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In this article, the authors consider the shift from neoliberalism to authoritarian practice and its chilling effect on early childhood education policy, practice, and advocacy work. Firstly, they consider the history of resistance found within the field of early childhood education, recognizing the success of the reconceptualization movement. Secondly, they present the case of the 2021–2022 US legislative session in the state of Florida as evidence of the emergence of authoritarian practices. The authors conclude with proposals for partial, provisional, and practical ways of responding to the increasingly authoritarian conditions governing the education of young children.

Drawing on case-study data, this inquiry explores the lived experiences of four universal pre-kindergarten teachers to address the question: How do practitioners narratively interpret a local school district policy directive of child autonomy, use their professional capacities to reconstruct the directive to address diverse students’ needs, and then implement or instruct their reconfigurations of autonomy in context-specific ways? By examining the tensions between policy and locally embodied practice, teachers’ voices shed light on professional struggles within large universal pre-kindergarten programs, and offer possibilities for reconceptualizing and enacting policy directives at the community level.

Developing and scaffolding academic language is an important job of preschool teachers. This Teaching Tip provides five strategies that extend the topic of academic language by integrating previous research and field-based data into classroom practice.

In this era of standardization, teacher accountability, school readiness, testing, and competition, the pressure on early education is robust. We urge teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers to reject the “push down” of standardized curriculum and assessment and instead propose a “push up” of early education approaches. In this chapter, we consider the ways in which curriculum has been taken up and embodied as policy. Next, we ground Creative Curriculum and High/Scope historically and highlight how the curricula draw on developmentalist and constructivist learning theories. Finally, we present three opportunities for teachers and administrators using Creative Curriculum and High/Scope to consider: (1) the complexity of teacher agency in the implementation of open-ended curricula, (2) the impact of standards and assessments on curriculum enactment, and (3) the dangers of superficial application of socio-cultural and contextual influences on English learners and their families. Providing teachers with curricular support to consider lifelong educative benefits and recognize the strengths of each child and family to create new ways of knowing and learning is one way to begin to address the education debt. Without significant changes in the provision of resources for teaching and learning, the inequities of the past are likely to continue.

Using three tenents of Critical Race Theory, this study examines the influence of edTPAs on diverse early childhood pre-service teachers in a graduate program. Findings suggest that (1) Color-blind admissions policy and practice were at odds with edTPA’s perceived academic language demands; (2) A tension emerged between financial demands of edTPA and the constraints of immigrant and linguistically diverse students; and (3) edTPA rubrics and requirements required students of color to write and rewrite their teaching selves to match the external standard.

While the population of bilinguals and English learners continues to rise in our schools, teachers often feel frustrated with their lack of knowledge about best practices to support their multilingual students’ language, socio-emotional and cognitive development. Teachers’ frustration is compounded by the push for assessments in the early years. The aim of this 24-month ethnographic case study is to explore what information linguistically diverse families hold about their bilingual children’s language development and use, and how this information can help teachers (1) understand formal and informal assessment data, and (2) create linguistically appropriate support for young bilinguals and their families. The research was drawn from an ethnographic case study of a dual language (Italian-English) preschool in a major metropolitan area. The private dual language preschool provided education for ages 2.8 years to 6 years of age. The families who participated in this study were primarily immigrants, bilingual and middle class.

Using the research question “How do urban teacher candidates (TCs) understand socioeconomic, racial, and cultural diversity in resegregated urban educational contexts,” this case study examines the perceptions of preservice K-8 teachers in an urban education program. These TCs complicated diversity by focusing on “unseen” elements that are often overlooked or unpacked in superficial ways in teacher education. We examine how diversity is represented by examining the ways in which an all “Black” or all “Hispanic” classroom can be diverse. This study’s findings may contribute to changing how teacher education programs present diversity in urban classrooms.

Research has revealed an underlying link between identity construction and academic success for adolescents (Nasir & Saxe, 2003); however, research has not addressed how students' identities are formed and negotiated in the cultural practices of elementary school. This article examines how early elementary Mexican-origin bilinguals' racial, ethnic, and linguistic identities are constructed and negotiated during a literacy event on Martin Luther King, Jr. Using critical race theory (Ladson-Billings, 1999) and critical discourse analysis (Gee, 1999), a racial and power dichotomy in the text is uncovered. The moment-to-moment interactions around a text expose the students' understandings of race and the racial assumptions of the literacy practices. A critical discourse analysis of the moment-to-moment interactions shows the students' self-identify as “White.” The teacher and researcher collaboratively examine how racial dichotomies in early elementary literacy texts and institutional practices affect the ide...

This section presents brief synopses of empirical research and theoretical discussions in peer-reviewed journals. The aim is to disseminate findings and perspectives in fields related to TESOL and to provide access to the diverse conversations among scholars in the field.