Dissonance and disparity: Uncovering the discourse surrounding New York City’s universal prekindergarten policy

This study unearthed the dissonance between policymaking and reality and how these incongruences contribute to furthering racial injustices in New York City’s (NYC) Universal Pre-K (UPK). As one of the most ambitious initiatives of its kind, NYC’s UPK expansion provides a valuable model for other systems, offering important lessons from its implementation. Through an examination of early childhood and care teacher compensation discourse, policymaker rhetoric is juxtaposed with the on-ground perceptions of teachers, advocates, and administrators. Utilizing Critical Policy Analysis and drawing on both Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory and Schneider and Ingram’s (1993) social construction and policy design theory, we critically analyzed 66 documents, including hearings, media reports, and advocacy documents, as well as 240 social media posts from 2014 to 2022. Our analysis revealed a disconnect between policymakers’ narratives and the realities that educators faced under inequitable compensation policies, highlighting the widespread impact of these policies across every layer of NYC’s early care and education ecosystem. Findings exposed policymakers’ bias towards specific groups, perpetuating racial disparities in NYC’s highly segregated early childhood system, and signaling UPK’s role in amplifying existing inequities.