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Venue Shopping, Policy Feedback, and American Preschool Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Andrew Karch*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

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Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

NOTES

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17. This article does not provide a comprehensive account of developments in American preschool education. Instead, it emphasizes the long-term consequences of venue shopping on these developments, highlighting particular episodes that illustrate the impact of policy feedback. While additional factors have influenced the policy actions taken by the states and the national government, this article does not claim to be comprehensive in either a historical or a theoretical sense.

18. This article emphasizes governmental policies toward educational programs at the expense of center-based child care or family child-care approaches that are often labeled “custodial,” a distinction that has also been made by other scholars. See Beatty, Barbara, Preschool Education in America (New Haven, 1995)Google Scholar; and Rothman, Sheila, “Other People’s Children: The Day Care Experience in America,” Public Interest 30 (1973): 11–27.Google Scholar

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21. While many of these congressional debates are described in the pages that follow, this article does not provide a comprehensive account of either their emergence or resolution. It highlights how these debates were influenced by venue shopping and policy feedback.

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37. Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971, S 1512, 92d Cong., 1st sess. (April 5, 1971).

38. Cost has been a recurrent issue during debates over the public provision of preschool education. In response, preschool advocates have repeatedly sought to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of such programs, portraying them as a desirable long-term societal investment.

39. Woolley, John and Peters, Gerhard, The American Presidency ProjectGoogle Scholar [online]. Santa Barbara: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3251).

40. Milton J. E. Senn, interview with Mrs. Barbara Finberg, p. 22. Contained in Leona Baumgartner and Milton J. E. Senn, “Transcripts and Tapes of Interviews on the Child Development Movement.” Available at the National Library of Medicine (NLM ID: 2935107R), Bethesda, Maryland. The ninety-eight interviews in this collection were conducted between 1967 and 1975. The Finberg interview is undated, but its content suggests that it took place sometime in 1974.

41. Milton J. E. Senn, interview with Dr. Nicholas Hobbs, p. 26. Contained in Leona Baumgartner and Milton J. E. Senn, “Transcripts and Tapes of Interviews on the Child Development Movement.” Available at the National Library of Medicine (NLM ID: 2935107R), Bethesda, Maryland. The interview was conducted on 25 April 1974. At the time of the interview, Hobbs, a psychologist by training, was Provost at Vanderbilt University.

42. Education Commission of the States’ Early Childhood Task Force, “State Offices of Child Development: Do They Work?” (Denver: Education Commission of the States, July 1974). Preliminary Draft for Use Only at the Early Childhood National Symposium, 1–2 August 1974. Available at the ECS Archives. State offices of child development had been established in five states between January 1969 and January 1971.

43. Milton J. E. Senn, interview with Mrs. Lisbeth Bamberger Schorr and William Smith, p. 14. Contained in Leona Baumgartner and Milton J. E. Senn, “Transcripts and Tapes of Interviews on the Child Development Movement.” Available at the National Library of Medicine (NLM ID: 2935107R). Bethesda, Maryland. The interview was conducted on 23 April 1974.

44. “Grant Received for Early Childhood Implementation Project—State Services Planned,” Early Childhood Project, no. 1 (April 1972): 1–2. Available at the ECS Archives.

45. Hayas, Denise Kale and Ross, Doris M., The Very Young and Education: 1974 State Activity, Report no. 68 (Denver: Education Commission of the States Early Childhood Project, May 1975). Available at the ECS Archives.Google Scholar

46. “Early Childhood Programs: A State Survey, 1974–1975,” ECS Report no. 65, EC Report no. 11 (Denver: Education Commission of the States, April 1975). Available at the ECS Archives. A 1972 survey had found that only thirty states offered such services, revealing a sharp increase between 1972 and 1974.

47. Brademas, John, The Politics of Education: Conflict and Consensus on Capitol Hill (Norman, Okla., 1987).Google Scholar

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51. John Brademas, “Legislation for Young Children and Their Families” (Speech, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Denton Associations for the Education of Young Children, Fort Worth, 31 March 1977). Available at the John Brademas Congressional Papers, New York University, Box III:15, Folder 30.

52. Sigman, Robert P., “Misleading Charges Against Child Care Act,” Kansas City Star, 30 November 1975Google Scholar; and Angle, Martha, “Even Nonexistent Parts of Child Bill Draw Fire,” Washington Star, 3 February 1976, A-7.Google Scholar

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57. House Committee on Ways and Means, 1990 Green Book: Background Material and Data on Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means, 101st Cong., 2d sess., 1990, Committee Print, 840.

58. McCathren, Randall R., “The Demise of Federal Categorical Child Care Legislation: Lessons for the ’80s from the Failures of the ’70s,” in Approaches to Child and Family Policy, ed. Wallach, Harold C. (Boulder, 1981), 131.Google Scholar

59. Collier and Collier, Shaping the Political Arena, 8.

60. Norton Grubb, W., “Choices for Children: Policy Options for State Provision of Early Childhood Programs,” Finance Collaborative Working Paper no. 5 (Denver: Education Commission of the States and the National Conference of State Legislatures, October 1988), 1. Available at the ECS Archives.Google Scholar

61. Smart Start: The Community Collaborative for Early Childhood Development Act of 1988, S 2270, 100th Cong., 2d sess. (April 12, 1988).

62. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Smart Start: The Community Collaborative for Early Childhood Development Act of 1988: Hearings on S. 2270, 100th Cong., 2d sess., 1988, 31.

63. Ibid., 294–95.

64. “Federalism and Education: The Evolving Federal-State Partnership,” Report of a Conference Jointly Sponsored by the Education Commission of the States and the Institute for Educational Leadership, “New Dimensions of Federalism: The Evolving Federal-State Partnership,” 14–16 September 1988. Available at the ECS Archives.

65. “Federal/State Relations,” Memorandum from Frank Newman to Governor Garrey Carruthers, Governor Bill Clinton, and Governor Ted Sanders, 25 September 1989, 2. Available at the ECS Archives.

66. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment, 102. Kirp criticizes preschool advocates’ use of the neuroscience literature on the grounds that it does not do justice to the nuanced nature of the findings. He argues that preschool advocates treat a series of complicated and provisional results as definitive. See also Fuller, Standardized Education.

67. “Early Childhood Education Programs,” Clearinghouse Notes: Early Childhood Education (Denver: Education Commission of the States, 15 February 1997). Available at the ECS Archives.

68. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment, 150.

69. Education Commission of the States, Early Learning: Improving Results for Young Children (Denver: Education Commission of the States, 2000), 4. Available at the ECS Archives.

70. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Multiple Program Coordination in Early Childhood Education: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia, 106th Cong., 1st sess., 1999.

71. Ibid., 3.

72. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Early Education and Care: What Is the Federal Government’s Role? Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 2005.

73. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment, 100; and Fuller, Standardized Education, 5.

74. State-funded preschool programs did not exist in Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, or Wyoming. See Jessica McMaken, “State Notes: State-Funded Pre-Kindergarten Programs” (Denver: Education Commission of the States, March 2002). Available at the ECS Archives.

75. Peterson, Kavan, “Preschool Gets Record Boost in ’05,” Stateline.org, 16 November 2005.Google Scholar

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77. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment, 266.

78. Pierson, Paul and Skocpol, Theda, “Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science,” in Political Science: State of the Discipline, ed. Katznelson, Ira and Millner, Helen V. (New York, 2002), 701.Google Scholar

79. Beatty, Barbara, “The Politics of Preschool Advocacy: Lessons from Three Pioneering Organizations,” in Who Speaks for America’s Children? The Role of Child Advocates in Public Policy, ed. DeVita, Carl J. and Mosher-Williams, Rachel (Washington, D.C., 2001), 186.Google Scholar

80. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment; and Fuller, Standardized Education.

81. Pierson and Skocpol, “Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science,” 713.

82. Ibid., 715.