Mission and Philosophy

Our Mission Statement

Brown Fox Point Early Childhood Education Center is a community of childcare professionals and families who recognize that providing high-quality early education and care in a diverse and inclusive environment is of the utmost importance to a child's well-being and development. Through our full-day preschool, Brown Fox Point provides meaningful, developmentally-appropriate learning in an environment that is safe, nurturing and creative. Mutual respect is our guiding principle. We are committed to maintaining an emergent, anti-bias curriculum and supporting the professional development of our staff.

Our Philosophy

Brown Fox Point is a preschool designed to meet the needs of families in the greater Providence community. Our program offers full-time quality care and education that stimulates learning in all areas of a child’s development. Teachers blend meaningful learning experiences, developmentally-appropriate practices, and a nurturing atmosphere to create a safe and creative learning environment.

Children are respected at Brown Fox Point. Teachers listen to children, observe them in action, assess development and plan curricula based upon children’s interests and needs. All planned lessons and activities are fully aligned with the Rhode Island Early Learning and Development Standards. Throughout the course of the year, children and teachers build a community of learners where each individual member is valued for the strengths that they bring to the group. In classrooms that are safe, comfortable, structured, and calm, children can have successful learning experiences. By balancing independence with clear expectations, teachers help children to be part of a community. Teachers actively model and facilitate problem solving and conflict resolution skills, with the ultimate goal of empowering children to solve problems on their own.

At Brown Fox Point, children develop and learn in natural ways—by playing and interacting with their peers. Through their play, children engage, explore and create. They make sense of their world, learn about themselves and others, develop language, gain self-confidence and self-control, problem-solve and understand and express feelings. The process of each activity or experience is the focal point of its implementation, not the product, guiding children to think, reason, question, and ultimately, learn how to learn.

Our goal is to develop a relationship of trust with all families. Our guiding principles in parent-teacher interaction are mutual respect, trust, honesty, transparency and recognition of the importance of both parents and teachers to the child’s successful school experience. We encourage families to play an active role in determining appropriate goals for your family and child and to seek out support from us and others in striving toward those goals. We will do all we can within our community to advocate with and for your family and child.

Our Anti-Bias Approach

Brown Fox Point is an anti-bias program that believes all children deserve high-quality and equitable early care, regardless of race, culture, linguistic difference, economic circumstances, gender identity or presentation, family structure, disability or physical appearance. As stated in our Family Handbook:

“Our community is extremely diverse in many ways including economically, culturally, and linguistically. The Brown Fox Point community is inclusive of all genders and follows best practices regarding LGBTQ rights and inclusion in early childhood. Our classrooms are places where differences are valued and children and their families are appreciated and respected. We include children with developmental delays and of differing abilities and work with the Providence Public School Department to provide special services when appropriate. Using an anti-bias approach, teachers help children learn about the diversity of our community, supporting acceptance of differences and promoting self-esteem, pride, and awareness of rights in all children.”

First and foremost, we follow the guidance of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the national governing board for early childhood programs and educators. In regards to our anti-bias curriculum, NAEYC has published a number of resources, including a guiding text titled Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Derman-Sparks, Olsen). In this guiding text, a developmental continuum for young children developing an anti-bias mindset is laid out in four goals:

1. "I'm okay." (Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride and positive social identities.)

2. "You're okay." (Each child will express comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for human diversity; and deep, caring human connections.)

3. "That's not fair." (Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness and understand that unfairness hurts.)

4. "Let's change it." (Each child will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.)

As with any other part of early development, each child comes to us with unique strengths and challenges along this continuum. Teachers are prepared to meet your child where they are and support them in developmentally appropriate ways as they grow.

Developing an anti-bias mindset is not only a child's pursuit, though. Teachers and staff at Brown Fox Point also strive to embody all four anti-bias goals in all of our professional interactions. It is our hope that you will join us in this challenging, but ultimately vital community-building, work!

FAQs

Nothing at Brown Fox Point appears to be separated by gender. Why is that?
Will you talk about race with my child? Aren't children "colorblind?"
How is difference discussed generally at Brown Fox Point?
Something happened at Brown Fox Point that made me or another member of my family feel unsafe or invalidated. What should I do?

Brown Fox Point's family and staff population includes a wide variety of gender identities and presentations, extending beyond the traditionally-recognized gender binary (boy/girl, man/woman). Research indicates that best practice in early childhood is to affirm children's gender identities and presentations, and to actively and explicitly challenge harmful gender norms and stereotypes. As such, children at B/FP will never be separated by gender. All dress-up clothing, materials and activities are available equitably to all children, and it is expected that all members of our community will respect the genders and gender-presentations of other members.

While it is commonly believed that children "don't see skin color," research actually shows otherwise. In fact, infants as young as 3 months show a preference for faces with the same skin color of their primary caretaker, while most children (of all races) show an innate preference for lighter skin-tones by age 3. Our program philosophy, in line with best practice in our field, holds that addressing the cultural norms that create these racial biases is an important part of children's development during their preschool years. As such, race and skin tone are discussed in developmentally-appropriate ways within our curricula. Often, this is as simple as using a variety of paints to mix just the right color to paint a self-portrait. Should race or skin tone come up in a more complicated context, teachers will reach out to administrators and families as appropriate before developing next steps.

Anti-bias work isn't just about race, culture, and gender! We serve a diverse and beautiful community and seek full inclusion for all of our members! While we work hard to tailor our approach to the needs of individual children and families, the following language is a good overview of our "default" language around difference:

Factual, developmentally-appropriate descriptions: This is a way for us to reflect reality back to young children and build trust. Our teachers observe in this way already ("You're wearing a blue dress!" "You're eating your pizza crust first!"). We will use this sort of descriptive language regularly in the classroom, in relation to all children, including to shine a light on diversity ("I speak only English and a little bit of Spanish, but Liz can speak English and lots of Spanish. And Aagami speaks English, French and Hindi!")

"Some people" language: This is a way of using language inclusively in many ways in the classroom. "Some people" language is, at its core, another way of being truthful with children. It hinges on accurate "some people" statements which may be fairly simple observations ("Some people like cheese on their pasta.") or a way to push back on assumptions ("Some kids have a mom and a dad. And some kids have two moms or two dads, or just a mom or just a dad!")

"The plan": If we're being honest, every child at Brown Fox Point will have their own unique "plan" each day. Some children will have home lunch and some will eat school food. Some will stay awake at rest and some will sleep. Some will need lots of teacher help at drop-off and some will transition independently. This gives us the opportunity to observe these differences using the sentence "That's their plan!", typically as a response to the question "Why do they...? ("Why does Roberto always hold a teacher's hand on the stairs?" - "That's their plan!")

Talk to us! Anti-bias education and, more importantly, embodying an anti-bias mindset is a process not a destination. We, as a community, grow and evolve through open, respectful dialogue with each other. Please, do not hesitate to reach out if you have any concerns about how your child or your family is being respected and included here at Brown Fox Point!

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