Federal Grant May Help Bolster Child Development Program
Lynn Stanton-Riggs and Grandson
Since the University of La Verne first entered into a partnership with the Child Development Center at Fairplex in 1991, hundreds of students have worked alongside staff there, receiving invaluable on-site training in early education.
That training is expected to be enhanced through a $95,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Under the grant, the center is training early childhood teachers in Pomona to better support the social and emotional development of children. Related research will measure how successful that training is.
Not only will La Verne students be able to participate in such research as they work toward a degree, but students who train at the center will benefit from what staff learn through the research project and impart to them.
“We’re dedicated to the goal that theory and practice go hand in hand,” said Holly Kirkland Reynolds, director of children’s services at the Child Development Center. “It’s important that we pay attention to what the research is telling us and how it affects the content that we teach the adults who work with us, both our own staff and students.”
The Child Development Center serves children 8 weeks to six years of age, providing cognitive, language, social-emotional and physical support. Staff are credentialed, and La Verne students who train there do so under the watchful eyes of Lynn Stanton-Riggs, Ph.D., chairwoman of the Child Development Program, and Cindy Cary, Ed.D., the student supervisor.
“Part of La Verne’s mission focuses on community and diversity, and we specifically chose Pomona for this project due to its demographics,” Stanton-Riggs said. “This work involves reaching out to a diverse community.”
She added, “This will demonstrate that our students can become involved in research in a more traditional sense than what we have done at the center in the past. At the same time, our students who work at the center will gain valuable new insights that will help them later on as they begin their own careers.”
Cary agreed. “The training method we use is called ‘conscious discipline.’ Our students receive that training through mentor teachers at the center and through their student teaching and their observation classes. I see a real potential for mentor teachers to transfer what they learn to our students.”
If things go as anticipated, an even better trained flow of graduates dedicated to child development should begin to emerge during the coming years.
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