Over the last two decades, policymakers’ standards-based accountability reforms in the United States have fundamentally changed public schooling in general and kindergarten specifically. As this has occurred, little has been learned about how the children themselves make sense of these changes in schooling.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study
The purpose of this article is to address this issue by providing insight into how a sample of kindergarteners enrolled in a public kindergarten in Texas made sense of their experiences in kindergarten today in relation to two research questions: a) How did they make sense of their educational experiences in kindergarten?, and b) How would they like to alter kindergarten so that it reflects their understanding of schooling?
Research Design
This is an explorative qualitative, video-cued, multivocal ethnographic research study. Data were generated through focus-group interviews with 19 kindergarteners in Texas. The students were asked about how they made sense of the changed kindergarten through viewing a micro-level example of their kindergarten classroom in Texas. The video the kindergarteners watched and commented on provides a coherent narrative that captured shortened versions of each of the activities they participate in over a typical day in their classroom.
Findings/Results
The findings shared in this article illuminate these kindergarteners’ understandings of kindergarten as well as whether or not they believed they would be able to succeed in a school system that expects them to learn more academic content and demonstrate their knowledge on an increasing number of standardized tests. These findings also provide insight into the changes these kindergarteners would like to see made to kindergarten to improve their learning experiences in school.
Conclusions/Recommendations
The kindergarteners in this study framed kindergarten as a place they go to learn academic content that they believe will allow them to progress to and through subsequent grade levels. Though they enjoyed kindergarten and had strong relationships with their teacher, they would like more opportunities for physical activity and choice throughout the day, which echo the sentiments of other early childhood education stakeholders and researchers. As these were kindergarteners enrolled in a typical public kindergarten, additional insight into these issues could be gained by seeking out the voices of children in different kindergarten programs (e.g., private, play-based, half-day, etc.) or from these same children at different points in their educational careers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdairJ. K. (2014). Agency and expanding capabilities in early grade classrooms: What it could mean for young children. Harvard Educational Review, 842, 217—241.
2.
AdairJ. K.ColegroveK. S. S., & McManusM. E. (2018). Troubling messages: Agency and learning in the early schooling experiences of children of Latinx immigrants. Teachers College Record, 1206, 1—40.
3.
AdairJ. K., & KurbanF. (2019). Video-cued ethnographic data collection as a tool toward participant voice. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 503, 312—332.
4.
AlexanderK. L.EntwisleD. R., & OlsonL. S. (2001). Schools, achievement, and inequality: A seasonal perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 232, 171—191.
5.
AlfordB. L.RollinsK. B.PadrónY. N., & WaxmanH. C. (2016). Using systematic classroom observation to explore student engagement as a function of teachers’ developmentally appropriate instructional practices (DAIP) in ethnically diverse pre-kindergarten through second-grade classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 446, 623—635.
6.
AnagnostopoulosD., & RutledgeS. (2007). Making sense of school sanctioning policies in urban high schools: Charting the depth and drift of school and classroom change. Teachers College Record, 1095, 1261—1302.
7.
Atkinson-SheppardS. (2017). Street children and ‘protective agency’: Exploring young people's involvement in organized crime in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Childhood, 243, 416—429.
8.
BassokD.LathamS., & RoremA. (2016). Is kindergarten the new first grade?AERA Open, 14, 1—31.
9.
BassokD., & RoremA. (2014). Is kindergarten the new first grade? The changing nature of kindergarten in the age of accountability (EdPolicyWorks Working Paper Series, No. 20). University of Virginia.
10.
BertrandM., & MarshJ. A. (2015). Teachers’ sensemaking of data and implications for equity. American Educational Research Journal, 525, 861—893.
11.
BrownC. P. (2005). Creating opportunities. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 62, 112—127.
12.
BrownC. P. (2007). Unpacking standards in early childhood education. Teachers College Record, 1093, 635—668.
13.
BrownC. P. (2009). Pivoting a pre-kindergarten program off the child or the standard? A case study of integrating the practices of early childhood education into elementary school. The Elementary School Journal, 1102, 202—227.
14.
BrownC. P. (2015). Conforming to reform: Teaching pre-kindergarten in a neoliberal early education system. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 133, 236—251.
15.
BrownC. P. (2021). Resisting the kinder-race: Restorying joy to early learning. Teachers College Press.
16.
BrownC. P.EnglehardtJ.BarryD. P., & KuD. (2019). Examining how stakeholders at the local, state, and national level made sense of the changed kindergarten. American Educational Research Journal, 563, 822—867.
17.
BrownC. P.KuD., & BarryD. P. (2020). “Kindergarten isn't fun anymore. Isn't that so sad?”: Examining how kindergarten teachers in the US made sense of the changed kindergarten. Teaching and Teacher Education, 90, 1—13.
18.
BrownC. P., & LanY. C. (2015). A qualitative metasynthesis comparing U.S. teachers’ conceptions of school readiness prior to and after the implementation of NCLB. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 1—13.
19.
BrownC. P., & MowryB. (2015). Close early learning gaps with RIGOROUS DAP. Phi Delta Kappan, 963, 53—57.
20.
BrownC. P., & WeberN. B. (2016). Struggling to overcome the state's prescription for practice: A study of a sample of early educators’ professional development andaction-research projects in a high-stakes teaching context. Journal of Teacher Education, 673, 183—202.
21.
CampbellF. A.RameyC. T.PungelloE.SparlingJ., & Miller-JohnsonS. (2002). Early childhood education: Outcomes as a function of different treatments. Applied Developmental Science, 61, 42—57.
22.
CastroA. J. (2010). Challenges in teaching for critical multicultural citizenship: Student teaching in an accountability-driven context. Action in Teacher Education, 322, 97—109.
23.
ClaessensA.DuncanG. J., & EngelM. (2009). Kindergarten skills and fifth-grade achievement: Evidence from the ECLS-K. Economics of Education Review, 284, 415—427.
24.
ClaessensA.EngelM., & CurranF. C. (2015). Academic content, student learning, and the persistence of preschool effects. American Educational Research Journal, 512, 404—434.
25.
ClarkJ., & RichardsS. (2017). The cherished conceits of research with children: Does seeking the agentic voice of the child through participatory methods delivers what it promises?Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, 22(1), 127—147.
26.
CoburnC. E. (2001). Collective sensemaking about reading: How teachers mediate reading policy in their professional communities. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 232, 145—170.
27.
CooperH.AllenA. B.PatallE. A., & DentA. L. (2010). Effects of full-day kindergarten on academic achievement and social development. Review of Educational Research, 801, 34—70.
28.
CorsaroW. A. (2018). The sociology of childhood (5th ed.). Sage.
29.
CoveyS. R. (2014). The leader in me: How schools around the world are inspiring greatness, one child at a time (2nd ed.). Simon & Shuster.
30.
CresswellJ. W., & PothC. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage.
31.
DombkowskiK. (2001). Will the real kindergarten please stand up? Defining and redefining the twentieth-century US kindergarten. History of Education, 306, 527—545.
32.
DuncanG. J.DowsettC. J.ClaessensA.MagnusonK.HustonA. C.KlebanovP.PaganiL. S.FeinsteinL.EngelM.Brooks-GunnJ.SextonH.DuckworthK., & JapelC. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 436, 1428—1446.
33.
EngelS. L. (2015). The hungry mind: The origins of curiosity in childhood. Harvard University Press.
34.
EricksonF. (1986). Qualitative methods in research on teaching. In WhittrockM. (Ed.), Handbook on research on teaching (pp. 119—161). Macmillan.
35.
EricksonF. (2014). Scaling down: A modest proposal for practice-based policy research in teaching. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 229, 1—14.
EvansA. E. (2007). School leaders and their sensemaking about race and demographic change. Educational Administration Quarterly, 432, 159—188.
38.
GraueE. (2009). Reimagining kindergarten. The School Administrator, 6611, 10—15.
39.
HabókA., & BabarczyA. (2018). Perceptions of learning: Interviews with first and second graders in a Hungarian primary school. Early Childhood Education Journal, 461, 61—71.
40.
HallP. M., & McGintyP. J. W. (1997). Policy as the transformation of intentions. The Sociological Quarterly, 383, 439—467.
41.
HatchJ. A. (2002). Accountability shovedown: Resisting the standards movement in early childhood education. Phi Delta Kappan, 836, 457—463.
42.
HayashiA., & TobinJ. (2012). Reframing a visual ethnography of a Japanese preschool classroom. Visual Anthropology Review, 281, 13—31.
43.
Hod-ShemerO.ZimermanH.HassunahArafatS., & WertheimC. (2018). Preschool children's perceptions of fairness: “I can wait, even if it takes a while”. Early Childhood Education Journal, 462, 179—186.
44.
JamesA. (2007). Giving voice to children's voices: practices and problems, pitfalls and potentials. American Anthropologist, 1092, 261—272.
45.
JamesA., & JamesA. (2004). Construction childhood: Theory, policy and social practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
46.
KatzL. G. (2009). Where I stand on standardization. Educational Researcher, 381, 52—58.
47.
LynchM. (2015). More play please: The perspectives of kindergarten teachers on play in the classroom. American Journal of Play, 793, 347—370.
48.
MacDonaldK., & BreunigM. (2018). Back to the garten: Ontario kindergarteners learn and grow through schoolyard pedagogy. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 212, 133—151.
49.
MerriamS. B., & TisdellE. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
50.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M., & SaldanaJ. (2014). Qualitative data analysis (3rd ed.). Sage.
51.
MillerE., & AlmonJ. (2009). Crisis in the kindergarten: Why children need to play in school. Alliance for Childhood.
52.
MinicozziL. L. (2016). The garden is thorny: Teaching kindergarten in the age of accountability. Global Studies of Childhood, 63, 299—310.
PaleyV. G. (2011, November 2). Who will save the kindergarten? [Keynote address]. National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference and Expo. Orlando, FL, United States.
55.
PardoL. S. (2006). The role of context in learning to teach writing: What teacher educators need to know to support beginning urban teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 574, 378—394.
56.
ParksA. N., & Bridges-RhoadsS. (2012). Overly scripted: Exploring the impact of a scripted literacy curriculum on a preschool teacher's instructional practices in mathematics. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 263, 308—324.
57.
PattonM. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Sage.
58.
PhelpsR.GrahamA.TuyetN. H. T., & GeevesR. (2014). Exploring Vietnamese children's experiences of, and views on, learning at primary school in rural and remote communities. International Journal of Educational Development, 36, 33—43.
59.
QuirkM.Nylund-GibsonK., & FurlongM. (2013). Exploring patterns of Latino/a children's school readiness at kindergarten entry and their relations with Grade 2 achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 282, 437—449.
60.
QvortrupJ. (2004). Editorial: The waiting child. Childhood, 113, 267—273.
61.
QvortrupJ. (2009). Are children human beings or human becomings? A critical assessment of outcome thinking. Vita e Pensiero, 1173, 631—653.
62.
RebackR.RockoffJ., & SchwartzH. L. (2014). Under pressure: Job security, resource allocation, and productivity in schools under No Child Left Behind. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 63, 207—241.
63.
RogoffB. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 14, 209—229.
64.
RogoffB. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press.
65.
RouseH. L., & FantuzzoJ. W. (2009). Multiple risks and educational wellbeing: A population-based investigation of threats to early school success. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 241, 1—14.
66.
SandbergA.BrostromS.JohanssonI.FrøkjærT.KieferleC.SeifertA.RothA.TuulM.UgasteA., & LaanM. (2017). Children's perspective on learning: An international study in Denmark, Estonia, Germany and Sweden. Early Childhood Education Journal, 451, 71—81.
67.
SchweinhartL. J. (2005). Lifetime effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study through age 40. High/Scope Press.
68.
SeçerS. Y. E., & ÇeliközN. (2017). The effect of kindergarteners’ perceptions of school on their attitudes towards school. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 92, 70—88.
69.
SenA. K. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. Oxford University.
70.
SotkesH.AaltonenS., & CoffeyJ. (2015). Young people, identity, class, and the family. In J. W. Cahill, Handbook on children and youth studies, (pp. 259—278). Singapore: Springer
71.
StosichE. L. (2016). Joint inquiry: Teachers’ collective learning about the common core in high-poverty urban schools. American Educational Research Journal, 536, 1698—1731.
StricklandM. J., & MarinakB. A. (2016). Not just talk, but a “dance”! How kindergarten teachers opened and closed spaces for teacher–child authentic dialogue. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44, 613—621.
74.
ThomasG. (2016). How to do your case study (2nd ed.). Sage.
75.
TobinJ.ArzubiagaA. E., & AdairJ. K. (2013). Children crossing borders: Immigrant parent and teacher perspectives on preschool. Russell Sage Foundation.
76.
TobinJ., & HsuehY. (2007). The poetics and pleasures of video ethnography of education. In GoldmanR. (Ed.), Video research in the learning sciences (pp. 77—92). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
77.
TobinJ.HseuhY., & KarasawaM. (2009). Preschool in three cultures revisited: China, Japan, and the United States. University of Chicago Press.
78.
TobinJ.WuD., & DavidsonD. (1989). Preschool in three cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. Yale University Press.
79.
UprichardE. (2008). Children as ‘being and becomings’: Children, childhood and temporality. Children in Society, 224, 303—313.
80.
ValenteJ. M. (2019). A deaf lens: Adapting video-cued multivocal ethnography for the “kindergartens for the deaf in three countries” project. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 503, 340—347.
81.
WolcottH. F. (1994). Transforming qualitative data: description, analysis, and interpretation. Sage.
