A message from the Children's Equity Project Founding Executive Director, Dr. Shantel Meek:
The Children’s Equity Project turned 5 in May! As I reflect on these five years, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, and both daunted but undeterred by the challenges that continue to face this nation in ensuring equal opportunity for all, starting with our babies. It’s clear that we’re not there yet.
Still today, like 5 years ago and 50 years ago (and 400 years ago), data show that there are differences in children’s access to high quality early opportunities.
Still today, there are differences in children’s experiences within learning settings.
And still today, there remain stark, consistent disparities across an array of outcomes by social demographic characteristics - race, income, home language, disability, and their intersections.
These aren’t opinions. They’re facts substantiated by mountains of data and research. See here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here (I could go on). The evidence was recently reviewed in the latest report from the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine (NASEM): “Closing the Opportunity Gap for Young Children”. The report was written by a consensus committee of NASEM, of which I was a part. In it, we provide a set of findings and conclusions. The first of 8 key conclusions is that there are differences in access to resources and experiences in early childhood that lead to opportunity gaps, which lead to long-term gaps in outcomes across physical health, social emotional development, and education. The ways in which opportunities are afforded in this country are associated with a range of demographic factors - race, income, language, disability, and immigration status.
Addressing this objectively verifiable injustice in our learning systems makes the system more fair. It helps level the playing field so that all kids get to meet their full potential. Ignoring it - pretending these differences in opportunity don’t exist or suggesting we shouldn’t talk about them - that’s negligence. And it harms all kids, but it harms Black, Latine, and Indigenous children, children with disabilities, children living in poverty, and other children from historically marginalized communities, the most. The most damaging forms of racism aren't expressed as personal prejudice — they are found in the codification of racial bias into systems that exclude and discriminate.
These data and this research - and the historical context that grounds them (e.g. see here and here) - should inform and be fundamental to our educator preparation and professional development systems. It should ground policies and budgets. Our kids deserve for us to collectively pay attention and act.
We highlight some of these systemic shortfalls in three new reports we’ve published in the last few months: honing in on inequitable enrollment in dual language immersion programs with our colleagues at The Century Foundation; examining the mental health of early educators with our colleagues at Yale and the Buffett Early Childhood Institute; and lifting up research on the damaging effects of family separation and detention on child health and wellbeing in our broken immigration system- a particularly salient topic considering the national debate unfolding.
We're as motivated as ever to continue the work of building more accessible, more fair and equitable, joyful systems for kids and families. Here’s to the next 5 years, and to the next, and to hoping for and actively working toward the day when we can say our nation is finally living up to its stated ideals, starting with our youngest.