About SALSA

Our Mission

SALSA advocates for the Learning Stories approach that enhances intentional teaching, reflective practices, and advances equity and diversity by acknowledging early childhood educators, families, and children as both learners and teachers.

Our Vision

SALSA represents children’s learning with integrity and respect, recognizing their individual value and competencies. We advance Learning Stories in the United States as an authentic narrative approach to bring joy into teachers’ work of documentation, observation, and assessment.

Origin of Name

The SALSA Board of Directors would like to offer some background information on how we came by our name SALSA, which is an acronym for Supporting the Advancement of Learning Stories in America. The genesis of the name and the organization came during the 2017 Learning Stories Intensive Study and ELP Learning Stories Conference, when the founding members of SALSA were sitting around a big table in a lovely home on Lake Rotoiti in New Zealand. We were nearing the end of our amazing time there and discussing ways to keep up the momentum we had gained during the study and keep alive our growing love and respect for Learning Stories. We decided we needed to form an organization to promote Learning Stories in the United States and of course it would need a name. One of us suggested SALSA: Supporting the Advancement of Learning Stories in America and everyone supported the idea. Because we all came from California, we wanted to honor the state’s Latinx heritage and the deep respect we have for the culture of our community. We hope that the name will prompt discussions about us and our work. We also wanted to honor the fact that Learning Stories traveled across the great Pacific Ocean from Aotearoa New Zealand to the California shores and beyond, hence the graphic depiction of the ocean on our logo. We hope you will join us in supporting the Advancement of Learning Stories, wherever you are!