Addressing the Growing Diversity of Preschool Populations through Low Incidence Language Barriers: Hmong Language Development to Improve Assessment Approaches

In an age of growing early childhood accountability, research has focused on improving instruction, measurement, curricula, and professional development in early childhood education settings for most teachers and the children they serve. However, within these advances, little attention has focused on low incidence populations, including ethnically and linguistically diverse students. Current data from St. Paul Public Schools indicate that preschool Hmong students are significantly more at risk (as indicated by not meeting benchmark criteria on early literacy and language screening measures in English) than their White counterparts. Assessing performance only in English presents a barrier to understanding how students' native language may impact their performance. Saint Paul Public Schools and the University of Minnesota will engage in a partnership to explore, understand and document Hmong language development and use these results to inform the initial design of Hmong language measures for preschool age students.