Tonia Durden
Clinical Professor - Birth through Five Program Coordinator Early Childhood and Elementary Education- Education
Ph.D., Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University
M.A., Curriculum and Instruction, Central Michigan University
B.S.E., Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University
- Specializations
Culturally responsive education, socio-cultural child development and racial educational equity.
- Biography
Tonia Durden, Ph.D., is a Clinical Professor and Birth through Five (B-5) program coordinator within the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Georgia State University.
Durden’s professional work and scholarship can be categorized into three core areas of focus:
- Early childhood education (curriculum and program development)
- Racial Educational Equity (research to professional practice)
- Early childhood systems engagement (strategic partnership systems building)
Durden is committed to using teacher education and research as an informative vehicle towards helping develop educators and leaders who become equitable, culturally responsive change agents in their classrooms and communities.
Durden is currently the Board President for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
- Publications
Scholarship
* The following are select scholarly products. View Durden’s Curriculum Vita for a more extensive listing
Publications:
Curenton, S. M., Iruka, I. U., Rochester, S., & Durden, T. (December 2023). Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES). Book Baby.
Iruka, I. U., Durden, T. R., Escayg, E., & Curenton, S. M. (June 2023). We Are the Change We Seek: Advancing Racial Justice in Early Care and Education. Teachers College Press. https://www.tcpress.com/we-are-the-change-we-seek-9780807768020
Iruka, I. U., Sansbury, A., Telfer, N. A., Ibekwe-Okafor, N., Gardner-Neblett, N., & Durden, T. (2023). Factors associated with the early learning and readiness of Black children. In S. Cabell, S. Neuman, & N. Patton Terry (Eds.), Handbook on the Science of Early Literacy. Guilford Press.
Iruka, I., Durden, T., Gardner-Neblett, N., Ibekwe-Okafor, N., Sansbury, A., & Telfer, N. Attending to the Adversity of Racism Against Young Black Children (2021). Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Durden, T. and Curenton, S. (2021). “Recognizing Shortcomings of Traditional Professional Knowledge Base.” In Advancing Equity in Early Childhood. National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Hatton-Bowers, H., Smith, M. H., Huynh, T., Bash, K., Durden, T., Anthony, C.,& Lodl, K.
(2020). “I Will Be Less Judgmental, More Kind, More Aware, and Resilient!”: Early Childhood Professionals’ Learnings from an Online Mindfulness Module. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-13.
Iruka, I., Curenton, S., Durden, T., & Escayg, K.A. (2020). “Don’t Look Away:” Anti-bias Educational Practices that Inspire Educators to Teach Social Justice and Advocacy to Children. Gryphon House Publishing, Lewisville, NC.
Curenton, S. M., Iruka, I. U., Humphries, M., Jensen, B., Durden, T., Rochester, S. E., & Kinzie, M. B. (2019). Validity for the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES) in Early Childhood Classrooms. Early Education and Development, 1-20.
Presentations:
Durden, T., Erolin, K, Ross, J, & Shigeto, A. (2023, November). Changes in the Lives of Families and Family Science Amid a Syndemic: Perspectives of Faculty Appointed at Minority-Serving Institutions. NCFR Annual Conference. Orlando, FL.
Friedman, S., Durden, T., Olson, L, & Sweet, T. (2023, November). A Place I Belong, A Place to Learn: A Focus on DAP’s Principle #6 through Selection of Children’s Books. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Nashville, TN.
Durden, T. & French-Lee, S. (July 2023). Let’s Talk Equity: Advancing Social Justice, Diversity and Equity within the Infant and Toddler Educational Workforce. World Association for Infant Mental Health. Dublin, Ireland (Invited-Poster Presentation)
Durden, T. (2023, May). Community Dialog with Dr. Christopher Morphew. John Hopkins School of Education. Atlanta, GA and National Broadcast (Panelist).
Kroeger, J., Durden, T., Wright, B.L., Colegrove, K., & Reich-Shapiro, M. (2023, April). Good Trouble: Speaking Up and Speaking Out — Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Education SIG Business Meeting. American Educational Research Association. Chicago, IL.
French-Lee, S. & Durden, T. (2023, April). Project SEED: Increasing the Diversity, Quality, and Quantity of Our Early Childhood Education Workforce. In Consequential and Compelling Collaborations: Highlighting Promising and Transformative Community-Centered and Interdisciplinary Policy/Practice Partnerships. American Educational Research Association. Chicago, IL.
French-Lee, S. & Durden, T. (2023, April). Project SEED: Increasing the Diversity, Quality and Quantity of our ECE Workforce. In Consequential and Compelling Collaborations: Highlighting Promising and Transformative Community Centered and Interdisciplinary Policy/Practice Partnerships Symposium. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Chicago IL.
Durden, T. (2022, December). Classroom Experiences and Learning Opportunities. Early Learning Network Forum. (Panelist)
Durden, T. & French-Lee, S. (2022, November). Got Equity? Increasing the Diversity and Quality of Early Childhood Professionals. National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference. Washington, DC.
Durden, T., Boyd, B., Curenton, S., & RISER Network Authors (2022, April). Where are we now? Our pursuit towards culturally relevant and equitable teaching for Black children. In S.M. Curenton (Chair). Understanding and Promoting Black Children’s Positive Development: Researchers Investigating Sociocultural Equity and Race Network. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. (Panel Session)
Awards:
2023 SRCD Black Caucus Paper of the Year: “Attending to the Adversity of Racism Against Young Black Children” in recognition of peer reviewed article that exemplifies the Caucus mission of promoting the development and wellbeing of Black Children and Families
2023 College of Education and Human Development Outstanding Faculty Service to the Profession Award
2023-2024 NAEYC Board President Elect
2022-2023 Leadership Academy for Women Faculty Georgia State University
2022-2023 NAEYC Board President Elect Candidate: https://www.naeyc.org/tonia-durden
2022 Promotion Georgia State University
2019 CETL Teaching Fellowship (Equity and Diversity in Teaching) Georgia State University