FPG Postdoctoral Scholar Nicole Telfer, PhD, and Senior Research Scientist Noreen Yazejian, PhD, on behalf of international colleague Solomiia Boikovych, have received the Thelma Harms Early Childhood Education Award. The award—awarded to UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) employees or international practitioners working with an FPG employee on an early childhood project—is designed to further the understanding and improvement of early childhood program quality internationally.

Each year, the award selection committee chooses one or two individuals to receive financial support for an activity that most closely matches the career interests of Thelma Harms, PhD, FPG director of curriculum development emerita. As lead author of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), Harms is a leader in comprehensive quality assessment, particularly through the development and use of the family of Environment Rating Scale (ERS) instruments. Funds from the Harms award generally support travel so that award recipients can attend an international conference on early childhood programs, or consult, teach, or work collaboratively with a scholar from another country on issues impacting early childhood development.

This year’s awardees will both use the funds to attend the 2024 International ECERS Conference in Portugal from May 5 through May 9. This event brings together researchers who use the ERS to share research, promote international collaboration, and discuss the definition, measurement, and improvement of early childhood education quality in general and across cultures.

At the conference, Telfer will present findings from classroom observations that a team of researchers, led by Yazajian and Iheoma Iruka, PhD and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has conducted over the past two years. This work has concentrated on developing recommendations that can be used to inform the next revision of ECERS-3. The project is focused on providing solutions related to racial equity, with a particular lens toward anti-bias and culturally grounded practices. In addition to presenting at the conference, Telfer expects to learn how researchers from throughout the world use ERS data to answer research questions and for quality improvement as well as possible ways to expand use of the ERS to other continents.

“I look forward to presenting crucial findings that will guide researchers as we continue to find ways to improve the quality of education for and overall well-being of Black and Latine/Hispanic children in early learning spaces,” says Telfer. “We are hoping that these findings will translate into early learning spaces abroad, particularly in African countries.”

“I look forward to presenting crucial findings that will guide researchers as we continue to find ways to improve the quality of education for and overall well-being of Black and Latine/Hispanic children in early learning spaces,” says Telfer. “We are hoping that these findings will translate into early learning spaces abroad, particularly in African countries.”

Boikovych, a Ukrainian early education scholar living in Lviv, Ukraine, attended the conference in 2023. She has collaborated with researchers at FPG—particularly Yazejian and Dick Clifford—and within the international ECERS community since 2022. Boikovych used ECERS to set up bomb shelters for children in Ukraine, which Yazejian describes as a unique and heartbreaking use of the scale. “Solomiia and her family are living in perilous circumstances, with her country at war,” says Yazejian. “Her attendance at the meeting would be uncertain without financial support. Supporting her attendance would foster the participation of a young international colleague. Dick and I view supporting her as morally responsible in these times of war.”

“Having a possibility to gain experience, thoughts, and best practices will convert into new ideas, projects, initiatives and missions in Ukrainian education,” says Boikovych. “I see how the seeds of ideas planted at last year’s ECERS conference have started and continue to grow.

Boikovych says that she is honored to learn from this unique community in person. “Having a possibility to gain experience, thoughts, and best practices will convert into new ideas, projects, initiatives and missions in Ukrainian education,” she says. “I see how the seeds of ideas planted at last year’s ECERS conference have started and continue to grow. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this award and the opportunity to attend the conference.”