Toward a Single Notion of Quality? Critical Analysis of the Narrowing of What Constitutes "Quality" in Head Start Research

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Windows Into the Life Worlds of Early Childhood Settings

Abstract

We utilize Fenech's (2011) analysis of conceptions of quality as a conceptual framework for examining shifting notions of “quality” in Head Start research since the passage of the Head Start Act of 2007. In this federal act, the evidence-based quality metrics became required for all Head Start programs, and in 2010, the Pre-K CLASS measure became a high stakes quality metric for evaluating programming granting and refunding (OHS, 2010). Wanting to understand how this policy might have impacted conceptions of quality, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of peer-reviewed Head Start research publications. Analyses reveal that what constitutes quality in Head Start research have narrowed, with important implications for research/practice in Head Start and ECE, more broadly.

Authors

• Katherine Kresin Delaney, University of Toledo

• Kristin Lyn Whyte, Mount Mary University