There is a long-overdue movement in states and districts across the country to update their K-3 reading and math curricula to ensure they adhere to research-proven practices. However, this movement has a major blind spot. It's a kindergarten.
Nearly half of all four-year-olds in the United States now begin formal education in public kindergarten, and that percentage is steadily increasing. States have invested more than $10 billion in kindergarten programs in 2022-23, and the federal government has invested $11 billion in Head Start.
Most public preschool programs are successful in providing well-organized classrooms where children can learn and explore safely. But they fall short in building the critical early learning skills on which children's future literacy and math skills depend.
Strong preschool experiences are important. The seeds of large and significant learning gaps between children from high- and low-income families in language, literacy, and math skills in middle and high school are planted as early as the first day of kindergarten.
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Many studies conducted in very diverse regions across the country have shown that attending kindergarten increases children's readiness for kindergarten, and that the effects can last beyond kindergarten and into adulthood, but this is not always the case. This readiness includes the ability to follow teacher directions and socialize with peers, a solid understanding of letter-sound correspondences, a strong vocabulary, and conceptual knowledge of the number line. All of these skills can be built in the elementary school curriculum, and all kindergarten students work hard to learn them.
However, as with all education, some programs are more effective than others and curriculum is a key enabler. Most pre-K programs rely on curricula that are not aligned with current science of early learning and education. The good news is that you don't have to start from scratch to achieve better results. As a new National Academies report explains, we have a wealth of research pointing to what makes kindergarten curricula effective.
Three substantive changes will be needed if today's curriculum reform efforts are to move in the right direction.
First, public preschool programs should update their evidence-based approved curriculum lists to clearly identify curricula that enhance young children’s learning and development. For the 2021-22 school year (the most recent year for which figures are available), only 19 states maintained approved curriculum lists that included curricula that were not evidence-based.
Related: Research shows that infants and toddlers who receive quality child care benefit longer.
Second, because the most effective preschool curricula tend to target only one or two learning areas (e.g., math and literature), programs need to combine curricula to cover all important areas. Fortunately, preschool programs in Boston and elsewhere have done exactly that.
Third, effective implementation requires closely linking the curriculum with teacher professional development and coaching. Too often, teacher professional development focuses on generic best practices or is a very temporary approach that does not lead to preschool learning outcomes.
But we cannot stop with these three changes alone. Children learn best when the kindergarten and subsequent elementary school curriculum builds on the preschool curriculum.
Neither of these changes will solve the inadequate funding problem that affects many preschool programs and increases teacher turnover. But we can give teachers the best tools to support learning.
Getting the preschool curriculum right is critical to ensuring that society receives the research-proven benefits of early education programs. There is evidence that learning improves when programs use more effective curricula.
The next step is for policymakers to put this evidence into action.
Deborah A. Phillips and Christina Wayland He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on a New Vision for High-Quality Prekindergarten Curriculum. The committee recently released a report containing a series of recommendations to improve the pre-K curriculum. Douglas H. ClementsOther people contributed to this opinion article:
This story about preschool curriculum was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit independent news organization focused on inequity and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s biweekly early childhood newsletter.