No Path Without Us: Reclaiming Early Educator Voice in the Future of California’s UPK Reform

• In Event: Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures in Early Childhood Teacher Education

Abstract

California’s Universal PreKindergarten (UPK) reform promises equity through free public Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for all four-year-olds by 2025. Yet beneath this vision lies a contradictory reality: experienced early educators, especially women from historically marginalized communities, are being displaced due to credentialing mandates that prioritize K–12 pathways. Grounded in Critical Feminist Theory, Intersectionality, and Community Cultural Wealth, this study uses Critical Phenomenology to examine how the TK rollout and PK–3 Early Childhood Education (ECE) Specialist Instruction Credential reshape definitions of qualification, identity, and belonging. Findings reveal a two-tiered system privileging school-based TK while sidelining community-rooted expertise. The study calls for justice-driven alternatives that center practitioner knowledge and reimagine credentialing through a relational, equity-informed, and culturally sustaining lens.

Authors

• Sarah Elisa Stein, San Francisco State University

• Mina Kim, San Francisco State University