The Pressure Is On … in Preschool!

By Judy Molland

Public School Reform Efforts Push Pre-K to Step Up the Pace

Preschool isn’t what it used to be. Joining the picture books, puppets, crayons and dollhouses in a pre-kindergarten classroom these days are carefully planned strategies to teach kids reading, math and even science skills.

The research supporting this trend toward academics is certainly there. “Several studies over the past decade have proved conclusively that young children can handle much more sophisticated and complicated learning than we’ve given them credit for,” says Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, which supports early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan information. “And we owe it to our youngsters to promote that learning.”

As one example, Barnett cites Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers, which documents the growing evidence from recent child-development research that young children are capable learners and should be provided with rich language environments and quality cognitive stimulation.

But aside from this growing research, early childhood educators are also responding to the needs of elementary schools that are trying to meet the stepped-up achievement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

The annual standardized testing that NCLB requires for public school students – and uses to measure improvements in public schools – doesn’t begin until third grade. But early childhood educators are feeling pressure to get their young charges ready for the kindergarten of the 21st century – one that is much more academic in nature than it used to be – so that eventually they’ll be prepared for those yearly standardized tests in reading, math, science and social studies.

That’s because NCLB dictates serious consequences for schools in which students are not doing well. Schools deemed as “in need of improvement,” because of low standardized test scores and other factors, are put on “watch lists.” States can drastically restructure – or even shut down – a school that doesn’t show improvement over three consecutive years.