On May 9th, PEER convened its core and participating member organizations for a stakeholder workshop at the Leir Retreat Center in Ridgefield, Connecticut. During the workshop, PEER stakeholders worked together to revisit PEER’s long-term research agenda and explore future projects. The day began with a keynote address from Dr. Pamela Morris of the Steinhardt School of Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. The address focused on strengthening family engagement and program quality to support young children’s school readiness. During the keynote, Dr. Morris shared her perspective on the value of research-practice partnerships, including examples from her work withthe New York City's Pre-K for All initiative.
Following the keynote address, workshop participants gathered in groups to discuss the ways their organizations and communities support and engage the families of young learners and what challenges arise in developing strong relationships. Right before lunch, Charlene Russell-Tucker, Connecticut State Department of Education, and Linda Goodman, Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, shared remarks from their organizations.
After lunch, Dr. Michael Strambler and Dr. Clare Irwin presented preliminary research findings from PEER’s first two IES-funded research projects. The first project focuses on using state-wide KEI data to understand children’s school readiness, and the second project examines the use of assessment in early childhood settings across PEER communities. Next, workshop participants returned to their discussion groups to dive deeper into the topic areas from PEER’s research agenda. The goals of this session were to consider what stakeholders want to learn in each topic area, refine the specific research questions as needed, and consider how these questions might be answered in the context of PEER communities. Both Dr. Morris and Dr. Strambler offered final remarks to close the day.
After the close of the workshop, the PEER management team reviewed the input from each discussion group and compiled a list of proposed projects. Now the management team is collecting feedback from core and participating member organizations about which of the proposed projects would be most valuable to their organizations. This input will allow PEER to ensure that its work continues to address the needs and interests of early childhood stakeholders in PEER communities.