Has Kindergarten Become Too Academic? Instruction and Children's Development in the First Year of School

• In Event: Academics in the Earliest Years of Formal Schooling: Building Evidence for Policy and Practice

Abstract

Objectives and Perspective: Recent research documents the academicization of kindergarten. In light of this and the codification of academic standards for kindergarten through the Common Core, some advocacy groups argue that today’s kindergarten overemphasizes academics. Others maintain that academics need not be at odds with play and that young children benefit from exposure to rigorous academic content. Further, a number of studies show that achievement gains made in math and reading during kindergarten predict student outcomes through eighth grade.
Surprisingly, there is little empirical evidence regarding how exposure to academics in kindergarten impacts children’s development. We address this gap in the literature using two large, nationally representative datasets to answer three related questions:
1. How does time on academics in kindergarten relate to children’s academic and behavioral development?
2. Do effects vary by type of academic content (e.g., basic or advanced) or by how it is taught (e.g., teacher-directed versus play-based)?
3. Has the increased focus on academics in kindergarten over the past two decades resulted in changes in children’s learning and behaviors in kindergarten?

Data and Methods: We leverage the National Center for Educational Statistics two Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies (ECLS) of kindergarten; the Kindergarten Classes of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) and 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). Both are nationally representative, longitudinal samples of children who were in kindergarten in 1998-99 and 2010-11, respectively and include direct assessments of students’ academic achievement at fall and spring of kindergarten as well as teacher assessments of children’s social skills and behavior. In addition, teachers completed surveys and answered detailed questions about time spent on academics, the reading and math content they covered, and their instructional approach.
We model the association between teacher-reported time use and children’s academic and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten. Our key explanatory variables are measures of classroom academic focus (e.g., time on reading and math, pedagogy measures of basic or advanced content, and teacher-directed or child-centered instruction). Our outcome variables are academic assessment scores and teacher-reported behavioral ratings measured in the spring of kindergarten. We control for the same measures assessed in the fall, such that our models capture cross-kindergarten growth and change, as well as an extensive array of child, family, teacher, and school characteristics.

Results and Implications: OLS regression results indicate, as would be expected, that overall time on academic content is positively associated with student learning gains. Further, students whose teachers report spending substantially less time on academic content have significantly smaller achievement gains. Interestingly, preliminary results also indicate that students in these classrooms – where less time is spent on academics – also experience reductions in internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems.
Results from this study will inform the debate around kindergarten. Preliminary results suggest that kindergarten classrooms with a heavy academic focus may have positive effects on student achievement but negative effects on students’ behavioral outcomes. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Mimi Engel, Vanderbilt University

• Daphna Bassok, University of Virginia

• Amy Claessens, University of Chicago

• Sarah Kabourek, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Tyler Watts, University of California - Irvine