Contents Foreword Mariana Souto-Manning?ix Acknowledgments?xiii Introduction?1 Mark K. Nagasawa, Lacey Peters, Marianne N. Bloch, and Beth Blue Swadener Part I: EARLY YEARS SYSTEMS FRAGMENTATION AND INEQUALITY 1.?In This Moment . . . We Are Essential?11 Lucinda Heimer 2.?One Center, Two Programs: Finding Promise Within a Fragmented and Unequal Non-System?19 Louis Hamlyn-Harris 3.?Toward Transforming Fragmented and Unequal Early Years Systems-Recommendations?25 Jacqueline Jones Part II: CENTERING ANTI-RACISM IN EARLY YEARS CONTEXTS 4.?Constellations of Care: Black Kith and Kin Home/ Place-Making Beyond the State Gaze?33 Ashley J. May 5.?Proactive, Not Reactive: Creating Anti-Racist Policies for Child Care Centers and Preschools?39 Kerry-Ann Escayg and Flora Farago 6.?Short- and Long-Term Policy Solutions Are Necessary to Address Inequities in Access and Affordability in the Early Years?47 Chrishana M. Lloyd and Julianna Carlson Part III: FELT IN/EQUITIES IN THE EARLY YEARS: INFANT/TODDLER CARE AND EDUCATION 7.?Felt In/equities: The Status of Infant/Toddler Care?57 Barbara Milner 8.?Felt In/equities: The Status of Infant/Toddler Teachers?63 Emmanuelle N. Fincham 9.?Recognizing the Birth-to-3 Workforce as Educators?69 Emily Sharrock and Annie Schaeffing Part IV: DE/PROFESSIONALIZATION 10.?Grounding Educators' Experiences, Perspectives, and Intellect in De/Professionalization Debates?77 Lea J. E. Austin 11.?Toward Equity in Professionalization Through Community- and Coalition-Building?83 Juliana Pinto McKeen, Fabiola Santos-Gaerlan, Alice Tse Chiu, and Wendy Jo Cole 12.?Toward Professionalization By the People?89 Betzaida Vera-Heredia Part V: SUPPORTING THRIVING TEACHERS 13.?Don't Train Me to Serve! Supporting Thriving Teachers Through Identity Development?97 Vanessa Rodriguez 14.?"I Want to Be Treated Like I'm Valuable": Advocating for Teachers' Humanity?103 Abbi Kruse 15.?Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk With Teachers?109 Lorraine Falchi and Cristina Medellin-Paz Part VI: Whose Standards? 16.?Being Held to Whose Standards? Considering the Unique Experiences of Racially and Ethnically Diverse Children?119 Alexandra Figueras-Daniel and Stephanie M. Curenton 17.?Using Aesthetic Approaches to Meet and Challenge the National Standards: A Both/And Approach?127 Margarita G. Ruiz Guerrero and Carolyn Brennan 18.?"John Adams Didn't Own Slaves": Culturally Affirming Standards, Assessments, and Curriculum?135 Evandra Catherine Part VII: HONORING COMMUNITY CULTURAL WEALTH 19.?Elevating the Cultural Wealth in Communities of Color: The R.I.C.H.E.R. Framework-Intersectionality Between Race and Place?143 Iheoma U. Iruka 20.?It Really Does Take a Village: Why Educators Need to Be Involved in Community Initiatives?151 Jaclyn Vasquez and Mark K. Nagasawa 21.?Mi Casita: How a School Can Exist to Meet the Needs of Children and Adults Alike?157 Eva Ruiz and Rafael (Rafa) PZrez-Segura 22.?Sustaining Our Futures Through Expanded Relations?163 Anna Lees Conclusion: Now What? Our Call to Collective Action?169 Mark K. Nagasawa, Lacey Peters, Marianne N. Bloch, and Beth Blue Swadener Index?185 About the Editors?193 About the Contributors?195
This timely collection provides an accessible discussion and analysis of some of the most urgent policy issues facing early childhood care and education in the United States: fragmented policy systems; broad disregard for early years professionals exemplified by low pay; standards that fail to increase equity; and overlooking the role community contexts plays in producing or ameliorating social inequalities among children. Contributors draw upon their deep personal experiences with these issues as educators, scholars, and advocates to advance practice-based recommendations for how the nation's inequitable systems can be transformed. Their call to collective action is supported by an accessible and powerful advocacy toolkit that will grow with readers over time and with practice. The text centers the perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, with a clear focus on the effects of systemic racism, ageism, sexism, classism, and associated oppressions on early years policies and programs in the United States. Book Features: Concise essays that acknowledge the demands on contemporary readers' time. Authors that represent a cross section of educators, advocates, researchers, and leaders who are in dialogue with each other. Personal stories that illustrate how policies and systems affect people, making an urgent case for transforming early care and education policies. A call for action that includes tools for linking personal reflection to collective action.
Mark K. Nagasawa is director of the Straus Center for Young Children & Families at Bank Street College of Education. Lacey Peters is an assistant professor and graduate program co-coordinator for early childhood care and education at Hunter College, City University of New York. Marianne N. Bloch is professor emerita in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Beth Blue Swadener is professor emerita of justice studies and of social and cultural pedagogy in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University.