Knowing and Interpreting Pre-Kindergarten Policy: A Bakhtinian Analysis

• In Event: Pre-Kindergarten Practice, Policy, and Child Outcomes

Abstract

The recent expansion of public prekindergarten (preK) has been accompanied by calls for the provision of preK through new partnerships between school districts and private early childhood (EC) providers. This paper explores one such partnership in the context of an urban Wisconsin school district. I employ Bakhtin’s (1981) notions of authoritative and internally persuasive discourse to analyze interactions between school district officials and EC providers. I that these interactions were sites where the meaning of preK was negotiated and I demonstrate how policy came to be known through dialogue among key stakeholders. I focus on discourse about assessment practices in preK as a particular site of contestation and a space where the goals of preK were interpreted and negotiated.

Author

• Bethany Wilinski, Michigan State University