Meet Our Group |
Our team brings expertise and decades of experience in diverse early learning settings to serve your needs.
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Dawn Hendricks, Ed.D.
Dr. Dawn Hendricks earned her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy from Pepperdine University. Her dissertation focused on effective strategies for supporting English language development in Head Start classrooms with an emphasis on evidence-based professional development practices.
Dr. Hendricks has more than 20 years of experience working in a variety of positions in early childhood including teacher assistant, statewide education specialist, Early Reading First Director, and director of early childhood services in a statewide Head Start program serving nearly 3,000 infants, toddlers and preschoolers. She co-wrote and was the principal investigator on the country’s first bilingual Early Reading First project, leading a team that established 20 model bilingual classrooms that received national recognition. In addition to her direct work with Head Start programs, Dr. Hendricks has developed curriculum, assessment and professional development materials for Teaching Strategies and has provided on-site training and technical assistance to early childhood programs and school districts across the country and internationally. She has written professional development materials for the Office of Head Start, has served as a grant reviewer and served as a CLASS trainer of trainers, providing CLASS professional development to Head Start programs around the country. Dr. Hendricks has presented at many state and national conferences including National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Office of Head Start Dual Language Institute, California AEYC and Oregon AEYC. Dr. Hendricks is bilingual and teachers college courses in both English and Spanish. She focuses on providing culturally and linguistically responsive teacher education to meet the diverse needs of today’s early childhood workforce. In addition to consulting work with early childhood programs, Dr. Hendricks is currently faculty at Clackamas Community College, overseeing the Early Education and Family Studies department. Dr. Hendricks is a reliable CLASS observer for the PreK CLASS Assessments. |
Christyn Dundorf, Ph.D.
Dr. Christyn Dundorf earned her PhD in Human Development from the University of Rochester with a dissertation exploring the role of receptive language (comprehension) in early literacy acquisition.
Dr. Dundorf began her more than 20 year career in the field in private child care and as an Education Coordinator for Head Start in Rochester, New York. At Oregon’s Center for Career Development in Childhood Education, Dr. Dundorf coordinated the inaugural implementation of the Oregon Registry, a state credentialing system for community-based training, as well as other statewide initiatives on professional development and mentoring. While at OCCD, Dr. Dundorf authored Early Words, A Language and Literacy Curriculum, a training series designed to promote language and literacy development practices in early care and education programs. In 2000, Dr. Dundorf joined the Early Education and Family Studies faculty at Portland Community College. She served as Department Chair and instructor from 2002 - 2015. In 2011, Dr. Dundorf led the department in seeking National AAS Accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. PCC's Early Education and Family Studies Program became the second early care and education AAS program on the west coast to be accredited. In 2007, Dr. Dundorf secured a sabbatical leave and sufficient grant funding to implement Growing the Profession, a project to build regional, grass-roots energy around professionalizing the field of Early Care and Education in Oregon. Dr. Dundorf is a Master Trainer with the Oregon Registry Trainer System. She has developed and conducted numerous Set 2 and 3 trainings and conference presentations with a focus on early literacy, professional identity and ethics. An experienced speaker, Dr. Dundorf has provided the keynote address for a number of Oregon conferences including OregonAEYC Spring Conference, Jackson County AEYC Conference, and Retreat By The Lake. Dr. Dundorf is a reliable CLASS observer for the Toddler and PreK CLASS Assessments. |
Additional Partners: For larger projects or tight schedules, Early Learning Consultant Group is connected to many highly qualified professionals in early learning and adult education and can bring to bear additional consulting resources as needed.