The Disturbing Transformation of Kindergarten

[elleng]

Posted by my daughters' kindergarten teacher

One of the most distressing characteristics of education reformers is that they are hyper-focused on how students perform, but they ignore how students learn. Nowhere is this misplaced emphasis more apparent, and more damaging, than in kindergarten. . .

The No Child Left Behind Law played a major role in changing kindergarten. Upper-grade curricula were pushed down in a mistaken belief that by learning reading skills earlier, children would fare better on standardized tests. Subjects not tested by NCLB were de-emphasized. Lawmakers insisted that standardized tests assess reading at earlier ages, even though standardized tests are invalid for children under 8.

These changes have the harshest effect on our most vulnerable children. The UVA study found that in schools with the highest percentage of children of color and children eligible for free-and-reduced-priced lunch, teachers had the most demanding expectations for student performance.

To make matters worse, the drafters of the Common Core ignored the research on child development. In 2010, 500 child development experts warned the drafters that the standards called for exactly the kind of damaging practices that inhibit learning: direct instruction, inappropriate academic content and testing.

These warnings went unheeded.

Consequently, the Common Core exacerbates the developmentally inappropriate practices on the rise since NCLB.

http://truthabouteducation.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-disturbing-transformation-of-kindergarten/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Well, why wait until grade two to make kids feel like failures?

Why not just start in preschool?



In practice, this is pretty much what educational expectations, as experienced by learners, tend to do: they make them feel inadequate, they make them hate learning.

So sad.

[elleng]

2. Scares me,

as my daughters are too far from this school to send their kids there. I'm concerned about my grandkids' educations, away from home.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I saw a news report on how parents don't let their kids start kindergarten now until they're 6...

It's important that their child be older, so they'll be the most advanced. I started kindergarten when I was still 4...

[femmocrat]

4. I did too.

And it was half-day. If I had a child with a late birthday, I would hold him/her back too, since it is mostly full-day now. Kindergarten is now what first grade used to be.

In a lot of cases, parents like full-day because it is free and they don't have to pay for child care. I can understand that, too.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Can't help wondering how far this could go since parents want their kids to be as mature as possible

Of course, when I was a kid, not all mothers worked, and preschool/child care wasn't as common. These days, it's most often a necessity. I turned five before the end of the year and I was far from the youngest, back in the day, while my cousin has a little girl who was born in the same month and she was actually required to wait until the next school year to start kindergarten. Apparently, the cut off is now September.