Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education

William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA Robert Bastien, Public Health Agency, Canada Anne Bauer, Aquatic Park School, USA Dana Frantz Bentley, Buckingham Browne and Nichols School, USA Marianne Bloch, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA Lynn Cohen, USA Sue Dockett, Charles Sturt University, Australia Tonia Durden, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA Lorraine Falchi, La Escuelita, USA Dana E. Friedman, USA Jennifer Weiss Friedman, La Escuelita, USA Michelle Grant-Groves, USA Koeun Kim, Northwest Missouri State University, USA Linda Laidlaw, University of Alberta, Canada. Sheri Leafgren, Miami University, USA Joanne Lehrer, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada Julie Nicholson, Mills College, USA Joanne O'Mara, Deakin University, Australia Karen Ortiz, Helios Education Foundation, USA Bob Perry, Charles Sturt University, Australia Lacey Peters, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA Susan L. Recchia, Columbia University, USA Heather J. Pinedo-Burns, Columbia University, USA Elizabeth Quintero, California State University, Channel Islands, USA Beth Blue Swadener, Arizona State University, USA Ristyn Woolley, USA Suzanna So-Har Wong, University of Alberta, Canada

"Rethinking Readiness in Early Childhood Education offers readers the chance to reflect on traditional notions of what it means to be prepared for kindergarten. In doing so, it compels its audience to reassess the aims of early learning experiences as well as the extent to which diverse learners and their needs are valued and addressed." (Rebecca Blazar Lebowitz, Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 86 (3), 2016)

• Ready or Not: Learning and Living; William Ayers 1. A Cultural History of 'Readiness' in Early Childhood Care and Education: Are There Still Culturally Relevant, Ethical, and Imaginative Spaces for Learning Open for Young Children and Their Families?; Marianne N. Bloch and Koeun Kim 2. Ready for School? Lessons from a Socio-historical Investigation into Mechanisms of Preparation and Classification of Children for Primary School from 1911 to 1979; Joanne Lehrer and Robert Bastien 3. Something Isn't Right: Deconstructing Readiness with Parents, Teachers & Children; Lacey Peters, Karen Ortiz, and Elizabeth Swadener 4. The Early Development Instrument: A Bioecological View of School Readiness; Lynn Cohen and Dana E. Friedman 5. "Daddy, Look at the Video I Made on my iPad!": Reconceptualizing 'Readiness' in the Digital Age; Linda Laidlaw, Joanne O'Mara and Suzanna Wong 6. Cracking the Walls of the Education Matrix: Are you Ready to Educate Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students?; Tonia Durden 7. Are You My Dawg?: Socially and Politically Marginalized Children Desiring to be Seen and Valued by Their Teachers; Sheri Leafgren 8. Rethinking the Discourse of Readiness in Preschool; Lori Falchi and Jennifer Weiss Friedman 9. Transition to School: Times of Opportunity, Expectation, Aspiration, and Entitlement; Sue Dockett and Robert Perry 10. "Who They Are and What They Have to Say Matters...": How a Child-Centered Preschool Experience Shapes Children's Navigation of Kindergarten; Susan L. Recchia and Dana Frantz Bentley 11. The Importance of Wonder; Heather Pinedo-Burns 12. Juan, Melina, and Friends: Guides for Reconceptualizing Readiness; Elizabeth P. Quintero 13. Inserting Postmodern Epistemological Perspectives into Discourse on Readiness: Privileging Assets, Capacity Building, and Diversity to Increase Equity; Julie Nicholson, Michelle Grant-Groves, Anne Bauer, and Ristyn Woolley 14. Reimagining Possible Worlds for Young Children; Will Parnell and Jeanne Marie Iorio