We need to think about early education as a racial equity issue
Read the op-ed in Cambridge Day!
Access to early childhood education is not a colorblind issue, and we cannot achieve equity in early education if we do not think about the myriad of ways that race interacts with families’ experiences, classroom settings, and our students’ ability to succeed. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated racial gaps in childcare access, but it is not the root cause of them. The divide has roots in our country’s history of colonialism and slavery, and these roots have created our current landscape: Black students and families face more barriers to quality child care compared to their White counterparts, and a workforce largely made up of women of color is one of the lowest paid groups in the nation. If we want to have more equitable early education, we need to understand how race and racism shapes early childhood care in our community, and create a plan for early childhood education that values Black experiences.
Race plays a significant role in a family’s ability to access early childhood education. A recent report from the Department of Labor found that the median cost of childcare in Middlesex county was over $26,000 per year. Taking the impact of race on wealth and wages into account (the median income for White non-Hispanic MA residents was $97,665 compared to $66,792 for Black MA residents), Black families are more likely to struggle to pay these high costs for care. And while subsidies do exist to help families afford childcare, a recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that the subsidies often fail to reach eligible families, either because of issues with allocation or because of inaccessible application processes. In addition, many low-wage workers, more often Black and Latino than White, have work schedules later in the evening, leaving them without childcare during working hours.
Race has impacts both outside the classroom and in the classroom, particularly on our early education providers. As childcare has become formalized in the U.S., the work of early childhood education has often fallen to Black women. And while early childcare was and continues to be pivotal in allowing parents, especially women, to enter the workforce, the field remains significantly underfunded, paying a workforce largely made up of Black and Latina women some of the lowest wages of any group in almost every state, especially compared to the importance of their role in the economy. The slow growth of wages also fails to reflect the increasing expectation that early educators attain Bachelor’s or MA degrees. Issues of accessibility and affordability to higher education aside, this is despite the fact that preschool teachers with a BA typically earn half of the average salary for people with a Bachelor’s degree.
Inadequate funding for early childhood educators makes it difficult for even the most passionate teachers to stay in the field, leading to high turnover among teachers and fewer available seats in preschool classrooms. We saw this at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, following the mass departure of early educators across the country, which greatly exacerbated what was already an affordability crisis for early childhood education. Families are competing for fewer seats in fewer classrooms with less teacher-capacity. For federal programs like Head Start, the funding shortage makes it especially difficult to retain teachers; wages for Head Start teachers lag behind wages for their private-classroom counterparts, creating little incentive to stay.
Recognizing race and the way it impacts our classrooms help us improve the quality of education we provide to children, especially students with marginalized identities. By the time they enter preschool, children are in the early stages of building their own understandings around race. When we have educators of color in the classroom, children have the chance to see people of color in leadership roles. Racially diverse classrooms give students the opportunity to form connections with people outside their own racial groups. In a culture that centers White people and experiences as the norm, these early introductions to people of different races and ethnicities help create a worldview that accepts racial equality.
For Black children, the benefits of racially diverse classrooms can be even more significant. Having Black teachers can help improve teacher-child relationships, leading to more caregiver attachment and better educational outcomes for Black students. Black teachers are more likely to rate Black students as having higher persistence compared to White teachers. Black students with Black teachers are also more likely to be identified as being gifted, closing a gap that exists when Black students are taught by White teachers. All of these early experiences set Black children up to achieve more educational success and to seek higher educational attainment later in life, which is consistently linked to higher income in adulthood.
We know that race has a significant impact on who receives early childhood care, and we know that race can have a significant impact on the quality of that education. So how can we build a system that creates more equitable access to early education, ensures diverse learning environments for our children, and treats our early educators fairly?
Increase funding for early education. This is the action that would have the most significant impact on our childcare system. More funding for teacher salaries, especially for programs like Head Start, needs to be a priority for our legislators if they want to create more equitable childcare systems. Higher teacher pay would also mean more teachers in classrooms, meaning more room for more children. For free programs like Head Start, this would increase programs’ capacity to serve eligible families. For paid-preschool programs, this would significantly help increase the number of available classrooms and help reduce costs.
Reduce the burden on families applying for state and federal assistance. The process of applying for public assistance can be difficult and cumbersome, especially for single-parent households or households where both parents work full time. Streamlining the process could mean counting eligibility for one assistance program as eligibility for others. For instance, The Office of Head Start has announced that receiving SNAP benefits will serve as proof of eligibility for Head Start programs.
Make public assistance programs more accessible to non-English speakers. It’s essential that we have program information and application forms available in a variety of languages. It’s also important that the agencies that provide this information and these services be prepared to interpret for parents that do not speak English. Having multilingual teachers in classrooms can be an essential way to keep parents involved in their child’s education, and creates better learning outcomes for English-learning students.
Encourage curriculum that teaches students about race. Preschool is one of the most important times in a child’s life for shaping their view of themselves, their peers, and their world. Curriculum that includes lessons around race and encourages self-acceptance and acceptance towards others will help prepare students for an increasingly diverse world.