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The Foundation is committed to understanding how to best support young children and the early care and education (ECE) professionals who support them through the work of our grantees. This issue of The Learning Curve highlights new contributions from Dr. Lea J.E. Austin, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Jennifer Keys Adair, The University of Texas at Austin, a member of our Young Scholars Program 2012 cohort. Their work improves the quality of program implementation and professional practice and develops effective policy solutions, leading to meaningful change in the ECE field.
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Congressional Hearing Testimony on Increasing Investments in the ECE Workforce
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On March 2nd, CSCCE's Executive Director Dr. Lea J.E. Austin testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis to call for adequate long-term investments in the ECE workforce.
During her remarks, Dr. Austin stated, “Child care businesses, most of which are small and women owned, operate on very thin margins. The slightest drop in enrollment and income was all it took for many to permanently close.”
Her testimony emphasized how a long history of underinvestment in the quality and status of the nation’s vital ECE workforce, coupled with the adverse effects of the pandemic, will continue to hinder the quality of early care and education and the status of these professionals.
“Critically, relief has helped many hold on, but it cannot, nor was it designed, to provide long-term fixes,” Dr. Austin explained. “Our economy relies on workers who are parents, many parents cannot work without reliable child care, and child care cannot work effectively until its own workforce is secure.”
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Segregation by Experience: Agency, Racism,
and Learning in the Early Grades
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In Segregation by Experience: Agency, Racism, and Learning in the Early Grades (2021, University of Chicago Press), authors Dr. Jennifer Keys Adair and Dr. Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove inform readers about how institutional racism impacts the early childhood experiences of children of color. This book provides an insightful lens for the ECE field, policymakers, and families to explore equity in classrooms across the United States, the disparities that exist in the educational experiences of young children, and the racialization of those experiences.
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Segregation by Experience was selected as the Council on Anthropology and Education’s 2021 CAE Outstanding Book Award recipient for making a significant contribution to the anthropology of education.
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ABOUT US Research, policy and practice—we connect these pieces to help build early childhood systems that enable children to reach their full potential. Founded in 1900, the Foundation for Child Development identifies needs, fills gaps and integrates knowledge for successful implementation and continuous improvement. Learn more about our focus areas and download resources by clicking these links:
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