Alliance for Childhood C R I S I S I N T H E K I N D E R G A R T E N 2 3
The evidence from the three new studies described in
this chapter suggests that public school kindergarten
education is now very different from what most adults
recall from their own childhoods. We do not have comparative
data from the past on the amounts of time and
materials for play that earlier generations of kindergartners
enjoyed. We do, however, have the direct observations
of early childhood educators and researchers—and
they are alarmed.
Professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige of Lesley University has
taught, supervised teachers, and conducted research in
kindergartens for more than 30 years, working in both
urban and suburban schools. “The loss of play and childcentered
learning that these new studies reveal signals
great cause for concern,” she says. “Decades of research
and theory in child development affirm the importance
of play in the early years as the primary vehicle through
which children build a strong foundation for cognitive,
social, and emotional concepts. The loss of this foundation
that can only be built through play will undermine
children’s success in school and academic competence for
years to come.”
The data from these new studies, combined with her
own observations, “show clearly that the kindergartens of
today barely resemble those I visited fifteen years ago,”
says Carlsson-Paige. “The majority of children today are
spending most of their time in teacher-directed activities,
especially in literacy and math, and have little time for activities
of their choice. The vast majority of kindergarten
teachers now spend some time each day on testing and
test preparation, an activity that would have been considered
irrelevant and even harmful in the past.”
“Across all of my experiences in classrooms,” says Carlsson-
Paige, describing the kindergartens of a generation
ago, “no matter what school I was visiting—whether it
used a traditional or a progressive pedagogy, whether
it was public or private—I found consistency among
kindergartens. Without exception, there was an emphasis
on play and hands-on learning in kindergarten. In the
classrooms I visited, children would choose the area they
wanted to go to each day to start out, and then choose other
areas as the day went on. Sometimes teachers would
New evidence from research shows that didactic instruction and testing are pushing play
out of kindergarten. Kindergartners are now under intense pressure to meet inappropriate
expectations, including academic standards that until recently were reserved for first or second
grade. These expectations and the policies that result from them have greatly reduced and in
some cases obliterated opportunities for imaginative, child-initiated play in kindergarten.
Chapter 2
The Transformation of Kindergarten
Rich dramatic and make-believe
play is rarely seen in today’s
schools.