Biography

Christina Cassano is an Associate Professor of Childhood Education & Care at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. She has extensive experience in classroom, community-based, and university settings that have shaped her perspectives on the importance of high-quality and equitable learning opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse children and the issues families encounter as they transition from preschools and family childcare settings the public schools.

Christina’s scholarship focuses on providing high-quality and equitable learning experiences for all children, particularly dual language learners and children living in poverty. She actively participates in local, state, and national policy and practice-related work: Her goal is ensuring that policy decisions are informed by evidence and the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. Christina collaborated with the National Center for Culturally and Linguistic Responsiveness to create the literacy and language strategies for Head Start and, as a member of the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) Early Literacy Task Force, she was lead author of ILA’s Position Statement and Research Brief on Phonological Awareness (2019). These documents directly inform early childhood education practice. Some of her other publications include the co-edited book Pivotal Research in Early Literacy: Foundational Studies and Current Practices and the infant and toddler chapter in So Much More than the ABCs.

Locally, Christina serves on the YMCA board of directors and the school district’s Community Care Center task force. She also supports her three children with remote schooling.

Personal Statement

I am honored to be nominated to the NAEYC Governing Board and hope to have an opportunity to serve. I believe in leadership through service—a philosophy I first learned in the YMCA. I grew up in the Y. I was a camper, program participant, volunteer, camp counselor, swim instructor, and coach. The YMCA offered me my first job and my second home (and even my first email address @bangorymca). My desire to become a teacher, my community-engaged focus, and my equity stance all have roots in the YMCA. Thus, when I was asked to serve on a local YMCA board, I jumped at the chance to give back to an organization that had given me so much. My reason for seeking a place on the NAEYC Governance Board are the same—a strong desire to “serve” the organization that shaped and informed the classroom teacher I was and the teacher-educator I have become.

I have extensive classroom, community-based organization, and university teaching experience that informs my perspectives about early childhood education. I was a skilled classroom teacher in multiple settings (i.e., kindergarten, first grade, K-2 multiage, literacy specialist [K-4 and K-8] and YMCA recreational/aquatics instructor). These experiences helped me develop a depth of knowledge about the importance of meaningful learning opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse children, the transitional issues children and families encounter as they leave preschool and enter the public schools, as well the challenges early and public school educators face. Two lines of practice-based research demonstrate my ongoing commitment to improving the quality of classroom instruction, particularly for dual language learners and children living in poverty. Specifically, my guided drawing intervention was developed and researched in Head Start programs. This intervention has been shown to support dual language learners by providing language-rich, hands-on instruction coupled with opportunities to represent and reinforce developing knowledge through an innovative guided drawing process. Second, to address the lack of culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate preschool assessments, I have collaborated with a design team to create an individualized, computer-based phonological awareness assessment for preschoolers.

The focus of much of my university teaching and advocacy work centers on supporting dual language learners, I bring a deep family perspective to this work. This family-focus is reflected in the courses I developed and teach including Risk Factors that Affect Children and Families and Supporting Dual Language Learners and their Families as well as the workshops on collaborating with families I present. Fostering the home-school partnership and supporting families must be an essential part of the work, recognizing their strengths and valuing their diversity. I have been a strong advocate for racial equity, social justice, and inclusion for many years. As these issues have become raised up nationally, I am primed to help NAEYC direct the conversation and the work to where it needs to go because I have been engaged in this work all along, for personal, family and professional reasons. I am a Latina. Yet, I was not given the opportunity to learn Spanish, my mother’s first language, at home because she felt pressured to make sure her children could blend into the “melting pot” view of society. Even the spelling of my first name was selected to strategically. I have spent years working to reclaim the language and cultural connections lost in childhood and am committed to encouraging families to maintain their home languages. I am also a parent of a child with considerable learning challenges. This perspective ground my teaching in everyday experiences and enlivens my policy views. Assuming the role of parent- advocate for a child with complex learning needs has challenged many of my views on teaching and learning and has fortified my equity-stance. I am a stronger teacher, advocate, and parent as a result and am often contacted by other families seeking advice on how to advocate for their children. My goal is to use my knowledge of research and practice as well as my experiences advocating for children to inform policy at the local and national level.

Regarding critical issues, advocating for funding is vital! Funding is needed to support high-quality early childhood education and educators must be compensated appropriately. The pandemic has reinforced the essential role early childhood educators have in our economy. I have helped the YMCA stand up emergency childcare for healthcare workers and I was moved by the number of educators who agreed to help—risking their own health to care for children. Yet, sadly, they were not recognized for their efforts. We need to continue to advocate for wages that both lift early childhood educators out of poverty and reflect their true value. Adequate funding for educational advancement is also essential. As the coordinator for a college and career pathways grant, I have become increasingly familiar with the financial challenges early educators face as well as their dependence on funding that continues to dwindle. Lastly, and perhaps most urgently, we must advocate for the safety and well-being of children and educators as they navigate the post-COVID reopening requirements. This is unchartered territory and many will look to NAEYC for guidance.

Lastly, the working nature of the NAEYC Governance Board is what draws me to this position. I like to “roll up my sleeves” and get to it. The strengths I bring include my energy and drive to collaborate on what needs to be done. I am balanced and fair minded--strong in my beliefs, but these beliefs are informed by facts. I am persuaded by new factual knowledge and a desire to reach solutions.

Additionally, I am willing to participate in discussions that involve conflict and work towards making these conversations productive so that a plan can be created, and the work can begin. I hope to have the opportunity to engage in productive work as part of the NAEYC Governing Board.
I have served on several boards and enjoy the work. In my previous board work, however, I was recruited to be the early childhood representative. and was often the lone voice. Perhaps what is most appealing about the NAEYC Governing Board is the opportunity to be part of a collective voice for young children. For the first time, I would be part of a board whose goal is to help children thrive and learn. I long for the opportunity to engage in productive conversations about policy and practice with members who share my deep commitment to equitable access to high-quality early childhood education for all children.