Crisis in the Kindergarten Why Children Need to Play in School EEddwwaarrdd MMiilllleerr aanndd JJooaann AAllmmoonn FFFFoooorrrreeeewwwwoooorrrrdddd bbbbyyyy DDDaaavvviiiddd EEElllkkkiiinnnddd Afterword by Vivian Gussin Paley Alliance for Childhood Copyright © 2009 by the Alliance for Childhood. The Alliance for Childhood is a nonprofit All rights reserved. partnership of educators, health professionals, and other advocates for children who are concerned about the First printing March 2009 decline in children’s health and well-being and who share ISBN: 978-0-9823751-0-5 a sense that childhood itself is endangered. The Alliance Printed in the United States of America was founded in 1999 and is incorporated in the state of Maryland. It is funded entirely by grants and donations Alliance for Childhood from individuals, foundations, and businesses. P.O. Box 444 College Park, MD 20741 The Alliance promotes policies and practices that support Tel/Fax 301-779-1033 children’s healthy development, love of learning, and joy in living. Our public education campaigns bring to light Crisis in the Kindergarten is also available online at both the promise and the vulnerability of childhood. We www.allianceforchildhood.org. act for the sake of the children themselves and for a more Suggested citation for this book: just, democratic, and ecologically responsible future. Edward Miller and Joan Almon, Crisis in the The Alliance’s current work focuses on the recovery of Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School, creative play, which is disappearing from childhood, College Park, MD: Alliance for Childhood, 2009. and on the need for a more ethics-based and mindful approach to teaching technology literacy. For information Graphic design by Sonya Cohen Cramer, Takoma Park, Maryland on how you can support the Alliance’s work, visit our web site: www.allianceforchildhood.org. 2 CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN Alliance for Childhood Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 5 Preface ................... ..................................................................................................................... 7 Foreword by David Elkind ......................................................................................................... 9 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 1. Introduction: Crisis in the Kindergarten ............................................................. 15 Chapter 2. The Transformation of Kindergarten .................................................................. 23 Chapter 3. Reassessing Standards: The Need for Realistic Guidelines .............................. 33 Chapter 4. Out-of-Control Testing ........................................................................................ 39 Chapter 5. The Scripted Kindergarten: What the Research Tells Us ................................. 43 Chapter 6. Play and Children’s Health: A Vital Connection ............................................... 46 Chapter 7. The Playful Kindergarten: Ideas for Educators and Policymakers ................... 51 Chapter 8. Recommendations for Creating Effective and Healthy Kindergartens ........... 59 Afterword by Vivian Gussin Paley ......................................................................................... 61 Appendix A: Call to Action on the Education of Young Children ......................................... 63 Appendix B: Definitions .......................................................................................................... 65 Endnotes ................... ................................................................................................................ 67 About the Authors ..................................................................................................................... 71 Alliance for Childhood CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN 3 4 CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN Alliance for Childhood Acknowledgments We are deeply grateful to the many people who chapters and gave us advice and assistance as the report contributed to this report. The Alliance for Childhood was being written. We appreciate their help but take full received funding for the three research studies and responsibility for any errors in the final version. the report itself from the Woodshouse Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the NoVo Foundation, The Alliance for Childhood RSF Social Finance, the Kalliopeia Foundation, Bay National Advisory Board Area Early Childhood Funders, the Newman’s Own Sue Bredekamp Foundation, and Community Playthings. Their Director of Research, Council for Professional commitment to the education and well-being of young Recognition, Washington, D.C. children is greatly appreciated. Linda Darling-Hammond The three research teams worked very hard to develop Charles E. Ducommun Professor, Stanford University new tools for research and to share their results with us School of Education, Stanford, Calif. in concise, clear ways. They include Jennifer Astuto at David Elkind Long Island University and LaRue Allen at New York Professor Emeritus of Child Development, University; Jan Drucker, Margery Franklin, and Barbara Tufts University, Medford, Mass. Schecter at Sarah Lawrence College; and Allison Fuligni Margery B. Franklin and Sandra Hong at the University of California, Los Professor Emerita of Psychology and director (retired), Angeles. Their findings were supplemented by interviews Child Development Institute, with Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Diane Levin. Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y. Kenneth Ginsburg, M.D. Preliminary results of the studies were discussed at a Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of meeting in May 2008 at Sarah Lawrence College, and the Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Penn. feedback of participants was important to the framing Roberta M. Golinkoff and writing of the report. The participants included H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, members of the Alliance for Childhood Board of Trustees: University of Delaware, Newark, Del. Marilyn Benoit, Bill Crain, Elizabeth Goodenough, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Lowell Monke. Some members of the National Advisory Deborah and Stanley Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology, Board listed below were in attendance as were others Temple University, Philadelphia, Penn. who provided expertise in child development, health, and Deborah Meier related fields: Wendy Blackwell, Cheryl French, Rachel Senior Scholar, New York University, and founder, Grob, Susan Ohanian, and Mark Schlesinger. Central Park East Schools, New York City Particular thanks go to the members of the Alliance’s Samuel J. Meisels National Advisory Board. Many of them read draft President, Erikson Institute, Chicago Alliance for Childhood CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN 5 National Advisory Board (Cont.) Sharna Olfman Professor of Psychology and founding director, Childhood and Society Symposium, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, Penn. Larry Schweinhart President, High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, Mich. Dorothy G. Singer Senior Research Scientist, Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Jerome L. Singer Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 6 CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN Alliance for Childhood Preface The argument of this report, that child-initiated play must be restored to kindergarten, will be dismissed and even ridiculed in some quarters. In spite of the fact that the vital importance of play in young children’s development has been shown in study after study, many people believe that play is a waste of time in school. School, they say, should be a place for learning. There’s plenty of time for play at home. Skepticism about the value of play is compounded by than nonplayers, better social skills, more empathy, more the widespread assumption—promoted by hundreds of imagination, and more of the subtle capacity to know “smart baby” products—that the earlier children begin what others mean. They are less aggressive and show to master the basic elements of reading, such as phonics more self-control and higher levels of thinking. Animal and letter recognition, the more likely they are to succeed research suggests that they have larger brains with more in school. And so kindergarten education has become complex neurological structures than nonplayers. heavily focused on teaching literacy and other academic Long-term research casts doubt on the assumption that skills, and preschool is rapidly following suit. starting earlier on the teaching of phonics and other The common misconceptions about young children’s play discrete skills leads to better results. For example, most of fall apart when we look closely at what is really going on. We the play-based kindergartens in Germany were changed begin to be able to differentiate between superficial play and into centers for cognitive achievement during a wave of the complex make-believe play that can engage five-year-olds educational “reform” in the 1970s. But research compar- for an hour or more, fueled by their own original ideas and ing 50 play-based classes with 50 early-learning centers rich use of language. We start to distinguish between the found that by age ten the children who had played ex- sound of a chaotic classroom and the hum of energy when celled over the others in a host of ways. They were more children are deeply absorbed in the flow of play. advanced in reading and mathematics and they were better adjusted socially and emotionally in school. They Young children work hard at play. They invent scenes and excelled in creativity and intelligence, oral expression, and stories, solve problems, and negotiate their way through “industry.”* As a result of this study German kindergar- social roadblocks. They know what they want to do and tens returned to being play-based again. work diligently to do it. Because their motivation comes from within, they learn the powerful lesson of pursuing *These findings are summarized in “Curriculum Studies and their own ideas to a successful conclusion. the Traditions of Inquiry: The Scientific Tradition” by Linda Darling-Hammond and Jon Snyder, in the Handbook of Research Research shows that children who engage in complex on Curriculum (1992), edited by Philip W. Jackson; New York: forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills MacMillan, pp. 41-78. Alliance for Childhood CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN 7 PREFACE China and Japan are envied in the U.S. for their success administrators appreciate her work. She expects much in teaching science, math, and technology. But one rarely from her children and knows how to create a classroom hears about their approach to schooling before second that supports excellence. grade, which is playful and experiential rather than didac- tic. Finland’s children, too, go to playful kindergartens, All young children, not just those living in poverty, need and they enter first grade at age seven rather than six. this kind of support. For the fact is that most children They enjoy a lengthy, playful early childhood. Yet Finland today don’t have enough playtime even at home. Many af- consistently gets the highest scores on the respected fluent children now need help entering into creative play international PISA exam for 15-year-olds. because of the surfeit of media and organized activities in their lives. They struggle to bring their own ideas to It is true that poverty does not afflict Finland’s children as the fore. As one kindergarten teacher put it, “If I give the it does children in the U.S., and that children of poverty children time to play, they don’t know what to do. They need special attention in preschool and kindergarten. But have no ideas of their own.” what they need is extra support to reap the full benefits of a play-based, experiential program. They may need This is a tragedy, both for the children themselves and for more structure to begin with and guidance for entering our nation and world. No human being can achieve his into play, for many are inexperienced with it. They need full potential if his creativity is stunted in childhood. And a solid introduction to books, which most middle-class no nation can thrive in the 21st century without a highly children have from infancy onwards, and they need to creative and innovative workforce. Nor will democracy hear language used in conversation, storytelling, song, survive without citizens who can form their own indepen- and verse. Equally important, they need to use language. dent thoughts and act on them. Play is the foremost way that children use the language they are hearing. The power of play as the engine of learning in early child- hood and as a vital force for young children’s physical, In an effective play-based kindergarten the teacher has a social, and emotional development is beyond question. strong though subtle role. She understands child devel- Children in play-based kindergartens have a double opment—cognitive, physical, and social-emotional. The advantage over those who are denied play: they end up teacher is attuned to the children’s play themes and builds equally good or better at reading and other intellectual on them, introducing new content and play materials to skills, and they are more likely to become well-adjusted stimulate their minds. She knows the needs of individual healthy people. children and helps them overcome obstacles in their lives that hinder learning. In other words, she is a well-trained Every child deserves a chance to grow and learn in a professional who is part of a learning community where play-based, experiential preschool and kindergarten. teachers support each other in their growth and where Play works. 8 CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN Alliance for Childhood David Elkind Foreword Early childhood education, the care and instruction of young children outside of the home, over the last half century has become a downward extension of schooling. It is now the first rung on the educational ladder. In many respects, however, this most recent addition to the pedagogical hierarchy is quite different from its elementary and secondary predecessors. The early childhood curriculum is the most holistic and experience, is dismissed as irrelevant. Instead we have least differentiated at any level of education. It is also the had a politically and commercially driven effort to make most solidly grounded in philosophy, in clearly articu- kindergarten a one-size-smaller first grade. Why in the lated methodology, and in theory and research. Those world are we trying to teach the elementary curriculum at who contributed to the discipline of early childhood edu- the early childhood level? cation came from occupations and professions outside The answer, I am afraid, is that what we do in education the academic domain. What they had in common was an has little or nothing to do with what we know is good understanding of children. And that is what makes early pedagogy for children. For example, we could signifi- childhood education unique; it starts with the child and cantly improve education at all levels and in all parts of not with the subject matter. the country with one change in policy—reducing class The philosophical foundations of early childhood educa- size to 18 or less at all grade levels. It is a basic truism of tion were provided by John Amos Comenius, John Locke, education that the more one-on-one time a child has with and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Its curriculum and method- a teacher, the better the learning and educational out- ology were created by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Fried- come. Yet in practice educational policy is determined by rich Froebel, Maria Montessori, and Rudolf Steiner. Most political, economic, cultural, and personal ego concerns. recently it was scientifically grounded by the research and This happens because children and adolescents do not theory of Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, and Erik Erikson. vote, and have little or no say in their own governance. While there are differences in the approaches of these And we, who speak for children and youth, have not been progenitors of early childhood education, the differences able to muster the political muscle to make the educa- are overshadowed by one common principle: that young tional needs of children either heard or responded to. children are growing and that early childhood curriculum The data and arguments offered in this report are both and practice have to be adapted to the maturing needs, abili- powerful and compelling. But if they are to have any ties, and interests of the child. impact, we need to find champions in the media, in Today, however, as is made so heartbreakingly clear by the arts, and in politics who will make the case for us. the Alliance for Childhood report, the rich legacy of the After all, what do we know? We are just the teachers of grandmasters, supported by an overwhelming amount young children—who just happen to be the future of of contemporary research findings and classroom our nation. Alliance for Childhood CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN 9 10 CRISIS IN THE KINDERGARTEN Alliance for Childhood