Many believe that kindergarten no longer reflects a nurturing environment but, instead, has become a race for children to learn skills so they are ready for the academic achievement tests. Resisting the Kinder-Race examines how the race came about, why it must change, and how all stakeholders must take part in the reform process.

Contents Acknowledgments xi 1.  Why Examine the Changed Kindergarten? 1 Origins of My Interest in the Changed Kindergarten 2 Why This Book? 3 How No Child Left Behind Has Failed 4 The Purpose of This Book 5 My Own Sense of Reality 9 Outlining the Rest of the Book 11 2.  How Kindergarten Transitioned From a Garden to a Race 13 Froebel’s Kindergarten 13 The Expansion of Kindergarten in the United States 14 Kindergarten Post-WWII 16 A National Focus on the Academic Performance of Children 17 The Early Childhood Community Responds to the Push for Increased Academics 18 A New Focus on Kindergarten Readiness 18 Improving America’s Schools Act 19 No Child Left Behind 20 Accountability Shovedown Moves Into Prekindergarten Classrooms 21 Readying Children for Kindergarten 22 The Achievement Gap 22 The Construct of School Readiness 23 The Impact of Policy on Kindergarten Teachers’ Curricular Decisionmaking 25 Not Just Standards-Based Accountability Reform 27 3.  Experiencing the Kinder-Race 28 The Significance of the Kindergarten Year for Student Learning 29 The Day-to-Day in Kindergarten 30 Making Sense of Kindergarten 30 Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy 31 Kindergarten in Texas 32 What Do Kindergartners “Do” on a Daily Basis? 36 What Happens in Literacy and Mathematics During a Typical Day? 37 Summing Up a Day in the Kinder-Race 54 4.  Figuring the Kinder-Race Within the Worlds of Schooling 57 Why Texas and West Virginia? 58 The Figured World of the Kindergarten Classroom 58 How the Kindergartners Figured Their Own World 59 How Kindergartners Would Like to Reroute the Kinder-Race 62 How the Adults Within the Worlds of Elementary School Figured the Kinder-Race 64 How Family Members Figured Kindergarten 66 How Families Hoped to Reroute the Kinder-Race 70 How Kindergarten Teachers Figured Kindergarten 73 Teachers Rerouting the Kinder-Race 79 School Principals 83 Principals Rerouting the Kinder-Race 87 The Figuring of Kindergarten by Those Whose Orbits Revolve Around the School 90 5.  The Tension Between Fostering Democratic Students Versus Individualized Performers 92 Countering Neoliberalism 92 Texas and West Virginia Stakeholders 93 Texas Stakeholders 94 West Virginia Stakeholders 108 National Stakeholders 119 National Stakeholders Rerouting the Kinder-Race 123 Struggling to Reroute a Race That Prioritizes Economics Over Democratic Learning 130 6.  Kindergarten Is the Expansion of Learning 131 Rerouting the Kinder-Race 131 The Strict Father and Nurturant Parent Metaphors 133 Defining the Kinder-Race Using Lakoff 134 Rerouting the Kinder-Race: Kindergarten Is the Expansion of Learning 135 How to Engage in the Expansion of Learning 137 Supporting and Engaging Stakeholders in Expanding the Learning of Kindergartners 144 Moving Into the Political 150 Resources to Help Create Schools to Expand Learning for All Children 155 Moving Forward in Expanding the Learning of All Children 156 Appendix: Research Design 159 Notes 165 References 168 Index 191 About the Author 204

“This book is the first comprehensive treatment of kindergarten education in recent memory. I totally endorse Chris Brown’s concept of re-routing the Kinder-Race to a focus on the expansion of learning. I recommend this research-based guide because it provides practical and political tools for challenging the discourses that dominate public education today.” —J. Amos Hatch, professor emeritus, University of Tennessee