Understanding Parents' Motivations for Enrolling Children in African-Centered Education Early Learning Programs

The significance of this project is to go beyond the discourse of culturally responsive practices in early childhood education and attend to the cultural and holistic needs of children and families by providing in-depth knowledge about what it means to be in ACE schools for Black families and their children. Coupled with the fact that much of the extant research on ACE has been on students in the upper grades and there has been little attention to parents' motivation for choosing ACE preschool programs, this proposed project has implications both for addressing inequities in early care and education access and experiences for Black children but also identifying a culturally-rooted approach to meeting the racial, cultural, and developmental needs of Black diasporic children in the U.S. during a critical time of development. This insight from Black families can create, cultivate, and expand such programs and practices across the country.