Early Childhood Education in the United States

<p>Early Childhood Education in the United States is rife with contradictions critique and innovation. It is a time when a status quo – characterized by systemic historic discrimination; teacher de-professionalization; 'teaching to the test'; and attacks on funding – is challenged by new technologies new literacies and transformative and critical perspectives and practices that defy assumptions and biases to create cutting-edge diverse instantiations of Early Childhood Education for children families and teachers.</p><p></p><p>This volume based on a special issue of the <i>Early Years</i> journal written in 2016 before the new administration announced its policies aims to generate conversations about developments in Early Childhood Education situated within classist/racist/linguicist and neoliberal contexts and to analyze critically where we are where we might go and what we might do. It is also an opportunity to share counter-narratives to the dominant narratives promulgated by many convinced that narrow destructive norms of appropriate practice standards and accountability as well as the curtailed<b> </b>achievement of children of Color those from low income communities and emergent bilinguals are ‘common sense’. </p><p></p><p>These counter-narratives – some about <i>transformational </i>projects that have generated innovative perspectives and practices and some detailing <i>critical</i> analyses and projects that go beyond to explore issues of power – contest education that disprivileges some children and families while advocating education that is child- and family-centered culturally relevant and sustaining equitable and democratic. Our hope is that this work creates a 'space of dialogue and human action' needed even more urgently today. </p><p></p><p>This book was originally published as a special issue of the <i>Early Years </i>journal.</p>