Iheoma U Iruka
Biographic Data
| ID | 223701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Iheoma U Iruka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Iheoma U |
| FAMILY NAME | Iruka |
| SIGNATURE | IRUKA I U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4695-6190 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 203 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 44 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Examination of Equitable Access and Experiences in Head Start by Race and Language Status
This study examines equitable access and experiences in Head Start programs by race and language status. Using data (N = 1754) from the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), we constructed 26 equity indicators spanning dimensions of access (e.g. teacher-child match, diversity, and support services) and experiences (e.g. classroom quality, curriculum, teacher-family alignment). Research Findings: Multilevel analyses revealed…
Beyond single indicators: Equity profiles in head start and their association with child development gains
Book Babies Home Visiting Intervention: Evidence of Effect on Literacy-Promoting Practices and Children’s Early Language
Linguistic justice: Addressing linguistic variation of black children in teaching and learning
This paper underscores how the multidimensionality of racism, such as cultural, systemic, and interpersonal biases, influences the early language development and support of African American English (AAE) speakers, as well as calling attention to the linguistic capital of AAE that is often not given prestige in contrast to General American English (GAE). Using a case study of early educators in a Black-majority preschool program, this paper sheds …
Examining the Links Between Child–Teacher Relationships, Classroom Quality, and Child Outcomes Across Racial Groups
This study examined the unique and interactive effects of teacher‐child relationships and classroom quality on PreK to Grade 1 children's reading and math achievement, social skills, and problem behaviors, as well as whether these relationships differed by children's race and ethnicity. Based on data from 192 children (18.23% Black, 8.33% Latine English‐speaking, 21.88% Latine Spanish‐speaking, 51.56% White) from PreK to Grade 1 and their teacher…
Early Childhood Education Interventions for Racially Minoritized Children: A Systematic Review
Racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) children continue to face inequitable access and experiences to high-quality early care and education (ECE). However, there is a need to systematically examine whether REM children benefit from ECE, to what extent, and for what outcomes. A rigorous review process was used to systematically identify and review research studies aimed at improving outcomes for Black or other REM children. The screening proce…
Associations between school characteristics and learning gains for pre-K attenders and non-attenders: Important constructs, limited evidence
Do Ecers-3 scores mean the same thing across racial groups? Measurement invariance testing by teacher and classroom race
Interrogating the role of anti-Blackness in the early care and education experiences of Black children and families: A call for advancing equitable science and practice
The conception of the U.S. early care and education (ECE) system was influenced by anti-Blackness. • Anti-Blackness affects Black children and their families in ECE settings through cultural systematic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and vicarious anti-Blackness. • Concrete and focused action related to mitigating anti-Blackness towards Black children and their families in ECE settings is needed. Early care and education (ECE) was created to suppor…
Introduction to the Supplemental Issue: Advancing developmental science on the impact of racism in the early years
The goal of this supplement is to expand the extant literature about racism's toxic effects on the nation's youngest children– infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The supplement contains articles that (a) focus on how racism is manifested in early care and education systems, policies, and programs, (b) demonstrate how racism influences the economic and community contexts children live in, and (c) highlight the cultural assets racially and ethnic…
Exploring the relation between early childhood education and historical and contemporary racism and bias for Black children
The R 3 ISE Integrative Framework suggests that racist policies and practices have a multigenerational impact on children's development. • Regional levels of historical racism were positively correlated with contemporary structural inequality and implicit bias. • These regional differences were not significantly associated with the outcomes of Black children in high quality ECE programs. • High ECE programs show promise as places where Black chil…
Racism under the skin: Connecting the dots between the threats of structural inequities and the biological embedding of adversity
Introduction to the Special Issue: Advancing the science of early childhood expulsion prevention
Early Education Program Racial and Ethnic Composition and Associations with Quality and Children’s Language and Social-Emotional Development
This study identified patterns of classroom and family experiences and developmental outcomes for young children in segregated early education. This study is based on data from a high-quality early education program serving young children from low-income households in 19 schools across the U.S. The sample included 1,521 children during the 2016–2017 school year. The analysis examined patterns of association between the racial/ethnic composition o…
Dismantling the Black–White Achievement Gap Paradigm: Why and How We Need to Focus Instead on Systemic Change
More than half a century of educational efforts have focused on eliminating the Black–White achievement gap. Yet, racial disparities persist. In this article, we describe the issues with educational discourse focused on the achievement gap and the ways structural racism drives the educational experiences and outcomes of Black students. We include a discussion of Black children’s developmental competencies and the ways educators may use culturally…
Lead teacher, assistant teacher, and peer racial/ethnic match and child outcomes for Black children enrolled in enhanced high-quality early care and education programs
Teachers’ awareness of systemic and individual racial bias as a first step towards anti-racist schools
African-centered education (ACE): Strategies to advance culturally responsive pedagogy and equitable learning opportunities for young Black children
For too long, Black children's educational needs have not been prioritized with attention to their culture, language, historical and contemporary racialized experiences, and building their positive racial identity. It is critical that early childhood education settings for young children be transformed to be a place of learning and healing by centering Black children's cultural identity through African-centered education (ACE). Through ACE practi…
Effects of Racism on Child Development: Advancing Antiracist Developmental Science
Racism, a multidimensional system of oppression and exclusion, is part of the foundation of the United States and is detrimental to the health and well-being of Black communities and other racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) communities. There is an emerging body of literature that draws attention to the impact of racism and different racialized experiences on the lives of REM children. Based on the Racism + Resilience + Resistance Integrat…
Antiracism defined as equitable sociocultural interactions in prekindergarten: Classroom racial composition makes a difference
This study used secondary data from the My Teaching Partner-Math/Science 2013–2016 randomized control trial to explore whether equitable sociocultural classroom interactions (see Curenton et al., 2019) were associated with the skills of 105 four- and five-year-olds (52% boys; drawn from 20 unique video recordings of preschool teachers/classrooms; 43% were Black, Latine, Asian, or other racially marginalized learners). Equitable interactions predi…
Supporting and engaging with diverse families during the early years: Emerging approaches that matter for children and families
Examining the relationship between discrimination, access to material resources, and black children's behavioral functioning during Covid-19
Child Care Policy as an Anti-Poverty Strategy: The Need to Address Neurophysiological Self-Regulation
High-quality early care and education can mitigate the short- and long-term effects of poverty on young children’s development. Therefore, policies that expand access to high-quality early care and education can be an effective anti-poverty strategy. A number of programs demonstrably foster volitional processes of self-regulation—the capacity to control emotions, thoughts, and behaviors—among young children in poverty. However, relatively little …
Attending to the Adversity of Racism Against Young Black Children
The first 1,000 days is one of the most consequential times for children’s development. As a hugely ignored adversity embedded in all aspects of black children’s lives before birth and throughout their life course, racism in all forms deserves more attention in the developmental science literature. Racism—including structural, institutional, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and cultural—negatively impacts the health, learning, and well-being of blac…
Covid-19 and Children’s Well-Being: A Rapid Research Agenda
Enacting this research agenda will require engaging the community, especially youth, as equal partners in research co-design processes; centering anti-racist perspectives; adopting a "strengths-based" approach; and integrating young researchers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). New collaborative funding models and investments in data infrastructure are also needed
How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms
The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood
The authors examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES), race, maternal sensitivity, and maternal negative-intrusive behaviors and language development in a sample selected to reduce the typical confound between race and SES (n = 146). Mother-child interactions were observed at 12 and 24 months (coded by randomly assigned African American and European American coders); language abilities were assessed at 18, 24, 30, and 36 months…
Predictors of quality and child outcomes in family child care settings
Oral narrative skills: Explaining the language-emergent literacy link by race/ethnicity and SES
Although children's early language skills have been found to predict literacy outcomes, little is known about the role of preschool oral narrative skills in the pathway between language and emergent literacy or how these associations differ by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The current study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to explore how language at age 2 is associated with narrative skills at age 4 and emergent literacy out…
Maternal psychological functioning and children's school readiness: The mediating role of home environments for African American children
Reexamining the Carolina Abecedarian Project using an antiracist perspective: Implications for early care and education research
Examining the relationship between discrimination, access to material resources, and black children's behavioral functioning during Covid-19
Teachers’ awareness of systemic and individual racial bias as a first step towards anti-racist schools
Exploring the relation between early childhood education and historical and contemporary racism and bias for Black children
The R 3 ISE Integrative Framework suggests that racist policies and practices have a multigenerational impact on children's development. • Regional levels of historical racism were positively correlated with contemporary structural inequality and implicit bias. • These regional differences were not significantly associated with the outcomes of Black children in high quality ECE programs. • High ECE programs show promise as places where Black chil…
Children, Youth and Developmental Science in the 2015‐2030 Global Sustainable Development Goals
In September 2016, the member states of the United Nations completed the process of adopting and defi ning indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2015).Developed through a three-year, worldwide participatory process, these 17 goals and 169 targets represent a global consensus on the part of U.N. member nations towards an inclusive, sustainable world, centered around ensuring equity in all countries at a time of gr…
African-centered education (ACE): Strategies to advance culturally responsive pedagogy and equitable learning opportunities for young Black children
For too long, Black children's educational needs have not been prioritized with attention to their culture, language, historical and contemporary racialized experiences, and building their positive racial identity. It is critical that early childhood education settings for young children be transformed to be a place of learning and healing by centering Black children's cultural identity through African-centered education (ACE). Through ACE practi…
Call to action: Centering blackness and disrupting systemic racism in infant mental health research and academic publishing
The Infant Mental Health Journal is committed to ending systemic racism and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic publishing. IMHJ unequivocally denounces all forms of racism and white supremacy, including systemic racism in academic publishing. We commit to investigating and working to terminate the ways in which systemic racism has become normalized in academic publishing, including examining our practices and processes at IMHJ…
Predictors of Infant and Toddler Black Boys’ Early Learning: Seizing Opportunities and Minimizing Risks
Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B) data set (U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001), this study examined child, family, and community factors in the early years (infant and toddler years) to predict the cognitive and language outcomes for preschool‐age Black boys in relation to Black girls and White boys. Findings indicate that Black children f…
Patterns of Quality Experienced by African American Children in Early Education Programs: Predictors and Links to Children's Preschool and Kindergarten Academic Outcomes
Iheoma U. Iruka, Jenille Morgan, Patterns of Quality Experienced by African American Children in Early Education Programs: Predictors and Links to Children’s Preschool and Kindergarten Academic Outcomes, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 83, No. 3, 60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas: Educational Opportunities, Disparities, Policies, and Legal Actions (Summer 2014), pp. 235-255
Factors associated with early school readiness profiles for Black girls
Examining how rural ecological contexts influence children’s early learning opportunities
How Changes in Home and Neighborhood Environment Factors Are Related to Change in Black Children's Academic and Social Development from Kindergarten to Third Grade
Iheoma U. Iruka, Stephanie M. Curenton, Shari Gardner, How Changes in Home and Neighborhood Environment Factors Are Related to Change in Black Children’s Academic and Social Development from Kindergarten to Third Grade, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 84, No. 3, Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success (Guest Editors: Nadine Finigan-Carr and Yolanda…
Associations among tiered quality rating and improvement system supports and quality improvement
Preschool to kindergarten transition patterns for African American boys
Long-Term Effect of Early Relationships for African American Children's Academic and Social Development: An Examination From Kindergarten to Fifth Grade
This study investigates the extent to which the quality of the relationships between African American children and their mothers and teachers in kindergarten predict academic and social development during elementary school years using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The role of prior center care and the ethnicity of the kindergarten teacher were also examined as moderat…
Supporting and engaging with diverse families during the early years: Emerging approaches that matter for children and families
How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms
The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood
The authors examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES), race, maternal sensitivity, and maternal negative-intrusive behaviors and language development in a sample selected to reduce the typical confound between race and SES (n = 146). Mother-child interactions were observed at 12 and 24 months (coded by randomly assigned African American and European American coders); language abilities were assessed at 18, 24, 30, and 36 months…
Long-Term Effect of Early Relationships for African American Children's Academic and Social Development: An Examination From Kindergarten to Fifth Grade
This study investigates the extent to which the quality of the relationships between African American children and their mothers and teachers in kindergarten predict academic and social development during elementary school years using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The role of prior center care and the ethnicity of the kindergarten teacher were also examined as moderat…
Preschool to kindergarten transition patterns for African American boys
Maternal psychological functioning and children's school readiness: The mediating role of home environments for African American children
Predictors of quality and child outcomes in family child care settings
Development of social‐emotional competence in boys of color: A cross‐sectional cohort analysis from pre‐K to second grade
This article explores the development of psychosocial competence in boys of color (BOC; 226 African Americans and 109 Latinos). Changes in competence were assessed over 2 years in cohorts of low-income BOC beginning in pre-K, kindergarten, or first grade. Psycho-social competence was assessed in terms of self-regulation, interpersonal skills, and positive relationships with peers and teachers. Psycho-social and academic competence in literacy and…
Associations among tiered quality rating and improvement system supports and quality improvement
Patterns of Quality Experienced by African American Children in Early Education Programs: Predictors and Links to Children's Preschool and Kindergarten Academic Outcomes
Iheoma U. Iruka, Jenille Morgan, Patterns of Quality Experienced by African American Children in Early Education Programs: Predictors and Links to Children’s Preschool and Kindergarten Academic Outcomes, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 83, No. 3, 60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas: Educational Opportunities, Disparities, Policies, and Legal Actions (Summer 2014), pp. 235-255
Oral narrative skills: Explaining the language-emergent literacy link by race/ethnicity and SES
Although children's early language skills have been found to predict literacy outcomes, little is known about the role of preschool oral narrative skills in the pathway between language and emergent literacy or how these associations differ by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The current study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to explore how language at age 2 is associated with narrative skills at age 4 and emergent literacy out…
How Changes in Home and Neighborhood Environment Factors Are Related to Change in Black Children's Academic and Social Development from Kindergarten to Third Grade
Iheoma U. Iruka, Stephanie M. Curenton, Shari Gardner, How Changes in Home and Neighborhood Environment Factors Are Related to Change in Black Children’s Academic and Social Development from Kindergarten to Third Grade, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 84, No. 3, Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success (Guest Editors: Nadine Finigan-Carr and Yolanda…
Children, Youth and Developmental Science in the 2015‐2030 Global Sustainable Development Goals
In September 2016, the member states of the United Nations completed the process of adopting and defi ning indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2015).Developed through a three-year, worldwide participatory process, these 17 goals and 169 targets represent a global consensus on the part of U.N. member nations towards an inclusive, sustainable world, centered around ensuring equity in all countries at a time of gr…
Predictors of Infant and Toddler Black Boys’ Early Learning: Seizing Opportunities and Minimizing Risks
Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B) data set (U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001), this study examined child, family, and community factors in the early years (infant and toddler years) to predict the cognitive and language outcomes for preschool‐age Black boys in relation to Black girls and White boys. Findings indicate that Black children f…
Improving the nutrition and screen time environment through self-assessment in family childcare homes in Nebraska
Objective To determine if family childcare homes (FCCH) in Nebraska meet best practices for nutrition and screen time, and if focusing on nutrition and screen time policies and practices improves the FCCH environment. Design A pre–post evaluation was conducted using the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (Go NAP SACC). Setting FCCH in Nebraska, USA. Subjects FCCH enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CAC…
Factors associated with early school readiness profiles for Black girls
Examining how rural ecological contexts influence children’s early learning opportunities
Adaptive Parenting Among Low-Income Black Mothers and Toddlers’ Regulation of Distress
Parenting differs in purpose and strategy according to cultural background (Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005; Iruka, LaForett, & Odom, 2012). The current study tests a unique latent factor score, Adaptive Parenting, that represents culturally-relevant, positive parenting behaviors: maternal coping with stress through reframing, maternal scaffolding of toddlers’ learning during a low-stress task, and maternal commands during a high-stress task. Partici…
Child Care Policy as an Anti-Poverty Strategy: The Need to Address Neurophysiological Self-Regulation
High-quality early care and education can mitigate the short- and long-term effects of poverty on young children’s development. Therefore, policies that expand access to high-quality early care and education can be an effective anti-poverty strategy. A number of programs demonstrably foster volitional processes of self-regulation—the capacity to control emotions, thoughts, and behaviors—among young children in poverty. However, relatively little …
Attending to the Adversity of Racism Against Young Black Children
The first 1,000 days is one of the most consequential times for children’s development. As a hugely ignored adversity embedded in all aspects of black children’s lives before birth and throughout their life course, racism in all forms deserves more attention in the developmental science literature. Racism—including structural, institutional, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and cultural—negatively impacts the health, learning, and well-being of blac…
Covid-19 and Children’s Well-Being: A Rapid Research Agenda
Enacting this research agenda will require engaging the community, especially youth, as equal partners in research co-design processes; centering anti-racist perspectives; adopting a "strengths-based" approach; and integrating young researchers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). New collaborative funding models and investments in data infrastructure are also needed
Reexamining the Carolina Abecedarian Project using an antiracist perspective: Implications for early care and education research
Call to action: Centering blackness and disrupting systemic racism in infant mental health research and academic publishing
The Infant Mental Health Journal is committed to ending systemic racism and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic publishing. IMHJ unequivocally denounces all forms of racism and white supremacy, including systemic racism in academic publishing. We commit to investigating and working to terminate the ways in which systemic racism has become normalized in academic publishing, including examining our practices and processes at IMHJ…
Effects of Racism on Child Development: Advancing Antiracist Developmental Science
Racism, a multidimensional system of oppression and exclusion, is part of the foundation of the United States and is detrimental to the health and well-being of Black communities and other racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) communities. There is an emerging body of literature that draws attention to the impact of racism and different racialized experiences on the lives of REM children. Based on the Racism + Resilience + Resistance Integrat…
Antiracism defined as equitable sociocultural interactions in prekindergarten: Classroom racial composition makes a difference
This study used secondary data from the My Teaching Partner-Math/Science 2013–2016 randomized control trial to explore whether equitable sociocultural classroom interactions (see Curenton et al., 2019) were associated with the skills of 105 four- and five-year-olds (52% boys; drawn from 20 unique video recordings of preschool teachers/classrooms; 43% were Black, Latine, Asian, or other racially marginalized learners). Equitable interactions predi…
Supporting and engaging with diverse families during the early years: Emerging approaches that matter for children and families
Psychology (37 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (35 works) · Developmental psychology (23 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (18 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (13 works) · Gender Studies (13 works) · Political science (10 works) · Racism (10 works)