The Nicholson Foundation has awarded the Thomas Edison State University Foundation a $166,723 grant to support the second year expansion of the New Jersey Cultural Competency and English Language Learners (ELL) Summer Institute and Mentoring Program into communities in the northern New Jersey region. Pictured is the 2015 cohort of the program.
The Nicholson Foundation has awarded the Thomas Edison State University Foundation a $166,723 grant to support the second year expansion of the New Jersey Cultural Competency and English Language Learners (ELL) Summer Institute and Mentoring Program into communities in the northern New Jersey region.
“Based on the accomplishments of the Cultural Competency and English Language Learners Institute in its expansion to Northern New Jersey, we are pleased to continue our partnership for a second year. We know that a new group of early childhood educators as well as the children and families that they service will greatly benefit from the Institute’s expertise and compassion,” said Charles Venti, executive director, The Nicholson Foundation. The grant will be used to continue work on growing the program in communities and schools primarily in the cities of Paterson, Montclair and Newark, N.J., within community provider settings as well as the Paterson School District.
The program is evidence based with an eight year track record of changing the way teachers’ think and how they implement strategies to link culture and language. The Institute offers a three-day intensive learning institute and a nine-month mentoring program to early childhood teachers working with diverse children (0-8 years old) and their families to help them gain the tools they need to become more culturally responsive. The program helps educators examine their own biases and imparts teaching strategies for engaging diverse learners through discussions, simulations and the integration of culture and language into the curriculum as well as greater parent engagement.
At the end of its first year in North Jersey, the program noted exponential growth in three main areas: classroom design, teaching rhythm and temperament, and instructional practices.
“It is very rewarding to receive the acknowledgement from The Nicholson Foundation that our ELL Program model works and is worthy to receive a second year of funding to expand into other early childhood classrooms that need this type of learning and mentoring in North Jersey. We have seen the success of the program last year and we expect that with this ninth cohort we will get equally successful results,” said Ana I. Berdecia, program director and senior fellow at The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy’s Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children.
The program assists in the transformation of early childhood teachers’ thinking and practice about how to harbor a culturally competent classroom that supports first and second language adoption. Since its inception in 2007, the program has successfully trained and mentored more than 190 early childhood educators from 79 classrooms across the state. With this year’s new cohort, the program’s alumni increased to 228 educators from 97 classrooms.
This year’s institute ran from Aug. 12–14 at the New Jersey Community Development Rodgers Building in Paterson, N.J.
Toni M. Terry, BA