Critical Junctures
ECHOES looks at how social, political, and economic conditions shaped ECE from its beginnings and at key turning points and how they continue to shape our present system.
How did we come to have our present-day ECE system?
Use the timeline below to examine turning points in the history of early care and education and explore how politics and political power shape changes over time. Learn how relationships among gender, race, and class became entrenched in the ECE system, suppressing alternative visions and reforms.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
Haydee B. Campbell: Expanding Education for Black Children and Opportunities for Black Women
By Rachel E. Williams and Marcy Whitebook
February 25, 2021
A Free Kindergarten
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
November, 1878
1870-1889
Beginnings
Kindergartens and day nurseries emerge when most believe a (White) mother’s place is in the home, guiding her young children, and schools are not necessary for children under six because their capacity for learning is underestimated. Activists of various races and classes challenge these assumptions by establishing kindergartens for younger children as well as less-accepted day nurseries for children of working mothers whose lives do not fit that ideal.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
Anna Evans Murray: Visionary Leadership in Public Kindergartens and Teacher Training
By Marcy Whitebook and Rachel E. Williams
March 17, 2021
Josephine S. Yates: Pedagogical Giant and Organizational Leader in Early Education and Beyond
By Rachel E. Williams
February 4, 2022
1890-1919
Progressive Era
Everyday life changes dramatically for families as many move to seek new forms of livelihood in densely populated cities. To address new concerns about the safety and socialization of young children, day nurseries and kindergartens expand but follow different paths. Half-day kindergartens for children five and older gain a foothold in public schools, while private kindergartens and full-day nurseries serving younger children work to retain staff and stay afloat.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
State Kindergarten Laws
State Histories
1920-1945
Prosperity, Depression, and War
More mothers are working, and day nurseries are in short supply, so most rely on personal networks for child care. Private nursery schools emerge for a few middle-class three- and four-year-olds in the 1920s, but the Great Depression undoes the growth of public kindergartens. In response to activist demands and the crises of the Depression and WW2, the federal government temporarily provides some emergency funding for nursery schools and, later, educational child care programs.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
President Nixon Vetoes Child Care Plan
New York Times
Dec. 10, 1971
1946-1971
After WW2 to Nixon Veto
More and more working mothers scramble to find and pay for child care and early education in the private market. After closing its wartime child care program, the federal government restricts its funding to welfare-linked child care subsidies and Head Start for children in poverty. By 1970, a majority of five-year-olds attend at least half-day public kindergartens, but Nixon’s veto of bipartisan legislation in 1971 crushes hopes for publicly funded early care and education.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
Compensation Movement Archives
Worthy Wage Songs and Chants Book
1972-2000
Demand and Dysfunction Grow
Demand for child care and early education grows, and the private market keeps expanding. Limited federal funding for child care and Head Start increases in the 1990s but fails to cover all eligible families living in or near poverty. Most families still struggle to afford services. Underpaid teachers lead the national Worthy Wage Campaign, adding their voices to the call for greater and more equitable public investment in care and education for children from birth to age five.
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
By Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, and Barbara Zheutlin
September 15, 2022
Center Educators’ Activism
By Ashley Williams, Peggy Haack and Marcy Whitebook
September 15, 2022
Early Care and Education Is in Crisis
By Lea J.E. Austin, Marcy Whitebook and Ashley Williams
January 21, 2021
2001 – Present
At a Crossroads
The Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic increase pre-existing inequities and the instability of an ECE system that relies on the private market and inadequate crisis-driven public investment. Early care and education stands at a crossroads. Will government investments mirror past approaches, continuing to shortchange families, children, and educators? Or will they transform early care and education into a shared public responsibility, like education for older children?
ECHOES Publications
The Kindergarten Lessons We Never Learned
Marcy Whitebook, Claudia Alvarenga, Barbara Zheutlin | September 15, 2022
Working Toward Early Childhood Education Equity
Marcy Whitebook, Rachel E. Williams | September 15, 2022
Rights, Raises, and Respect: The Early Educator Compensation Movement
Peggy Haack, Rosemarie Vardell, Marcy Whitebook | September 15, 2022
Center Educators’ Activism
Ashley Williams, Peggy Haack, Marcy Whitebook | September 15, 2022
Uncovering the Role of Early Childhood in Black Women’s Clubs Work Towards Racial and Gender Justice
Rachel E. Williams | September 15, 2022
Anna Evans Murray: Visionary Leadership in Public Kindergartens and Teacher Training
Marcy Whitebook, Rachel E. Williams | March 17, 2021
Haydee B. Campbell: Expanding Education for Black Children and Opportunities for Black Women
Rachel E. Williams, Marcy Whitebook | February 25, 2021
Josephine Silone Yates: Pedagogical Giant and Organizational Leader in Early Education and Beyond
Rachel E. Williams | February 4, 2022