Why Kindergarten Is The New First Grade
"What are some of the things that the monsters like to eat in this story?" teacher Marisa McGee asks a trio of girls sitting at her table.
McGee teaches kindergarten at Walker Jones Elementary in Washington D.C. Today's lesson: a close reading of the book, What Do Monsters Eat?
"They like to eat cake," says one girl.
"I noticed you answered in a complete sentence," McGee says. "Can you tell me something else?"
"Stinky socks!"
McGee follows with a line you might not expect in a kindergarten class: "Can you show me the page where you found that?"
Textual evidence. Complete sentences. Welcome to kindergarten in 2016. It's not quite what McGee, 29, says she was expecting when she started.
"When I came into kindergarten, down from first grade, I was like: Yes! What can I order for dramatic play?" McGee says. "And I was told: Kindergarteners don't do dramatic play any more."
If you have young kids in school, or talk with teachers of young children, you've likely heard the refrain — that something's changed in the early grades. Schools seem to expect more of their youngest students, academically, while giving them less time to spend in self-directed and creative play.
A big new study provides the first national, empirical data to back up the anecdotes. University of Virginia researchers Daphna Bassok, Scott Latham and Anna Rorem Why Kindergarten Is The New First Grade : NPR Ed : NPR:
