The Problem of Standards and Kindergarteners
Valarie Strauss had a good piece in Answer Sheet last week addressing the issue of Kindergarteners and standards. She notes the problem as Kindergarten has literally evolved into the new first grade.
An excerpt:
Today, the majority of classrooms for preschool, kindergarten and primary age children are required to address content standards that prescribe what children are expected to learn. These standards are intended to insure that worthwhile subject matter is taught.Performance standards have been developed to find out if children have learned the prescribed content.While standards are helpful for identifying valuable content, they can also have a negative impact on children and programs. Some of the problems with standards are that they are not always based on knowledge of how children grow and learn, and often do not take into account children’s needs, capacities, cultures, and unique characteristics. Standards can lead to teaching of skills in ways that are not effective or meaningful, to the narrowing of the curriculum, and to less time for play and hands-on learning experiences that are important foundations for later school success.It is useful to find out if children have learned the prescribed content, but the way this is most