This Peanuts cartoon, originally published in 1962, was reprinted this week. It was just another sad reminder about how much kindergarten has changed. The truth is, now there are many anxious and stressed-out kids in kindergarten. Sally wouldn’t be alone in her need for therapy. (She’d probably have to stand in line!)
In the Sunday magazine of today’s Boston Globe, the article Pressure-cooker Kindergarten describes the issues at hand. You can read about kids, teachers, administrators and child development experts who all understand the atrocities NCLB has inflicted on kindergarten. Time spent on test-prep and continuous assessments has taken away time spent playing. And playing is precisely how young children learn about the world around them.
Real learning happens through play – and authentic assessments can be used while children are at the “work” of play. These aren’t separate activities. Good early childhood teachers know their students well from observing them at play, listening to the questions they ask and noting the choices they make. Teachers can decide when to do one-on-one interviews and gather more data as needed. The article highlights the sad fact that excellent teachers are leaving the profession because they can not abide by the harmful regulations now in effect. These regulations keep them constantly administering mandated assessments that may, or may not, be appropriate for their students – and away from craft of teaching.
Many parents who read the article will say, “Well, my child could read by [insert a ridiculously young age] and could multiply and divide, too!” or “If other parents worked with their kids, they’d be ready for the academics!” The truth is, all kids are different, and all kids learn in different ways and at different rates. Some kids never even have to “learn to read”. They just do it. I’m not sure how it happens, but I’ve seen it happen over and over again. I’ve also seen kids struggle to make sense of print for years, and eventually, after working incredibly hard, begin to read. The point is, one size never fits all in the world of early childhood.
This Peanuts cartoon, originally published in 1962, was reprinted this week. It was just another sad reminder about how much kindergarten has changed. The truth is, now there are many anxious and stressed-out kids in kindergarten. Sally wouldn’t be alone in her need for therapy. (She’d probably have to stand in line!)
I think this article is fitting this week with Ted Kennedy in the press, he helped craft the NCLB bill, and when talked about in terms of his legacy I heard it said again and again that it was an underfunded bill and still continues to be. I don't think it was ever intended to be what it has become, a program that again and again points out how many of our kids are failing but does nothing to address why they are. How ironic is it in Massachusetts that a only when a school is failing is it given attention, but once it reaches AYP, the funding is taken away!
I truly believe that if you look back to when schools were successful it was when there were kindergartens that focused on social and emotional readiness for school. Isn't it a no brainier that children need that year if not more to get a hang of being in a large group of children, and how to deal with negotiation.
I also think schools were more successful when there were more subjects that brought out the natural curiosity and talent of all sorts in our children. Gym, Art, Music, Drama, Home Ect, Woodworking, when all of these things were in our curriculum children found their niches and were able to be successful. Now a days there is so much focus on the "tests" and so many budget cuts that it seems that any joy children once got in school has been taken away.