Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

african american male teacher with eight young students from diverse backgrounds standing outside school

Nationwide, children of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds are too often viewed as challenging, "at-risk," and of limited intellectual capacity. Wide disparities in achievement bear witness to the ways in which the educational and social systems have failed those most in need of support. Historic discrimination coupled with changing demographics necessitates clear and intentional efforts to support young children who are racially and ethnically diverse in achieving their personal, academic, and economic potential. A primary mission of FPG is to generate knowledge about the social context in which children of color live, establish programs that produce positive outcomes for those children and their families, and use that knowledge to prepare caregivers and teachers to provide the best possible environments for promoting development and success. Equity, diversity, and inclusion matters at the Institute.

Featured Project

Through collaboration with national, state and local coalitions and organizations, the Equity Research Action Coalition works to identify, track and align strategies to strengthen the focus on protecting, promoting, and preserving the well being, health, wealth, access and experiences of Black families and their families through anti-racist and cultural wealth policy making framework and communication. Learn about the Black Infant and Toddler Equity Project.

Featured Program

Working with practitioners and policymakers, the Equity Research Action Coalition will pursue research that promotes and supports the healthy development of Black children across the African diaspora and other children of color. The Coalition will focus on developing science-based evidence that can be used to inform practice and policy aimed at eradicating the impact of racism, and all its consequences, on the lives of Black and other minoritized children, families, and communities.

Featured FPG News Story

In 2018, a team of researchers at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and George Mason University launched the Bilingualism, Education, and Excellence (BEE) Project, which was funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education. Learn some initial insights from the team.

Current Projects

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African-Centered Racial Equity Justice Project: Embracing Culturally Responsive Practices to Improve Early Learning and Child Outcomes

This project will develop an African-centered, culturally responsive practice guide with specific strategies, exemplars, and materials with connected professional learning modules to guide effective implementation. The ultimate and long-term goal is to increase Black children’s social, cognitive, and emotional skills (e.g., racial identity, engagement, learning motivation, regulation), leading to strong academic and social competence and school success.

BEE Project: Bilingualism, Education, and Excellence

The purpose of this study is to examine associations between language of instruction, student engagement, academic-self-concept, approaches to learning, student-teacher relationships, and gains in academic outcomes for students attending dual language educational settings.

Black Infant and Toddler Equity Project

Through collaboration with national, state and local coalitions and organizations, the Equity Research Action Coalition will identify, track and align strategies to strengthen the focus on protecting, promoting, and preserving the well being, health, wealth, access and experiences of Black families and their families through anti-racist and cultural wealth policy making framework and communication.

Building equity and access by including family child care in universal pre-kindergarten expansion: A multi-site study of pre-kindergarten family child care initiatives

This multi-year project, in partnership with Erikson Institute and the University of Delaware, seeks to understand how best to value, compensate, and authentically integrate the family child care (FCC) workforce and approach in future efforts to build and expand more equitable PreK systems. This project will involve focus groups, surveys, and case studies to understand how FCC is being integrated into PreK efforts.

Child Find ACCESS project

This model demonstration seeks to increase family uptake of developmental screenings and service enrollment of traditionally underserved populations by centering family and cultural voice throughout the implementation process.

Educare School-Family Partnership Justice Project

The purpose of this project is to conduct a pilot study examining the impact of Family Engagement Specialists' beliefs and attitudes (e.g., bias) on their engagement with families.

From the Womb to Cradle: How Racism Influences the Development of Infants and Preschoolers

The purpose of this collaboration with Boston University is to develop and disseminate various products focused on the effects of racism during infancy through early childhood (birth to age 5) for racially marginalized children and families, specifically those that are Black, Latine, Indigenous, or Asian.

Kindergarten Readiness for Bilingual/Bicultural Students

TRI will design a series of six parent workshops to build foundational literacy skills for children aged six months to five years. These workshops will be presented by community workers from El Centro Hispano. TRI will provide training for the community workers and will compile materials including books in Spanish and other educational resources (magnetic letters, activity cards) for parents to use.

Parent's ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices among Black children with disabilities

Black families of children with disabilities face additional stress and difficulties because of their multiple marginalized statuses, particularly within the intersection between racism and ableism. These parents and caregivers may be tasked with teaching and conveying messages to their children about how to navigate social settings, like school, as a Black child with a disability. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2018), among students ages 3 through 21 served in special education, less than one-fifth are Black/African American (17.7 percent), but Black/African American students with disabilities account for more than one third (36.6 percent) of individuals who experienced disciplinary removal. Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices have been found to mitigate the effects of such discrimination on children’s development. They are defined as verbal and nonverbal racial communication between families of color and their children about cultural heritage and pride, preparing youth for racial bias, and promoting healthy distrust of the dominant racial/ethnic group. ERS practices promote academic engagement and achievement and serve as a protective factor among Black youth amid racist discrimination. Yet, little is known about what these practices may look like for Black children with disabilities as ERS practices have typically been studied among able-bodied children. Ultimately, findings from this study seek to serve as a resource to educators, researchers, and policy makers who work with or on behalf of Black families and their young children with disabilities to aid them in developing best practices that are rooted in anti-racism, anti-bias, and equity.

Starting Them off on the Right Path: Utilizing Home Visiting to Address Race-based Trauma and Support Children's Racial Identity Formation

The purpose of this project is to gather perspectives from current "Parents As Teachers" families and parent educators. This is a developmental evaluation to understand how "Parents as Teachers" could address race-based trauma and stressors and support the positive racial identity formation for young children.

Strenghtening Education Through Equitable and Inclusive Evidence-based Teaching Practices: A systematic literature review

This project involves a systematic review of literature on evidence-based teaching practices in the K-12 education system in the United States to (1) identify practices that have demonstrated success in academic achievement for diverse students, (2) examine whether these successful teaching practices have been adopted and implemented, and (3) identify system conditions needed to adopt. The literature review will result in an open-access publication to inform the field.

WCSS Participatory Research Project

Research team will consult with Wake County Smart Start (WCSS) to support a WCSS-led participatory research project that will lead to the development of WCSS strategic plan community driven outcomes. Following with their strategic plan priorities of equity, family engagement and leadership and data informed decision making, WCSS would like to develop community driven outcomes through a participatory research project. The project will collaborate and share power with families and community members in the development of outcomes that measure WCSS’ success in meeting their strategic plan goals. The project will be co-designed, co-facilitated and collaboratively analyzed and disseminated by community and family co-investigators.

Young Children and the Civil Rights Community

The goal of this project is to identify opportunities and barriers to community based organizations, namely civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, The Leadership Conference, the National Urban League, NALEO Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), National Congress of American Indian (NCAI) in prioritizing early childhood development including access to high quality and affordable child care.

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

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