Start with Equity Research and Policy Reports
The Start with Equity series from the Children’s Equity Project (CEP) examines equity across early care, early learning and education systems, with particular attention to the policies and conditions that shape children’s access, experiences and opportunities.
CEP’s Start with Equity research examines issues including harsh and exclusionary discipline, inclusion of children with disabilities, dual language learning, access to high-quality early care and education, quality rating and improvement systems, state early childhood policy, strategic planning and other systems affecting children and families.
The series began with Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades, which examined inequities across discipline, disability inclusion and dual language learning and presented policy recommendations at the federal, state and local levels. Subsequent CEP resources have expanded the work through state-specific research, implementation tools and analyses of early childhood systems and policies.
Explore the Start with Equity reports and resources below, or browse CEP’s complete Reports & Resources library for additional research on early childhood education, Head Start, child care, education equity and child and family policy.
Start with Equity Arizona: Expanding Access, Improving Quality, Advancing Equity
In this report, the CEP deeply examines Arizona’s early learning systems, with an emphasis on how those systems have attended to—or failed to attend to—the needs of Arizona’s children, particularly those from historically and contemporarily marginalized communities.
Start with Equity: 14 Priorities to Dismantle Systemic Racism in Early Care and Education
The CEP published a follow-up new report outlining 14 critical priorities and actionable policies that federal and state policymakers can immediately and concretely advance equity in the early childhood system for our most vulnerable children. The report aims to create better, more just systems and to dismantle long-standing racist policies and practices.
Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades Data, Research, and an Actionable Child Equity Policy Agenda
The CEP has released a new landmark report that reviews the state of equity in America's learning systems, from the early years to the early grades. The report includes a comprehensive and concrete equity policy agenda aimed at making our learning systems more equitable.
Start with Equity: California
This report specifically focuses on three key issues covered in the Start with Equity national report: 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.
Equity for Children in the United States: A Review
All children deserve the resources and opportunities needed to thrive, including high-quality healthcare and education, safe housing and communities, nutritious food, and supportive caregivers. This review examines inequities across economic, education, and health systems and considers solutions for creating a fairer society where all children and families can thrive.
Advancing Equity Through the American Rescue Plan Act
This new brief reviews concrete strategies to invest in building equitable systems using the unprecedented infusion of resources provided by the American Rescue Plan Act.
Equity Strategic Plan Template to Advance Equity in Early Care and Education Systems
The Early Childhood Equity Strategic Plan Template is an implementation tool that can assist states and tribes in planning for equity within their learning systems for the youngest children.
10 Ways the Biden Administration Can Advance Equity for Young Learners Today
Building on our two previously published Start with Equity agendas, Start With Equity, from the Early Years to the Early Grades: Data, Research, and an Actionable Child Equity Policy Agenda and Start With Equity: 14 Priorities to Dismantle Systemic Racism in Early Care and Education, this brief outlines key “now actions.”
Equity is Quality and Quality is Equity: Operationalizing Equity in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems
This report addresses a fundamental content flaw in QRISs by operationalizing equity indicators. These indicators are grounded and organized by the CEP’s 14 priorities to advance equity in early care and education systems, published in a 2020 report, in partnership with 8 national organizations. States can use these indicators to inform QRIS redesign efforts to advance equity and improve transparency for families.
Start with Equity Research Topics
Equity in Early Childhood Education
CEP’s Start with Equity research examines how policies, funding, program structures and learning conditions can affect access and experiences within early care and education systems. The series includes research and policy resources addressing early learning from birth through the early grades.
Harsh Discipline and Exclusionary Discipline
The original Start with Equity research examines suspension, expulsion and other forms of harsh discipline, including disparities in how disciplinary practices are experienced by different groups of children. CEP has continued this area of research through additional reports on exclusionary discipline.
Children With Disabilities and Inclusive Learning
Start with Equity research examines access to inclusive learning environments for children with disabilities and policies that influence whether children can learn alongside their peers.
Dual Language Learners and Bilingual Education
CEP research examines access to high-quality learning opportunities for dual language learners and policies affecting bilingual and multilingual education in early childhood and the early grades.
Early Childhood Quality and QRIS
CEP’s Start with Equity resources examine how states define and measure early childhood program quality, including how equity considerations can be incorporated into Quality Rating and Improvement Systems.
State Early Childhood Equity Policy
CEP has applied the Start with Equity framework to state early childhood systems, including dedicated analyses of Arizona and California, examining state data, policies and opportunities across early learning systems.
Early Childhood Equity Strategic Planning
CEP’s Start with Equity resources include tools designed to help states and tribes move from research and policy priorities toward implementation, planning, accountability and systems change.
Explore More Children’s Equity Research
The Children’s Equity Project produces research and policy resources across early childhood education, Head Start, child care, children with disabilities, education equity, exclusionary discipline, dual language learning, child and family policy and other systems affecting children and families.
Explore All CEP Reports & Resources
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Frequently Asked Questions About Start with Equity
Start with Equity is a body of research and policy work from the Children’s Equity Project examining equity across early childhood and education systems. The work includes national research, state analyses, policy agendas and implementation resources focused on children’s access, experiences and opportunities in learning systems.
Start with Equity research examines topics including early childhood education equity, harsh and exclusionary discipline, inclusion of children with disabilities, dual language learning, access to high-quality early education, state early childhood systems, quality improvement and policy implementation.
Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades is a 2020 report from the Children’s Equity Project and Bipartisan Policy Center examining equity across early learning and the early grades. It focuses particularly on harsh discipline, inclusion of children with disabilities and access to dual language learning and includes federal, state and local policy recommendations.
CEP’s Start with Equity: 14 Priorities to Dismantle Systemic Racism in Early Care and Education presents 14 areas for policy action across early care and education systems. The priorities provide a framework that CEP has also used in subsequent resources focused on strategic planning, quality improvement and early childhood policy.
Yes. CEP has published Start with Equity reports examining early childhood systems in California and Arizona. These reports apply the broader Start with Equity framework to state data, policies, systems and opportunities.
Start with Equity research examines whether children with disabilities have access to inclusive learning opportunities and the policies and system conditions that affect inclusion in early childhood and education settings.
CEP’s Start with Equity research examines access to bilingual and multilingual learning opportunities and policies affecting dual language learners in early childhood programs and the early grades.
CEP’s Early Childhood Equity Strategic Plan Template is an implementation tool designed to help states and tribes develop equity-focused plans, establish goals, track progress and connect systems planning to the equity priorities identified through the Start with Equity work.
The Children’s Equity Project publishes research, policy reports, briefs and implementation resources addressing equity in early childhood education, child care and early learning. The Start with Equity resources on this page provide one collection, while CEP’s Reports & Resources library contains additional research across related topics.