CEP and CEP Partners In the News
2021
The Hechinger Report: One Way to Make Universal Preschool a Reality - Head Start for All
October 07, 2021 In this Op-ed, CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP partner Dr. Conor Williams explain the benefits of universal healthcare and argue that the American Families Plan should build around Head Start, the country’s largest and longest-running early education program.
The 74: With Democrats Divided, Advocates Push to Save Key Education Priorities in Biden ‘Build Back Better’ Plan
September 30, 2021 In this article, CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek urges lawmakers to prioritize quality universal pre-K to support the whole child and family.
Phi Delta Kappan: Toward Policies that Promote Access and Equity in Early Education: A Conversation with Shantel Meek
September 27, 2021 In this interview, CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek addresses policies that promote access and equity in early education.
Houston Chronicle: Texas Ends Health and Safety Oversight that Protected Thousands of Migrant Kids
Aug 30, 2021 The 45 state-licensed shelters that provide care for migrant children have opted to remain open without state supervision three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the facilities closed. CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek explains the removal of state standards, particularly in Texas.
Your Tango: Why 250 Preschoolers Are Expelled In The US Each Day — More Than In Any K-12 Grade
Aug 21, 2021 CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek discusses the high expulsion and suspicious rates among pre-school children, particularly children of color.
At Ed Dept. Equity Summit, Marten Announces Plans to Address ‘Pressing Needs’ of Students with Disabilities
June 22, 2021
In an article discussing The U.S. Department of Education’s plans to make the needs of students with disabilities a higher priority when schools fully reopen in the fall, CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek voiced to the 74 how the speakers of the virtual equity summit, held by the Department of Education, could have given more attention to early-childhood education.
‘A Rising Tide That Lifts All Boats’: Having More Immigrant Peers Can Boost Scores For U.S.-Born Students, New Study Finds
May 10, 2021
CEP partner Dr. Conor Williams was quoted by the 74 about how immigrant children in a school raise the performance of the school.
Williams: Let’s Keep the Innovations the Pandemic Brought to Teaching English Learners and Reaching Their Families
May 9, 2021
CEP partner Dr. Conor Williams highlights the innovative techniques created during the pandemic meant to engage dual language learners and their families and the importance of maintaining the techniques.
A 4-Year-Old Child Is Not a Problem. And Expulsion Is Not a Solution.
April 25, 2021
CEP partner and Yale professor Walter Gilliam was cited in an opinion piece in the New York Times that advocates for California to outlaw expulsion for young children.
Biden's Plan for Families Could Bolster California's Push for Early Education, Care
April 28, 2021
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek discusses the significance of President Biden’s early childcare agenda and the importance of embedding equity in early child care education.
ASU grad inspired by fatherhood to research child development
April 19, 2021
Cullin Howard, one of our CEP Undergraduate Scholar Award recipients, was featured in ASU News as part of the notable spring 2021 graduates series. Cullin graduated with a degree in Family and Human Development and will be starting a graduate program at the University of Georgia, pursuing a PhD in human development and family science in the Fall of 2021.
Health and Well-Being of Black Girls and Women in Arizona Report
CEP postdoctoral scholar Dr. Evandra Catherine was a contributor in a report commissioned by the African American Women's Giving & Empowerment Circle and the State of Black Arizona. This report explores available data on the health and well-being of Black women and girls in Arizona and across the nation; with particular attention to COVID-19, demographics, vital statistics, health care, and end of life that will be used to inform advocacy, education, funding, and other strategies to improve their trajectory.
Amid Pandemic, Reformers Say Babies and Toddlers Need Quality Child Care
April 5, 2021
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek discusses the significance of President Biden’s early childcare agenda and the importance of providing quality child care for children aged birth to five.
Seeking Safety and Humanity in the Harshest Immigration Climate in a Generation: A Review of the Literature on the Effects of Separation and Detention on Migrant and Asylum‐Seeking Children and Families in the United States during the Trump Administration
March 31, 2021
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP partner Dr. Kelly Edyburn released a report on the effects of Trump’s immigration policies on child & family development.
Four ways to rebuild a better early ed system
March 4, 2021
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek discusses the pandemic with the Hechinger Report and highlights how it exacerbated the pre-existing inequities in the early childcare education system. They explore four ways to rebuild a better early childhood education system.
Image credit: Child care centers, like this one near Austin, Texas, have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. Credit: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report
Why the decision to pull 6 Dr. Seuss books is an important move for diversity
March 2, 2021
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek discusses the importance of having children’s literature that reflects the diversity in America's young children.
Image credit: Still of Yahoo Life video
2020
The Preschool Exclusionary Discipline Study
December 9, 2020
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP partner Dr. Richard Fabes and postdoc Dr. Evandra Catherine review the 2017-2018 CRDC Data, revealing that Black children are suspended and expelled at a rate 2.7 times higher than White children. Furthermore, Native American kids are suspended and expelled at about 1.6 times higher than White children.
New Federal Data Shows Black Preschoolers Still Disciplined at Far Higher Rates than Whites
November 27, 2020
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP postdoc Dr. Evandra Catherine discuss the need to abandon the colorblind approach to discipline and explicitly write actions to address racial disparity into policy and budgets.
OPINION: U.S. Public Schools Should be Federally Funded
November 06, 2020
CEP founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP partner Dr. Meek and Dr. Williams published an op-ed in the Hechinger Report discussing the impact of COVID-19 on school funding and making the case for substantially increasing the federal role in education funding as a matter of equity.
Start at the Beginning: New Report Offers Solutions to Rooting Out Racism in Early Education
October 25, 2020
CEP Founder Dr. Shantel Meek and CEP partners Drs. Rosemarie Allen and Conor Williams released a new report that provides concrete solutions to addressing inequities in early ed, “so that today’s preschoolers are not tomorrow’s protester.”
New Data Tell How We Can Better Meet English Learners’ Needs This Fall
September 15, 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Conor Williams published a piece at The Century Foundation on how schools can learn from the spring to better serve dual language learners in the fall.
As D.C. Feels Gentrification Pressures, New Study Finds Its Pre-K Lottery Provides Equal — but Not Necessary Equitable — Access
September 08, 2020
By Dr. Conor Williams Dr. Williams published a piece at the 74 Million on new research on school enrollment policies in Washington, DC's universal pre-K program.
Report: Deck Stacked Against Young Children of Color, but Leaders Can ‘Seize This Moment’ to Improve Equity
July 14, 2020
The 74 features the Children’s Equity Project’s Start with Equity report, which offers a policy agenda that includes a ban on punishments that exclude children from classrooms, more early-childhood mental health services, full funding for special education, incentives for including children with disabilities in regular classrooms, and assessment tools in multiple languages.
Start With Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades
July 14, 2020
The Children’s Equity Project and the Bipartisan Policy Center released today a groundbreaking, actionable policy roadmap for all levels of government on closing long-standing educational equity gaps that start at birth in the United States.
Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades highlights the grave inequities that have long pervaded the education system and affect the lives of millions of children from historically marginalized communities, using the lens of three policy areas: disproportionate application of harsh discipline practices; lack of inclusion of students with disabilities in general classrooms; and inequitable and inadequate access to dual language programming. In each policy area, the 140-page report includes analyses of existing data, a review of the latest research and concrete recommendations for policymakers at the federal, state and local levels.
Williams: Despite Our Desperation — and the President’s Insistence — Facts Don’t Support Schools Safely Reopening This Fall
July 12, 2020
With COVID-19 cases on the rise and the academic school year quickly approaching, many are wondering if in-person schooling will resume this fall. CEP partner Dr. Conor Williams argues that we are still a long way from a public-health scenario where in-person schooling is likely to be safe.
How to Engage in Anti-Racism Practices
June 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Rosemarie Allen had a conversation with CBS4 about ways to engage in anti-racism practices.
How to Build a Better Child Care System
May 29, 2020
CEP founder, Dr. Shantel Meek discusses how crucial a quality child care system is. She emphasizes that quality child care is more than a place where children exist while their parents work, but an important environment where they can learn and grow.
Metro State University Professor Details How To Speak To Your Kids On Racism
May 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Rosemarie Allen talks to CBS4 reporter Justin Adams about how parents can speak to their kids about racism and social injustice.
English Learners Are Home with Their Home Languages, and That’s Okay
April 29, 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Conor Williams details the unique challenges English-learning students face during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams: The Politics — and Economics — Around Why We Should Make Pre-K Universal Are Changing
April 27, 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Conor Williams discusses the importance of making Pre-K universal and how each Democratic presidential candidate discusses the topic in their campaign.
Williams: Coronavirus Pandemic Reveals the Reality — and the Risk — of America’s Child Safety Net Being Its Public Schools
March 2020
CEP Partner Dr. Conor Williams discusses the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the benefits and risks of the American public education system.
There’s a Real Progressive Case for Supporting Charter Schools
February 20, 2020
CEP partner Dr. Conor Williams argues that a strong push to advance progressive ends through charters could improve students' academic performance, school integration, and the quality of the charter movement.
2019
OPINION: Let's Never See Another First-Grader in Handcuffs
October 15, 2019
Dr. Shantel Meek, founding director of the Children's Equity Project at Arizona State University, partnered with Roy Austin Jr., a former deputy assistant to the president and policy lead on criminal justice reform in the Obama administration, to examine and address the criminalization of black children in early education.
Aware Is Halfway There: Identifying and Combating Implicit Biases in Early Childhood Education
October 3, 2019
As the keynote speaker of the Sharing a Vision Conference, president and CEO of the Institute for Racial Equity and Excellence and Children's Equity Project partner, Dr. Rosemarie Allen spoke about implicit biases - and how they can address them.
Image credit: Tim Shelley / WCBU
Back to School but Nothing's Normal. Schools Mobilize to Help Children of Immigrants After Traumatic Summer
September 15, 2019
Along with other experts and educators, Dr. Shantel Meek, founding director of the Children's Equity Project at Arizona State University, weighed in on the topic of chronic stress affecting a child's learning at school. She said, "When we think about early childhood development, what's the number one thing that we think is critical to healthy development? Securely attached relationships. It's this notion of dependability of 'I'm going to cry and I trust you to be there to meet my needs.'"
Recent, sudden changes to U.S. immigration policies risk, she explained, "taking away that trust, that security that kids have in their primary caregiver. We're fundamentally messing with the social-emotional foundation of these kids ... It's like we're intentionally causing trauma."
Image credit: People hold candles during a candlelight vigil at the Immanuel Church for victims of a shooting that left a total of 22 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas, Aug 5, 2019. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
Laboratories of Democracy: Washington, DC, Showed How to do Universal Pre-K Right
August 12, 2019
Dr. Conor Williams, a Children's Equity Project partner, wrote an article on Washington's universal public prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds and how this creates a ripple effect that helps K-12 students too.
Image credit: Christina Animashaun/Vox
2018
Betsy DeVos Loves Charter Schools. That's Bad for Charter Schools
June 2, 2018
Dr. Conor Williams, a Children's Equity Project partner, wrote an article on school choice and the unique position charter schools have been placed in due to politics.
Image credit: Devyn Pittorf teaching a kindergarten class at Hiawatha Leadership Academy-Morris Park elementary school in the Morris Park area of Minneapolis.CreditCreditJoe Dickie/Big World Films, via Hiawatha Academies