A Commitment to Equity: Connecting the Nā Hopena A‘o Framework to Anti-Bias Early Childhood Education

Thursday, September 11 & Friday, September 12, 2025

9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, 1922 Makiki Street, Honolulu, HI 96822

$200 per person

Anti-Bias Education is a social justice framework that offers early childhood educators a variety of strategies to help children learn to be proud of themselves and their families, respect a range of human differences, recognize unfairness and bias, and speak up for the rights of others. This two-day workshop is for teachers, instructional coaches, program administrators and college faculty in the early childhood field, serving young children, birth through age eight. The goal of this workshop is for participants to gain an understanding of how young children’s self-identity and behavior are influenced by biases in our diverse society and how to engage children and adult learners in anti-bias education practices. Woven through this workshop will be self-reflection activities to help participants think critically about their own experiences and biases, which will strengthen their ability to work effectively with diverse children and adult learners. Connections to the Hawai‘i Department of Education’s Nā Hopena A‘o (HĀ) framework will guide this work that directly supports increasing a student’s sense of belonging, responsibility, excellence, aloha, total well-being, and Hawai‘i.

$200 Registration Fee includes breakfast and lunch daily, plus textbook: “Anti-Bias Education: For young children and ourselves” by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards with Catherine M. Goins. Copyright 2020

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES:

Participants will be able to:

1. Understand what is anti-bias education and the four goals of anti-bias education.

2. Review the historical and empirical support for anti-bias education.

3. Appreciate how young children develop their social identities.

4. Explore how to establish an anti-bias environment and curriculum.

5. Discover specific curriculum ideas for various anti-bias topics, including culture, racial identity, gender identity, economic class, family structures, and different abilities.

6. Identify becoming an anti-bias teacher, instructional coach, program administrator and work more effectively with diverse children and their families.

WORKSHOP AGENDA:

Day One
9:00 am – 9:25 am Welcome & Introductions
9:25 am – 10:30 am What is Anti-Bias Education? Historical and Empirical Support of Anti-Bias Education
10:30 am – 10:40 am Break
10:40 am – 11:15 am How Young Children Develop Their Social Identities
11:15 am – 12:00 pm Becoming an Anti-Bias Educator
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm Becoming an Anti-Bias Educator
1:45 pm – 2:30 pm Creating an Anti-Bias Environment
2:30 pm - 2:40 pm Break
2:40 pm – 3:40 pm Establishing an Anti-Bias Learning Curriculum
3:40 pm – 3:50 pm Preparing for Tomorrow’s Agenda
3:50 pm - 4:00 pm Closing

Day Two
9:00 am – 10:15 am Learning about Culture, Language, and Fairness
10:15 am – 10:25 am Break
10:25 am – 11:15 am Learning about Racial Identity & Fairness
11:15 am – 12:00 pm Learning about Gender Identity and Fairness
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm Learning about Economic Class and Fairness
1:45 pm – 2:30 pm Learning about Family Structures and Fairness
2:30 pm - 2:40 pm Break
2:40 pm – 3:30 pm Learning about Different Abilities and Fairness
3:30 pm - 3:55 pm How to Sustain an Anti-Bias Teaching Approach
3:55 pm - 4:00 pm Closing

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS:

Dr. Terry Lock has spent over four and a half decades in the field of early childhood education (ECE), teaching children, parents, and college students; administering county, state, national programs; and working as a consultant. In the 1970’s, while working on her master’s degree at Pacific Oaks College in CA, she was mentored by Louise Derman-Sparks, an internationally respected anti-bias educator and the co-author of Anti-Bias Education. Dr. Lock received her Education Doctorate in Educational Professional Practice (Ed.D.) from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) College of Education (COE), where she currently directs the Hawaiʻi Early Childhood Educator Excellence and Equity (ECE3) Project focused on transforming early childhood teacher professional preparation programs and compensation/ financing systems. Besides anti-bias education, her other research interests are play-based and project-based learning, preschool through third grade alignment, pedagogical leadership, and integrated workforce and professional learning systems. Dr. Lock and her husband, Stephen, have three adult children and six grandchildren.

Alexandria Sisson is a former Montessori educator, certified in EL I-II and Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist Teaching from MACTE and AMS, respectively. After graduating from Leiden University College the Hague, Alexa taught general education and Hawaiian studies to a mixed-age classroom for students aged 6-9 years old, and served as DEI coordinator at Montessori Community School, working with students aged 2-12. Alexa is currently completing her MPA and certificate in Public Policy at UH Mānoa, and works as a graduate assistant for the Early Childhood Educator Excellence and Equity Project. If not at the university, Alexa can be found at yoga studios across the island as a RYT-500 and councilmember of CorePower Yoga’s national DEIB council.

THIS WORKSHOP IS INTENDED FOR:

Teachers, instructional coaches, and program administrators, serving young children, birth through age eight, and their families