Early Childhood Leadership: A Photovoice Exploration

The first five years of a child’s life represent critical windows in physiological, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Administrators of early childhood (EC) programs play a pivotal role in determining the quality of experiences that unfold for young children in center-based care. Using photovoice, semi-structured administrator interviews, and participant-observation, we aimed to identify the factors contributing to one center’s atypically excellent outcomes with diverse children and families. Our textual and photographic analyses revealed three findings. First, administrators saw themselves as embedded within a larger system of barriers characterized by low positionality within an educational caste system that is marked by pervasive resource scarcity. Second, with external supports marginal at best, they leveraged multiple internal supports and resources, including agency, interdependence, and advocacy. Third, administrators operationalized literacy leadership by building and sustaining a climate of professional support for teachers within a “25 Books a Day” guiding philosophy

The Best of Me: A Photographic Installation of Voice, Diversity, and Literacy Leadership

This session outlines a participant-oriented, photovoice-inspired case study of a childcare center that serves at-risk children but has deviated from the predicted negative school readiness child-outcomes documented in national data. Data collection procedures included participant-observation and photo-elicited interviews with administrators. Transcripts and photographs were analyzed using modified narrative analysis processes. Participants then worked with me to create a photographic installation communicating the results of the study with their community

Wearing the Label of Mental Illness: Community-Based Participatory Action Research of Mental Illness Stigma

Stigma remains an impediment to seeking and receiving the requisite care for mental illness. To enhance a local National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) affiliate’s understanding of community members’ perceptions of mental illness and its associated stigma, a community-based participatory action research study was conducted. The study addressed the following research question: how do community members understand and experience the stigma associated with mental illness? Twenty-two participant-researchers wore mental illness labeled T-shirts around the local community, recorded their observations and reflections of this experience and recruited twenty-two community members for semi-structured interviews about mental illness stigma. Domain analysis of the interviews revealed community members’ understandings of (1) sources of stigma, (2) impacts of stigma, (3) conceptualizations of stigma and (4) pathways to change stigma. Findings were presented to members of the local NAMI affiliate as well as other community members. Practical implications, specific to the community of interest, are discussed

Thinking with Art within Methodology

This panel provides examples of projects that combine art with methodology. The presenters will share a video installation about students’ messy data analysis interactions, illustrate methodologies through literary turns and balletic, modern, and postmodern form of dance, demonstrate Deleuze and Guattaris’ concept of rhizome with a monologue, share data interactions through visuals, and present a video re-enactment of The Best of Me: A Photographic Installation

The Best of Me: Exploring Photovoice with Gilligan’s Listening Guide

This workshop will begin with an overview of our study of early childhood leadership in one high poverty community (Cheyney-Collante & Cheyney, 2018). We will set the stage for the context of the study: a day in the life of a child enrolled in a community childcare program situated in a high poverty neighborhood. Discussion will then include an explanation of our methods and an account of the photographic installation of results we co-created with participants, with an emphasis on how our findings disrupt narratives of early childhood in high poverty communities. Participants will then examine how we blended photovoice methods (Rose, 2007; Wang, 2006) with Gilligan et al.’s Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003) by exploring examples of deidentified data. Finally, participants will experiment with their own brief, impromptu photovoice assignment and discuss opportunities for implementation of this and other democratizing forms of qualitative inquiry in their own contexts

“We’re Not Walking Schools”: Storying the Pandemic Schooling Experiences of Mothers of Children with Disabilities

This article describes a study designed to better understand the fallout of extended school closures and staggered re-openings for one group heavily impacted by the pandemic, mothers of children with disabilities. Using feminist ways of knowing as the backdrop, we explored how a small group of mothers experienced pandemic-related educational shifts. We aimed to provide solidarity and a space of care. We employed narrative methods to support the storying of their individual and collective experiences. Data were synthesized vis-à-vis participants’ ethic of care, particularly in relationship to the power structures they traversed. Taking a deep dive into the experiences of a small group of mothers allowed us to contribute to the field’s understanding of mothers’ multiple identities and underscores the importance of including them in discussions around educational supports for children with disabilities, particularly in times of crisis