Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Summer 2025 | Page 52

building professional learning communities, and creating online discussion boards

› Enact collaborative hiring processes by including staff members from different racial / ethnic backgrounds in hiring committees and gathering input based on their perspectives

› Solicit feedback from educators about creating or selecting a curriculum and implementing it

According to the NSECE, the early childhood education profession includes greater racial diversity than the general adult population within the United States. However, early childhood educators of color are underrepresented in the Midwest and Northeast. Research shows that a lack of racial diversity in staff and leadership can leave educators of color feeling isolated, unheard, and undervalued.

Sixty-five percent of teachers in our sample expressed that an increase in racial diversity among educators and leaders would help them feel better supported. As one Black / African American, Hispanic prekindergarten teacher stated,“ I think if you want to keep teachers of color and teachers of different ethnicities, then you’ re going to need to have leadership that also looks like us. If leadership doesn’ t look like us, then we don’ t feel confident that we’ ll be fought for when we need to be fought for.” In addition to concerns related to advocacy in the workplace, these educators may be unsure of their potential for advancement in leadership.

In addition, over 60 percent of the educators in our study expressed the need to improve staff and program cultural competence, which we defined as developing a better understanding of different cultures and being better equipped to foster positive relationships with children, families, and colleagues from various backgrounds.( Our definition is based on“ Cultural Competence: An Important