This paper explores the political, social, and cultural contexts of current early literacy federal policies in the United States. Building upon existing critiques of the policy and its epistemological stances, this paper first analyses the planning and discussion surrounding the introduction of the policy to state leaders and also how it is first discussed and planned for in one local context. The paper poses questions of how language and literacy are being defined and for whom, and explores these discussions in both federal and local uptake in the implementation process. A Foucaultian analysis is used to document and explore the beginnings of the implementation of the policy. By examining the techniques of power, knowledge, and surveillance exacted through the policy, the paper also sheds light on how these explicit and sub-textual messages are mediated by school-based educators. The paper closes by averring that language and literacy policies would do best to recognise and work within the complex learning settings of schools and classrooms.