Kindergarten has traditionally been a wonderful world of discovery and playful learning. It has been a place where young children grow in their independence, form relationships outside the family circle, and learn about the world around them in a thoughtful and [...]]]> You know something is wrong when a kindergartner asks: “Mom, can I retire from school?”

Kindergarten has traditionally been a wonderful world of discovery and playful learning. It has been a place where young children grow in their independence, form relationships outside the family circle, and learn about the world around them in a thoughtful and inviting environment.

If you are a regular reader of Empowered by Play, if you have a child in kindergarten right now, or if you are an early childhood educator, you know about the current crisis in early childhood education. The pressures of our high-stakes testing world has encroached dramatically on early childhood classrooms, taking away playful learning and replacing it with incessant assessments and developmentally inappropriate expectations.  I’ve heard from experienced teachers who are leaving the classroom because they can no longer, in good conscience, be a part of a system that is harmful to children. This weekend I heard about a mom whose son is struggling in public preschool. She isn’t sure what is going on, though he has been sent home from school a few times. When the mom asked the teacher what exactly is going on with her son, the teacher admitted that she just didn’t know since she doesn’t have time to talk to her students. The teacher is too busy trying to “get through” all the lessons and assessments she is mandated to keep up with, and revealed that she has a conversation with each child about once a week. Once a week!!!

It truly is time to stop the madness. Read below the recent statement signed by hundreds of early childhood health and education professionals. A deep thanks to the incredible folks at Alliance for Childhood, Ed Miller and Joan Almon, for making this happen. Please check out the Alliance for Childhood website, where a complete list of signers will be available soon. I urge you to help spread the word to parents, teachers, the press and politicians.

Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative

Issued by the Alliance for Childhood

March 2, 2010

www.allianceforchildhood.org

We have grave concerns about the core standards for young children now being written by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The draft standards made public in January conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades.

We have no doubt that promoting language and mathematics is crucial to closing the achievement gap. As written, however, the proposed standards raise the following concerns:

• Such standards will lead to long hours of instruction in literacy and math. Young children learn best in active, hands-on ways and in the context of meaningful real-life experiences. New research shows that didactic instruction of discrete reading and math skills has already pushed play-based learning out of many kindergartens. But the current proposal goes well beyond most existing state standards in requiring, for example, that every kindergartner be able to write “all upper- and lowercase letters” and “read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.”

• They will lead to inappropriate standardized testing. Current state standards for young children have led to the heavy use of standardized tests in kindergarten and the lower grades, despite their unreliability for assessing children under age eight. The proposed core standards will intensify inappropriate testing in place of broader observational assessments that better serve young children’s needs.

• Didactic instruction and testing will crowd out other important areas of learning. Young children’s learning must go beyond literacy and math. They need to learn about families and communities, to take on challenges, and to develop social, emotional, problem-solving, self-regulation, and perspective-taking skills. Overuse of didactic instruction and testing cuts off children’s initiative, curiosity, and imagination, limiting their later engagement in school and the workplace, not to mention responsible citizenship. And it interferes with the growth of healthy bodies and essential sensory and motor skills—all best developed through playful and active hands-on learning.

• There is little evidence that such standards for young children lead to later success. While an introduction to books in early childhood is vital, research on the links between the intensive teaching of discrete reading skills in kindergarten and later success is inconclusive at best. Many of the countries with top-performing high-school students do not begin formal schooling until age six or seven. We must test these ideas more thoroughly before establishing nationwide policies and practices.

We therefore call on the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to suspend their current drafting of standards for children in kindergarten through grade three.

We further call for the creation of a consortium of early childhood researchers, developmental psychologists, pediatricians, cognitive scientists, master teachers, and school leaders to develop comprehensive guidelines for effective early care and teaching that recognize the right of every child to a healthy start in life and a developmentally appropriate education.

Defne Apul, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH

Cara Armstrong, Curator of Education, Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

Ray Bacchetti, Vice President, Planning and Management, Emeritus, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Lyda Beardsley, Director, Child Development Programs, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA

Laura M. Bennett-Murphy, Associate Professor, Psychology, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT

Karen D. Benson, Professor, California State University, Sacramento, CA

Eugene V. Beresin, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Wendy C. Blackwell, Director of Education, National Children’s Museum, Washington, DC

Wil Blechman, M.D., President, Docs for Tots Florida; Past President, Kiwanis International, Miami, FL

Lila Braine, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Michael Brody, M.D., Chair, Media Committee, American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry, Washington, DC

Stuart L. Brown, M.D., Founder and President, National Institute for Play, Carmel Valley, CA

Blakely Bundy, Executive Director, Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood, Winnetka, IL

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA

Catherine Carotta, Associate Director, Center for Childhood Deafness, Boys Town National Research

Hospital, Omaha, NE

Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, City

University of New York, NY

Colleen Cordes, Executive Director, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC

Milly Cowles, Dean, Principals’ Academy, Mobile, AL

Ellen F. Crain, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

William Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY

Sara McCormick Davis, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas Fort Smith; President Elect,

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, Fort Smith, AR

Diane Trister Dodge, President, Teaching Strategies, Inc., Bethesda, MD

Georgianna Duarte, Professor, University of Texas, Brownsville, TX

Barbara Dubitsky, Director, Mathematics Leadership Programs, Bank Street College, New York, NY

Sean Durham, Director, Early Learning Center for Research and Practice, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

David Elkind, Professor Emeritus of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Ann S. Epstein, Senior Director of Curriculum Development, HighScope Educational Research

Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI

Beverly Falk, Professor, School of Education, City College of New York, NY

Stephanie Feeney, Professor Emerita of Education, University of Hawaii; Chair of the Advocacy

Committee, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, Honolulu, HI

Margery B. Franklin, Professor Emerita of Psychology, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

Doris Fromberg, Professor and Director of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Hofstra University,

Hempstead, NY

Joe L. Frost, Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Ellen Galinsky, author and work life researcher, New York, NY

Suzanne Gellens, Executive Director, Florida Association for the Education of Young Children, Tampa, FL

Roberta Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychology, and Linguistics and Cognitive

Science, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Elizabeth N. Goodenough, Lecturer in Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Rachel Grob, Director, Child Development Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

Marcy Guddemi, Executive Director, Gesell Institute of Human Development, New Haven, CT

Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder, KaBOOM!, Washington, DC

Jane M. Healy, educational psychologist and author, Vail, CO

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Craig Holdrege, biologist, educator; Director, The Nature Institute, Ghent, NY

Carla M. Horwitz, Lecturer, Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Carollee Howes, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

Kim Hughes, Therapeutic Teacher, Trainer, and Consultant; 1999-2000 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Project Enlightenment, Wake County Schools, Raleigh, NC

Olga S. Jarrett, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Candace Jaruszewicz, Director, N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC

Jim Johnson, Professor-in-Charge of Early Childhood Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Constance Kamii, Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL

Lilian G. Katz, Professor Emeritus and Co-director, Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting,

University of Illinois, Champaign, IL

Ethan H. Kisch, M.D., Child Psychiatrist; Medical Director, Quality Behavioral Health, Warwick, RI

Robert H. Klein, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

Tovah Klein, Director, Center for Toddler Development, Barnard College, Columbia University,

New York, NY

Edgar Klugman, Professor Emeritus, Wheelock College, Boston, MA

Alfie Kohn, author and lecturer, Belmont, MA

Linda Kroll, Professor, School of Education, Mills College, Oakland, CA

Linda Lantieri, Director, The Inner Resilience Program, New York, NY

Diane E. Levin, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Wheelock College, Boston, MA

Yeou-Cheng Ma, M.D., Developmental Pediatrician, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Fran P. Mainella, Co-Chair, U.S. Play Coalition, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

David Marshak, Professor Emeritus, Seattle University, Seattle, WA

Milbrey McLaughlin, David Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Gillian D. McNamee, Professor and Director, Teacher Education, Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL

Deborah W. Meier, Educator and Senior Scholar, New York University, New York, NY

Mary Sue Miller, Lead Educator for Early Learning, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago, IL

Lowell Monke, Associate Professor of Education, Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH

Mary Ruth Moore, Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

Dorine Morese, Instructional Coordinator, NYC Office of Early Childhood Education, New York, NY

John Nimmo, Executive Director, Child Study and Development Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor Education Emerita, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education and Executive Director, Metropolitan Center

for Urban Education, New York University, New York, NY

Susan Ohanian, Fellow, Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Arizona State University, Charlotte, VT

Sharna Olfman, Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Point Park University,

Pittsburgh, PA

Linda Olivenbaum, Director, California Early Childhood Mentor Program, San Francisco, CA

David Osher, Vice President, Education, Human Development, Workforce, American Institutes for

Research, Washington, DC

Vivian Gussin Paley, author and teacher emerita, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Chicago, IL

Kim John Payne, director, Center for Social Sustainability, Antioch University, Northampton, MA

Helene Pniewski, M.D., Developmental Pediatrician and Child Psychiatrist, Providence, RI

Ruth Prescott, Professional Development Director, Chicago Metro Association for the Education of

Young Children, Chicago, IL

Baji Rankin, Executive Director, New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children,    Albuquerque, NM

Fretta Reitzes, Director, Goldman Center for Youth and Family, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY

Mary S. Rivkin, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

Alvin Rosenfeld, M.D., Child Psychiatrist; Lecturer, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

A. G. Rud, Head, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Eliza Russell, Director of Education, National Wildlife Federation, Reston, VA

Susan Riemer Sacks, Professor of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Lawrence J. Schweinhart, President, HighScope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI

Dorothy G. Singer, Senior Research Scientist, Dept. of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Jerome L. Singer, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Mary Stone, President, Missouri Association for the Education of Young Children, Springfield, MO

Maurice Sykes, Executive Director, Early Childhood Leadership Institute, University of the District of

Columbia, Washington, DC

Molly Thompson, Director, Early Childhood Programs, Breakwater School, Portland, ME

Arlene Uss, Director, Center for Early Care and Education, Bank Street College, New York, NY

Rosario Villasana-Ruiz, Faculty, City College of San Francisco, CA

Macy Welsh, Director, National Lekotek Center, Chicago, IL

Donald Wertlieb, Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Frank R. Wilson, M.D., Neurologist (retired), Stanford University School of Medicine, Portland, OR

Marie Winn, Writer, New York, NY

Lisa Witkowski, Director, Future Workforce Unit, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, Fort Worth, TX

Chip Wood, Author and educator, Courage and Renewal Northeast, Wellesley, MA

George Wood, Principal, Federal Hocking Middle & High School, Amesville, OH

Note:  Signers’ affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not signify the organizations’ endorsement of this statement. For a full list of signers, see www.allianceforchildhood.org. For more information about this statement and the Alliance, contact Executive Director Joan Almon (joan.almon@verizon.net) or Senior Researcher Edward Miller (ed@allianceforchildhood.org).

The above letter was mailed to all 50 state governors, 51 chief state school officers, and 88 state early childhood specialists. It was also hand delivered last week to the following offices:

At the National Governors Association–

Raymond C. Scheppach, Executive Director

Dane Linn, Director, Education Division

Ilene Berman, Program Director, K–12 Education

Rachel Demma, Senior Policy Analyst, Early Childhood Education

Kathleen Nolan, Director, Health Division

Mary Jo Waits, Director, Social, Economic and Workforce Programs Division

At the Council of Chief State School Officers–

Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director

Lois Adams-Rodgers, Deputy Executive Director

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Executive Director

Thomas Schultz, Director of Early Childhood

Melissa Zack Johnston, Director of Strategy and Implementation

This weekend I am in Boston…having presented at Diane Levin’s Media Madness Institute at Wheelock College. The institute went well! For me, reconnecting with Diane and others doing excellent work on behalf [...]]]>

This weekend I am in Boston…having presented at Diane Levin’s Media Madness Institute at Wheelock College. The institute went well! For me, reconnecting with Diane and others doing excellent work on behalf of children is always energizing. But…no time to write! So, for today, here is a testimonial from an experienced head start teacher. Her story helps paint the picture of some of the struggles we are facing across the country in the early childhood arena. Thanks, Jayne, for letting me share your words!

I was a head start teacher 23 years ago. I got so frustrated that I was testing and documenting and I didn’t have a chance to be with the children that I quit. …. In my area, children are encouraged to begin attending school all day when they are four years-old. Since they have begun this program Many of us have noticed that:

1. We now more fifth graders that read on a second grade reading level.
2. We now have fourth graders that don’t know their own address.
3. We see children experiencing burn-out by third grade.
4. Our teachers are no longer allowed to use teachable moments to expand a lesson while the children are interested. They must teach the plan in the allotted time slot.
5. Children are experiencing more anxiety, less playground time.
6. Yet instead of backing up and letting the primary grades be a time of exploration; they are trying to solve the problems through drugs, therapy, and expecting the teachers to adapt to every individual child’s learning style.

Evidently educators have decided that children can be programmed like computers. I believe that if we would back off of our expectations with children until they are at least 10 years old then we would be able to teach children more in the following years. Unfortunately, my state is wanting to build bigger schools so we can accommodate all day programs for three year-olds.

While this is voluntary, many parents are told that if they don’t get their children in these preschool structured school programs that their children will be lagging behind by the time they go to Kindergarten. I tell parents “Yes, your child will be behind in ulcers, high blood pressure, and obesity.” We need to support parents that read to their children, assist their children in cooking in the home, and playing outside. We need to empower parents to know that talking with your child as they shop for groceries, and play with legos, and sort laundry, and plant flowers, and go for walks is much better than putting your child into a structured environment that removes all the “white spaces”.

Jayna Coppedge
Preschool/Children Coordinator
First Baptist Church Tahlequah, OK