story by Claire Miller
Stacey French-Lee, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education and executive director of the College of Education & Human Development’s Child Development Centers, was elected to serve a four-year term as a governing board member at-large for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
NAEYC supports high-quality early childhood education through its public policy initiatives, research and best practice recommendations for teachers. NAEYC also accredits early childhood higher education programs and early care and education programs that serve young children.
French-Lee will join the 18-member governing board in June 2021 and will focus her efforts on implementing NAEYC’s recently-published Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education position statement, which outlines how early childhood educators can support equitable learning opportunities for all students.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be elected to serve on the governing board,” she said. “I hope to help confront biases in polices and practice that create barriers and limit the potential of children, families and early childhood professionals.”
French-Lee has more than 30 years of experience working in birth through five care and early learning in the U.S. and Europe. She is a faculty member in the CEHD’s birth through five education and creative and innovative education degree programs and her teaching and service is framed through the lenses of justice and equity, childhood as a social construction, intersectionality and community cultural wealth. Her major research interests are on racial socialization, critical race parenting and how the intersections of race, class and gender influence how African American boys are perceived and educated in the U.S.
To learn more about NAEYC, visit https://www.naeyc.org.