Identifying Policy Flaws: Addressing Educational Inequities in Early Childhood Education for Young Black Children

Introduction

Access to and participation in early childhood education (ECE) programs are foundational to children’s later success (McCoy et al., 2017). Children who do not have access to EC programs find adjusting to the school environment at grade level challenging (Ansari, 2018). Additionally, children entering kindergarten and first grade may struggle academically due to delayed social adjustment to their school environment (Elliott et al., 2015). EC programs also prepare children emotionally and are vital to attaining academic success. According to Wu et al. (2020), emotional intelligence reduces tendencies for disruptive behavior, negative attitudes, and abuse. Being equipped emotionally sets the pace for creating and sustaining positive relationships and making intelligent choices (Wu et al., 2020).

Early childhood education (ECE) is all-encompassing; it equips students with sound cognitive, emotional, and social skills essential in the next stage of learning and beyond (Iruka & Morgan, 2014). Therefore, it is equally important that all young children, regardless of race, gender, ability status, and/or economic status, have equitable EC experiences. Unfortunately, this has not been true for all children. If the pandemic revealed anything, it was that not all young children experience ECE programs in the same ways. For example, although young Black children access and participate in ECE programs in similar numbers to other groups (NCES, 2022), the ways they experience the programs are not the same, and their access to does not always meet their needs (Ferette, 2021). These are flaws in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the system.

The ECE system and policies have been inequitable, unjust, and flawed for some (i.e., Black children with and without dis/abilities) young children for some time (Bassok & Galdo, 2016). The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM, 2022) identified challenges in the ECE sector, such as “preexisting structural flaws, and inequalities such as lack of high-quality care among low-income, rural populations, and communities of color” (NASEM, 2022, p. 2), to name a few. This is not a fact that was unknown to educators and policymakers. For example, young Black children have consistently had less affordable childcare, less access to childcare subsidies, and access to fewer childcare programs in their communities (Sethi et al., 2020). Likewise, young Black children continue to experience barriers in accessing ECE settings because of disparate treatment (e.g., higher suspension and expulsion rates; Sethi et al., 2020). Furthermore, the removal from ECE placements due to suspension and expulsion denies them those enriching ECE experiences.

Because we purport to care about the current and future well-being of all young children, especially those with disabilities, and place high importance on EC education, it is imperative that we reimagine ECE policies and practice so that all young children benefit (i.e., quality access and participation) and not just a few. Therefore, in this chapter we will discuss 1) the inherent flaws in ECE policies [i.e., IDEA], 2) program inequities, 3) the potential benefits of equitable ECE policies and programs for Black children, and 4) recommendations for ECE stakeholders (i.e., educators, Black families, and policymakers) for addressing inequitable ECE as they contemplate a reconceptualization of ECE policies and educational programs for young Black children with and without disabilities.