ACE Project

The first 2,000 days are critical periods of child development, laying the foundation for young children's cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development. This age span is also a critical period for racial identity. Positive racial identity has been linked to Black children's achievement and socio-emotional.iii Research has found that when Black children receive messages about having positive self-worth and self-identity, balanced with messages about racial inequalities, this results in joyful learning and socio-emotional outcomes,iiiiv academic curiosity, and persistence.v Thus, a focus on positive racial identity may be one particular strategy to ensure the healthy development and learning for Black children to combat against racism and biases they are likely to experience. As evidenced by the planning grant data, Black children experience different forms of racism and inequities in their household and learning environments. We hypothesize that attending to culturally responsive teaching, and more precisely, African-centered teaching practices, is a more effective