ECRR2 for Early Childhood Professionals

Supporting early childhood educators just got easier thanks to the new Every Child Ready to Read – Toolkit for Serving Early Childhood Educators! ALSC Public Awareness Committee asked Judy Nelson and Sue McCleaf Nespeca, from the Every Child Ready to Read Committee and Dorothy Stoltz, one of the four authors of the new Toolkit, about why this is a big deal for libraries, community partners, and in turn the children we nurture.

What’s the impetus for creating the new Toolkit?
Numerous requests were made in recent years for the Every Child Ready to Read Committee to design an ECRR module for library staff to use to train early childhood professionals and childcare providers. This toolkit aimed to offer a better understanding of what is means to pattern, train, and facilitate learning with early childhood educators whose students are growing in independence and ability as they approach school entry.

What do ALSC members need to know?
The toolkit greatly expanded on the information already given in the ECRR Manual on training for Community Partners. In addition to customizable slides and turn-key approach, topics include:
• Early literacy fundamentals
• Brain development
• Constrained and unconstrained skills
• Decoding and comprehension
• Critical dimensions of language and literacy
• Early literacy skills and practices
• Early literacy during routines and/or activities
• Pre and post assessment tools
• Early learning standards for literacy by state

Who is considered an “early childhood educator?”
Early childhood educators include licensed home child care providers, child center staff, Head Start teachers, family day care providers, infant toddler and preschool teachers, and other child care professionals.

What is the ECRR Committee most excited about?
By focusing on training early child professionals, the new Toolkit offers the ability of library staff to spark curiosity, development skills and create communities of practice among educators around Every Child Ready to Read. In the way, libraries have greater potential of reaching many more parents and children indirectly thought the child care professionals.

The new Toolkit supports multiple ALSC Core Competencies including I.4 “Understanding theories of infant, child, and adolescent learning, literacy development and brain development, and their implications for library service.”

What are your experiences with the new toolkit? What excites you about the new Toolkit? What feedback do you have? The ECRR Oversight Committee welcomes your input on the toolkit and any other products library staff would find useful to help spread the important message of how libraries help young children get ready to read. Get in touch with Sue McCleaf Nespeca, Committee Chair.

We congratulate Elaine Czarnecki, Saroh Ghoting, Amanda Ellington Roberson, Pamela Rogers and Dorothy Stoltz for their collaboration to develop the new Toolkit. And thank Sue, Dorothy and Judy for taking time to share more about the new resource.

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Christy Estrovitz is the Manager of Youth Services for San Francisco Public Library and chair of ALSC Public Awareness Committee. She can be reached at christy.estrovitz@sfpl.org.