ECEI Description
The Early Childhood Equity Initiative is an effort to develop leaders in early childhood education, in metro DC and nationwide, with an understanding of the theory and practice that helps create culturally responsive environments for young children.
Since 2003 the Early Childhood Equity Initiative has provided early childhood equity leadership training in the DC area and beginning in the fall of 2008 is expanding nationally. Funded by the Peppercorn Foundation,ECEI has worked with teachers, directors, graduate students, elementary school librarians, Head Start education coordinators, trainers and consultants to develop a close-knit network of colleagues interested in learning about and promoting curriculum, environments, programs, policies and standards that are equitable, culturally-responsive and linguistically consistent with the diverse communities served by our profession.
Since 2003 the Early Childhood Equity Initiative has provided early childhood equity leadership training in the DC area and beginning in the fall of 2008 is expanding nationally. Funded by the Peppercorn Foundation,
Vision
School and life successes, for all children, through linguistically and culturally-responsive early childhood learning environments
Mission
Providing teachers, parents and policy makers with equity education to ensure the development and maintenance of linguistically and culturally-responsive pedagogy, curricula, standards and policies in early childhood education
Guiding Principles
These ECEI principles are guidelines for our individual and collective planning and implementation of all ECEI work and provide the background against which each of us holds ourselves accountable. The principles are the framework by which we conduct ourselves and our activities towards achieving the ECEI goals.
- Embrace an anti-racism/anti-oppression approach in all our work, including working in interracial teams, except when inappropriate.
- Promote the principle of pluralism - fully embracing the uniqueness and value of all cultures, along with encouraging elements of assimilation which promote full-inclusion of multicultural perspectives and participation.
- Respect, demonstrate, and value experiences/knowledge of communities (arising from practice) as well as from academic domains (arising from formal research and theory).
- Conduct all training with interactive approaches, encouraging as much participant engagement as possible.
- Respect, demonstrate, value and learn from different teaching/learning modalities and career pathways when working among adults of diverse backgrounds.
- Incorporate participant’s native/home language into curriculum, knowing that language is a primary socializing tool and transmitter of culture.
- Involve a group representative of the larger population in every aspect of our work (training, writing, presenting, etc.) as well as in the planning, feedback, and evaluation processes.
- Ensure that all teaching practices, recommendations and examples used in our work represent the highest standards accepted within the community being described.
- Create environments, contexts and relationships for communities, groups and individuals, in a positive learning environment which promotes the practice of self-determination and self-empowerment.
- Prioritize equity as the key principle in decision making.
- Promote the use of recycled materials, knowing that caring for and protecting the environment is a large issue in the field of social equity.
