Bassok-Latham-2016

Authors: Daphna Bassok, Scott Latham, Anna Rorem.

Article: Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?.

Publication: AERA Open (Sage). Volume: 2 issue: 1; First published online: January 6, 2016 2016 | DOI: 10.1177/2332858415616358

[Full Text]

Recent accounts suggest that accountability pressures have trickled down into the early elementary grades and that kindergarten today is characterized by a heightened focus on academic skills and a reduction in opportunities for play. This paper compares public school kindergarten classrooms between 1998 and 2010 using two large, nationally representative data sets. We show substantial changes in each of the five dimensions considered: kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about school readiness, time spent on academic and nonacademic content, classroom organization, pedagogical approach, and use of standardized assessments. Kindergarten teachers in the later period held far higher academic expectations for children both prior to kindergarten entry and during the kindergarten year. They devoted more time to advanced literacy and math content, teacher-directed instruction, and assessment and substantially less time to art, music, science, and child-selected activities.

Tagged as: curriculum, developmental readiness, early childhood education, kindergarten, and school readiness

Citation:

Bassok, D., Latham, S., & Rorem, A. (2016). Is Kindergarten the New First Grade? AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415616358

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