Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Black Mother Scholars Matter: Navigating Anti-Black Educational Spaces For Our Black Boys, Pricella Morris, Monique Matute-Chavarria

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This article draws from Black Critical Theory to explain how two mother scholars advocated for their Black sons in an anti-black education system. Additionally, the article focuses on antiblackness to describe the social suffering and resistance through ideologies and educational practices our children experienced at the hands of teachers and teaching staff in private and public schools. The first story details the experience of racism and teacher bias of a typically developing Black child. The second story details the inequitable and racist experiences of a Black boy with autism. Each of these experiences highlight the importance of advocating for Black …

Brilla: Shining On Through A Pandemic, Tracey R. Jones, Erica Silva

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This article highlights the community partnership between a primary school Dual Language program and university Spanish students. In this submission related to personal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of classroom teachers within the BRILLA (Bilingual Readiness through Interaction, Language, Literacy and Alliances) program is explored. Teachers are the light bearers who make human connection and authentic learning happen in-person and over screens; pandemic, or no pandemic, they shine.

K-12 Economically Disadvantaged Students, Poverty, And Education: Ecological Narratives Of Successful Raised-In-Poverty, Texas Educators, Rebecca N. Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study aimed to understand how successful Texas educators who grew up in poverty understood and improved the educational experience of economically disadvantaged students. This study utilized a structural ecological theory and three theories of social relationships (Social Identity, Standpoint, and Cultural Capital). This phenomenological and qualitative study used a cross-sectional, descriptive, online case study design rooted in narrative nonfiction. Virtual interviews with six successful Texas educators that grew up in poverty were conducted. A narrative method of analysis was utilized to generate codes then organize them into themes, and to construct and compare the narrative findings. The results …

The Work Is Within: My Buddhist Faith As I Reckon With Police Shootings & Racial Unrest, Vicki Mokuria

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Based on the author’s life story in which her husband was shot and killed by police officers in front of her and their two young children, she provides a first-person narrative of her experience, linking the ways her Buddhist faith and practice have sustained her over the years. She recounts snippets of her privileged childhood growing up Jewish in the South before meeting and marrying her Ethiopian husband and beginning a family with him, along with beginning their Buddhist practice. Specific aspects of Buddhist philosophy are incorporated in this piece to provide insights into a Buddhist lens on our current …

Teaching Our Black Children To Know Joy, Victoria Carter Jones

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

As a mother of two young Black children, we were faced with a new challenge, brought on by isolation of the pandemic, and the brutality of White supremacy. My daughter (Olivia) was now asking tough questions. Sickness she understood. Even at her age, she knew the importance of hand washing. But racism is a sickness we were not yet prepared to teach her. The purpose of this story is to share my experiences as a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, and how I taught her to have joy, through 1) memorized scripture, 2) exhibiting joy and 3) through prayer, even …

Preservice Teachers Knowledge Of Adolescent Suicide, Annette N. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher preparation programs have a responsibility to prepare future teachers to teach

and mentor students through their academic years. With the rise of suicide in school age children, responsibility has fallen to teachers to better recognize and understand students who may be suicidal. This study sought to answer the question: to what degree does teaching certification, teaching experience, and suicide awareness embedded coursework predict preservice teachers’ knowledge of suicide awareness and prevention? Data from the Adolescent Suicide Behavior Questionnaire and a demographic survey which asked about participants’ preservice training was sent to universities and colleges in Texas with an undergraduate …

Exploring The Experiences Of Male Early Childhood Aspiring Teachers, Tingting Xu

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This exploratory study investigated the reasons why males chose early childhood

education and their lived experiences in a teacher education program. Qualitative data

were collected through interviews with twelve male early childhood pre-service

teachers. Results demonstrated that: Participates were passionate about teaching

young children. They were mostly supported by their relatives and friends in their

decision to become an early childhood teacher. They were positive about future career

opportunities but still had an underlying fear of losing job or being seen as sexual

predators. Meanwhile, participates indicated some conflicts might exist between the

field experience and program learning experience. They …

Ethnic-Racial Socialization In Early Childhood: The Implications Of Color-Consciousness And Colorblindness For Prejudice Development, Flora Farago, Kimberly Leah Davidson, Christy M. Byrd

Faculty Publications

This chapter outlines how early childhood teachers can bring children into conversations surrounding race and racism by drawing on literature on how parents of color discuss these topics. Although educators’ practices surrounding race and racism remain largely unexplored, decades of developmental psychological research indicate that parents of color engage in ethnic-racial socialization practices that are beneficial for children (Hughes et al., 2006). The established dimensions of parental ethnic-racial socialization include (1) cultural socialization, or teaching children about their ethnic heritage and instilling ethnic pride; (2) preparation for bias, or teaching children about racism and preparing them to face discrimination; (3) …

Interaction Effects Of Socioeconomic Status On Emerging Literacy And Literacy Skills Among Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Children: A Comparison Study, Kasey Thompson, Lydia P. Richardson, Heather Newman, Kathleen George

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Socioeconomic differences in children’s reading and educational outcomes have been thoroughly documented throughout literature. Bobalik, Scarber, and Toon (2017) examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and classroom instruction on emerging literacy skills in pre-kindergarten children. The results supported the theory that children identified as belonging to a low socioeconomic status enter school with lower emerging literacy skills and benefit most from academic instruction; these children’s literacy skills substantially increased throughout the academic year, growing closer to those of their peers who were identified with a high socioeconomic status. The aim of the present study was to expand our understanding …

Illegal; Dreamer; Home For Refugees, Ana Herrera

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

A collection of three poems focusing on the critical social issue of immigration in order to educate young children. Each poem consists of a different issue in the wide range of topics of immigration. The topics include: deportation of illegal immigrants, the DREAM Act, and homing refugees in the United States from countries of war.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice In The 21st Century, Kay Sanders, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) is a set of early childhood curricular recommendations published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). DAP was introduced in the United States in the late 1980s through Bredekamp’s (1987) seminal work, “Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8.” Since the initial publication, DAP has been widely accepted as the standard for early childhood educational practice in the United States and in Westernized countries around the world. Whereas proponents of DAP assert its positive influence on children, those more critical of DAP question whether it …

Narrative Non-Fiction Stories Of Mexican American Female Principals Of Predominately Hispanic Elementary Public Campuses In Texas, Betsy J. Mijares Dr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Texas, there is an increase of the Hispanic population and not a significant increase in Hispanic administrators. Women remain underrepresented in the principalship with even less representation of Hispanics. With an increasing number of Hispanic students, it is vital to ensure there is a representation to be an advocate for these children. Hopefully, this information will provide connection, relativity, and give a sense of hope to aspiring female minority principals and the Hispanic community. The purpose of this narrative non-fiction study was to enable four Mexican-American female principals in predominantly Hispanic elementary campuses to reveal their stories of their …

How, When, And Why Early Childhood Educators Address Gender With Young Children?, Flora Farago, Brittany Propoggio

Symposium on Arts and Research

Children develop gender stereotypes between ages 2-5 (Martin & Ruble, 2010). Early childhood classrooms are one of the first settings where children receive messages about gender, partly from teachers (Chapman, 2016; Chick, 2002).

Teachers’ use of gender labels and gender to organize classrooms increases children’s gender stereotyping and decreases preference for other-gender peers (Hilliard & Liben, 2010).

However, work is largely missing about early childhood educators’ “gendered” beliefs and classroom practices. These topics are examined using an online survey.

Confronting And Countering Bias And Oppression Through Early Childhood Policy And Practice: An Introduction. [Special Issue], Flora Farago, Colette Murray, Beth Blue Swadener

Faculty Publications

Across the globe, there has been sustained anti-bias and anti-oppressive scholarship and policywork addressing social inclusion in early childhood and teacher education, grounded in the work of Louise Derman-Sparks and the ABC Task Force, 1989 (Kumishiro, 2000; Murray & Urban, 2012; Swadener, Aquino-Sterling, Nagasawa, & Bartlett, 2009). In this special issue, contributors address a range of social inclusion focused policies and practices across continents, including the challenges and opportunities of implementing anti-bias education. This kind of research takes a principled stance as it works to ameliorate, and eventually eliminate, exclusionary practices impacting young children and their families. The primary goal …

Anti-Bias Or Not: A Case Study Of Two Early Childhood Educators, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

This work examines anti-bias teaching practices through a case study of two early childhood educators working in classrooms with 4- to 5-year-old children. The educators self-identified that they intentionally addressed diversity in their classrooms using the anti-bias curricular approach (Derman-Sparks & the ABC Task Force, 1989). Specifically, the study explored how early childhood educators used anti-bias practices, and how educators discussed race and gender with young children. The methodology involved semi-structured interviews, naturalistic observations of educator-child interactions, and a survey of educators’ beliefs and classroom practices regarding race and gender. Findings indicated that educators felt more comfortable and skilled at …

The Arizona Kith And Kin Project Evaluation, Brief #2, Eva Marie Shivers, Charles Yang, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

Latina family, friend, and neighbor provider characteristics and features of care they provide. Indigo Cultural Center, for the Association for Supportive Child Care, with support from First Things First.

The Arizona Kith And Kin Project Evaluation, Brief #1, Eva Marie Shivers, Charles Yang, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

Improving quality in family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child care settings. Indigo Cultural Center, for the Association for Supportive Child Care, with support from First Things First.

The Arizona Kith And Kin Project Evaluation, Brief #4, Eva Marie Shivers, Charles Yang, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

Despite the prevalence of family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) child care (NSECE, 2015), relatively little is known about the characteristics of this type of care, quality of care, and the features of effective quality improvement initiatives for FFN care providers. In general, the early childhood field has remained relatively silent about FFN child care in policy and research discourses surrounding child well-being and quality initiatives (Shivers, 2012; Whitebook et al., 2004). The overall goal of the analyses described in this brief, Brief #4 in a series of four, was to explore and analyze FFN providers’ awareness and use of community …

Chapter 2: Where The Children Are: Exploring Quality, Community, And Support For Family, Friend And Neighbor Child Care, Eva M. Shivers, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

This chapter describes two studies examining quality of care in Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) child care settings in two separate communities. The findings from two studies are shared and discussed through the use of a socio-cultural theoretical lens that necessitates an exploration of specific communities’ histories as well as current political context. We explicitly list and describe implications for designing successful and culturally responsive professional development initiatives and policies that are responsive to this hard-to-reach group of providers and the families they serve.

Language Stimulation Techniques For Three-Year-Old And Four-Year-Old Children: Patterns Of Language Development, Hope Elisabeth Wilson, Jannah Walters Nerren, Carolyn D. Abel

Faculty Publications

One in 4 children in America ages 0-5 live in poverty (Federal Statistics, 2012); this group is far more likely to enter school as linguistically disadvantaged and the gap increases as they progress through school. This study investigates the effect of indirect language stimulation techniques on preschool children enrolled in Head Start programs in rural east Texas. The results from this study indicate differing patterns of language development between 3- and 4-year-old children, in response to their teacher’s use of indirect language stimulation techniques in normal day-to-day teaching. Specifically, the intervention using SPEAK techniques had a positive effect on the …

Addressing Race And Racism In Early Childhood: Challenges And Opportunities, Flora Farago, Kay Sanders, Larissa Gaias

Faculty Publications

This chapter draws on developmental intergroup theory, parental ethnic-racial socialization literature, anti-bias curricula, and prejudice intervention studies to address the appropriateness of discussing race and racism in early childhood settings. Existing literature about teacher discussions surrounding race and racism is reviewed, best practices are shared, and the need for more research in this area is highlighted. The construct of parental ethnic-racial socialization is mapped onto early childhood anti-bias classroom practices. The chapter also outlines racial ideologies of teachers, specifically anti-bias and colorblind attitudes, and discusses how these ideologies may manifest in classroom practices surrounding race and racism. Colorblind ideology is …