Kindergarten has been transformed by the test pressures of No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and now Common Core, which wants 5-year-olds to be college-ready. Instead of a children’s garden, kindergarten is now a time to focus on academic skills.
In this story by Elissa Nadworny and Anya Kamenetz that aired on NPR, they report a new study that documents the changes in kindergarten from 1998 to 2010. The time period ends before Common Core kicks in, so it is likely that the push for academic learning is even stronger now. Are children smarter by age 18 if they learn to read in kindergarten?
They write:
“A big new study provides the first national, empirical data to back up the anecdotes. University of Virginia researchers Daphna Bassok, Scott Latham and Anna Rorem analyzed the U.S. Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which includes a nationally representative annual sample of roughly 2,500 teachers of kindergarten and first grade who answer detailed questions. Their answers can tell us a lot about what they believe and expect of their students and what they actually do in their classrooms.
“The authors chose to compare teachers’ responses from two years, 1998 and 2010. Why 1998? Because the federal No Child Left Behind law hadn’t yet changed the school landscape with its annual tests and emphasis on the achievement gap.
“With the caveat that this is a sample, not a comprehensive survey, here’s what they found.
Among the differences:
“In 2010, prekindergarten prep was expected. One-third more teachers believed that students should know the alphabet and how to hold a pencil before beginning kindergarten.
“Everyone should read. In 1998, 31 percent of teachers believed their students should learn to read during the kindergarten year. That figure jumped to 80 percent by 2010.
“More testing. In 2010, 73 percent of kindergartners took some kind of standardized test. One-third took tests at least once a month. In 1998, they didn’t even ask kindergarten teachers that question. But the first-grade teachers in 1998 reported giving far fewer tests than the kindergarten teachers did in 2010.
“Less music and art. The percentage of teachers who reported offering music every day in kindergarten dropped by half, from 34 percent to 16 percent. Daily art dropped from 27 to 11 percent.
“Bye, bye brontosaurus. “We saw notable drops in teachers saying they covered science topics like dinosaurs and outer space, which kids this age find really engaging,” says Bassok, the study’s lead author.
“Less “center time.” There were large, double-digit decreases in the percentage of teachers who said their classrooms had areas for dress-up, a water or sand table, an art area or a science/nature area.
“Less choice. And teachers who offered at least an hour a day of student-driven activities dropped from 54 to 40 percent. At the same time, whole-class, teacher-led instruction rose along with the use of textbooks and worksheets.
“Not all playtime is trending down, though. Perhaps because of national anti-obesity campaigns, daily recess is actually up by 9 points, and PE has held steady.”
A spokesperson for Education Trust said these changes were not so bad because they might reduce the achievement gap. Is there any reason to believe this is true?
“Kindersmartin”
Out with art and song
In with standard test
Kindersmartin wrong
Eliminates the best
Should anyone have confidence in the trustworthiness of statements from theEducation Trust? I think not.
SIC!
Even before NCLB only 34% of kindergarten teachers were doing daily art and music and only 54% were allowing student-driven activity time? Guess in some ways we didn’t have that far to fall.
In many ways, we have simply arrived at the logical conclusion of our old premises.
When I went to kindergarten in the 50s, my parents were told not to teach me the alphabet, etc. I arrived without even being able to write my name. A fellow classmate, who had some spelling challenges of his own, taught me how to write my name. Unfortunately, it wasn’t “Peter!”
My parents were also told to be concerned if we came home with an artwork done in black. Apparently, current thinking suggested there might be some emotional issues. A friend of my mother’s carefully questioned her daughter when she came home with such a specimen. After asking her daughter to tell her about her picture (never say, “What is it?”), she was able to get around to the color choice. Her daughter “matter of factly” informed her that it was the only crayon left!
(We still had lots of choice time.)
This post hits home because my grandson is coping with a very academic kindergarten program in a public school in Texas. Luckily my daughter is tutoring him after school so that he can cope. In my opinion this program seems to be more interested in covering material than understanding. The pace is fast, and some material does not seem well sequenced. My daughter went to observe on Friday. One unruly boy was carried out. My daughter was there late morning when I think the poor children and teacher were fried. The certified teacher with three years of experience is told each week what materials to use and what handouts to give out. She is not happy about it, but she has to follow the principal’s orders. She is trying to make the best of it. This is a full day kindergarten which, in my opinion, is far too sedentary and too abstract for these youngsters. Thanks to political forces beyond the scope of these students, we are forcing young children to work in a way that is contrary to their nature.
What are they “covering”?
Quantum physics? Shakespeare?
The people behind these policies have completely lost their minds — if they ever had them to begin with, that is.
In reading they are covering sight words, blends digraphs, and most of the short vowel word families simultaneously. In math they have started addition before many the children have any real number sense.
How about “imaginary number” sense?
Do they have that?
Your daughter’s tutoring time might be better spent contacting other parents to see if they have similar concerns and then collectively leaning on the principal to stop this ridiculous abuse.
Dienne, it’s hard to get a significant number of parents to agree, as many have bought the rhetoric hook, line and sinker. There is so much fear mongering in this. “Push, push, push your young child! Or they’ll never go to college and succeed!”
This tests that measure the gap (how many letters can you name in one minute) are PROXIES for a large body of literacy experiences and language interactions that provide a foundation for all learning. Deciding to replace building the foundation (art, music, science, language rich play, etc.) with building the house (“learning to read”) because you don’t have time to do both is pure folly and will only widen the gap!
Also, Atlantic Magazine, January 2016: The New Preschool Is Crushing Kids
Good article, wdf1. Thanks for the link.
From the posting: “A spokesperson for Education Trust said these changes were not so bad because they might reduce the achievement gap.”
“might.”
Another experiment. But on OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN. For THEIR OWN CHILDREN… How much ya wanna bet that U of Chicago Lab Schools [think, e.g., folks like Rahm Emanuel and soon Arne Duncan] is gonna change the following:
[start]
In the Nursery and Kindergarten Program, children learn to play and play to learn. They enjoy opportunities to take initiative, make friends, experience a sense of belonging, expand language, increase logical thinking, and develop social awareness. Particular attention is paid to activities that support mathematical and spatial thinking, literacy, knowledge about the physical world and the development of empathy. The outdoors is viewed as an extension of the classroom and affords daily opportunities for a great variety of physical challenges, social play as well as an exploration of the natural world.
[end]
Link: http://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/schools/nursery-school-kindergarten/index.aspx
Hint: ain’t gonna happen.
😎
Yes, this is it in a nutshell.
The most expensive and so called “top tier” private schools in NYC are often far less academic in their lower schools, especially in Kindergarten. But I suppose if you can’t afford $40,000/year+ tuition, your child needs to be academically inclined by age 5.
I do not understand how the reformers get away with such hypocrisy.
Now dont get me wrong, I am very in favor of delaying academics. But I would be interested in knowing how many more children are in Preschool these days (the 2010s rather than the 90s)) at 3 and 4 years old, learning the alphabet and doing all the things that used to be just reserved for Kinders. Not to say that a 5 year old is ready developmentally for more than what the Preschoolers are learning. Just that perhaps the assumption is that since the kids have had 2+ years of pre-academics already, they are ready to move to the next step. However, i do know that some Kinders come to school without basic life skills, such as zipping their coats. I do remember when there was a big push for mandatory preschool. Why the rush?
Actually, the punchline of the NPR story was how play is being mixed with reading and math. I find many K teachers who say that there need be no conflict between learning and play.
As a Kindergarten tutor for an inner city school, I can only see that this push to read and numeracy is broadening the achievement gap. Children fortunate enough to have preschool experiences do better in kindergarten. But those children who come in without any previous school experience fall behind. Right now I have one child who is beginning to read very simple easy reading books. The other is still working on spelling her last name. Achievement gap?
Spelling her last name?! I had enough of a struggle learning to spell my first!
Speechless! There is NO WORD can express the vengeance of authority in education policy. Is it that jealousy of children of people in Middle Class and Poverty can be superior to their children born with silver-spoon in their mouth?
The only word FORGIVENESS can be SUFFICIENT in order to explain and to describe the reason that bad KARMA has caused the chaos/sufferance in human civilization since the birth of this planet of Earth.
Human ego, greed and lust seem to be the fuel for vengeance WITHOUT FORGIVENESS in the hand of ANY powerful authority.
In short, we ONLY VOTE the leadership which shows FORGIVENESS in his/her past actions that has been advocated with result for the well-being and goodness of AMERICAN CITIZENS like in PUBLIC EDUCATION and HEALTHCARE. Back2basic
Hello revengeful or vindictive people:
Have you ever seen rich and powerful class who has genius children? Historically, I have seen numerous prodigies whose parents are honest and compassionate. These prodigies come from Middle Class or poverty family background. These people are always care for the well being of the unfortunate.
Could you understand that? Could you explain the reason behind this wonderful fact?
Here is a musical link to show the absolute truth in earnest people or parents who absolutely care for the unfortunate in order to have prodigy as being their child.
In English – 11:38 min
ZHANG XIN YI , two and a half starting from the stage to get the Henan TV ” Liyuanchun ” opera star small “Leizhu Challenge Cup” title ; since then , we have invited to participate in the recording of some television programs .
She has been involved in recording and performing well-known columns :
1 : Henan TV “star in action” , ” Liyuanchun ”
This is the original link in Chinese language only
14.59 min – (different questions and answers from different interviewers) – very well versed answers to judges
小欣怡很可愛,很聰明,上帝真的很恩待她,也向大家推薦一個好視頻。 短短幾分鐘,竟將人生刻畫如此生動(觸動人之心歌舞劇) 讚!
(Small Xin Yi is very cute, very smart, God really gracious to her, also to recommend a good video. Just a few minutes, saying that life is portrayed so vividly (touch people ‘s hearts musically)
Please wake up and being forgiven in order to ascend to the enlightenment = being content and fulfillment. Best wishes and Good luck on being forgiven in the upcoming Chinese New Year (February 8, 2016, Year of Monkey). Back2basic
The reason the recess or P.E. time hasn’t changed could be because so many school districts provide planning time for their Kindergarten teachers by having a paraprofessional spend his/her whole day monitoring students on the playground.
There are so many problems with this scenario, but I’ll just point out one factor – some kids just aren’t ready to read at the age of five. While some children learn to read at the age of three, it is perfectly normal (meaning within the scientifically determined acceptable age range) for others to learn at six, seven, or even eight years of age. Ultimately, learning to read at three does not mean that child is any more intelligent than one who learns at a later age. It all evens out in the wash.
Just because they say it’s so, doesn’t make it so.
In our district (urban, pockets of rich but still fairly poor,) we have full day pre-k and K. While pre-k is play based, K is full blown ‘prepare for tests’ with barely any room for play (10 min of recess is carved out after lunch !) The children go from center based pre-K to K where the only centers are for reading and writing in groups. In our state (NJ) Kindergarten is not a mandatory grade, yet kids are expected to learn how to read and write and know how to do so walking into 1st grade. My son was in Kindergarten last school year and he even had a work book called ‘Learn to write like a reporter’ where children had to write using text based evidence from two different sources (yes, like the PARCC test !) Insane.
Have any of those who are deteriorating our education system read the Ted-Ed Education Blog’s article on the magnificent activity measured in the brain when a musician is playing his instrument? And we need more articles and research put out there about the corprate profit motive and lobbying done by the now should be known as educational-industrial profit driven test makers complex.
Go figure…here is the list of “Supporters” of Education Trust:
Laura & John Arnold Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
The College Board
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Joyce Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
Lumina Foundation
State Farm Companies Foundation
The Wallace Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation