John W. Sipple

Colliding Worlds: Practical and Political Tensions of Prekindergarten Implementation in Public Schools

This chapter examines how the previously distinct worlds of early childhood education (ECE) and K-12 public school education are being drawn together through the recent and rapid advances of prekindergarten programming in the United States. Tensions around teaching philosophies, teacher qualifications, and financing are presented to illustrate the complexities involved in bridging the ECE and K-12 worlds. Common theories from the Politics of Education, including Policy Innovation Diffusion Theory, Institutional Theory, and Micropolitics are used to further understand current trends and issues around prekindergarten implementation, as well as to identify areas for future investigation. Despite the inherent tensions, prekindergarten has the potential to serve as a bridge between these two historically distinct systems, resulting in a better overall education system for young children.

Institutional Constraints on Business Involvement in K–12 Education Policy

With each passing decade, the U.S. public educational system has been under increasing scrutiny and pressure to change. This pressure has come from many fronts–including, the media, parents, government, and business. In this study, I examine the actions of a group of business leaders representing several multinational corporations as they try to affect education policy in the state of Michigan. I focus special attention on the environments in which the corporations and K–12 public schools operate and uncover the relationships between the many agents calling for school improvement. The fact that this group took a thoughtful approach and had a significant impact on education reform is by no means an indication that other business groups will do the same. Given enough good information and time to reflect on the complex issues surrounding schools, it is possible that business leaders and educators can reach consensus on a direction for educational reform.

Context, Capacity, and Concern: A District-Level Analysis of the Implementation of Standards-Based Reform in New York State.

Policy makers have initiated a dramatic period of standards-based reform for New York State students, an effort of great relevance across the United States. Although comprehensive high school examinations and state-endorsed Regents diplomas are over 100 years old, the demand that all students must earn college-preparatory diplomas is new. This research asked under what conditions district context matters in implementing of standards-based reform. The authors posited that personnel (teachers, principals, and superintendents) interact with the contextual characteristics of their district environments (organizational size, geography, resources, personnel level) in ways that shape responses to standards-based reforms. Surveys and state-collected data, along with multilevel modeling, were used to weigh programmatic reform at the school district level. Districts serving greater proportions of poor students were more likely to offer general equivalency diploma alternatives to the Regents diploma. Whether these phenomena undermine the heightened standards for all children or reflect healthy local variation and choice is debatable.

Who and What Influences School Leaders’ Decisions: An Institutional Analysis of the Implementation of Universal Prekindergarten

School-community interactions facilitate connections between schools and their local surroundings; however, these relationships are subject not only to local political, economic, and social influences but also to broader political and institutional forces. Educational administrators’ decisions about programming and partnering can be considered in light of who influences these decisions and why, as well as why administrators make these decisions. Leaders make partnering decisions using either or both local input and institutional level beliefs (Arum, 2000). Why educational leaders make decisions, like with whom and why to partner, is often related to regulations, norms, or deep-seated beliefs in the school or local culture (Scott, 2001). Data from case studies of five rural school districts in New York State provides a window onto the decision-making process surrounding the implementation, maintenance, and partnering involved in the implementation of a new statewide Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) program. Contrary to arguments that non-local professional influences are displacing local influences, out findings suggest that the local and normative forces are strong while the non-local and regulative influences are weak. Implications for the politics of education, institutional theory, state and national UPK policy, and the practice of educational administrators in rural communities are discussed.

A Typology of School–Community Relationships Partnering and Universal Prekindergarten Policy

School–community relationships can serve many goals ranging from enhancing student achievement to community development. This article examines the relationship between school–community partnerships and community development in light of a state prekindergarten policy that requires partnering. To understand the local responses, we propose a typology using a continuum of partnering, from isolation to committed partner, and a continuum of community health, from declining to growth. Using mixed-method analysis, we apply this typology to the Universal Prekindergarten policy in New York State. The relationship among these measures illustrates the potential role of state education policy to positively or negatively affect the health of a community.

Introduction: Crossing Boundaries and Colliding Worlds: The Politics of Prekindergarten Education

Public involvement in early childhood education has expanded in recent years as states have entered the field to provide publicly funded programs for 3and 4-year-olds (Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, New York, and others). These public programs are being implemented to fulfill both popular demand and political agendas, while the needs of early childhood education have historically been met for many by a large private sector. The increase in public early childhood education is creating a tension between disparate worlds that we believe can benefit from close analysis. For the 2010 PEA yearbook, our purpose was to shine a light on the changing worlds of early childhood education—public/private, low income/middle income, rural/urban—as well as to illuminate the political issues that are influencing policy in early childhood education (workforce development, gender issues, and response to public opinion). For this edition we sought contributors who were not necessarily versed in the academic world of the politics of education in order to view the worlds of early childhood education politics and policy through a range of theoretical lenses. This broad view of the field of early childhood education, hopefully, has provided a collection of articles that examine the range of political issues and policy options currently