Dive Brief:
- Today’s kindergarten classrooms are much more academic than those that came before them, and parents face the pressure to get their children ready for these rigorous environments.
- The Washington Post reports research from the University of Virginia has shown a major shift from 1998 to 2010 to more worksheets and literacy and math instruction in kindergarten, with fewer teachers saying they have stations for art, science and dramatic play and many more saying kids should learn to read by the end of the year.
- Many teachers are making the more rigorous instruction age-appropriate with games and fun activities, and they often struggle to deal with a range of abilities among students who went to structured preschools or spent their time in homecare, sometimes speaking only languages other than English.
Dive Insight:
As the overall trend in kindergarten education has moved toward more rigorous academic learning, research has continued to show the many benefits of play. Beyond learning numbers and letters, the youngest students need to be learning social-emotional skills that will prepare them for school as well as for life. During play, students have the opportunity to work with others, negotiating rules for invented games, stretching their imaginations, practicing verbal communication skills and much more.
The stiff sanctions tied to test-based accountability measures during the No Child Left Behind era certainly contributed to kindergarten’s evolution. Schools wanted to start the test preparation as early as possible to give students more time to improve. With more holistic accountability metrics allowed under the Every Student Succeeds Act, perhaps kindergarten will begin a shift back in the other direction.