Ready, Set, Write: Early Learning Standards for Writing in the Common Core Era

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura S. Tortorelli ◽  
Hope K. Gerde ◽  
Rebecca Rohloff ◽  
Gary E. Bingham
Keyword(s):  
Common Core ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Learning Standards ◽  
The Common ◽  
Early Learning Standards

scholarly journals Commentary on “Alignment Between Children’s Numeracy Performance, the Kindergarten Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, and State-Level Early Learning Standards”

AERA Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233285842110171
Author(s):  
Karen C. Fuson ◽  
Douglas H. Clements ◽  
Julie Sarama
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Common Core State Standards ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Core State ◽  
Learning Standards ◽  
Early Learning Standards

Litkowski et al. compare preschoolers’ performance on three counting items to various standards. We clarify that the items Litkowski and colleagues found to be too easy for kindergarten were actually goals for 4s/PKs in the National Research Council’s report Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity but that they were included as kindergarten standards to ensure that all children had an opportunity to learn these crucial competencies. The helpful analysis in their article of the variability across present state early childhood standards indicates that the kindergarten Common Core State Standards–Mathematics need to remain unchanged for the same reason. We suggest that research funding in early childhood is better spent on research on high-quality instructional contexts for all children than on survey research. And we address the important question of what more-advanced children should learn in kindergarten by pairing standards those children already know with crucial standards that need a lot of time and attention.

What Guides Pre-K Programs?

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Graue ◽  
Sharon Ryan ◽  
Bethany Wilinski ◽  
Kaitlin Northey ◽  
Amato Nocera
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Learning Standards ◽  
Early Learning Standards ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Day Program

Background/Context Early childhood education joined the standards movement in 2002 with the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative, with advocates arguing that standards were a tool for creating more continuity and coherence in Pre-K systems. Critics posed concerns about a perceived poor fit between standards-based and developmentally appropriate practices, pointing to standardization and pressure from the K–12 system. With growth in public Pre-K programs guided by state early learning standards, we set out to understand what guides Pre-K programs. Setting We sampled two states with mature Pre-K programs: New Jersey (NJ), a targeted, highly regulated full-day program for 3- and 4-year-olds and Wisconsin (WI), a universal, local control half-day program for 4-year-olds. Both programs implement Pre-K programs in schools, Head Start, and child care classrooms. Purpose/Focus of Study The purpose of the project was to compare the role of standards in Pre-K programs in NJ and WI, analyzing standards conceptualization and enactment by district administrators and teachers. Research Design We designed a multi-state, comparative case study including interviews with state actors who identified rural, midsize, and urban districts for fieldwork, weekly observations of Pre-K classrooms in elementary schools, Head Start, and childcare centers and interviews with the teachers in these sites. Conclusions Policy and standards alone were not very good predictors of the Pre-K programs’ enacted practices. The logic of practice embedded in standards evolved through policy enactment in the local context, through the work of actors, like local child care advocates, the administrative designs of district leaders, and the policies of the adjacent K–12 system. The nonlinear implementation of early learning standards in this study shows the importance of looking beyond policy inputs and child outcomes and the need to include the administrative and instructional practices between if we are to understand how to best support young learners and their teachers.

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