Across the country, kindergarteners are pressured to meet academic standards that both teachers and experts say many kids are developmentally not ready for. The same analysis found kindergarten teachers were about 15 percent more likely to use math and reading workbooks at the end of the decade. All of these findings were often more pronounced at schools serving low-income and minority communities.
At my school we are required to teach and test five sight words a week along with an introduction to phonetic markings , greatly exceeding the 20 to 40 sight words recommended for the average kindergartener. At the same time, tools such as art centers, sand tables and dress up clothes, which encourage curiosity, critical thinking and social skills, get used less in order to emphasize academics.
Even snacktime has disappeared in favor of extra reading practice. Yet all this focus on academics may not matter much in the long run. Some studies suggest that exposing young students to rigorous academics early in life has little effect on later performance.
Meanwhile, kindergarten teachers are feeling the strain, leading some quality teachers to launch protests or else change schools, retire early or quit altogether. Play might not be a top priority for school administrations these days. But play within the classroom takes on many forms and should be valued. Free play is unstructured, spontaneous and filled with children tapping into their unencumbered imaginations.
A bedsheet suddenly becomes a bridal veil or a stick becomes a magic wand. As the students move about, teachers observe, record, confer, participate, push extension questions and use this information to plan next steps.
Both are essential, and a wealth of quality research has found both free and guided play are critical for helping a child develop into a whole child. Up to age eight, prioritizing time within the classroom to play with developmentally appropriate options has multiple benefits :. Researching the benefits of incorporating more play in the classroom helped me discover what I needed to change to make the classroom a safe space for him again.
I scrapped the morning worksheets and began dedicating the first part of our day to unstructured play. Within days, Truman was excited to come to school again; he was finally allowed space for the types of learning that might otherwise get left behind. Choice time in my classroom affords children the opportunity to try out ideas, build strengths, seek answers, test predictions and navigate social interactions in both structured and unstructured ways.
This time is fueled by imagination and creativity. On days when I know I will be observed, the magical momentum of playing, learning and interacting comes to a halt and I grab a pre-rehearsed lesson to demonstrate a specific academic purpose for every minute of the day.
In truth, my evaluation score—and job security—depends on it. As educators, we cannot allow this to continue. The opportunities to develop the social-emotional skills necessary to become compassionate, considerate and curious problem solvers are disappearing.
However, play and academics are not mutually exclusive. They go hand-in-hand, multiplying opportunities for learning and childhood development. Our kids—and our teachers—will thank us for it. This story is part of an EdSurge Research series about how school communities across the country are connecting research and practice.
These stories are made publicly available with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. EdSurge maintains editorial control over all content. The intense pressure and scrutiny that teachers will be under will create stress and teacher burnout which could lead to many good, young teachers leaving the field.
There is also a chance that many veteran teachers will choose to retire rather than make the necessary changes. Teachers cannot wait until the school year to begin to change their approach. They need to phase Common Core components gradually into their lessons.
This will not only help them as teachers but will also help their students. Teachers need to attend all the professional development that they can and collaborate with other teachers about the Common Core. Having a firm understanding about what the Common Core Standards are as well as how to teach them are necessary if a teacher is going to be successful.
Teachers who specialize in areas such as physical education , music, and art will be affected by the Common Core State Standards. The perception is that these areas are expendable.
As the pressure mounts to improve test scores from Common Core assessments, many schools could choose to end these programs thus allowing more instructional time or intervention time in the core areas. The Common Core Standards themselves present opportunities for teachers of non-core subjects to integrate aspects of the Common Core standards into their daily lessons.
Teachers in these areas may have to adapt to survive. They will have to be creative in including aspects of the Common Core in their daily lessons while remaining true to the academic roots of physical education, art, music, etc.
These teachers may find it necessary to reinvent themselves in order to prove their mettle in schools across the country.
Reading specialists and intervention specialists will increasingly become more prominent as schools will need to find ways to close gaps in reading and math that struggling students may have. Research has proven that one-on-one or small group instruction has a greater impact at a quicker pace than whole group instruction. With the Common Core Standards, a fourth-grade student who reads on a second-grade level will have little chance to be successful.
With the stakes as high as they will be, schools will be smart to hire more specialists to assist those fringe students who with a little extra assistance can get on level. While the Common Core Standards presents an enormous challenge for administrators and teachers, it will be the students who unknowingly benefit the most from them. The Common Core Standards will better prepare students for life after high school.
The higher level thinking skills, writing skills, and other skills attached to the Common Core will be beneficial to all students. This does not mean that students will not be resistant to the difficulty and changes associated with the Common Core Standards. Those wanting instant results are not being realistic. Students entering middle school or above in will have a harder time adjusting to the Common Core than those entering Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten.
It will probably take a full cycle of students meaning years before we can realistically see the true impact of the Common Core Standards on students. Students need to understand that school will be more difficult as a result of the Common Core Standards. It will require more time outside of school and a focused approach in school. For older students, this is going to be a difficult transition , but it will still be beneficial. In the long run, a dedication to academics will pay off.
The level of parental involvement will need to increase in order for students to be successful with the Common Core Standards. Parents who value education will love the Common Core Standards because their children will be pushed like never before.
It will take a total team effort beginning with the parents for students to be successful. A disturbing trend in child rearing is that as a child gets older, the level of involvement decreases. This trend needs to be changed.
They will need to stay on top of their child making sure that homework is completed, providing them with extra work, and stressing the value of education.
For the first time in the history of the United States, states will be able to compare test scores accurately from one state to the other. In our current system, with states having their own unique set of standards and assessments, a student could be proficient in reading in one state and unsatisfactory in another. The Common Core Standards will create competition between states. This competition could have political ramifications. Senators and representatives want to their states to thrive academically.
This could help schools in some areas, but it could hurt them in others. The political influence of the Common Core Standards will be a fascinating development to follow as the assessment scores begin to be published in Higher education should be positively affected by the Common Core Standards as students should be better prepared for a college curriculum. Part of the driving force behind the Common Core was that more and more students entering college were requiring remediation particularly in the areas of reading and math.
This trend led to a call for increased rigor in public education. As students are taught using the Common Core Standards, this need for remediation should significantly decrease and more students should be college-ready when they leave high school. Higher education will also be directly impacted in the area of teacher preparation. Future teachers need to be adequately prepared with the tools necessary to teach the Common Core Standards. This will fall on the responsibility of teacher colleges.
Colleges who do not make changes in how they prepare future teachers are doing a disservice to those teachers and the students whom they will serve. Community members including merchants, businesses, and tax paying citizens will be affected by the Common Core Standards. Children are our future, and as such everyone should be invested in that future.
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