Exploring predictors and outcomes of racial/ethnic match between children and providers in Early Head Start
Section snippets
Importance of studying racial/ethnic match in the early head start context
The Early Head Start (EHS) program, the largest federal program serving infants, toddlers, and their parents from low-income families, offers a critical and unique context in which to understand the role of child-provider racial/ethnic match. The EHS program offers comprehensive center-based ECE and home-visiting services for children and families, and through these 2-generation programs, serves over 50,000 pregnant women, infants, and toddlers in the U.S. each year (Office of Head Start, 2019
Literature on racial/ethnic match in home visiting
While no known research has examined racial/ethnic match within the EHS program, there is a small body of research from home visiting programs. This research suggests that a racial/ethnic match between parents and home visitors is associated with families staying longer in the program and receiving more home visits (Daro, McCurdy, Falconnier, & Stojanovic, 2003), with evidence that this may be most true for Black families and less true for Latinx families (McCurdy, Gannon, & Daro, 2003). A
Literature on racial/ethnic match in preschool and kindergarten settings
While there is little known research on child-teacher racial/ethnic match among infants and toddlers and in the EHS context, there is a growing literature documenting the role on teacher perceptions of children's behavior and academic skills as well as academic outcomes across preschool to 12th grade. Increasingly, these studies demonstrate that when teachers and children share a racial/ethnic background, children benefit (Bates & Glick, 2013; Dee, 2004; Downer et al., 2016; Wright et al., 2017
Situating child-provider racial/ethnic match within a call for equity
Scholars have increasingly called for greater examinations of equity within developmental science (Syed, Santos, Yoo, & Juang, 2018) and, more specifically, within ECE (ECRQ Ad Hoc Committee on Racial Equity in Publishing, 2021). Such calls ask researchers to explicitly attend to the structural conditions that result in inequities and the ways in which oppression, particularly racism, shape the educational experiences of children. More specifically, an equitable vision of ECE is one where
Present study
Using a national representative study of families enrolled in EHS, this study provides the first portrait of racial/ethnic match in these first educational settings for children ages 1, 2, and 3. The present study extends previous research on racial/ethnic match in educational contexts with infants and toddlers examining the potential associations of match for child and parental outcomes. Specifically, we addressed the following research questions:
- 1)
Do children and families in EHS have providers
Sample
This study examined the Early Head Start Child & Family Experiences Study (Baby FACES) 2009-2012 (Vogel & Boller, 2015). A nationally representative longitudinal dataset, Baby FACES includes data on children and families that entered EHS by 12 months, their program and center directors, staff, and teachers. Children were selected from 89 program sites using a stratified clustered design, providing a nationally representative sample of the population of EHS programs in spring 2009. A total of
Results
The first goal of the study was to examine which children and families in EHS had providers who matched their race/ethnicity and which did not. Descriptive statistics for the percent of children who experienced match at ages 1, 2, and 3 years are included in Table 1 for the full sample and subsamples. In addition, we examined how many years children experienced match over the three years of data collection.
Discussion
This study adds to the growing literature examining how children's match with educators on race/ethnicity may contribute to children's learning and development. We focus on an understudied population, toddlers from low-income families receiving EHS center-based or home visiting 2-generation services. Our descriptive findings on experiences of match between children and providers and the predictors of how many years children experienced match, provides some implications for practice, while also
Author statement
Kyle DeMeo Cook, PhD conceptualized this study and designed research models, analyzed data and lead the writing and editing of the paper. Kevin Ferreira van Leer, PhD contributed to the study conceptualization, writing, reviewing and editing of the paper. Caitlin McPherran Lombardi, PhD contributed to the study conceptualization, writing, reviewing and editing of the paper.
Data statement
The Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES) Spring 2009-Spring 2012 data (Vogel & Boller, 2015) utilized in this study was made available with a restricted data license through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). For more information visit: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36074.v1
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors would like to thank the families and educators who participated in the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES).
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