Ensuring Access to Inclusive Early Childhood Education Settings

Resource Type: Fact Sheets
Focus Area:

Early childhood education (ECE), including preschool, childcare, and other settings where children learn foundational skills, is critical for a child’s academic and social development. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), young children with disabilities or
developmental delays have the right to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and must be educated with their typically developing peers to the maximum extent appropriate. Research shows, however, that early childhood education programs are disproportionately excluding, or “pushing out,” young children with disabilities in violation of their educational rights and often causing lifelong harm. In addition, due to systemic racism and individual racial bias, early education programs are also excluding young learners who are Black and Brown at far higher rates than their white peers, often in violation of their civil rights and causing similar long term harm.

This fact sheet provides information about how to advocate to ensure that young children can access high-quality, inclusive ECE with their peers — and make progress free from discrimination.

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