College of Education and Human Development

Mason Faculty Receive Spencer Vision Grant to Advance Educational Equity

Colleen Vesely

Faculty within the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at George Mason University along with Global and Community Health faculty from Mason’s College of Public Health have received a Spencer Foundation Vision Grant in support of a project centered on transformative Early Childhood Education systems change in Fairfax County, Virginia. The goal of this project is to advance educational equity and to develop a model that could serve as a blueprint for family-led transformation of Early Childcare Education systems in other counties across the nation.

Bethany Letiecq

The grant was awarded to: Colleen Vesely, Associate Professor and Academic Program Coordinator of Mason’s Early Childhood Education graduate program in the CEHD School of Education; Associate Professor Bethany Letiecq and Assistant Professor Jung Yeon (Ellie) Park from the Research Methodologies program in the School of Education; and Rochelle Davidson Mhonde, Assistant Professor of Global and Community Health in the College of Public Health. The work under this grant is focused on developing a multi-method interdisciplinary Community-based Participatory Action Research project as the basis for family-led comprehensive early childhood systems transformation in Fairfax County to achieve equity in educational outcomes.

In describing this project, Vesely stated, “The research we are planning with the Vision Grant is focused on transforming early childhood systems. We are building on two years of foundational Community-based Participatory Action Research, funded by Fairfax County, which resulted in the formation of the Family Council for Equity in Early Childhood.”

Jung Yeon Park

The Family Council is led by families who have experienced economic and other forms of structural marginalization, and it is founded on a family partnership framework that was developed by Vesely and Letiecq in collaboration with Fairfax County officials, community-based organizations, early childhood education experts, and families of young children. The partnership prioritizes building capacity and focuses on identifying the system changes needed to remove barriers that impede access to affordable, quality early childcare and education. “With this Vision Grant,” Vesely stated, “we plan to produce a proposal for transformative Early Childcare Education systems change in Fairfax County to advance educational equity, and serve as a model of family-led transformation for other counties across the U.S.”

Rochelle R. Davidson Mhonde

In support of this goal, the Mason team will partner with Fairfax County Early Childhood Programs and Services’ decision makers and Family Council leaders. Together, partners will document the processes, actions, and outcomes involved in transforming the early childhood systems located in Fairfax County into a model of educational equity. “This project is particularly innovative given the role of the Family Council to direct project goals and objectives and the research methods we will use to study systems change,” Vesely stated.

Much of what the Mason team plans to do under the Spencer Vision Grant in Fairfax County, draws from Vesely’s and Letiecq’s previous experience in Alexandria, Virginia where they partnered with families, schools, communities, local funders, and local government leaders in what was a ten-year effort to transform early childhood systems with an emphasis on kindergarten readiness. This work culminated in the development of Amigas de la Comunidad (“Amigas”), a parent-led community advisory board comprised of Central American and Mexican immigrant mothers who collaborated with early childhood leaders across the city to achieve changes that met the needs of families in navigating the early childhood system. The changes and success that Vesely and Letiecq accomplished in Alexandria led to their current work in Fairfax County with the Family Council for Equity in Early Childhood.

In discussing why family-led changes to early childcare systems are needed, Vesely stated, “Too often, families who are most oppressed and marginalized by the system do not have a say in how systems work to support families, despite having a keen understanding of how systems might better align to attune to and be responsive to families’ needs. Rather than fixing and changing families, we ought to work towards fixing and changing systems to meet families where they are.” Vesely and her team members believe that by empowering families to drive change through equitable, community-based partnerships, it is possible to bring about a transformation of early childcare education systems so that they are navigable, high-quality, affordable, and meet families where they are.

Vesely concluded her remarks by commenting on CEHD’s collaboration with the College of Public Health under the Spencer Vision Grant. She stated, “Partnerships between CEHD and College of Public Health faculty are valuable because we can advance understanding of family functioning and community health. In this project, we are working with Rochelle Davidson Mhonde, an Assistant Professor in Global and Community Health, who has deep expertise related to public health communications, qualitative methods, and community-driven health-related research and action efforts. She is an integral part of our team as we study systems change to promote family health, equity, and justice.”

For more information on the Spencer Foundation and its Vision Grant program, please visit the organization’s website. To learn more about Mason’s degree offerings in Early Childhood Education, please visit the program website.