Kindergarten Today

The Changing Kindergarten

Kindergarten education is literally changing before our eyes! These are some of the ways it is changing and the reasons why.

• Longer school days and transition from half-day to full-day programs. Reasons for longer school days and full-day programs include:
  • Changes in society,
  • An increase in the number of working parents,
  • Recognition that earlier is the best option, and
  • Research which shows that a longer school day helps children academically.⁹
• Emphasis on academics including math, literacy and science. Reasons for the emphasis on academics include:
  • Standards that specify what children should know and be able to do,
  • State standards that now include the kindergarten years, and
  • Political and public support for early education and skill learning because they reduce grade failure and school dropout.¹⁰
• More testing. Reasons for the increased testing include:
  • The accountability movement and
  • Recognition that district testing that begins in third grade and earlier puts more emphasis on what kindergarten children should learn.¹¹
• Enriched curriculum with emphasis on literacy designed to have children read by entry into first grade. Reasons for literacy in the kindergarten include:
  • Recognition that literacy and reading are pathways to success in school and life, and
  • Recognition that learning to read is a basic right for all children.¹²

Notes

9. S. Martinez and T. Akey, Full-Day Kindergarten 1997-98 Evaluation Report, unpublished evaluation from Park Hill Public Schools, Kansas City, MO, March 1998 with follow-up study summary, May 1999.

10. International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, "Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children," Young Children, 53(4), July 1998, 39; accessed March 2, 2007, at http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/pdf/psread98.pdf

11. This digest was adapted from a position paper of the Association for Childhood Education International by Vito Perrone, "On Standardized Testing," which appeared in Childhood Education, Spring 1991, 132-142.

12. International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, "Learning to Read and Write," 9.