From Child’s Garden to Academic Press: The Role of Shifting Institutional Logics in Redefining Kindergarten Education

Item

Title

From Child’s Garden to Academic Press: The Role of Shifting Institutional Logics in Redefining Kindergarten Education

Abstract/Description

The impermeability of schooling to reform is a frequent conclusion of studies of educational organizations, but historical accounts suggest that kindergartens have undergone significant transformation. Once a transitional year emphasizing child development, kindergarten now marks the beginning of formal academic instruction. Guided by institutional theory, this article explores the evolution of public discourse about kindergarten by analyzing newspaper articles, policy documents, and professional association activities. I argue that the media advanced academic messages about kindergarten before state activism, while the state later embedded an academic model in policy. The case of kindergarten surfaces general implications for understanding educational change, highlighting how new ideas and practices are advanced by a diverse set of actors in the organizational field.

Author/creator

Russell, Jennifer Lin

Date

2011

In publication

American Educational Research Journal

Volume

48

Issue

2

Pages

236-267

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Theoretical

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0002-8312

DOI

10.3102/0002831210372135

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Citation

Russell, J. L. (2011). From Child’s Garden to Academic Press: The Role of Shifting Institutional Logics in Redefining Kindergarten Education. American Educational Research Journal, 48(2), 236–267. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831210372135

Cited in

The Institution of Schooling

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 4 Citations

• Email