The Journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children Volume 81 ▪ No 2 Summer 2026
Toward Intentional Teaching: The Need for Educator Agency
4 Introduction
6 Did You Lose Your Teacher Voice? Reclaiming Educator Agency, Voice, and Choice Through a Critical Lens Brian L. Wright and Mona M. Abo-Zena
18 Bringing Your Whole Self to the Classroom: A Native Hawaiian Perspective on Identity in Early Childhood Education Nicol Russell
22 Inspiring Teacher Agency:( Re) claiming Assessment as an Advocacy Tool in the Primary Grades Sehyun Yun and Leslie La Croix
30 The Power of Teacher Agency: Leading from the Classroom Amy Schmidtke, Mary Beth Pistillo, and Greta Morris
38 When Squirrels Lead the Way: Weaving Intention into Teachable Moments Jason Surian
44 Together We RISE: Tapping Educator Agency to Guide Children’ s Social and Emotional Learning Sara D. Hooks, Jennifer K. Pett, Janese Daniels, and Nicole Vasanth
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YC Staff
Annie Moses Editor in Chief Susan Donsky Senior Editor Charity Coleman Senior Creative Design Manager Gillian Frank Senior Creative Design Specialist Ashley McGowan Creative Design Specialist Emily Wehby Associate Editor Elizabeth You Associate Editor Codi Trump Senior Business Development Specialist Michelle Kang Chief Executive Officer Naomi Dillon Chief Communications Officer Alissa Mwenelupembe Chief Early Learning Quality and Research Officer Susan Friedman Senior Director, Publishing and Content Development Treva Bustow Senior Director, Membership Nicole Santa Director, Marketing
YC – Young Children( ISSN 1538‐6619) is published quarterly( published in the months of March, June, September, and December) by the National Association for the Education of Young Children( NAEYC), 1401 H Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005.
Through its publications program, NAEYC provides a forum for discussion of major issues and ideas in our field. We hope to provoke thought and promote professional growth. The views expressed or implied are not necessarily those of the Association. Acceptance of advertising does not represent NAEYC’ s endorsement of any product or service, nor is NAEYC responsible for representations made by advertisers.