Are you concerned about current efforts to force academic standards onto little children? Are you concerned about the movement to stamp out play? Do you think that little children should experience childhood before they are subjected to the academic treadmill? Do you think that school can and should be more than a boring progression of test prep and testing?
If so, you will enjoy learning about the Toolkit prepared by a prestigious group of early childhood educators called “Defending the Early Years.”
DEY is encouraging activism on behalf of little children, who cannot advocate for themselves:
DEY’s Action Mini Grant InitiativeWe are excited to offer a mini grant initiative to help foster your good work in your community as related to DEY’s three principle goals:
- To mobilize the early childhood community to speak out with well-reasoned arguments against inappropriate standards, assessments, and classroom practices.
- To track the effects of new standards, especially those linked to the Common Core State Standards, on early childhood education policy and practice.
- To promote appropriate practices in early childhood classrooms and support educators in counteracting current reforms which undermine these appropriate practices.
We are offering grants from $200.00 to $500.00. We will begin accepting applications on a rolling basis beginning February 1, 2013. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and up to 20 awards will be granted (depending on grant sizes). Possible actions include, but are not limited to:
- Hosting a parent information meeting
- Organizing a Call Your Legislator Day
- Spearheading a letter writing campaign to politicians
- Organizing a “Play-In” at the local school board
- Publicizing an “Opt Out” campaign
- See our website for more ideas…
Defending is the right word these days when the nation’s highest policymakers seem determined to turn little children into global competitors.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hi, Diane. Yes, I am deeply concerned about the movement to stamp out play in the United States. And I would argue that play is already incredibly limited in the early grades. I’ve yet to hear of American public schools that give first and second graders long stretches of uninterrupted time to play deeply. In Finland, I’m seeing how many seven- and eight-year-olds have just a 1/2 day of academics and a 1/2 day of play. This model has amazed me and I’m seeing how this balance nourishes these young students. I just published a blog post about this paradigm today called “Half-Day Heaven: Afterschool with Finland’s First & Second Graders”: http://bit.ly/1bqcV1v.
LikeLike
First grade students in private Waldorf schools learn on the 1/2 day academics +1/2 day unstructured play schedule. (Waldorf-inspired charters can’t afford as much unstructured play time because they must show progress via standardized tests each year.)
I love Vivian Paley’s work on play and cannot understand why it isn’t more influential. The students in her classroom all grew up to be highly capabable students who succeeded in prestigious colleges and so on. For all I know Arne Duncan was one of her students. Ok..well..that might defeat my point…but it is totally crazy that he could have had that kind of kindergarten experience only to become so willfully ignorant about what helps young children grow up sturdy and resilient and, yes, eventually “career-ready”.
LikeLike
This is a wonderful article that addresses the importance of play! Growing up we did not have adult supervision or coaches. It was us kids creating the game,making the rules and playing referee. No one got hurt badly and we all made it home for dinner. Most importantly we had a blast. Maybe adults need to step aside.. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/school-ditches-rules-and-loses-bullies-5807957
LikeLike
Unless it can be monetized, the corporate reformers have no regard for play.
LikeLike
Harold, you are so right. The corporate reformers only care about how much money something makes them. They have no regard for what something costs society.
LikeLike
Just like children should be reading at home thirty minutes or more a day, they also should be getting outside to play be it in organized sports or just using their imagination in positive healthy ways.
In fact, I think children should be outside playing—organized or not—as much as they are inside studying and/or reading.
The best thing about being outside is that the TV is inside and maybe turned off. Then the child’s imagination is stimulated in play in addition to the benefits of physical activity on health.
Too many kids these days are not getting outside and interacting with other kids in physical activities like even riding a bike. Instead, TV, Facebook, video games, etc have replaced human interaction between children.
LikeLike
Science suggests that all people should be outside at least two hours a day!
In order for their metabolisms to work efficiently, people may need to be exposed to natural temperature variations, a study reported on Eurekalert reports.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/cp-etc011514.php
My mother was right. And I understand outdoor play is considered paramount for children in Finland, no matter how cold it is.
LikeLike
And anyone with even mild mood disorder knows without ‘proof’ (tho many studies support this) that the full-spectrum light of the outdoors is a daily necessity. There is a portion of our adhd youngsters who will prove to be bipolar in their late teens; it’s especially important for them.
LikeLike
Afterthought: outdoor play over the last few decades has been restricted in great part due to litigiousness. Many schools have not had the funds to keep updating to the insurance industry’s latest recommendations for safe equipment– or hasn’t enough outdoor space/ personnel to monitor what are considered safest no. of kids &/or # of caretakers per sq yd.
LikeLike
To: Diane Ravitch: From: David Hursh Date: January 27, 2014 RE: Resisting corporate reform in New Zealand
I presented last Friday at the New Zealand Education Institute conference titled Primary Education: Taking Stock, Moving Forward. Standards and charter schools were recently introduced into New Zealand and educators are resisting early talk by the Education Ministry to introduce standardized testing and more charter schools.
My 45-minute keynote was a cautionary tale of the twenty-year increase in standardized testing in New York and the United States. In addition to the cautionary tale, I described the strategies and tactics of the Coalition for Justice in Education to affect policy in NY, including our collaborating with Writers and Books to have all of Rochester read your new book.
Three hundred primary school teachers and administrators were in attendance. The link to is at http://www.education2014.org.nz. Other featured speakers included David Berliner, Barbara Comber, Meg Maguire, and Bob Lingard.
David Hursh, PhD Professor Teaching and Curriculum Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development 452 LeChase Hall P.O. Box 270425 University of Rochester Rochester, NY 14627-0425 Phone: 585.275.3947 Fax: 585.486.1159 Mobile: 585.406.1258 E-mail: dhursh@warner.rochester.edu https://www.warner.rochester.edu/facultystaff/hursh/
From: Diane Ravitch’s blog <comment-reply@wordpress.com> Reply-To: Diane Ravitch’s blog <comment+p6kq961q1_yktwtbd0zzcrss@comment.wordpress.com> Date: Monday, January 27, 2014 2:00 AM To: David Hursh <dhursh@warner.rochester.edu> Subject: [New post] Defending the Early Years Against Adult Demands
dianeravitch posted: “Are you concerned about current efforts to force academic standards onto little children? Are you concerned about the movement to stamp out play? Do you think that little children should experience childhood before they are subjected to the academic tread”
LikeLike
It amazes me that experts, such as yourself, were not asked to give input into the creation of the CCSS.
Of course, this explains why the whole system is out of whack, especially in regards to Early Childhood Education.
LikeLike
Participate in organized sports without parent involvement, except to drop them off and cheer at their games.
We don’t see kids outside, because they are inside playing on video games. But it is not the fault of kids. Parents should stop showering their kids with these devices. Like in education, if we want to stop the corp. reformers, parent need to boycott technology or manage it in their homes instead of it managing their livelyhood.
Do we care whom we are making rich in this country? We are part of the problem, but we have options. Do we conform or do we stand up for what we believe in? Many times we say, “It is what it is…” and then condoning the reality.
I only know of a couple of parents who restrict video games and other tech intertainment from their children.
LikeLike
I am sorry that you know only a couple of parents who restrict screentime for kids. It’s very important. More than 2 decades ago, my husband & I had to remove the video game box from our little ones (the tech was new & we were stupid)– it only took a week to see the obsession & irritability that resulted. I am very fortunate to be married to a techie, who immediately acquired a proper computer & selected educational games. That made a huge difference; their time at educational games was self-limited & gave way to blocks, trains, & music. It helped that family friends had an ‘electronics-free’ weekend day. By the time we allowed hand-held games (at age 9-11), self-discipline was on board; in short order, the world-wide internet appeared & we found our kids playing video games w/Japanese & French kids, & picking up phrases in those languages.
Parents: it really does not take much to inject some structure & family culture to overcome the overweening consumerist culture. In point of fact, my kids’ time spent on educational computer games cut way down on TV-watching, so they were bombarded by ads far less than some.
LikeLike
The key is everything in moderation.
LikeLike
How true. Balance.
LikeLike
Thanks for blogging about this, Diane. We hope folks take advantage of the Action Mini Grants to support their efforts in “Defending the Early Years”. We begin accepting applications soon – February 1, 2014 (not 2013 as we originally posted by mistake).
Onward,
Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin
Director, Defending the Early Years
LikeLike
Excellent! I attended a Montessori School through 3rd grade where my whole day involved play. Common Core is developmentally inappropriate for early childhood learners but publishers such as Pearson have been bringing things down from upper grades for years. this practice as well as little to know play time must STOP!
LikeLike
Of course, I mean NO!
LikeLike
I sent my daughter to the Roslyn Trinity Coop (on Long Island) specifically because the Director, Lindi Nubel, is incredibly child-centric — her mantra is “young children learn best through unstructured play and exploration.” Not surprisingly, she’s a huge fan of David Elkind, of the Eliot-Pearson School of Childhood Development at Tufts University. Thank you for posting this information; I will pass it along to her. http://www.roslyntrinityco-op.org/faculty.html
LikeLike
Play activates the imagination and utilizes gross motor skills. It’s amazing how many kids can’t catch a ball or beanbag, can’t hop or skip, can’t jump rope. In the inner city where I taught, playing outside at home or at the local park was considered too dangerous. We had a drive by at the park where an 8-year-old from our school was shot. The kids played little handheld computer games inside. Many teachers didn’t take their kids out for PE. They needed the time for instruction. (Had to keep up with the “pacing [“racing”] plans.) They were robbed of one of the best parts of childhood.
‘
LikeLike
This is such an important topic: in my area, restriction of playtime has already moved into PRESCHOOLS (where state funds supplement tuition) due to the insidious trickle-down of ed reform to ever-younger students.
LikeLike
See http://academeblog.org/2014/01/21/slow-down-and-build-a-strong-foundation/. and the related article.
By the time they get to college, they are so mechanized and jaded they don’t know what learning is.
LikeLike