Ready or not, new students are entering K-12 school systems across the country.
Teachers spend these first few weeks determining where 5- and 6-year-olds are developmentally, what academic, social and emotional skills they have, and what supports they need to succeed through the school year.
In recent years, that job has become more difficult, say many. investigation, Research Survey And EdSurge interviews have revealed that modern kindergarten classes lack some of the basic skills and competencies that educators and principals once expected, including following directions, sharing, listening and participating in class, using writing and craft materials, and potty training.
Many in the education community and the general public are quick to Blame it on the pandemic To address these challenges, fewer kindergartners participated in early learning experiences, even though they were infants when the pandemic began. kindergartenand most people Limited social interaction But the explanation is likely more complicated. Several people interviewed pointed to the popularity of smartphones and Screen Time At least as part of the shift.
As the new school year begins, EdSurge asked educational leaders and child development experts about the most important skills children should have when they start school.
There are five core areas of development, said Van Kim Bui Linh, a senior research scientist specializing in early childhood development at Child Trends, a national nonprofit research center focused on children’s well-being.
One is physical development, including gross motor skills that enable children to run, hop and skip, and fine motor skills that help them hold a pencil or use scissors.
The second is cognitive development, including reasoning and problem solving. Then there’s language development, which includes comprehension, verbal communication, and eventually reading and writing. The third is social-emotional development, which includes active listening, interacting with adults and peers, sharing and sustaining attention.
Finally, there is the approach to children’s learning, including what motivates children and how they can learn most effectively.
“There’s a whole series of developments that children need to go through in order to be truly successful,” Lin explains.
Social and emotional skills determine children’s success
Many say the most important skills for children entering kindergarten are social-emotional skills, an area of development that many teachers focus on. Report This is where we see the steepest decline.
In the Phoenix Talent School District in southern Oregon, which was hit by devastating wildfires in the fall of 2020 and then hit by the pandemic, many students are entering kindergarten without the skills to follow directions, share toys or materials with classmates or stick to a schedule.
“The biggest obstacle we’ve seen since the pandemic and the fires is routines and procedures,” said Tiffany Lambert, vice president of teaching and learning at Phoenix Talent.
Lambert also noted that children of all ages have short attention spans, not just preschoolers, but especially kindergarteners. “We don’t expect kindergarteners to come in and sit through an hour-long lesson,” she added.
Social-emotional skills like self-control and listening skills prepare children to engage and learn when they arrive in kindergarten. These skills are foundational.
Can kids sit and listen during story time? That’s a good barometer, says Susan Petersen, superintendent of the Lodi Unified School District in Northern California. “That’s the ideal situation,” she notes.
Can a child interact appropriately with others, take turns, and include others? “Those basic social skills are also important,” Petersen adds.
Emotional control and perseverance are also important, adds Child Trends’ Lin. If your child is struggling to use scissors, does he or she have the ability to overcome frustration and carry on? Can they tolerate another child using a toy they’ve been playing with?
If children can cooperate well with others, share, recognize their emotions and control their impulses, “the rest will follow,” says Rachel Robertson, chief academic officer at Bright Horizons, which runs more than 600 early childhood care and education centers in the United States.
Decreased fine motor skills
Fine motor skillsThis involves moving the small muscles in the hands and wrists that enable many functional skills, such as cutting, using a glue stick, opening a lunchbox or turning the pages of a book, and appears to be important but lacking in kindergarteners.
Lambert, of the Phoenix Talent School District, said pencil grip — the way students hold a pencil or other writing implement — is also an issue among students in kindergarten and older.
“I made it my mission to observe how every child holds a pencil,” she says.
Lambert added that when kids don’t have those motor skills, their hands get tired, they have trouble forming letters and they have a hard time completing tasks.
Lisa Eckert, director of early childhood education for the Pequa Valley School District in southeastern Pennsylvania, has heard stories of parents whose children start kindergarten knowing all of their letters and numbers, but because they learned on an iPad or other device, “they can’t pick up a pencil and write something. They can’t pick up scissors and cut paper,” she said.
Academic skills are a plus, but not essential
ABC and 1-2-3 may seem like the basics of kindergarten readiness, but many educators point out that they’re really just nice-to-haves.
“It’s great if kids can write their name and recognize letters and sounds of the alphabet,” Lambert said. “We don’t always expect that, but it helps us to have kids come to class, interact, understand their emotions, be disciplined, participate in classes and groups.”
Letters, numbers, reading, and writing are the skills that kindergarten is designed to teach children. It is far better for a child to have basic social-emotional skills than it is for them to be able to read and write on the first day of kindergarten.
“I’m not interested in preparing kids for a year of school,” Bright Horizons’ Robertson explains. “I’m interested in giving them the fundamentals for life.”
Potty training is on the decline
Education Week’s State of Education investigationIn a survey of kindergarten through third grade teachers asking how certain tasks or skills have changed compared to five years ago, 44% said “toilet training/using the toilet unaided” is now “much harder” or “harder.”
School district leaders acknowledged the experience: More students are enrolled in kindergarten. If you don’t have the ability You will be able to use the toilet on your own.
Kindergarten teachers don’t have the time to help each child use the bathroom, Child Trends’ Lin said.
“It makes a big difference in the day,” adds Pequea Valley School District’s Eckert. [teachers] If you focus on helping your kids use the toilet, you’re losing an hour out of your day.”
Don’t neglect attendance
As America’s public schools face alarming conditions, High Interest Rates Although there are reports of chronic absenteeism (defined as students who miss more than 10 percent of days in a grade year), it is important to note that attendance is essential for children to be successful in kindergarten.
“If students aren’t in school, they’re not learning,” Lambert said. “Families think, ‘Oh, it’s kindergarten, I can miss a day,’ but kindergarten is so important. … Even missing a day is a big deal.”
