Supporting Early Childhood Education Policy Through a State Legislative Caucus: A Case Study

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Early Childhood Education: Policy, Collaboration, and the Realities of Pre-K Implementation (Table 7)

Abstract

In the United States, state legislatures play an important role in policy development and implementation. This has been increasingly true in many areas of early childhood education policy in the absence of comprehensive federal legislation. Despite increasing debates on states’ policy design, funding, and implementation of early childhood education programs, there is little known on how state policymakers organize and strategize to support policy action. This case study examines this issue by investigating how policy actors in a conservative dominated state made sense of supporting early childhood education policy through the creation of a bipartisan caucus. The findings illuminate the challenges and opportunities for supporting early childhood education within state legislatures.

Author

• Lauren C. McKenzie, University of Texas at Austin