SPECIAL EVENT RECAP: Building ideal learning environments for children of color

May 2021
written by Cathy Kupsky

Racial identity is a part of the foundation built during a child’s earliest years of life. The learning environments created by early childhood educators play an important role in promoting positive self-identity, so educators must address bias and racism and be empowered to use anti-bias and anti-racist (ABAR) practices. Creating fair and equitable spaces for every child gives all children the chance to grow to their full potential.

Dr. William Jackson, chief dreamer at Village of Wisdom, shared with us how creating ideal learning environments is key to children’s learning. Bias and racism interfere with the mechanisms required to learn, such as attention and motivation, so anti-bias and anti-racist classrooms are key to ensuring all children can access learning opportunities. Joining him was a panel of early childhood educators from the Schoenbaum Family Center who discussed how they center on ABAR practices in an infant/toddler classroom, a preschool classroom, and through a multi-site book study for educators.

Speakers

William Jackson, chief dreamer at Village of Wisdom in Durham, NC

Eshelle Yarborough, lead infant/toddler teacher at the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning in the Schoenbaum Family Center

Oliva Diaz Melgarejo, lead preschool teacher in the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning in the Schoenbaum Family Center

Latoya Jackson, MS, Early Head Start (EHS) education specialist in the OSU-EHS Partnership Program in the Schoenbaum Family Center and co-leader of the Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms book study across multiple EHS sites in Columbus, OH

Key Findings from Dr. Jackson

  • Examine the environment: There are many interventions and programs aimed at “fixing” children’s academic performance, but instead we should examine whether we are creating learning environments that allow all children access learning opportunities.
  • Understand learning mechanisms: Learning is the process of connecting new information to prior knowledge. If the person facilitating the learning (i.e., a teacher) doesn’t understand a child’s prior knowledge, they may present new information in a way that makes it difficult for a child to learn. Likewise, educators must be careful to not impede on the attention (focus) and motivation (energy) a child needs to learn.
  • Learning is vulnerable: Learning requires vulnerability to accept new information, to try, and to fail. This requires safe and culturally affirming spaces.

Key Findings from Educator Panel

  • Eshelle: Commitment to ABAR practices in infant/toddler classrooms is an ongoing and ever-evolving endeavor. Teachers can promote this through re-examining classroom books and materials to ensure representation of characters, voices, and storytelling methods.
  • Oliva: Building on the foundational ideas of identity, diversity, inclusion, and equity, preschool teachers serve as facilitators of these ideas while relying on families as the content experts for their children. Honest discussions, curiosity around differences, and shared celebrations all help to create culturally affirming environments.
  • Latoya: A book study among educators offers the opportunity for ongoing conversations around implementing ABAR practices in the classroom, including the time and space to try new ideas, discuss them, and adjust. It provides educators a supportive environment to move from ABAR ideas into implementation.

Resources

Action Steps

Address bias and racism in all environments

Bias and racism, whether in differences in performance expectations or a lack of equal representation within classroom materials, interfere with the learning mechanisms for children of color. When educators honestly evaluate the environment and implement ABAR practices, they remove disruptions to the learning process and allow all children equitable access to new information.

Implement culturally affirming practices

Cultural differences between educators and their students requires that educators work to understand the background of each child in order to teach in a way that allows them to connect new information to prior knowledge.

Move beyond theory to implementation

Take time to look at your classroom environment with fresh eyes and tap into your creativity to actionably promote ABAR ideas. Lean on other educators who are doing this work for ideas and inspiration.