Kindergarten

Kindergarten is a critical year in the lives of young children. It is a year of transition from home and early childhood education programs to formal school programs. Here are resources on policies and practices on kindergarten.

NAEYC Position Statements

• School Readiness (1995) .pdf ||.html || Summary .pdf

• Developmentally Appropriate Practice In Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8 (1997) .pdf || .html

NAEYC Early Years Are Learning Years

• Top 10 Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom .pdf || .html

Still Unacceptable Trends in Kindergarten Entry and Placement: (National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education) .pdf || .html

Resources

• The Education Commission of the States (ECS) recently conducted a survey of kindergarten specialists in state departments of education and reviewed the state statutes that cover kindergarten. This data has been compiled into a new Kindergarten Database, which produces state profiles, state comparisons, and 50 state reports on a variety of issues. This link takes you to the Early Learning section of the ECS web site. Choose Kindergarten from the list of issues, and there is a link to the database.
  www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/IssuesEL.asp
• ECS has also produced two issue briefs from their survey:

1. How States Fund Full Day Kindergarten
   www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/45/60/4560.doc
2. Access to Kindergarten: Age Issues in State Statutes
   www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/44/52/4452.doc
• Full-Day Kindergarten: Exploring an Option for Extended Learning (by Cori Brewster, Jennifer Railsback, December 2002). This booklet published by the Northwest Regional Educational Lab provides a brief review of the literature on full-day kindergarten programs and highlights important considerations for educators, policymakers, and parents assessing their kindergarten options. www.nwrel.org/request/dec2002/kindergarten.pdf
• The Transition to Kindergarten is a policy brief published by the National Center for Early Development and Learning (by Robert C. Pianta and Martha J. Cox, March 2002). The brief examines the issues around transitions to kindergarten, needed policy changes, and areas for further research. www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncedl/PDFs/spot35.pdf
• A bibliography on kindergarten (2001) is available from the National All-Day Kindergarten Network at www.siue.edu/~snall/kdtn/biblio.htm
• The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study is an ongoing effort by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The study follows a nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 children from kindergarten through fifth grade. This link will take you to a variety of reports and materials from this study. http://nces.ed.gov/ecls
• The Kindergarten Year is a report by NCES (2000) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. This report looks at children's knowledge and skills gains during the kindergarten year, and disaggregates information based on child, family, and kindergarten program characteristics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001023.pdf