Using frame analysis, Boonstra and Graue analyzed the ways that media have framed kindergarten as being in perpetual crisis over the past 50 years. Their paper: The Recurring Kindergarten Panic: Fractured Narratives in Newspaper Framing, 1964-2017, unpacks the issues and implications of media framing for both the public and researchers.
Their paper’s abstract states: Recognizing that the media both shapes and reflects public understanding and policy development, this paper explores how print media framed the topic of kindergarten from 1964 to the present. We analyzed over 220 articles from four major national newspapers, utilizing frame analysis to understand how narratives about kindergarten’s significance have been forged and disseminated over time. Across our period of analysis, the press advanced a story of kindergarten in crisis. Underneath this narrative, however, kindergarten’s purpose, objectives, and methods were framed differently for historically dominant and non-dominant race and class groups. Findings underscore the media’s role in reflecting and amplifying racialized and classed messages about kindergarten, as well as the need for nuance and a diversity of voices in both academia and the mainstream press.
The full paper is currently under review for publication.