Shirley May Head Start Summary

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speak to the diverse educational environment. Shirley Mays Head Start director, Vicki Maloney, agrees that the number of students from cultures, other than the traditional mid-west family, is on the rise. However, Ms. Maloney stated that the highest rate of children are still English speaking natives. “We do have many children from different races, but the largest group of children served in this center are Caucasians. That’s primarily due to where we are located in the city. We are seeing a rise in our Hispanic attendance,” Maloney explains. When asked if the racial diversity causes problems in the classroom Maloney laughed. “No, children this age don’t see race. They describe children more in terms of behaviors. If asked to describe a fellow classmate these children generally do not include race.” With regards to racial issues, Maloney stated that they had not experience issues regarding race, “more of our issues come from the ethnic diversity.” …show more content…
Nearly 25 percent of participants were from families that primarily spoke Spanish at home” (Office of Head Start). Maloney shares that the Shirley May Head Start currently has four different languages that are spoken; English, Vietnamese, Hispanic, and KiSwahili. When asked if the diverse language causes much confusion, Maloney replies, “Not usually. We normally have translators available for all the languages. This year has been more difficult, it’s very hard to find a translator for our Swahili