Start with Equity: California
The nation’s early care and education systems are gravely inequitable. Opportunity gaps between children from historically marginalized communities and their peers are consistent, wide, and consequential. In the summer of 2020, The Children’s Equity Project and the Bipartisan Policy Center came together to create an actionable policy roadmap for states and the federal government—as well as for candidates at all levels of government vying for office—to take meaningful steps to remedy these inequities. Read Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grade.
As a follow up to that work, the Children’s Equity Project has developed a new report focusing on the state of equity in California’s early care and learning systems in the three key issues covered in the Start with Equity national report, including harsh discipline and its disproportionate application, lack of inclusive learning opportunities for children with disabilities, and inequitable access to bilingual learning for dual language learners. The authors provide a California-specific policy agenda to inform the state’s Master Plan for Early Care and Learning and to build more equitable systems for the state’s youngest learners.
Suggested citation:
Meek, S.E., Blevins, D., Catherine, E., Alexander, B.L. (November, 2020). Start with Equity: California. The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. Retrieved from: https://cep.asu.edu/resources/start-with-equity-california
Report Overview
November 10, 2020, 4pm EST
View recorded webinar | PowerPoint slides
Contributing Authors
|
Founding DirectorShantel Meek, PhD Dr. Shantel Meek is a Professor of Practice and the Founding Director of the Children's Equity Project, a multi-university initiative that aims to close opportunity gaps between children from historically marginalized communities and their peers. Dr. Meek previously served in the Obama Administration as a Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood Development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and as a Senior Policy Advisor for Education in the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. |
|
Darielle Blevins, PhD Dr. Darielle Blevins is a postdoctoral research scholar and Start with Equity Fellow with the Children’s Equity Project. Her goal is to use an intersectional approach to elevate communities’ voices in research to inform policy. Grounded in Black Feminist ways of knowing, Dr. Blevins’ work centers the need for love, equity, and justice, to ensure quality learning spaces in early childhood and beyond. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from San Diego State University and Claremont University and was named Outstanding Graduate of the Year. |
|
Evandra Catherine, PhD Dr. Evandra Catherine is a postdoctoral research scholar on the Children’s Equity Project. Dr. Catherine’s research focuses on inequities in the implementation of exclusionary discipline practices and the placement of preschool-aged children in segregated and self-contained settings, with an emphasis on boys of color. Evandra is the mother of a son with Aspergers and a United States Air Force Veteran. She was also a House of Delegates candidate in Virginia’s 2013 democratic primary and was awarded Top 40 Under 40 in Richmond, Virginia in 2015. |
|
Brittany Alexander, M.S. Brittany Alexander is a doctoral student at Arizona State University and research associate on the Children’s Equity Project, working towards ensuring equitable educational opportunities for all children. Her work broadly focuses on intersectional educational equity, social and emotional learning, and the impact of race on children’s educational experiences. Her research specifically focuses on the development and measurement of compassion and hope in the educational context using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Additionally, Brittany is interested in the connection between research, policy, and practice. |