Crosswalks: Outreach to Infuse Diversity in Preservice Education

December 1, 2005

College faculty and programs need to adjust their courses and field experiences to prepare students to work effectively with young children and families who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Complicating this is the need for change to occur within the complex context of state and national standards.

"Crosswalks: Outreach to Infuse Diversity in Preservice Education" is a new project through the FPG Child Development Institute University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (DDRC), that will develop and test a framework to support faculty and programs in making diversity-related changes. Crosswalks will develop measures, a toolbox of resources and a model for evaluating current practices, targeting enhancements and evaluating progress. The project will be piloted with birth to kindergarten (B-K) faculty members, administrators, family members and community partners in four Tar Heel communities (Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Durham).