Perspective | The impact of Alabama governor’s ouster of early childhood education chief

The program is considered a success. In a report in March, the National Institute for Early Education Research at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education and the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute cited Alabama’s early-childhood program as one of five state exemplars that serve at least one-third of their 4-year-old population and meet at least seven of the institute’s 10 quality benchmarks. That means they have many policies to support high-quality preschool.

The institute’s 2021 state preschool year, with state by state data, reported that Alabama was one of only five states with preschool programs that met all 10 benchmarks for minimum state preschool quality standards. (The others were Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi and Rhode Island.)

But Ivey forced Cooper’s resignation because of an educator’s resource book that had been in use for years but had just been brought to her attention, according to a statement reported by Alabama Political Reporter. The book, Ivey said, “invokes ideas for teachers that there are ‘larger systemic forces that perpetuate systems of White privilege’ or that ‘the United States is built on systemic and structural racism.’”

After being criticized for forcing Cooper to resign, Ivey defended her decision to reporters, saying, “The teacher resource book that I looked at had all those references to different kind of lifestyles and equity and this and that and the other,” Ivey told reporters Thursday. “That’s not teaching English. That’s not teaching writing. That’s not teaching reading. We need to focus on the basics, y’all, and get this right.”

In this piece, Nonie K. Lesaux and Stephanie M. Jones explain why Cooper’s removal undermines Alabama’s early-childhood-education program — and its potential effect on other states.

Lesaux is the Roy E. Larsen Professor of Human Development and Education and co-director of the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jones is the Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development and co-director of the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative.

The business case for public investment in early-childhood programs

By Nonie K. Lesaux and Stephanie M. Jones

Alabama’s statewide voluntary prekindergarten program, known as First Class, is recognized as a national leader by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Under the leadership of Barbara Cooper, the secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, the program not only maintained its reputation for excellence during the coronavirus pandemic, but it also became stronger, with a more cohesive team of coaches and administrators committed to listening to and learning from one another. Their hard work has put more and more of Alabama’s children on a path to academic success, strengthening the state’s economic prospects.

Yet, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has forced Cooper to resign. Her offense? Giving early educators around the state a nationally respected, widely used guide to working with young children in the classroom.

The book in question, “Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8,” is a foundation of early education in the United States, and Alabama educators have used it for years. In its 800-plus pages, educators learn how children’s brains and personalities develop across early childhood, how to translate that knowledge into classroom practices that support learning for all young children, how to assess children’s learning, how to build positive relationships with their families, and much more.

Now in its fourth edition, the book — produced by the well-regarded National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) — is definitive, authoritative, research-based, and the product of decades of work by educators and scholars alike. It’s an indispensable resource for anyone who works in early education, in any state in the nation.

Yet, according to a statement from the governor, the book promotes “woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core.”

What are those concepts? In a few passages, the book reminds readers that Black and other minority children have historically experienced bias and stereotyping that hinders their education, and it urges educators to be aware of those biases and to compensate for them. It also notes that “children from all families,” including those who have gay, lesbian or transgender parents, “need to hear and see messages that promote [their] equality, dignity and worth.”

In other words, it tells educators that children learn best in an environment that feels welcoming and safe to them — the kind of environment that all parents want for their children.

“Developmentally Appropriate Practice” isn’t a curriculum. It contains no lesson plans or specific activities, and it has nothing to say about what educators should be teaching young children. Rather, it’s designed to help educators create classroom environments that are conducive to learning for all children, no matter what they’re being taught.

Research shows that disruption to early education systems, even those of the highest quality, have deleterious cascading effects at all levels, ultimately compromising outcomes for the children those systems serve.

In Alabama, the leadership team and teacher coaches under Cooper have experienced an abrupt, unexpected and unwelcome transition. This comes after great success in strengthening coaching and professional learning across the state over the past several years. The department supported early educators at a time when their jobs were more challenging than ever and their mental health was compromised. At the same time, they were serving children who had suffered a drastic blow to their early learning and development because of the pandemic.

Those leaders and coaches now face stress and uncertainty as they try to do their jobs, putting new pressures on their ability to conduct their coaching and professional learning work that will be palpable to the educators in the classroom. When adults are stressed, children’s stress also increases and manifests in their behavior in the classroom.

That’s a quick window into just one tangible effect in Alabama. Now, consider the ripple effects of Ivey’s decision beyond her state’s borders. Other governors may follow suit in a similarly reckless way. And NAEYC — the largest professional organization in the nation focused on supporting the nation’s early education and care system — could face a communications crisis. It may now have to head off attacks on a comprehensive resource used by thousands of educators nationwide at a time when staffing shortages are at unprecedented levels and children and families are exhibiting the pandemic’s enduring effects on their health and well-being.

Ivey said in her statement about Cooper’s ouster: “We want our children to be focused on the fundamentals, such as reading and math.”

Decades of high-quality research and classroom experiences have shown us that children who feel unwelcome, unsafe or looked down upon will struggle to learn anything, in Alabama or anywhere else.