Interactive, creative play is an important aspect of early development. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/Shutterstock.com
By Jen Neitzel and Ebonyse Mead, Research Features, March 13, 2023
In recent years we have witnessed debates that all children, regardless of their background, should be entitled to equal opportunities in education, and that early educators have a responsibility to encourage this. The message that educators must be critical of their received opinions and reflective of their practice through learning is central to the ethos of the Educational Equity Institute and its proponents, Drs Jen Neitzel and Ebonyse Mead, based in and across the USA. Research Features was privileged to discuss the genesis and mission of the Educational Equity Institute, and the validity of other approaches drawn from their longstanding careers in the field of early childhood education.
Could you please tell us what led to the Educational Equity Institute’s founding?
Jen: When I was a Researcher and Technical Assistance Provider at FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, I got engaged in racial equity work and became more interested in providing training and other services to educational organizations. So, I started the Educational Equity Institute. Ebonyse was doing similar work; however, we did not know of each other. She and I met when we submitted almost identical proposals on implicit bias to an early-childhood conference in North Carolina. They asked if we would work together, and we both said, ‘yes’. We did not meet in person until the day of the training, and it was like we had known each other forever. It was a natural partnership for Ebonyse to join me as the President of the Educational Equity Institute, and we have been working together since then to build and develop it.
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