Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs

With a focus on the leader’s role in initiating and sustaining anti-bias education in programs for young children and their families, this book is both a stand-alone text and a perfect companion for Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. It emphasizes that this work is not only about changing curriculum, but requires thoughtful, strategic, long-term planning that addresses all components of an early childhood program. With a powerful combination of conceptual frameworks, strategies, and practical tools, Louise Derman-Sparks, renowned expert on anti-bias education, together with experienced early childhood directors Debbie LeeKeenan and John Nimmo, explain the structural and individual changes leaders must foster. Featuring the authors’ extensive experience in the field, supplemented with insights from other anti-bias educators, they build on and expand current thinking about best early childhood leadership practices. This is an essential resource for anti-bias education leaders engaged in change in the wide range of early childhood care and education settings.

Book Features:

• The principles, guidelines, and strategies needed for school- and program-wide transformation.
• Activities for working with teachers and families to integrate an anti-bias approach.
• Strategies for supporting and strengthening the leader’s ability to initiate and sustain anti-bias education change, including resources to increase staff skills for implementing anti-bias education with children.
• Tools for assessing anti-bias education progress and managing mandated standards and assessments.

Louise Derman-Sparks is an international consultant on anti-bias education with children and adults, co-author of What if All the Kids are White? Second Edition and Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Debbie LeeKeenan is a consultant and visiting professor of early childhood education at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, and retired long-time director of the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School, Tufts University. John Nimmo is an early childhood consultant and educator, former director of the Child Study and Development Center, and associate professor of family studies at the University of New Hampshire, and coauthor of Emergent Curriculum.

"This book is a tool box for building early childhood programs that foster sentiments of justice and fairness in leaders, teachers, and young children.”
—Herbert Kohl, educator and bestselling author

“A concise and powerful message for anti-bias leaders in early childhood education everywhere. A truly inspired gift of lessons from the movement, for the movement.”
—Carol Brunson Day, President of the Board, NAEYC

“For those who are seeking to make a real difference and impact on the world we live in, Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs lays a road map and foundation for the work ahead. As the book underlines, begin with a guiding vision of equity that can inspire a new generation of leaders through effective leadership, family engagement, and community resources. The work of these passionate authors challenges us to be fearless in the pursuit and building of sustainable anti-bias early childhood programs.”
—Luis A. Hernandez, early childhood education specialist

“Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs recognizes the essential role early childhood administrators play in initiating and sustaining culturally relevant care and education. Program leaders steeped in the principles of anti-bias education are able to see diversity as an organizational asset and work intentionally and strategically to make the abstract notion of social justice come alive throughout the program. This book provides the tools program leaders need to make that happen".
—Paula Jorde Bloom, Michael W. Louis Endowed Chair, McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University

“If you are an educator wanting to see more equity and inclusiveness in the world, at times discouraged, confused, or overwhelmed with how to manage the conflict that always emerges in the change process, you’ll find reassurance, resources, and strategic thinking to engage with in this anti-bias work.”
—Margie Carter, author, The Visionary Director, and international early childhood consultant

Download appendixes in PDF format

Click below for more information about a film that takes you directly into the diverse early childhood classroom, to see anti-bias education in real-time. Produced by Debbie LeeKeenan and John Nimmo with Lousie Derman-Sparks as senior adviser.