Researchers Show Kindergarten Is the New First Grade

A trio of University of Virginia researchers have confirmed what some parents have long suspected – the Kindergarten classroom of today is more like the first grade classroom of 10 years ago. Kindergarten teachers now find themselves spending more time on formal math and reading instruction; more of them also expect students to know the alphabet and how to use a pencil before Kindergarten. The authors expressed surprise at the dramatic change in perspectives between 1998 and 2010, when the most data was collected. The study was published online in the peer-reviewed journal AERA Open.