Annotated Bibliography

Article Source

The Alliance for Childhood and Defending the Early Years, January 2015.

Authors

Nancy Carlsson-Paige; Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, Ed.D.; and Joan Wolfsheimer Almon

Summary

The authors report that during the 1980’s, the beginnings of a shift in kindergarten education from play-based experiential approaches to more academic approaches, from hands-on exploration to worksheets and teacher-led instruction took place. The new approaches, “like a downward spiraling snowball growing in volume and speed”, were buoyed by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top’s early childhood competitive grants, causing many to describe kindergarten as the new first grade. Under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) “the snowball has escalated into

In addition, the pressure of implementing the standards leads many kindergarten teachers to resort to inappropriate didactic methods combined with frequent testing. Teacher-led instruction in kindergartens has almost entirely replaced the active, play-based, experiential learning that we know children need from decades of research in cognitive and developmental psychology and neuroscience. Moreover, much of the authors’ research explores kindergarten and the common core state standards, early reading instruction, long-term gains from play-based early childhood programs, how young children learn, the role of teachers in early literacy, and inequality and standards based

This, the authors believe is leading to inappropriate classroom practices. Regarding early reading instruction, no research documents long-term gains from learning to read in kindergarten. Research does show, however, greater gains from play based programs than from preschools and kindergartens with a more academic focus. The authors suggest that children learn through playful, hands-on experiences with materials, the natural world, and engaging, caring adults. Active, play-based experiences in language rich environments help children develop their ideas about symbols, oral language and the printed word which are all vital components of reading. Finally, the authors suggest that the adoption of the Common Core State Standards falsely implies that having children achieve these standards will overcome the impact of poverty on development and learning, and will create equal educational opportunity for all