ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Mariana Souto-Manning, Gail Buffalo, and Ayesha Rabadi-Raol unveil how Eurocentric definitions of quality in early childhood teacher education re-produce racial and cultural inequities. Recognizing the damage imparted by high-stakes certification tests—tools for keeping the early childhood teaching profession overwhelmingly White—they collected, developed, and analyzed testimonios coauthored by Latina early childhood teachers. Using critical race theory, they show how these Latina teachers are bearing the onus of newly established measures of quality in early childhood teacher certification. The testimonios show how participants went from being regarded as “highly qualified” by Head Start prior to the launch of major early childhood initiatives (e.g., Universal Pre-Kindergarten in New York) to being uncertified, having to acquire graduate degrees and pass high-stakes tests in order to remain in the profession. Highlighting Latina teachers’ experiences and expertise, these powerful and agentive testimonios denounce how high-stakes certification requirements invisiblized and erased teachers’ culturally situated knowledges. Through the analysis of these testimonios, the authors reveal whose knowledges are deemed officially worthwhile and what interests are served by high-stakes teacher certification assessments. They invite readers to rethink concepts of “rigor” and “quality” as tools aiding continued re-production of inequitable status quos in early childhood teacher education.
