Teachers today are faced with myriad expectations. Whether preparing children for school learning goals, state assessments, or building social skills, it seems that teachers are being asked to do more every year. Perhaps the most palpable effect of the standards movement has been the academic "trickle down," whereby our youngest learners…

Technocratic accountability, which is impacting ECEC practices in England, is where the government favors evidence-based knowledge to work with children. As a result, the emotional aspect of ECEC work and emotional labor have become increasingly complex and are sometimes unrecognized. In this paper we highlight the importance of more relational,…

How do school district administrators make sense of educational equity as they undertake reform? This study examines tracking policymaking in two urban school districts. Using case studies and an interpretive approach, the study highlights school district leaders' shifting ways of making sense of tracking and (in)equity while facing achievement…

The focus of this study is preschool teachers' perspectives on their experiences during a Pre-K expansion in New York City. The expansion brought on neoliberal approaches to curriculum, child assessment, quality improvement, and instructional support in classrooms, and these changes in turn heightened expectations for accountability. This has…

This report examines one component of the current school accountability system--learning gains. We find that learning gain percentages are affected by a variety of factors including starting achievement level, socioeconomic status, and English language learner status when the current definition of learning gains is used. Hence, we propose a new…

Building on ideals of social cohesion, equality of opportunities and socio-economic benefits, there has been an increasing awareness in Norway of kindergarten employees' responsibility to initiate early childhood intervention. The process of identifying children in need of intervention involves a complex chain of actions in which documentation is…

We conducted a qualitative study in four countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and explored the Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy landscape with an emphasis on the challenges and opportunities decentralization has presented for the provision of services. We content-analyzed ECE policies and documents to map national approaches…

Early childhood and elementary education emerged from a variety of knowledge and research bases. Tensions emerged as they were brought together in a unified public kindergarten through 12th-grade educational system. This review describes how standards and accountability policies have exacerbated tensions between early childhood and elementary…

In the 14 months that have passed since the closure of Britain's schools in March 2020, Britain's education system has faced an extraordinary challenge. The priority now should be to do everything possible to help young people bounce back, and to make sure none are left behind in this process. That is why social mobility and fairness must be put…

Education reformers have spent decades doggedly working to improve student outcomes in K-12 education by championing policies spanning federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Higher education is a much different story. Policy ideas at the federal level are plentiful; however, state- or institution-level policies are examined and implemented far…

The Federated States of Micronesia National Department of Education (FSM NDOE) requested support from the Region 18 Comprehensive Center (R18CC) to build National and State-level knowledge of effective practices in bilingual and multilingual education. This scan offers an overview of evidence-based practices for implementing and evaluating the…

Research has shown educators' implicit biases to be a key factor in creating and perpetuating disparities in students' experiences of schooling, learning, and longer-term outcomes, including job opportunities, wealth, and health. Current school reform and transformation efforts are aimed at addressing institutionalized racism in school policies,…

One-third of U.S. children ages 0 to 5 are Dual Language Learners (DLLs), meaning they have at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home. These children speak an increasingly diverse range of languages and have the potential to thrive as multilingual and multicultural individuals, given the right support. But while years of…

This article reflects the qualitative case study data collected via semistructured interviews to examine subjective experiences of racialized children, parents, and educators with the Grade 3 Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) standardized test preparation and administration in Ontario, Canada. This article strives to explore,…

In this paper we attempt to critically "make visible the flow and circulation of data" through analysing the datafication of the early years education sector in England (children aged 2-5). The concept of datafication is used to understand the processes and impacts of burgeoning data-based governance and accountability regimes. This…