences life-changing teachers, we commit to:

Guide decision-makers in crafting plans that are aligned to strategic goals, address the needs of every child, and will propel improvements.

Support leaders in overcoming learning loss, decreasing the achievement gaps, and fostering the development of the whole child.

Promote social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and well-being of all children, staff, and families.

Help rebuild a quality workforce equipped with the teacher-child interaction skills they need to support every child.

Empower leaders in ensuring equitable interactions, documenting rebuilding efforts, and measuring outcomes and success.

Let us be your partner and support you in your goals, needs, and wishes with our expertise and services that have been proven to drive success. And, be sure to join us for our upcoming webinar, The Future is Now: Using Stimulus Funding to Drive Equity and Quality.

Save your seat for these upcoming webinars!