The Markers of Agency™ (MOA) study asked adults and children in nine classrooms across the U.S. about how children used their agency to learn. The study included multiple observational hours alongside teachers, directors and respected community members to understand how cultural groups often underrepresented in pedagogical and curriculum directives approach and think about children’s agency. This study included a cultural validation process so each community could help co-construct and critique a list of markers and the principles of the MOA framework. The MOA framework is the first of its kind designed to measure agency in early childhood learning and is meant to be used across different cultural communities in a range of political realities. We worked with nine classrooms in multiple communities, representing a range of languages, races, locations, and economic backgrounds, to see how well the MOA tool fits their unique contexts.
Our goal was to better understand how educators and leaders notice and support children’s ability to make choices, take initiative, and shape their own learning. We believe the MOA tool can help improve educational experiences by building on what children are already capable of doing.
This work was supported by the Brady Education Foundation to measure the importance of community-rooted, culturally-sustaining work that begins and ends with the decision-making of children and their communities.
The Civic Action and Young Children project explored how young children learn about and participate in civic life with ideas such as fairness, helping others, and making decisions together. This international study took place in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, focusing on preschool-aged children in communities that are often marginalized because we wanted our findings to be primarily built on the expertise of communities of color and indigenous communities.
We had three main goals:
This work was supported by the Spencer Foundation, and it highlights how very young children are capable of understanding and practicing civic engagement, especially when adults create spaces that value their voices and experiences.
DIFYC was a professional development partnership between the San Antonio Independent School District and the University of Texas at Austin. It was designed to help early childhood teachers and school leaders rethink and reimagine how they approach learning with young children.
Through DIFYC, participants:
This initiative was funded by the San Antonio Independent School District.
Evidence published in:
The Agency and Young Children Study explored how children from Latinx immigrant families express agency — their ability to make choices, take initiative, and shape their learning — in the classroom. The study took place across Texas and California, using a unique method called video-cued ethnography to interview school administrators, teachers, Latinx immigrant parents, and first-grade students.
The goal was to understand:
This work is especially important because children from BIPOC communities are often denied opportunities to fully express their agency in school due to racist and deficit-based thinking. When educators and systems focus on what children “lack,” they risk using tools and practices that are not only ineffective — but potentially harmful.
Instead, this study calls for a shift: to recognize the strengths and capabilities children already have, and to create learning environments that honor their voices, cultures, and potential.
This project was funded by the Foundation for Child Development.
