The TMF NCCP Research Project 2006 - 2008

Promoting Tolerance and Respect for Diversity in Early Childhood: Toward A Research and Practice Agenda

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
NCCP is one of the nation's leading university-based public policy center that conducts and utilizes research to promote the health, economic security and well-being of America's most vulnerable children and families. Founded in 1989, it is a part of the Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University. NCCP's mission is to identify and promote strategies that reduce child poverty and improve outcomes for low-income children and families. NCCP's research, policy analysis and tool development focus on promoting three goals: Economically secure families, healthy, nurturing families, and children ready for and succeeding in school.

The Rationale for the Project
There are both philosophical and pragmatic reasons for this project. Focusing attention on young children and the development of respect for tolerance and diversity represents an important way to promote pro-social skills in dealing with others who are different, as well as to promote a vision of social inclusion at an important developmental stage; the years from birth through nine. Given increasing globalization as well as the increasing ethnic diversity in America ( by 2030, the majority of children will be of multiple races and ethnicities), a systematic focus on understanding the early childhood strategies and research currently in place, as well as the kinds of strategies and research that might be promoted represents an important way to sharpen the dialogue around these issues. Further, although the developmental path of the emergence of pro-social attitudes toward others and respect for diversity is not well understood, there is an assumption, supported by the general principles of developmental psychology that values, knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Tolerance and respect for Diversity must start young.

Guiding questions:
The guiding questions that will inform the project are:

• How is diversity education, anti-bias/anti-discrimination education and other terms that signify similar concepts defined particularly with respect to early childhood? How are they operationalized? To what extent do different conceptual frameworks relate to research and practice interventions?
• What are the principles of good teaching practice that promote positive attitudes toward and inclusion of people who are different, particularly, in the American context by class and race? Which direct and indirect interventions best protect young children from exclusion and social stigmatization and by what mechanisms?
• Can pro-social behavior that is respectful of diversity be significantly increased through intentional early childhood classroom interventions? What is known about the impact of involving not just teachers, but parents as well? Which children benefit more from planned interventions, more privileged (and often in the U.S. more white children) or children of color (and more often, low-income children)? [i]
• To what extent do current initiatives address income as well as diversity by race and ethnicity?
• What can we say about 'what works'? What is the state of the research? What kinds of outcomes and over what length of time are they being tracked? What are the necessary support components for teachers? Links to families? What is necessary to improve the research?
• How does the larger American political and values context affect the best approaches to Tolerance Education in this country?