Why should pre-K be more like elementary school? A case study of pre-K reform

As policymakers and early childhood advocates across the United States continue to promote the expansion of early childhood education to prepare students for success in elementary school, many within the field are worried about how these reforms will affect the field. Little is known as to why early education stakeholders would seek out programmatic reforms that align their programs with the goals and purpose of K-12 education systems. There is also an absence of research that examines how participating in such a reform process affects these programs. This article begins to address these gaps in the research literature. It presents findings from a case study of early childhood reform that was to align a set of pre-K programs across a collection of school districts in Texas to prepare their students for elementary school. By examining why early childhood stakeholders were attracted to this reform process and how they saw engaging in it affecting their programs, this article illuminates two central issues that early education stakeholders and policymakers should take into consideration as they continue to align these two fields of education.