In March, the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) Award Selection Committee named Hsiu-Wen Yang, PhD, as this year’s recipient of the Richard M. Clifford Fund for International Collaboration on Early Learning Environments award. 

Yang, a technical assistance specialist/research investigator at FPG, is deeply committed to supporting inclusive and equitable education and services for all young children. Her work centers on supporting families and professionals in maximizing children’s learning potential through interventions and resources. The Richard M. Clifford Fund for International Collaboration on Early Learning Environments was created by Dick Clifford, PhD—a senior scientist emeritus at FPG—and his wife, Ginger, to support the Institute’s work in assessing learning environments for young children throughout the world, with a special focus on international collaborations.

Yang will use the Clifford Fund to start a new collaboration with Taiwan, to help create a national social emotional learning (SEL) initiative tailored to Taiwanese early childhood education programs. This work builds on her prior state- and federally funded research on early learning environments and development, which has focused on identifying inclusive classroom practices that support children from multilingual and culturally diverse backgrounds and on developing professional development supports to help early childhood educators create high-quality, inclusive learning environments.

In recent years, global attention to social emotional learning (SEL) in early childhood has grown substantially, reflecting its importance in shaping children’s lifelong well-being and success. In Taiwan, the Ministry of Education recently prioritized SEL within the compulsory education system, from kindergarten through high school. Although early childhood education is not part of the compulsory education system in Taiwan, the policy has raised national awareness of the importance of fostering children’s social emotional skills from the early years. As a result, early childhood programs in Taiwan are beginning to look for guidance on supporting early childhood educators to integrate SEL into their classroom practices.

Supporting young children’s SEL through a culturally responsive lens is important. It helps ensure that practices and frameworks are not simply transferred from one country to another without close attention to language and cultural context. Currently, Taiwan does not have an established, research-based framework to guide early childhood educators in promoting children’s healthy social emotional development. An early childhood initiative that examines how social-emotional learning is implemented and assessed within classrooms would provide a foundation for future professional development and system-level improvement efforts. Drawing on the Pyramid Model’s evidence base, Yang sees an opportunity to adapt and strengthen a framework that fits Taiwan’s early childhood context, and she is ready to support that collaborative work.

“I am excited to use what I have learned to help create a national SEL initiative tailored to Taiwanese early childhood education programs.”

As a member of the evaluation team studying how the Pyramid Model has been used internationally, Yang gained insights into how cultural and policy contexts shape both the measurement and implementation of the Pyramid Model practices. “This experience has prepared me to start a new collaboration with Taiwan,” said Yang. “I am excited to use what I have learned to help create a national SEL initiative tailored to Taiwanese early childhood education programs.”

To begin laying the foundation for a national Pyramid Model effort in Taiwan, Yang will partner with Pei Fang Rachel Wu, PhD, of the National Taichung University of Education, with whom she has collaborated on other projects.

“Dr. Wu and I have worked together on multiple early childhood inclusion projects and we have already started translating key Pyramid Model books into Mandarin. This project will allow us to broaden that work and engage educators, leaders, and policymakers in shared planning.”

“Dr. Wu and I have worked together on multiple early childhood inclusion projects,” said Yang, “and we have already started translating key Pyramid Model books into Mandarin. This project will allow us to broaden that work and engage educators, leaders, and policymakers in shared planning.”

This partnership will also lay groundwork for long-term collaboration and further strengthen FPG’s international presence in advancing evidence-based social-emotional learning practices.

Together, Yang and Wu will facilitate focus groups with educators to better understand their needs, priorities, and current SEL practices, including how educators in Taiwan are currently using formal and informal assessments to understand children’s social emotional development and behaviors. Their findings will inform the development of future professional development efforts, ensuring resources are culturally responsive and aligned with the needs of Taiwan’s early childhood workforce. Additionally, Yang will give presentations, in-person and virtually, to current and future early childhood educators on the importance of tiered supports for social-emotional learning and the potential benefits of the Pyramid Model in Taiwan.

“Receiving this award is deeply meaningful to me because it allows me to give back to a community that has shaped both my personal and professional journey. It makes it possible for me to bring what I have learned back and work alongside partners to build approaches that truly fit the local context. I am honored to use this support to contribute to system-level efforts in Taiwan and to help create meaningful and lasting impact for children, families, and practitioners.”

When asked what this award means to her, Yang shared, “Receiving this award is deeply meaningful to me because it allows me to give back to a community that has shaped both my personal and professional journey. It makes it possible for me to bring what I have learned back and work alongside partners to build approaches that truly fit the local context. I am honored to use this support to contribute to system-level efforts in Taiwan and to help create meaningful and lasting impact for children, families, and practitioners.”