Dissonance and disparity
Uncovering the discourse surrounding New York City’s universal prekindergarten policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16778333 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Mavrides Calderon (0009-0004-2212-0174, City University of New York, corresponding author), Emily Kohn (0000-0002-8540-6311, Harvard University Press) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1490-1507 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Futures in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2103 • E-ISSN: 1478-2103 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14782103251370292 |
| OpenAlex | W4413434347 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
This study unearthed the dissonance between policymaking and reality and how these incongruences contribute to furthering racial injustices in New York City’s (NYC) Universal Pre-K (UPK). As one of the most ambitious initiatives of its kind, NYC’s UPK expansion provides a valuable model for other systems, offering important lessons from its implementation. Through an examination of early childhood and care teacher compensation discourse, policymaker rhetoric is juxtaposed with the on-ground perceptions of teachers, advocates, and administrators. Utilizing Critical Policy Analysis and drawing on both Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory and Schneider and Ingram’s (1993) social construction and policy design theory, we critically analyzed 66 documents, including hearings, media reports, and advocacy documents, as well as 240 social media posts from 2014 to 2022. Our analysis revealed a disconnect between policymakers’ narratives and the realities that educators faced under inequitable compensation policies, highlighting the widespread impact of these policies across every layer of NYC’s early care and education ecosystem. Findings exposed policymakers’ bias towards specific groups, perpetuating racial disparities in NYC’s highly segregated early childhood system, and signaling UPK’s role in amplifying existing inequities
Cognitive dissonance · Discourse analysis · Linguistics · Pedagogy · Preschool education · Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Critical Race Theory in Education · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology · Social Psychology
The symbolic uses of politics
Theories of the Policy Process
Equity, inclusion and belonging for teachers in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand
From Redistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a ‘Post-Socialist’ Age
Black Feminist Thought
Policy Worlds
Measuring Care
The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis
Building a unified system for universal Pre-K
From Redistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a 'Post-Socialist' Age
Systemic And Structural Racism
Justice interruptus
The Implementation of Public Policy
Placing Teachers in Global Governance Agendas
The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity
Social Construction of Target Populations
| Highly cited | No |
|---|