Book Review: Reshaping universal preschool: Critical perspectives on power and policy by Lucinda G Heimer and Ann Elizabeth Ramminger

Abstract

Reshaping Universal Preschool: Critical Perspectives on Power and Policy examines the social and academic shortfalls in the expansion of universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) in the USA. By aligning various stakeholder perspectives on UPK, Lucinda G Heimer and Ann Elizabeth Ramminger frame their deep dive into collaborative local policy-building by presenting a historical snapshot of UPK policy and then carefully plot its evolution (Heimer and Ramminger, 2020). The authors provide thought-provoking questions that encourage discussion and creative solutions around the issue of equity in early childhood education. In language and format, Reshaping Universal Preschool is accessible to early childhood pre-service and in-service teachers, policymakers, and researchers. The publication of Reshaping Universal Preschool comes as early childhood education is returning the spotlight to “school readiness” as a panacea for addressing the “underperformance” in US K–12 education (Altun, 2018; Gupta and Lucia, 2019; Nxumalo and Brown, 2020; Russo et al., 2019). This book aligns with the conversations among policymakers, educators, parents, and other stakeholders as to how to confront the opportunity gap and establish equity in education and life outcomes for all children (Michael-Luna and Grey, 2019; Wilinski, 2017). The authors bring a wealth of knowledge and counternarratives to the book. Lucinda Heimer, Associate Professor of Early Childhood/Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Ann Elizabeth Ramminger, founder of Early Childhood Solutions Consulting, collaborate to expand and extend Heimer’s powerful 2005 PhD dissertation, which unpacked the expansion of UPK policy. To broaden the conversation, Heimer and Ramminger include Katherine Delaney, Sarah Galanter-Guziewski, Lacey Peters, and Kristin Whyte in nuanced ethnographic studies and descriptions of UPK. Heimer and Ramminger frame their critique of UPK policy-into-practice by giving historical background and theoretical frameworks. In chapter 2, the authors examine the key question “What is quality to whom?” to highlight how power, social capital, and policy-as-discourse work in collaboration. In chapter 3, Heimer and Ramminger bring marginalized voices into their examination of collaboration by creating and presenting counternarratives to dominant views of UPK policy, specifically drawing on Foucault’s notion of power. Chapter 4 focuses on interest convergence (critical race theory) and policy-as-compromise. Of note, contributing author Galanter-Guziewski considers the different communities she included in her decision-making as a public school principal. Chapter 5 presents the fraught story of curriculum selection in a collaborative (or not so collaborative) process, illustrating its points with observational data of UPK teachers. Book review