Early Childhood Research for Educational Equity

Family–School–Systems Connections

Christine M. McWayne, Ph.D., Vivian L. Gadsden, Ed.D.

How can we close opportunity gaps for young children affected by poverty and systemic racism—and build hope and resilience for children and their families? Research points the way forward, and in this timely volume, 40+ leading researchers identify new approaches, insights, and technologies that can promote educational equity and improve outcomes for children and families living in poverty.

Building on the seminal work of researcher John Fantuzzo, this book focuses on identifying and expanding on child, family, and community strengths to address the urgent needs of the whole child and the whole family. The expert contributors examine the importance of 1) child-level strengths and social connections, 2) strengths-based intervention as an antidote to deficit framing, and 3) collaboration and data sharing across systems serving vulnerable children and families.

Chapters cover research and recommendations for:

• implementing interventions that foster children’s social-emotional learning skills
• developing culturally and linguistically valid tools for measuring social-emotional development
• creating more culturally inclusive preschool classrooms and practices
• enhancing young children’s communication and language competence in home visiting programs
• using partnership-based approaches to strengthen understanding between home and school settings
• integrating data across programs and agencies to inform early childhood policy and better address complex social issues

In addition to reporting on current research projects, the contributors outline future priorities and explore how research can inform policy and practice to achieve positive, sustainable change. A foundational volume for current and future early childhood researchers, administrators, and policy makers, this forward-thinking book will light the path toward greater educational equity, reduced disparities, and better outcomes for children and families.

Reviews

James Cox, Midwest Book Review - April 29, 2024

"Of immense and timely relevance for readers with an interest in educational research and early child education, Early Childhood Research for Educational Equity is an ideal and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, school district, college and university library Education Policy & Development collections, and supplemental Early Childhood curriculum studies lists."

Sharon Kagan, Ed.D., Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University and Child Study Center, Yale University - December 5, 2023

"Compiling a compendium of the nation's best scholars, McWayne and Gadsden have edited a path‐breaking volume that purposefully centers research on equity within the integrated family–school–community eco‐context. Anchored in a host of trenchant issues facing contemporary early childhood practice, the volume is both practical and intellectually audacious, honest, and bold. A brilliant conceptualization, superb scholarship, and enriching commentaries combine to render this collection a stunning tribute and a prescient prescription for the diverse ways scholarship can and must advance policy and social justice. Nothing could be more timely, more useful, or more important—for our time and for the ages."

Dennis Culhane, Ph.D., Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania - December 5, 2023

"Tackles many of the critical sociocultural dimensions of implementing a range of evidence‐based practices in early childhood education. The expert chapters reflect how these sensitivities are expanding the reach of successful approaches to the children and communities who need them most."

Michael Cunningham, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Africana Studies, Tulane University - December 5, 2023

"Advances developmental science theory, interventions, and practices. The contributors go beyond typical descriptions of challenges—they also advance solutions. This edited volume is a welcomed addition to the extant literature and will be foundational for future scholars examining ecological linkages between challenges and solutions that are based on theoretical and applied processes."

Robert Pianta, Ph.D., Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education and Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia - December 5, 2023

"I am one of hundreds of academics influenced by John Fantuzzo's ideas. I consider my contacts with John—his work and his person—to be among the most authentic and valuable points in my career. John's boundless and enthusiastic energy for how the best science can and should make positive contributions to the lives of children, families, and educators is evident across this volume's chapters and in the careers of the authors. John is a visionary: he knew to appreciate and study child development and education from an assets-based perspective long before we used that term; he demonstrated the promise of community‐level data systems and their value for decision‐making; and he has been unrelenting in articulating that an ecological‐developmental perspective is relevant for a wide range of stakeholder groups. Above all, John embodies what service to the public means as an academic. Like John, this volume is a valuable resource advancing human development."

Michael Guralnick, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Pediatrics, University of Washington - December 5, 2023

"Relationship‐based developmental principles provide the core of a systems approach in this important volume…guide[s] communities to optimally and equitably support children's development and the aspirations of their families."

Volume Editors: Christine M. McWayne Ph.D., Vivian L. Gadsden Ed.D. Chapter Authors: Todd Abraham Ph.D., Jhonelle Bailey Ph.D., Katherine Barghaus Ph.D., Jessica Bruning M.S., Rebecca J. Bulotsky Shearer Ph.D., Kelsey A. Clayback M.Ed., Kelly Davydov M.A., Cassandra Dorius Ph.D., Jason T. Downer Ph.D., Jill Ehrenreich-May Ph.D., Rachel Eisenberg Ph.D., John W. Fantuzzo Ph.D., Jenna Futterer M.S., Eugene E. García Ph.D., Daryl Greenfield Ph.D., Cassandra Henderson Ph.D., Sunah Hyun Ph.D., Marilou Hyson Ph.D., Della Jenkins Ph.D., Jacqueline Jones Ph.D., Doré R. LaForett Ph.D., Ebony D. Leon M.S., Lisa M. López Ph.D., Ann L'hospital Ph.D., Lok-Wah Li Ph.D., Patricia H. Manz Ph.D., Jacqueline S. Mattis Ph.D., Paul A. McDermott Ph.D., Samuel J. Meisels, Julia Mendez Smith Ph.D., Chelsea T. Morris Ph.D., Imelda K. Moise Ph.D., Ruby Natale Ph.D., Wendy Ochoa Ph.D., W. David Patterson Ph.D., Shivani Raina, Elizabeth Danforth Richey Ph.D., Heather L. Rouse Ph.D., Mary Anne Ullery Ed.D., Amanda Winslow, Hiro Yoshikawa Ph.D.

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