In a 2016 paper, Bassok, Latham, and Rorem set out to determine if kindergarten was really becoming harder than year’s past or if this idea was more anecdotal than factual. They compared kindergarten classrooms in 1998 vs 2010 using nationally representative data and focused on changes in:
teacher expectations,
content time allocation,
organization,
pedagogy, and
assessments.
What they found was that public school kindergarten classrooms in the U.S. had, in fact, experienced a pronounced shift. Academic rigor soared, while play, art, music, and science declined. Teachers adopted more direct instruction, standardized assessment, and raised expectations.
Critics and researchers alike warned that this evolution risked sidelining the developmental, explorative, and social aspects once central to kindergarten. So, if you have felt like kindergarten was different or harder than before, you were onto something.
This is a snapshot of what they found.
Teachers' Beliefs & Expectations
“Most strikingly, the percentage of kindergarten teachers who report that they agree or strongly agree that children should learn to read in kindergarten increased sharply from 31% to 80%. (STAGGERING!)
Kindergarten teachers held higher academic expectations for children both prior to kindergarten entry and during the kindergarten year.
Time spent on non-academic activities like music, art, and theater dropped significantly.
Academic Focus
“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.” (aera.net)
“…the percentage of teachers who reported teaching conventional spelling on a daily basis rose sharply from 45% to 76%.”
“We document significant drops for 13 of 15 science topics, and in the bulk of these, we observe a drop of at least 10 percentage points. For social studies, the patterns are more inconsistent and the drops, when observed, are more modest.”
In 2010, 94% of teachers reported weekly practice writing sentences (vs. 67% in 1998), while daily music dropped from 34% to 16%, and art from 27% to 11% (nea.org).
Classroom Organization & Play
“We do find substantial drops in the likelihood classrooms included centers focused on the arts or on science.”
The physical learning environment also shifted: play areas declined from 87% in 1998 to 58% in 2010.
Child-selected activities, where a child spends 1 hour or more per day choosing their own activity dropped from 54% in 1998 to 40% in 2010. Conversely, there was a significant increase in whole group activities where teachers spend 3 or more hours per day directing the entire class: 15% in 1998 and 32% in 2010.
Assessments & Accountability
The pressure to measure students intensified: teachers indicating evaluating children relative to local/state standards “very important” or “essential” rose from 57% to 79% between 1998 and 2010.
Summary
While kindergarten has clearly changed, it did not become the “new first grade” because, in comparison, first grade already had less non-academic activities and expected different academic skills. However, the kindergarten of days gone by is certainly gone.
“We’ve seen the kindergarten experience essentially transformed. Academic skill‑building has really taken center stage … in a way that just wasn’t the case” in the late 1990s. (NEA)
They added: “Our worry is that … the focus on academics may have really pushed these other kind of learning opportunities aside.”
Why did this Happen?
Several factors contributed to this increased focus on academics.
The rise in testing and accountability measures from governing bodies.
The rise in public preschool programs for children ages 3-5 which went from 1.2 million in 1990 to 2.9 million in 2011.
There was a push from parents to “give young children an academic edge”.
Does Unschooling Represent a Revival of “Vintage” Kindergarten?
I say yes it does! By embracing play-based learning and child-led activities, unschooling operates under the premise that children need time and space to explore a variety of activities. There’s an appreciation for creativity through art, music, dance, and science. Curiosity is fostered and families center exploration and adventure over bookwork and lecture based teaching.
Unschoolers also respect the developmental pace of language and math skills. In other words, recognize that not all children of the same age will develop on exactly the same timeline. This isn’t to say that unschoolers avoid teaching their children important and necessary skills. This isn’t to say that unschoolers avoid sharing rich literature and fun math concepts with their children. On the contrary! Many unschoolers are well read, philosophical people who talk candidly with their children and share their love of learning openly. The main difference is intentional learning versus forced learning that is based on the school’s agenda and timeline. Constant assessment isn’t the focus, but customization is.
There also tends to be more time to foster strong relationships, as children spend more time with family and engage in collaborative learning experiences with members of the community. As I’ve said before, unschooling incorporates the whole child and aims to cultivate a lifelong love of learning.
In the younger years, it makes sense on a developmental level to provide nurturing and play-based environments and that’s what unschooling does.
I vote to bring back vintage kindergarten and maybe, just maybe, we can slow down the labeling of immature children as “learning disabled” so they can show that all they needed was room to breathe and time for their brains to grow.
Play on!
~Missy
Want to know more about the unschooling lifestyle?
I co-wrote a 43-page guide with a fellow teacher turning unschooling mom. This guide is in response to the many questions we have received over the years. It is also what we wish we had when we were in the early days of unschooling.
I't’s a quick and easy read that explains what self-directed education is (and isn’t) incase you are looking for a way to understand this lifestyle better and/or to share the principles with a family member, spouse, or friend.
Grab a copy here!
Preschool education - the way it used to be - was everything humans of any age need to excel and learn. It's not a coincidence that industry research and development departments instigate 'sandbox learning environments'.
Spelling and sentences at age 5-6 is crazy and unnatural to me, except for the rare few who are naturally advanced in literacy at this age