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Pivoting a Prekindergarten Program Off the Child or the Standard? A Case Study of Integrating the Practices of Early Childhood Education into Elementary School

As prekindergarten becomes a more common feature in elementary school, little is known about how early childhood stakeholders are incorporating their child‐centered practices into the standards‐based accountability reforms that define elementary school. This article addresses this issue by presenting a case study that examined the implementation of a prekindergarten assessment tool. The tool was to align the academic achievement expectations of the prekindergarten program with those found in the corresponding elementary schools. The tool initially failed to address district stakeholders' conceptions of the amount of academic skills and knowledge students were to obtain in prekindergarten. It was edited to correct this problem. Examining this case reveals the complexity that early education stakeholders face in merging their conceptions of practice with elementary school policies that require all children to acquire mandated standards. It also offers the chance to consider the steps both sets of stakeholders might take to support the integration of prekindergarten into elementary school.