DIVERSITY AND EQUITY

BUILD'S EQUITY AND DIVERSITY WORK

The Build Initiative is working to ensure that issues of equity and diversity are addressed within all early childhood systems development work. BUILD’s Equity and Diversity Working Group oversees BUILD’s efforts and includes state and national leaders on early childhood. This includes development of policy briefs describing best practices and policies, state learning experiences, and key challenges and opportunities for the field in meeting the needs of all children in our multi-ethnic society.

BUILD also seeks to partner with other leaders, researchers, and organizations in strengthening understanding in the field on the need to address issues of equity and diversity throughout systems building.

Cultural and Linguistic Competence

Click here to view/hear a webinar held in March with Tawara Goode, Director of the National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University. The webinar delineates the multiple dimensions of culture within the contexts of young children, their families, and systems that provide them with services and supports, describes the conceptual frameworks for advancing and sustaining cultural and linguistic competence, and examines system and organizational roles in addressing health and mental health equity. 

See meeting materials here

BUILD INITIATIVE'S BRIEFS ON DIVERSITY AND EQUITY

New! Reaching for Quality: Lessons from New Jersey on Raising Preschool Teacher Qualifications While Maintaining Workforce Diversity  
This brief is part of a series of resource briefs sponsored by the Build Initiative on equity and diversity in developing early learning systems. These briefs examine how responding to the diversity of young children and addressing issues of ethnicity, language, and culture need to be part of all aspects of early learning systems building. They draw on states’ experiences—particularly states that have taken a lead in tackling important early learning system building issues—and describe critical issues, opportunities, and lessons learned in developing an early learning system for America’s multi-ethnic population. This brief examines New Jersey’s pioneering experiences in building a high-quality preschool system in high poverty school districts under the State Supreme Court Abbott decision. August, 2010

Building Early Childhood Systems in a Multi-Ethnic Society: An Overview of BUILD's Briefs on Diversity and Equity 
The BUILD Initiative is producing a series of briefs on diversity and equity to help fill a knowledge and communication gap in developing early childhood systems for a multi-ethnic society. The series will describe pioneering efforts within states to address racial/ethnic disparities and promote equity, assess the current state of the field and the research and information available that should undergird state strategies. Building Early Childhood Systems in a Multi-Ethnic Society provides an overview of BUILD's briefs on diversity and equity. October 2008

Building Public Early Childhood Data Systems for a Multi-Ethnic Society  
As states are beginning to build longitudinal data systems, it is incumbent that states build systems in ways that recognize and value the diversity of their young child population and provide the information needed to address current and professional gaps in readiness, participation, cultural awareness and recognition, workforce diversity, and stakeholder participation. This issue brief provides concrete strategies for states to undertake to assure that data systems collect the information needed to close the achievement gap.

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems for a Multi-Ethnic Society
QRIS are designed to be powerful tools that shape provider practices and the professional development and quality improvement supports available based on what are considered important aspects of quality measured in the rating. With the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of children in early learning programs, it is critical to understand the value that QRIS place on how well these programs provide culturally and linguistically responsive programming. In this issue brief we discuss:

• Why it is important to include cultural and linguistic responsiveness and anti-bias programming as aspects of early learning quality;
• A content-analysis of common QRIS components with respect to how they include issues of diversity and support for English-language learners;
• How states have included these issues in QRIS planning and development; and
• Recommendations for how states can strengthen their QRIS rating components to be more culturally and linguistically competent and relevant.

Crafting Early Learning Standards for a Multi-Ethnic Society: Lessons Learned from Washington and Alaska 
This Build report is the first in a series of briefs on diversity, equity and systems building.  Early learning standards are at the core of society's defining how and what children need to learn, what is expected of them at different developmental stages, and what caregivers and educators are expected to do to help them learn.  Child learning involves cultural learning; it is essential that early learning standards be developed responsively--with diverse cultural and language groups in mind.  This brief provides information about the experiences in Washington and Alaska so that other states can learn from and build upon their pioneering efforts to address language and cultural issues through their early learning standards.

Constructing Culturally Competent Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Conversation   

Over the last decade many states have worked to develop and implement statewide Quality Rating and Improvement systems focusing on the improvement of services and early childhood environments for young children and families.  These systems generally include a focus on accountability, professional development, parent education and standards for successful and quality early childhood environments and outcomes.  A recent scan of state wide QRIS shows that when considering quality in early learning environments few included explicit strategies for rating programs in terms of cultural competence, diversity or a child’s home language.  This presentation by Antonia Lopez, National Council of La Raza, addresses how to bring these topics into the definition of quality at the state level and helps leaders think about how a culturally competent QRIS might look.

Developing a Diverse and Skilled Workforce: Lessons from the New Jersey Abbott Preschool Experience

Julia Coffman, Evaluation Consultant, Melinda Green, Early Childhood Consultant and Barbara Reisman, The Schumann Fund for New Jersey, examines New Jersey’s experience in responding to the NJ Supreme Court Abbott Case that required preschool teachers in the states 30 poorest districts to obtain a bachelor’s degree and early childhood certification within four years.

Culture and Language Elements within Nine State Early Learning Standards Documents  

Michelle Stover-Wright and Abby Copeland describe that states are developing early learning standards that seek to define expectations for children’s growth and development in the pre-school years (birth to school age), with a goal that these be aligned with learning standards in the K-12 years. This paper provides a content analysis of some state early learning standards and challenges and encourages those developing early learning standards to think beyond a dominant culture paradigm to a multi-cultural perspective.

FRAMING ISSUES AND MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR EQUITY AND DIVERSITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Introducing the Issue.  Special Issue: School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps. The Future of Children 
This article provides an introduction to the issue of school readiness and racial/ethnic gaps.  It focuses on children’s lives before they get to school in an effort to understand how to close the racial and ethnic gaps in educational outcomes.  Information on the entire series can be found at the Future of Children website.

The Impact of Race and Class on Young Children—And What Michigan Can Do About It 
Prepared for the 2007 Michigan Governor’s Summit on Early Childhood this paper discusses the impact of race and class on Michigan’s children.  It provides a case study on the importance of family support in early care and education and offers strategies for achieving equity and respecting differences.

From the Self-Making Person to Opportunity for All: Rethinking Our Thinking on Race - A FrameWorks Message Memo 
This memo presents findings and analysis from the FrameWorks Institute’s research on how Americans think and talk about the issue of race.  In particular, the influence of frames and reframes as they impact levels of acceptance for reforms regularly promoted by advocates is explored.

Education, Gender and Race: A Review of Current Public Opinion 
From The Frameworks Institute this 34-page review is not current, but it reviews public attitudes at that time toward education, gender and race and discusses how that impacts people’s understandings of equity in the classroom.

Shaping the Message: How to Talk About Race. The Annie E. Casey Foundation 
This guide promotes effective discussion and advocacy concerning race.  It is part of a series of documents in the "Race Matters Toolkit" designed to help decision-makers, advocates, and elected officials to get better results in their work by providing equitable opportunities for all.

Early Cultural Competence in Child Development Practices and Early Learning Standards 
From the September 2007 ‘Iowa Diversity Meeting’ this presentation by Charlie Bruner discuss the opportunities and challenges facing children of color in Iowa.  He discusses activities for ensuring that all children in Iowa are healthy and ready for school.

BUILDING CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES AND EARLY LEARNING STANDARDS

Culture and Language Elements within Nine State Early Learning Standards Documents 
This paper begins with a foreword by Charlie Bruner that highlights the need for a multicultural approach to early learning standards.  The authors then provide a content analysis of the “diversity” related pieces of nine states’ early learning standards. 

Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Successfully Educate All Children: The Contribution of State Boards of
Higher Education and National Professional Accreditation Organizations 
This study examined the websites of the 30 state boards of higher education and three national professional accreditation organizations with early education teacher preparation standards or elementary teacher standards with an early education endorsement.  Researchers identified eight coding categories that reference children's characteristics typically associated with diversity.  They examined the extent to which diversity categories are addressed in standards and whether the categories are adequately defined.

Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Successfully Educate All Children: The Contribution of Four-Year Undergraduate
Teacher Education Programs 
This study examined the extent to which early childhood teacher education programs awarding the bachelor's degree require that teachers learn content and practice skills that address the education and developmental needs of all children.  Researchers identified 11 diversity coding categories for this study.  Data were gathered from web sites of 226 schools, representing one-third of accredited U.S. Bachelor's Degree programs that train early childhood teachers.

Slide on Child Development through a Multi-Cultural Lens 
This slide compares a mono-cultural to a multicultural approach to developmentally appropriate practices.

BUILDING A DIVERSE AND CULTURALLY COMPETENT EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE

Developing a Skilled, Ethnically and Linguistically Diverse Early Childhood Workforce 
Village Building and School Readiness: Closing Opportunity Gaps in a Diverse Society 
This chapter of Village Building is adapted from California Tomorrow’s Getting Ready for Quality.  The link for the full California Tomorrow publication is below.

Getting Ready for Quality: The Critical Importance of Developing and Supporting a Skilled, Ethnically and
Linguistically Diverse  Early Childhood Workforce
This policy paper is a product of a national working group on School Readiness, Culture and Language representing staff from California Tomorrow, Georgetown Center for Child and Human Development, National Black Child Development Institute, National Council of La Raza, and Zero to Three.  The six chapters present research, rationale for the urgency of developing a diverse skilled workforce, definition of a high quality workforce for a diverse society and recommendations for action at the local, state and federal policy levels.

Developing Culturally Appropriate Quality Rating and Improvement Systems 
By Charlie Bruner this two-page overview indicates some types of measures that could be incorporated into QRIS that would begin to recognize how to address culturally appropriateness.

SHARING POWER AND EXPERTISE

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has a number of publications related to working toward racial equity.  A few materials are linked below, but to see the range of materials, go to www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/PublicationsSeries/RaceMatters.aspx 

System Reform Strategies 
From the Race Matters series this one-page tool designed to help ensure that system reform strategies maximize opportunities for all children.  It provides examples of types of interventions and suggests things to consider related to racial/ethnic impacts.

Guidelines for Achieving Staff & Board Diversity & Guidelines for Promoting Racially Equitable Purchasing 
These two guides that are part of the Race Matters “Occasional Updates” series published by the Anne C. Casey Foundation.

Reflective teaching in the early years: A Case for Mentoring Diverse Educators 
This case study describes a collaborative mentoring approach used by a primary grades Latina teacher and two university professors.  The approach focused on reflective discussion of classroom events and addressed the challenges of teaching for understanding in an age of accountability and changing demographics.

GENERAL DIVERSITY AND EQUITY RESOURCES

National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
See the publications area of the National Council of La Raza website for resources related to Latino children and their families.

Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
CLASP's child care and early education work is dedicated to promoting policies that support both child development and the needs of low-income working parents.  A section of the site is dedicated to immigrant children and families.

Race Matters Users Guide 
A product of the Annie C. Casey Foundation this Toolkit is designed to help you – the organizational decision-maker, the advocate, the elected official — get better results in your work.