We Are the Change We Seek: Advancing Racial Justice in Early Care and Education

by Iheoma U. Iruka, Tonia R. Durden, Kerry-Ann Escayg, and Stephanie M. Curenton

Series edited by Nancy File, and Christopher P. Brown

Published by: Teachers College Press

Imprint: Teachers College Press

Sales Date: 2023-06-23

Hardcover

CA$133.95

Published: June 2023

Product Details

Imprint: Teachers College Press

Page Count: 168 Pages

Dimensions: 6.37 x 9.25

168 Pages, 6.37 x 9.25 in

Hardcover

CA$133.95

ISBN: 9780807768037

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Description
Authors
Contents

This timely book will help early care and education teachers, leaders, administrators, coaches, and staff deliver on the promise of high-quality education for all children. The authors provide inspiration, practical tools, and resources through the culturally responsive, anti-bias, anti-racist (CRABAR) framework. This teacher-friendly text shows how to engage in self-inquiry and evaluate current classroom practices while embedding new ones that advance the learning and well-being of children, especially those from minoritized and poor communities. Readers will find tools and assessments to support the implementation of culturally grounded practices that will improve outcomes for diverse children in early childhood settings and systems. This book connects history to current events, supports self-inquiry, encourages a shift in mindset and, most importantly, offers guidance for creating affirming and joyful spaces for young children to learn.

Book Features:

Presents a problem and asks readers to discuss how they would resolve it.
"Educators' Corner" encourages teachers to think about how they are a product of the beliefs, values, and social-political history of their cultural group.
"Now What?" sections help teachers to problem-solve how they might react during difficult situations.

Iheoma U. Iruka is a research professor in public policy and the founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Tonia R. Durden is a clinical professor and birth through five program coordinator in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Georgia State University. Kerry-Ann Escayg is an associate professor of teacher education at the University of Nebraska?Omaha. Stephanie M. Curenton is an associate professor and director of the Center on the Ecology of Early Development program at Boston University.

Contents

Acknowledgments ?vii

Introduction ?1
How to Use This Book ?2

1. ?Racism?s Past, Present, and Future ?3
What Is Racism? ?3
The Effects of Racism in the United States ?11
An Intersectionality Lens ?18
Now What? ?21

2. ?Connecting Culturally Responsive, Anti-Bias, and Anti-Racist (CRABAR) Practices ?23
Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias ?24
Terminology Matters: Defining Bias and Racism ?25
Racism in Early Childhood Education ?26
Introducing the CRABAR Framework ?27
Now What? ?38

3. ?Creating CRABAR Learning Environments ?41
Spaces for Belonging: Model Learning Environments ?42
The Classroom Environment: A Review ?43
Reflection on Afrocentric Classroom Environments ?44
Prepare to Develop Anti-Racist Classroom Environments ?45
Now What? ?58

4. ?Developing a CRABAR Assessment View ?61
Purposes of Assessment ?62
Using a CRABAR Lens for Assessment of Classroom Quality ?68
Emerging CRABAR Assessments ?75
Now What? ?79
How Assessments Should be Used ?81

5. ?Valuing the Early Childhood Workforce to Sustain CRABAR Practices ?83
The Vast Role and Limited Compensation for ECE Professionals ?84
Low and Inequitable Wages for ECE Professionals Explained by Legacy of Racism and Sexism ?85
Now What? ?97

6. ?Using the RICHER Approach to Elevate the CRABAR Practices ?99
Deference to Whiteness in ECE Settings ?101
The RICHER Framework ?103
Now What? ?116

Conclusion ?121

Resources ?123

References ?125

Index ?143

About the Authors ?155
Land Acknowledgement ?155
Body Acknowledgment ?157