Research On The History Of U.S.Federal Education Policy For Disadvantaged Preschool Children (1933-2019)

Fairness and justice are the eternal value pursuit and goal of human society.With the continuous attention to the issue of education equity,strengthening the governance of the education of disadvantaged preschool children has become a common sense in the world.Many countries have adopted legislation to promote the development of education of disadvantaged preschool children,effectively ensuring the education rights of disadvantaged preschool children.Although China has paid more and more attention to the education of disadvantaged preschool children in recent years,such as the “National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development 2010-2020” and “State Council's Suggestions on the Current Development of Early Childhood Education” all require the development of preschool education in poor areas and the establishment of preschool education funding system,but the education of disadvantaged preschool children in China is still at the initial development stage,among which many problems still need to be improved.The federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children started early.After nearly 90 years of development,it has formed a relatively complete system and accumulated rich experience.Therefore,this study takes the federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children as the research object,and takes the education equity as the main thread,using the methods of documentation,historical research,comparative research,and text analysis to trace and interpret its occurrence,development and change process,and analyze the influence factor,historical experience and existing problem,so as to provide beneficial enlightenment and reference for the development of education policy of disadvantaged preschool children in China.The federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children is a gradual development and deepening process.According to the change in the orientation of education equity,the federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children can divide into four historical stages:(1)From 1933 to 1963,emphasized the fairness of the right to education.The impact of the Great Depression,the expansion of the power of the federal government,and the development of children science jointly contributed to the rights-oriented federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children.At the same time,it achieved a historical change from the scratch.Under this value orientation,the federal government issued a series of policies around the emergency nursery schools program,which effectively protected the educational rights of disadvantaged preschool children.The initial intervention of the federal government not only confirmed its responsibility for the education of disadvantaged preschool children,but also promoted the recognition of the education of disadvantaged preschool children by society.(2)From 1964 to 1987,focused on the fairness in educational opportunity.Affected by the anti-poverty war,the civil rights movement,and the theory of intellectual change and poverty culture,the federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children was established and developed,and focused on the equality of educational opportunity.That is to say,not only let disadvantaged preschool children enjoy fair access to school,but also incline and compensate them in the allocation of resources,so that they can at an equal starting point with children of relatively higher socioeconomic status.To this end,the federal government created Head Start,Title I,and other compensatory education programs specifically for disadvantaged preschool children through the Economic Opportunity Act,the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,and the Head Start Act.The enactment of these bills not only let the education of disadvantaged preschool children having the law to abide by,but also promoted the fair process of education of disadvantaged preschool children.However,due to the excessive pursuit of equality and resource input,the quality was neglected.(3)From 1988 to 2001,stressed the equity in quality that took into account opportunities.In face of quality crisis,the federal government made adjustments and turned to the equity in quality that took into account opportunities.In terms of expanding opportunities,in order to cover all eligible disadvantaged preschool children,the federal government increased its investment in Head Start and Title I,and the second,launched new policies such as Child Care and Development Block.In terms of equity in quality,in order to provide quality education to every disadvantaged preschool children,the federal government strengthened quality management by setting quality improvement funds,clarifying the minimum requirements for teachers,and revising performance standard.This stage achieved great results,ensuring the effective supply of enrollment and steady increase in quality.(4)From 2002 to 2019,pursued the equity of education outcome.At the beginning of the new century,trapped by the disparity in academic achievement gaps and the high poverty rate of preschool children,the federal government raised the requirements,and turned its attention to the equality of education outcome,so as to meet the school readiness requirements.To this end,the federal government established “spider-web” policy intervention system,involving courses,teaching,quality monitoring,management system and other aspects,such as formulating learning outcome standard,implementing home visiting program,strengthening the construction of teacher's team,building quality rating and improvement system,and innovating the relationship between federal government and local government.In the development process of the federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children,changes in the political and economic climate,the advancement of theoretical studies on the value of preschool education,the continuous construction of problem streams,and the powerful demonstration effect of foreign countries are the main factors affecting policy evolution.Taking legal perfection as the mechanism guarantee,taking special program as the main carrier,taking comprehensive intervention as the content composition,taking family development as the important auxiliary point,and taking effect evaluation as the promoting measure are the main historical experience of policy evolution.Although the federal government has made a lot of efforts and achieved considerable fruits,there are still some prominent contradictions and problems,such as policies from different departments,the construction of teaching staff with lower wages,insufficient financial investment,the game between federal and local government.Based on the experience of the federal education policy for disadvantaged preschool children and the problems we are facing,we should start to improve from the following aspects: hold the value orientation of education equity and establish the compensation mechanism,accelerate the legislation and perfect the legal system,take advantage of special program and target disadvantaged children precisely,introduce the perspective of family and build a solid foundation for the development of children,strengthen performance evaluation and implement accurately.