Okay, Dr. M! =) This is the Introduction. If anyone wants the whole
thing, I'll be happy to email it to you....
Early Childhood Standards and Assessment
At the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) Child Development
Center in Delray Beach, FL, a lively, child-centered four and five
year old
room is filled with a variety of blocks, numerous art supplies,
colorful
student work displays, a dress up and pretend center, a plentiful
supply of
“table toys,” computers, shelves of books, three teachers, and 18
cheerful
children from impoverished, Spanish-speaking homes. Voluntary
Prekindergarten (VPK) teacher, Maria, sits at a table with one of her
students, Diane. She shows Diane a card with a picture on it, and
says,
“This is a side-walk, say side-walk without walk.” Diane is expected
to
respond by answering, “side.” Another picture card shows a little
girl. “This
is a sis-ter,” says Maria, “say sis-ter without -ter,” to which Diane
is
supposed to respond, “Sis.” This explicit instruction in phonological
awareness is required to prepare Diane for her post-VPK tests which
will be
given when she enters kindergarten at a public school this fall.
These
tests will be used to evaluate the program at RCMA, giving it a score
with
which it will be compared with all of the other VPK providers in Palm
Beach
County (T. Mims, personal communication, June 25, 2012). The RCMA
Center
director, Susan Wilfond, has two big concerns about her students
taking
these tests, the reason behind Maria’s explicit teaching of these
skills in
what is otherwise a child-centered classroom. First, all of the
students
enrolled in the program are English language learners (ELL) who speak
only
Spanish at home. Second, the teachers in the classroom, while they
teach
in English, are also native Spanish speakers who have extremely heavy
accents and weak English grammar. These two factors signify that most
of
the children rarely speak English with native English speakers,
creating an
enormous disadvantage on the mandatory assessments (S. Wilfond,
personal
communication, June 18, 2012). The VPK tests given in the fall are
required for accountability of the programs that are implemented in
both
public and private schools. These tests evaluate skills based upon
“The
Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for
Four-Year-Olds,” a
document listing the standards and specific academic benchmarks
expected of
children who complete the VPK program.
Standards like these are being implemented in every state as the
requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and now Race to the Top
trickle
down to the early childhood years. (Carlsson-Paige, Levin, &
McLaughlin,
2012) If the current trend of creating and implementing national
academic
standards for early childhood education continues, more and more
play-based
pre-school programs will be replaced with teacher directed
instruction,
denying young children the advantage of learning and interacting
within a
developmentally appropriate setting. Instead more and more young
children
will be subjected to standardized testing, a practice regarded by
educators
and psychologists as opposed to research-based child development
theories,
under the mantel of teacher and program accountability.
On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 11:04 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
I agree. Please publish this or let me know if I can find it on ERIC
or?where I can read the whole report. I would love to read more of
this.?I
have taught 5 years in prek and now the last 10 in Kindergarten at a
public
school. In?my school (NYC? here) the expectation is that the children
exit
on an F&P lev. of E- D with introduction and E without introduction.
We?had
done away with the handwriting program and now only use the
Handwriting
without tears program and fundations writing component??as an
academic
intervention in select classes.Yet??there is an expectation that?the
children?have at minimum of 5 publishing parties a year for self
generated
writing units. While I agree that if the child is capable you should
take
them to their highest acamdemic heights it should not be at the cost
of
their childhood memories and creating authentic learning experiences.
I've
read articles about a headstart /pre k programs that did scantron
bubble
testing with 4 year olds. One principal removed blocks in the class
for
fear that they could? inflict injury and another principal wonder why
there
were so many toys and crayons in kindergarten!? It seemes to me
that?many
of ?the basic principals and opportunities?that introduce our
youngest
learners to problem solving, social interaction and hands on learning
and
exploration experiences, are suffocated and swapped out for activites
that
are in fact not developmental proven, appropriate and in fact seem
designed
to manufactor guided results NOT authentic learned responses or
experiences. PLEASE publish this article!
-----Original Message-----
From: Mena <[email protected]>
To: mosaic <[email protected]>
Sent: Sun, Sep 16, 2012 6:49 am
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten
Ruth, You really need to publish your research. I would love for you
to
just
share your introductory paragraph with the group! From, Mena
Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D.
Florida Atlantic University
Dept. of Teaching and Learning
College of Education
2912 College Ave. ES 214
Davie, FL 33314
Phone: 954-236-1070
Fax: 954-236-1050
-----Original Message-----
From: Cathy <[email protected]>
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group &
lt;[email protected]>
Sent: Sat, Sep 15, 2012 8:54 pm
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten
Mena - can you cite your student's sources? Was her/his research on
kindergarten
or per-kindergarten programs?
Thanks.
Cathy
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 15, 2012, at 8:57 AM, Mena <[email protected]> wrote:
> I have to quote one of my students who researched this topic:
"Controversyexists in early childhood education with the development
and
implementation ofskills-based standards and the necessary
accompanying
standardized tests. State and national early childhood standards were
developed
as a result of NoChild Left Behind, and more recently Race to the
Top, both
federal initiatives. The controversy lies in the incongruity between
research-based developmentalpractices that have long been accepted
for
early
childhood and the academicskills standards that are construed by many
early
childhood educators to bereplacing those. Further controversy erupts
due
to an
increase instandardized testing of young children for program
accountability.
Critics argue that such testing has very low reliability, causes
stressfor
both
children and teachers, causes major curriculum changes, and results
inlarge
amounts of teacher-directed instruction taking the place of
moredevelopmentally
appropriat
e activities that are typical in play-based,child-centered
preschools.
Traditional child-initiated instruction inpreschool programs is
thought to
aid
children in their social and emotionalgrowth, development that will
be
lacking
as more teacher-directed curriculum isimposed on early childhood in
an
attempt
to teach skills that are not, in manycases, age appropriate. The
tendency
toward standardized teaching andassessment practices for young
children is
not
only an emotional issue, but atthe very core of determining how
children
in the
United States will best learnin order to be competent adults in our
global
society. This literaturereview investigates this multi-faceted
problem
which
involves young children,their parents, their teachers, as well as
government
agencies and educationaltheorists. "
>
>
>
>
> Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D.
> Florida Atlantic University
> Dept. of Teaching and Learning
> College of Education
> 2912 College Ave. ES 214
> Davie, FL 33314
> Phone: 954-236-1070
> Fax: 954-236-1050
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mlredcon <[email protected]>
> To: mosaic <[email protected]>
> Sent: Fri, Sep 14, 2012 7:44 pm
> Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Rigor of Common Core in Kindergarten
>
>
> The best way is to do on demand informal assessments using
running
records
> so kids can move up when they are ready and lots of interactive
read
aloud
> for high level comprehension. Take a look at the
> website-readingwritingproject.com
> Maxine
>
>
> In a message dated 9/14/2012 3:56:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> Hi! In Iowa, we are busy aligning to Iowa Core in Kindergarten
- a
close
> spin off Common Core. We are experiencing some tripedation as
we
look
> to the rigor of getting students to an F & P level D by the
end of
> Kindergarten. I am a reading specialist that wants to support
the
Core,
> but more importantly, help my teachers get comfortable and do
the
right
> thing at the right time in the most developmentaly appropriate
way.
I
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