For decades, U.S. schools have been engaged in a failed experiment that attempts to cram more content into a typical teaching day than is humanly possible. Schools ask children to learn overwhelming content at younger and younger ages without taking the time to build the foundational skills needed for learning or behavioral success. This system has created anxiety-filled classrooms in which children are less likely to fall deeply in love with learning. This is true even in the early childhood years, which is the most important learning phase in a child's life.
The current approach to early childhood education is not working. By the beginning of 4th grade, the point at which we can accurately predict long-term learning outcomes, only 33 percent of U.S. children are at proficient reading levels and only 17 percent of children who are eligible for free or reduced lunch are at proficient reading levels.
<FIG NAME="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/images/siteASCD/publications/ascdexpress/Express%208.16/8.16sornson.jpg" />
But most teachers are stuck and expected to cover a nonviable curriculum (a set of content expectations that cannot possibly be covered in the available teaching time) with students who may already have significant gaps in the development of fundamental skills for learning.
Let's consider math instruction. New Mexico has 19 process standards, 5 content standard strands, 17 benchmarks, and 26 performance standards for teaching kindergarten math. Teachers are expected to cover all this with every child, including the students with poor learning experiences at home or in preschools and the students who have not yet learned basic number concepts and skills. The kindergarten math benchmarks in New Mexico (PDF) include the following:
A.2 Represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic symbols.G.2 Specify locations and describe spatial relationships using coordinate geometry and other representational systems.G.3 Apply transformations and use symmetry to analyze mathematical situations.
Racing through content without regard for basic skills development and the experience of joy during this early learning phase is a surefire recipe for killing any chance for students to develop a love of learning. Only 24 percent of U.S. 12th graders are proficient in math. Unacceptable! Our choice to race through math instruction without building basic skills and success is killing children's learning futures.
Consider a different approach: A rich and interesting math curriculum should include projects and activities, allow students to move to higher levels of challenge as soon as they are ready, and allow children all the time they need to develop essential skills. To teach this way, teachers cannot race through the same lesson each day with all students. Time for reteaching and extra practice must be incorporated until students fully develop essential skills. In kindergarten, the Essential Skills Inventory (Sornson, 2009) identifies four essential math outcomes:
- <P STYLE="textIndent">Demonstrates counting to 100.
- <P STYLE="textIndent">Has one-to-one correspondence for numbers 1–30.
- <P STYLE="textIndent">Understands combinations (to 10).
- <P STYLE="textIndent">Recognizes number groups without counting (2–10)
These are the nonnegotiable skills that every child can develop if teachers have permission to quit racing through ridiculous lists of nonviable content objectives.
Building foundational learning skills is not a race. By slowing down the pace of instruction and allowing every young child to fully develop essential oral language, phonological skills, literacy, numeracy, motor skills, and social and behavioral skills, we could improve children's learning future. This is the approach used in the higher-performing school systems in the world. With these skills in place, children will have the capacity to be great learners throughout their entire lives.
