Research
Start with Equity:
14 Priorities to Dismantle Systemic Racism in Early Care and Education
by Shantel Meek, PhD, Iheoma U. Iruka, PhD, Rosemarie Allen, PhD, Dawn A. Yazzie, Veronica Fernandez, PhD, Evandra Catherine, PhD, Kent McIntosh, PhD, Lisa Gordon, Walter Gilliam, PhD, Mary Louise Hemmeter, PhD, Darielle Blevins, PhD, Tunette Powell, PhD
"Equitable learning systems provide access to resources, opportunities, and experiences to children and families that result in positive outcomes that are not associated with children’s demographic characteristics. They actively and continuously identify and intentionally eliminate manifestations of systemic racism and other forms of oppression."
- Disseminate public funds equitably
- Move toward holistic, strengths-based, and authentic integration
- Embed equity in monitoring and accountability systems
Read the full report here.
Equity Starts Early:
Addressing Racial Inequities in Child Care and Early Education Policy
by Christine Johnson Staub, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
"Child care and early education policies are shaped by a history of systemic and structural racism. This has created major racial disparities in children’s access to quality child care that meets their cultural and linguistic needs and enables their parents to work. Early care and education workers are overwhelmingly in low-quality jobs with inadequate compensation. And workers of color are often relegated to the lowest-paid positions."
"Equity Starts Early: Addressing Racial Inequities in Child Care and Early Education Policy explores these critical racial equity issues in major early childhood programs, policies, and systems, including CCDBG, Head Start, and state pre-kindergarten programs. It provides demographic and historical context for creating racially equitable early childhood policies and analyzes policy issues related to access, quality, and the early childhood workforce. Finally, the report offers state and federal policy strategies that can begin to address inequities. The executive summary is available here. "
An Anti-Racist Approach to Supporting Child Care Through COVID-19 and Beyond
by Shiva Sethi, Christine Johnson-Staub and Katherine Gallagher Robbins, CLASP
"Child care is a critical part of our country’s economy that helps parents work and supports children’s healthy development. However, decades of inadequate investment mean that most families struggle to find and afford high-quality care, despite child care workers receiving very low wages. Due to racism and discrimination, communities of color experience even worse effects of this under-investment, creating inequities in access, quality, and compensation." This report describes the history of child care and the racial discrimination within the child care system, how that discrimination and disparity is increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then outlines policy recommendations to address the racism and inequities for children, families, teachers and providers.
Early Childhood Advocates Can Advance Racial Equity By Making “Good Trouble"
by Karen Howard, Alliance for Early Success
This article identifies great starting points for early childhood professionals and advocates to learn about being anti-racist and making the early childhood field more inclusive and equitable for all children and educators.