No Preschool Children Left Behind? Standards-based Accountability and Daycare Teachers’ Perceptions of their Work

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Teachers, Schools, and Diversity

Abstract

School reform policies implemented over the past several decades in the U.S., including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the authorization of public charter schools, have emphasized the principles of standards-based accountability. These policies require public schools to demonstrate that they are increasing students’ performance on standardized tests of academic achievement or face sanctions for low-performance. Research has demonstrated that standards-based accountability has influenced the way that K-12 schools operate, including narrowing curricula to focus more intensively on tested topics and increasing the use of standardized assessments. This paper examines the extent to which standards-based accountability policies have also “trickled down” to influence the ways that daycare teachers conceive of their work and the purposes of education. Qualitative field work, including interviews and unobtrusive observations, at two private daycare centers in the Washington D.C. region suggests that the language of academic performance and accountability also extend to how daycare teachers talk about their work as they attempt to prepare students for public schooling and to ensure that their students and their centers’ reputations do not fall behind. While other research has pointed to “kindergarten as the new first grade,” the evidence presented here suggests that standards-based accountability has also extended to private daycare settings with implications for how teachers structure their work with very young children.

Author

• Katie Kerstetter, George Mason University