Iliana Alanís, PhD, a native of South Texas, is professor of early childhood and elementary education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio. With over 20 years in the early childhood field, her work focuses on teaching practices in culturally and linguistically diverse early childhood contexts with an emphasis on the effect of schooling for language minority children in Spanish/English dual language programs. She is especially interested in forms of teaching that promote native language development and its correlation to second language acquisition. With more than 48 refereed publications related to dual language education, her recent research focuses on higher- order cognitive and linguistic interaction found in student–student exchanges. Dr. Alanís is former president of the Texas Association for Bilingual Education and former board member for the National Latino Children’s Institute. She has served as a NAEYC Governing Board member and an Early Childhood Advisory Board member for Scholastic Education. As a member of the Dual Language Training Institute, she facilitates professional development for teachers in dual language classrooms across the country. Dr. Alanís is coauthor of The Essentials: Supporting Dual Language Learners in Diverse Environments in Preschool and Kindergarten.
Toni Sturdivant, PhD, is the vice president of early education at Camp Fire First Texas. She earned a PhD in interdisciplinary learning and teaching with a cognate in early childhood education. In addition, she has a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education with a specialization in child development. She earned a BA in linguistics with a minor in African and African American studies. Dr. Sturdivant has taught prekindergarten in both an urban school district and a center- based setting, as well as kindergarten. She has served as a trainer for practicing early childhood teachers and taught preservice teachers in various institutions of higher education. Her research, which focuses on issues of racial learning and racial identity with young children and culturally relevant teaching practices, has been published in several scholarly journals, such as Early Childhood Education Journal, The Journal for Multicultural Education, International Journal of Early Childhood, and Young Children.
Susan Friedman is senior director of publishing and content development at NAEYC. In this role, she leads the content development work of NAEYC’s books and periodicals teams. Ms. Friedman is coeditor of Each and Every Child: Teaching Preschool with an Equity Lens. She has extensive prior experience creating content on play, developmentally appropriate uses of media, and other topics for educators and families. She has presented at numerous educational conferences, including NAEYC’s Professional Learning Institute and Annual Conference, the South by Southwest Education (SXSW EDU) Conference & Festival, and the School Superintendents Association’s Early Learning Cohort. She began her career as a preschool teacher at City and Country School in New York City. She holds degrees from Vassar College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
