Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
C DD072.
Course Title (CB02)
Partnerships with Families in Early Childhood Education
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course examines key principles and effective approaches in joining with and involving families in promoting children's learning, development, and success in early childhood education settings. (This course meets NAEYC Standard 2; NBPTS Generalist Standard VII; CEC/DEC Standard 10; and CA Early Childhood Competencies: Family and Community Engagement, and Relationships, Interaction and Guidance.)
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course prepares students to work with diverse families and their children. The course is designed to meet the requirements of the Child Development - Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate program. It also meets areas of competency under the Infant Family Early Childhood Mental Health competencies statewide endorsement process. This course meets the State of California requirements under the Child Development Permit. It is also CSU transferable.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to CSU only

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
3.0
Maximum Credit Units
3.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours3.06.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
36.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
36.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
72.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
72.0

Prerequisite(s)

C D D010G or PSYC D010G (may be taken concurrently) and C D D050. (may be taken concurrently)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

ESL D272. and ESL D273., or ESL D472. and ESL D473., or eligibility for EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

Methods of Instruction

Community based learning project

Lecture and visual aids

Participatory work groups

Cooperative learning and small group activities

Collaborative projects

Other: Community service learning

Guest speakers

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Assignments

  1. Readings from textbook and/or supplemental readers, periodicals, or handouts
  2. Reflective essays, journals or worksheets to examine students' own values, practices, and experiences related to working with families
  3. Cultural interview to expand the understanding and awareness of culture and its impact on our daily lives and to learn ways that our experiences are similar to and different from those of someone from another cultural background
  4. Action plan to describe student’s goals and next steps based on course experiences.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Exams or quizzes to evaluate comprehension and mastery of key terms and concepts as well as application skills related partnerships with families
  2. Writing assignment(s) to evaluate ability to analyze critically and synthesize course materials and personal experience related to working in partnership with families
  3. Interview to evaluate ability to critically analyze families, their culture dynamics and how those dynamics contributes to early learning.
  4. Completed report on action plan goals and objectives established to improve partnerships with families

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Keyser, Janis. "From Parents to Partners: Building a Family Centered Early Childhood Program". MN: Redleaf Press, 2nd. ed.,2017.
Gonzalez-Mena, Janet. "50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families". Pearson, 3rd ed., 2013.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Gonzalez-Mena, Janet. Child, Family, and Community: Family-Centered Early Childhood Care and Education. Pearson, 2016.
Raver-Lampman & Childress. Family-Centered Early Intervention: Supporting Infants and Toddlers in Natural Environments. Brookes Publishing, 2014.
Berger & Riojas-Cortez. Parents as Partners in Education: Families and Schools Working Together. Pearson, 2019.
Ensher & Clark. Relationship-Centered Practices in Early Childhood: Working with Families, Infants, & Young Children at Risk. Brookes Publishing, 2011.
Santa Clara County Early Learning Master Plan. CA: Santa Clara County Office of Education, 2017
The Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework: Promoting Family Engagement and School Readiness, From Prenatal to Age 8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start, 2018.
The Protective Factors Framework. Strengthening Families, Center for the Study of Social Policy Retrieved on February 6, 2019 from http://www.cssp.org/reform/strengthening-families

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Explore the values and family support principles that guide our work with families.
  • Describe how to integrate family centered practice into the early care and education environment.
  • Define the role of the teacher in creating welcoming environments for families.
  • Illustrate family involvement and leadership strategies and activities
  • Distinguish issues to promote strong families; issues of power and support with parents to strengthen them to act as advocates for their children and themselves
  • Employ strategies to affirm diversity and skills to support cultural awareness, cultural continuity, and cultural humility of families and how to build equitable communities
  • Create an action plan for supporting the changes in becoming a more family-friendly environment.

CSLOs

  • Develop knowledge of how to integrate family centered practice into the early care and education environment.

Outline

  1. Explore the values and family support principles that guide our work with families.
    1. Family centered practice increases the capacities of parents to nurture and provide developmental support for their children.
    2. Family centered practice crosses many disciplines and share common premises and beliefs about children, families and communities.
    3. Family centered practice focuses on prevention and promoting family and community capacities.
    4. Early care and education programs are natural vehicles for family support.
    5. Adopting a family centered approach requires a value shift to change patterns of thinking and action.
    6. Early childhood practitioners build protective factors for themselves
    7. Early childhood practitioners support families in developing protective factors to support positive family relationships and child development.
    8. Early childhood practitioners achieve behavior change through reflection and understanding personal change, practical skills and policy implications
  2. Describe how to integrate family centered practice into the early care and education environment.
    1. Family centered practice principles act as a guide when shifting the focus from child to family.
    2. All family-centered programs share common characteristics that uphold family support principles.
    3. Child-centered and family-centered programs have distinctive program characteristics.
    4. It is a challenge to change how to think and act. Reflection, sharing perspectives, dialogue and the willingness to change are essential to shifting to a family support value system.
    5. Creating a safe space to work and serve people with LGBTQAI+.
    6. The five protective factors framework is utilized to support families, this includes: a) parental resilience, b) social connections, c) knowledge of parenting and child development, d) concrete support, and e) social and emotional competence of children.
    7. Risk factors and adverse childhood experiences
    8. Practicing effective communication skills to connect with families
    9. Learning and applying Core Competencies in working with families
      1. Fostering parent leadership and advocacy
      2. Integrating strategies across systems
      3. Understanding the principles of family support and how to implement and put into practice family support programming in the early childhood and school site
  3. Define the role of the teacher in creating welcoming environments for families.
    1. Early care and education settings are natural venues for building community.
    2. Every person in the program needs to understand the complexity of family/caregiver relationships, learn good communication skills and make it his or her goal to build strong relationships.
    3. Strategies that support the creation of authentic, caring relationships in early care and education settings include providing a welcoming environment, encouraging families' active involvement, fostering relationships among families and establishing respectful relationships with families.
    4. Building trust between caregivers and families is one of the most essential tasks of quality child development programs.
    5. Family-centered programs use a strengths-based approach, rather than focusing on deficits.
    6. Engaging in respectful problem-solving techniques and communicating with skill and heart are essential skills in maintaining good family and staff partnerships.
  4. Illustrate family involvement and leadership strategies and activities
    1. Understanding parents as adults, as teachers and as leaders
    2. Building reciprocity, learning and practicing effective two-way communication skills to advance family goals
    3. Family involvement has demonstrated benefits for children, families, caregivers, teachers, and programs.
    4. By understanding the various factors that can discourage involvement, family support programs can develop practices that welcome families and encourage their participation.
    5. Developing a menu of activities, supports and services based on the hopes, needs and preferences of families will increase family involvement in programming and decision-making.
    6. Caregivers and staff members need ongoing support to integrate a family-centered approach.
    7. A family-centered curriculum is a key ingredient in a quality child development program.
    8. Intentional efforts to involve men should include a self-assessment of possible biases against men, a commitment to creating a male presence in the program, and activities and strategies that encourage and sustain male involvement.
    9. Assessing family leadership to understand the family and their involvement in the schools, early education programs and within their communities
    10. Early childhood practitioners develop strategies to implement protective factors at their early childhood sites
    11. Parent leadership and their contributions to children’s academic success
    12. The community action cycle, individual and collective action-planning tools and strategies to advance change
  5. Distinguish issues to promote strong families; issues of power and support with parents to strengthen them to act as advocates for their children and themselves
    1. Social support is essential to strong families and healthy communities.
    2. Sources of support can be found in informal networks of family and friends, as well as the more formal resources of organizations and established services.
    3. Social support provides help that is emotional and practical.
    4. Child care is a key component of a family's support network
    5. Understanding help-giving and help-seeking and using effective help-giving practices are significant strategies for supporting and promoting strong families.
  6. Employ strategies to affirm diversity and skills to support cultural awareness, cultural continuity, and cultural humility of families and how to build equitable communities
    1. Culture, an essential building block of identity, is transmitted through families and caregivers.
    2. Cultural conflicts can emerge in the caregiving setting. Cultural humility means developing the capacity to work respectfully with all children, families and colleagues and to be a lifelong learner in understanding diverse families.
    3. Language contains the shared experience, feelings, history and arts of a culture. Caregivers can help families understand issues about learning a second language and maintaining a home language.
    4. Stereotype, prejudice, bias and racism negatively affect the lives of children, their families, caregivers and the larger community.
    5. Caregivers can partner with families to recognize injustice and take an uncompromising stand against bias in order to build stronger, inclusive and equitable communities.
    6. Reflection is a tool for supporting change. Early childhood practitioners understand and implement reflective practice.
  7. Create an action plan for supporting the changes in becoming a more family-friendly environment.
    1. Families, early care and education professionals, and community members can work together to create positive change.
    2. People can advocate for change in personal life issues as well as community and national political issues.
    3. Community organizing provides a relational framework for change that increases individual and group power.
    4. Groups attempting to create change are effective when they build teams and nurture leadership.
    5. Family support principles and practices can guide social change efforts. Family support programs are committed to making positive change happen for children, families and communities.
Back to Top