Sprig Learning is a purpose-built company: to help every child succeed irrespective of all needs and circumstances.This article reviews systemic challenges that have long impacted equity in ECE. 

These challenges have deepened inequity in education. Some by faulty design, and others due to natural demographic changes. 

But first, why does equity matter?

Why Is Equity Such a Priority?

Equality of opportunity is the basic building block of education where every child receives the quality education needed to succeed. High-quality education in early years is especially important as so much learning and childhood development happens between birth to age eight. 

To this endeavor, there are federal, state and provincial programs that expand high-quality early childhood education programs so children from various backgrounds are able to have the same chances to succeed academically.

But the responsibility of the schooling system does not stop there. It’s how every child interacts with these early learning programs that ultimately determines achievement outcomes in academia and other socio-emotional domains. 

Every child is unique. Each child requires the collaboration of educators, parents, the community, researchers, administrators and policy makers to ensure equity. 

When families and children are left to fend for themselves in order to achieve equity and fairness, discrepancies in outcomes begin to take place.

These discrepancies usually correlate to families from low socioeconomic backgrounds and/or  non-native English speakers.

Here are two main causes of inequity in early childhood education.

Too Much Value is Placed on Standardized Testing

Child development specialists and educators recognize the importance of the early learning years. 

Observational formative assessments have always been used to monitor the growth and development of young students and catalog their progress.

In the late 90s in the US, there was an increase in formal standardized testing to categorize students into groups of different abilities or make a decision on whether to place them at a certain grade level. 

It’s a trend that has not abated. More instances of standardized testing in early childhood education have been making their way into large school systems in the US such as the Chicago Public schools. California and other states have been moving towards established assessments for k-2 students. 

Boys and non-English speakers are at a disadvantage when it comes to such types of early screenings. They are more likely to be held back or placed in a special group and miss out on the benefits of continued learning opportunities. 

LaParo and Pianta found in a meta analytic review, that only a quarter of variance on academic/cognitive skills on first and second grades tests were accurately predicted by preschool or kindergarten tests.

Standardized testing has its place in the system, but not at the onset of the early learning period. This early on, there’s too much at stake to mistakenly limit a child’s potential by holding them to a lower standard because of a standardized assessment taking place during a small moment in time.  

Yes, standardized tests are often valuable for education systems to understand the degree to which children are represented in different developmental domains. But this should not limit an individual child’s potential or learning trajectory.

The Role of Implicit Bias Is Unchecked Due to Lack of Data

Researchers have studied the effects of stress and ambiguity on educators who work in a school setting that foster unconscious attitudes, stereotypes and reactions. Implicit bias is real. Luckily, by being aware of it, we can mitigate its effect. 

The expectations teachers place on their students have been linked to student success. It’s an opportunity for educators to base those expectations on the back of evidence, rather than using any mental heuristics which are prone to implicit bias, or even explicit bias. 

Incorporating a data-driven decision making approach for educators can support teachers when planning daily instruction in their classrooms.. Data-driven instruction has been shown to positively impact the childhood education experience and enhance student outcomes. 

With an evidence-based approach that collects multiple data points during assessment and throughout the delivery of instruction during the school year, educators can best adapt instruction to the strengths, needs and interests of the child. Sprig Learning’s AI Engine was built to collect such data to personalize instruction for students,and support differentiated instruction in the classroom.

Diversity Necessitates Inclusion

In the beginning of this article, it was discussed how equity is the goal to strive for, beyond equality or access to education. But there are two things that also require discussion. Diversity and inclusion. 

In order to achieve equity, the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of all children need to be recognized and included. When a child’s culture is reflected in the education system,  this increases a child’s sense of belonging and engagement when it comes to learning. 

Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) has 175 schools and over 100,000 students in its system. To ensure every student felt included and was treated fairly, teachers, parents, local businesses, community groups, and others were interviewed to gather their feedback.

As a result, and in an effort to ensure an equitable education for children from economically-diverse communities, it adopted adaptive technology that personalizes learning for all students.

Christina Byers, Executive Director of Leadership Development for BCPS elementary schools, says “Adaptive technology can help ensure that kids aren’t penalized because of their zip code or their race or what school they happen to go to”.

To  foster and support diversity in education, it is clear that diverse communities need to be engaged and included. 

The percentage of students from a low socio-economic status, who are English-language learners and who have diagnosed disabilities have all increased by 5 or more percentage points in the US over the last five decades.

Diversity is not only restricted to demographic and socioeconomic factors. There is also neurodiversity. Nearly half of all students in the public education system have some sort of learning diversity. In order to achieve ultimate equity in education, learning has to be personalized at an individual level.

Main Lessons in Equity

Building Equity Accountability Through Data

Whether it’s structures and processes in place such as the standardized tests, our own implicit bias, or the growing diversity in today’s classroom, there is a lot to be done on the road to achieving equity in early learning. 

Early learning is especially important as that’s where equity issues can first start to surface. Recent research across the US found that preschoolers are expelled at rates three times higher than school-aged children.  Nearly half of those expelled were African American children, despite representing only 18 percent of enrolment 

Rather than punitive measures, it should be better understood why certain children are acting the way they are, so they can be better supported from the start. 

For improved early learning equity, the Education Trust, a think tank, recommends building strong vertical data systems that track student progress over time. Sprig agrees, as it uses portfolios in its program to build a learning profile for young students which follows the child as they progress from grade to grade and year to year.  

There are benefits to be gained by monitoring learning over time, so we can better isolate the factors that could be causing inequity. To this point, the Education Trust, also recommends tracking preschool data at a program level, complementing  data at the district or county level.

Building Identity Through Culturally Responsive Resources

Educare Chicago is an innovative early learning research-based program that serves low-income preschool children in Chicago. It helps children develop the literacy, language, early math and social-emotional skills they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

But they also address the issue of equity head on. Their approach “emphasizes a teacher’s capacity to help a child recognize how they are simultaneously different and similar to others.” 

As a result, children feel grounded in who they are and also able to comfortably engage with people from all backgrounds.

It’s important for students to develop a strong identity with relevant classroom resources and materials, so students see themselves reflected in their curriculum. 

There is lots to think about. 

By honouring diversity with culturally-relevant classroom materials, and monitoring student data over time, it’s conceivable to move forward in our shared goal of education equity for all. Sprig is leading this front, with expertise in both these areas. Contact us to learn more.

Indigenous Peoples of Canada have always inhabited every corner of the nation. This Orange Shirt Day, we take the time to remember those lives that have been lost or affected. As we remember, we also turn a hopeful gaze towards the future. 

Part of truth and reconciliation is education that is developed by and for Indigenous people. We illustrate 13 such Indigenous learning initiatives from all across Canada. In each case, it’s an initiative developed in collaboration with or by Indigenous educators, Elders and/or community leaders.

Indigenous Learning Initiatives Across Canada

One for Each Province and Territory.

Indigenous Community: Cowichan Tribes

Province: BC

The Cowichan Valley School District has a page dedicated to Hul’qumi’num language resources such as videos, flash cards, stories and a dictionary. Such resources were developed in partnership with the Hul’q’umi’num’ speaking community..

In their learning strategic plan 2020-2024, the school district stresses Indigenous ways of knowing that include “working together with one heart, one mind and one thought”. They emphasize the need for recognizing Indigenous content in their students’ learning journey.

Indigenous Community: Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation

Province: AB

The Athabasca Tribal Council (ATC) has worked with the Elders in its 5 First Nation member communities to develop a Cree App to promote the language. The app is available on the App Store and Google Play and has a growing list of more than 400 words. 

The ATC Dene language app is available on both platforms as well and can be used for self-study or to help in conversation. Its latest version includes word categories such as medicines, directions, calendar, food etc.

Indigenous Community: The Métis

Province: SK

Often students need that extra encouragement to develop a deeper interest in a subject.  While public universities and non-Indigenous organizations offer scholarships, since 2018 the Métis Nation has offered its own scholarship program, to better harness learning interest in its community in Saskatchewan through the Saskatchewan Post-Secondary Education Program.

As president of the Metis Nation Saskatchewan, Glen McCallum says “Education is key to self-determination, what we accomplish today will be for them to build on tomorrow.”

Indigenous Community: Shamattawa First Nation

Province: MB

The Kisemattawa Kiskinwahamakew Kamik School serves the Shamattawa First Nation. It’s situated in the very beautiful and remote fly-in community of Shamattawa. Despite being so isolated, it has all the amenities of a modern school, such as a library, cafeteria, computer lab gymnasium and science lab.  

There are talks of introducing land-based education into the curriculum, which focuses on an Indigenous and environmental-friendly approach to education to develop the child.

Indigenous Community: The Anishinaabe

Province: ON

From the early 2000s, Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre (KERC) has collaborated with the First Nations in the Sioux Lookout Area to revive the Anishinaabe language. 

The work helps distill a strong sense of identity in the Anishinaabe people, supporting success for students in schools and in their communities. High-quality educational resources, such as Treaty lesson plans, flashcards and syllabic charts are available at the KERC store.

Indigenous Community: Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke

Province: QC

Early learning and higher secondary education were featured earlier as learning initiatives in this article. To further promote the Indigenous idea of lifelong learning, there is the The First Nations Regional Education Center in Kahnawake, Quebec.

The center offers “individualized training methods” to help adult students complete a ministry accredited education path such as a school diploma, or vocational training.

Indigenous Community: The Innu

Province: NL

The Mamu Tshishkutamashutau Innu Education Board Office has collaborated with other organizations to create an “Innu-aimun” (language resources) page.The Innu Conversation app is available on iTunes. It has 21 topics of conversation ranging from family, to greetings, to the weather. It features speakers from the community. 

The Innu Dictionary and the Innu Medical Glossary are available on both the App Store and Google Play. The dictionary features sample sentences, and the Medical Glossary contains over 1,200 terms and 4,000 audio files.

Indigenous Community: Tobique First Nation

Province: NB

Until recently, the majority of Tobique First Nation parents had chosen to send their children to off-reserve school in the town of Perth Andover.  The last five years have witnessed an incredible example of First Nations control of First Nations education as local education leaders brought in new literacy programs, improved school lunches and a focus on language training.  

Today, the state-of-the art Mah-Sos School currently offers K4 to Grade 5 culturally based programming that incorporates Wolastoq/Maliseet culture, history and language.

Indigenous Community: Abegweit First Nation

Province: PE

When building an education program, staff and resources are a good starting point, but the community needs to be supported with quality programs where students can hone their desire to learn and advance. Abegweit First Nation realizes the need to support the community and covers K-12 education in the community. Homework clubs and after-school tutoring programs are some examples of the services they provide. 

Early learning is a strong focus as well. Their infant and toddler programs are for ages 0-2 and 2-3 respectively, and facilitates the growth in language, math, science, cognitive skills, social skills, and gross motor skills.

Indigenous Community: The Mi’kmaq

Province: NS

Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey (MK), along with the province and Millbrook First Nation have introduced the teaching of Treaty education to all children in Nova Scotia, after renewing a memorandum of understanding.

MK collaborates with Sprig Learning to develop and produce resources that talk about Miꞌkmaq identity, the importance of treaties, present state of treaty relationship, and how to best promote reconciliation. Resources such as interactive assessment apps, where animal characters teach young learners about the traditions and cultures of the Mi’kmaq people.

Indigenous Community: The Kaska

Territory: YT

The Yukon Native Language center, in collaboration with respective Yukon First Nations, came up with posters and pictures of “encouragement phrases”.  These were made to promote language revitalization and restoration, and are in each of the 8 different Yukon Indigneous languages.

For the Kaska language particularly, audio lessons and storybooks are also available. All of these resources are available to download.

Indigenous Communities: Gwich’in and Inuvialuit

Territory: NWT

Gwichin’in and Inuvialuit songs and alphabet games are used as a teaching tool in schools in NWT. An effort is made to promote language visibility. Teachers are encouraged to hang different posters on bulletin boards in accordance with the seasons. 

More localized research needs to be done where teachers immerse themselves in the local culture and try to understand the Inuvialuit perspective.

Indigenous Community: The Inuit

Territory: NT

A memorandum of understanding was signed earlier this year to strengthen the Inuktitut language across Nunavut. The federal government pledged $42 million over 5 years to support the agreement. The approach includes: increasing access to Inuktut language instruction; increasing the number of proficient Inuktut-speaking Inuit educators; and promoting the revitalization of Inuktut language and education rights. 

Aluki Kotierk, President of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated said “This is great news for Inuit students. Increasing the number of Inuktut-speaking teachers will realize our expectation of Inuktut language of instruction in our schools.”

Parting Words

It’s often difficult to discuss the path forward given Canada’s history and the significance of Orange Shirt Day. However, these 13 successes give all of us hope that reconciliation is possible. More needs to be done to bring awareness, understanding and truth around the importance of Indigenous education, language and culture. Indigenous language and cultural revitalization is a vital first step towards Indigenous sovereignty and educational equity across Canada.

Indigenous Education and Sprig

Sprig Learning is a purpose-built company that focuses on holistic early learning pedagogy and approaches that ensures every student receives a fair shot at success in school. Education inequity can rear its head in many shapes and forms across schools and classrooms in North America. In all of our educational programming, we strive to address both socio-economic and cultural inequities as much as possible.

Since 2018, Sprig Learning and Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey have worked in partnership to create innovative education technology resources for Mi’kmaw students, teachers, and families across Nova Scotia. We have dedicated a Language Revitalization page on our website that provides Indigenous educational resources which support the local curriculum. It helps to collectively pause and reflect back on the nature of Indigenous education, so together we can better support all Indigenous students, families and communities.

What is Indigenous Education?

It’s best to start by defining what is meant by Indigenous education. Awareness of Indigenous matters is rising across North America, but there is definitely a long way to go before there is true understanding and reconciliation. 

Indigenous educators identify several key attributes of Indigenous education. Indigenous education is a lifelong process that is experiential in nature and rooted in Indigenous languages and cultures. Indigenous education is an integration of both Indigenous and Western knowledge, it is spiritually oriented, and a communal activity that involves family, community and Elders. 

To truly understand Indigenous education, the historical context must be understood and reconciled. In the not-so-distant past in both the US and Canada, boarding schools and residential schools were used to assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream society. These social policies ultimately failed and were rightly disbanded. Indigenous cultures and languages are alive today across numerous nations, communities, tribes and language families. But the impact of residential schools is real and devastating. Impacting the important tenets of Indigenous education: language, culture, community, traditions, and relationships. 

As the former Indigenous Supreme Court Judge and senate member, Honourable Murray Sinclair aptly said, “Education has gotten us into this mess, and education will get us out.” This message is especially important in early childhood education, where foundational learning occurs which significantly determines the success of students in later years. 

Indigenous control over Indigenous education is pivotal to this change. Increasingly,  Indigenous communities are administering educational programs and services formerly delivered by non-Indigenous governments. Indigenous communities, schools, and education systems are developing culturally relevant curriculum and community-based language and culture programs and creating their own educational institutions. 

However, full control of Indigenous education has far from been realized. Today in the USA, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funds 183 elementary and secondary schools for Indigenous students, 130 of which are tribally controlled. Approximately 95% of American Indian and Alaskan Native students attend public schools, and only 17% of those students attend schools where the majority of students are Indigenous. 

Indigenous research, scholars and educators have long identified that educational outcomes improve when Indigenous communities and schools lead and control their education system. An Indigenous education system that is holistic, lifelong, grounded in Indigenous language and culture, and community-led.

Why is Indigenous Education Important?

Indigenous education has come to the forefront of the education dialogue recently in North America. There is a growing understanding of the importance of Indigenous education and its benefit for all students. Increased awareness and understanding of Indigenous peoples, customs, traditions and cultures helps improve the quality of public education overall, adding depth and innovation to the curriculum across all ages.

There is also much that public education systems can learn from Indigenous pedagogies and approaches. For instance, an Indigenous focus on holistic education, which covers not just intellectual development, but also physical, spiritual and emotional development, allows for more comprehensive support for all learners. In public education, social-emotional learning is often treated as a separate domain. But in Indigenous education, it is inclusive and part of the holistic approach.

Indigenous learning practices incorporate learning by doing. Experiential learning supports informal and formal education where students engage in place-based activities in the classroom or outside on the land. For example, Indigenous learners in Alaska use all five senses to learn, and are also taught to use their gut feeling or intuition.

Indigenous education also places special value on the land and climate. Learning about these things at an early age develops a more holistic consciousness and supports the promotion of ecological sustainability in the long run. 

Incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing and learning into classrooms can also help rectify any false narratives and stereotypes created over the years about Indigenous peoples.

Focus on Indigenous Sovereignty

According to Indigenous educators and leaders all around North America, the most important value of Indigenous education is its role in the further development of Indigenous pedagogy. Both the US and Canada have schools on reservations that have some degree of autonomy to set their curriculum and teaching methods. 

John Martin, Chief of Gesapegiag called the recent memorandum of understanding to develop a regional education agreement as “one more step toward the common achievement of change that fully supports the control of First Nations’s education by and for First Nations in Quebec, as envisioned by Chiefs in the early 1970s”.

The continued advocacy of Indigenous education creates the momentum and urgency for government bodies, concerned institutions and also the private sector to invest in the development of Indigenous resources and professional development.

What Are the Challenges Surrounding Indigenous Education?

The importance of Indigenous education is well established by identifying its strengths, benefits and general sentiments from those in the community. But there is another way to understand just how much of an impact, policies, investments and innovation have on Indigenous education. It’s by looking at what happens when there is the absence of the aforementioned three factors.

Indigenous school children have historically faced isolation, self-doubt and confusion when trying to conform to a system that does not acknowledge their culture and traditions. Further to this, the median annual household income for Indigenous Americans in the US is only $23,000. For those living on reserve, the lower range of this number can drop down to as low as $5,000. Household income levels for Indigenous peoples are not much better in Canada where almost half of the registered First Nations population living on reservations were in a low-income situation in the last census.

So, when combined with the threat of acculturation and poverty, Indigenous students on a whole have not succeeded in school as early learners. Families find it challenging to support their child’s learning at school and at home. Schools are often not resourced adequately to provide the individual attention every child deserves. All coupled with a historic bias (implicit and explicit) in the education system that impacts the success of Indigenous learners.

When it comes to the teaching provided in the schools, Indigenous students have historically reported experiencing minimal individual attention and personal contact with their teachers. This sense of neglect more often leads to a feeling of disconnect, where there is lack of motivation to attend school and learn.

What Is Being Done to Support Indigenous Education?

Things are slowly beginning to improve as Indigenous educators and advocacy groups push for legislative changes that incorporate Indigenous education across the curriculum. But its implementation is patchy across the board, with some jurisdictions not requiring the provision of some Indigenous concepts in the curriculum, and some requiring its implementation at some level.

Indigenous sovereignty and control over education is not fully realized in all jurisdictions.  Yet we should look to celebrate the many successes, including amalgamations of Indigenous knowledge into the curriculum that have been localized.

• Arizona has developed an Apache language immersion program and drumming to promote Apache culture and pride. 
• Montana introduced Indigenous history material that explains the current state of the reservations and how historical treaties and acts played a role in it.
• Washington incorporated elements of Indigenous sciences for its Spokane student body, such as using a traditional menthol-flavored root to soothe throats.

There are capacity-building laws being introduced to support Indigenous education in the US. New Mexico legislature’s Derrick Lente says “it’s not a higher education bill, rather it’s leveraging those folks in higher education capacities to help our students and our tribal communities to develop their own curricula within their own communities”.

In Canada, the importance of building a quality Indigenous curriculum is reflected in many federal programs and commissions. For example, The Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework was set up to provide a “comprehensive and coordinated system that is anchored in self-determination, centered on children and grounded in culture”. 

In a survey of First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada, the importance of language, culture and history were the top responses  from participants in all regions. Both Indigenous parents and youth alike expressed the desire to include more of these themes in the school curriculum. 

Great consideration is being given to early learning in primary grades as well to avoid the classroom alienation many Indigenous students have felt about their history and culture. The revitalization of language is a core concept where Indigenous students should feel proud to express and retain their culture.

There are a host of other challenges that impact Indigenous education, such as school infrastructure, teacher training, extracurricular services, and community support. To date, language and classroom curriculum improvements seem to be the fountainhead for most improvements.

Only the Beginning

Indigenous education is a full-fledged system of its own that holistically embraces the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of learning, with a special focus on community involvement and learning from Elders. There is so much commonality between an Indigenous approach to learning and early childhood pedagogy. This is why, at Sprig, holistic learning is one of the key tenets of our company.

But from a grand scheme of things, Indigenous education in North America requires much more attention. We hope this discussion contributed to the understanding and needed discussion for all Indigenous students, schools and communities.