What happened to kindergarten?
In this episode of Early Childhood Chapters, host Emily Garman sits down with education policy expert, former teacher, and author Laura Bornfreund to explore how kindergarten has changed over the past several decades and why many classrooms have drifted away from what young children need most.
Drawing from research, classroom observations, and her new book, Rediscovering Kindergarten: Embracing Play and Joy in Learning, Laura explains how accountability systems, academic pressure, and misconceptions about play have transformed the kindergarten experience. She shares why play and academic rigor are not opposites, how relationships drive learning, and what school leaders can do to create environments where young children thrive.
The conversation also explores behavior challenges, the science behind play-based learning, family engagement, and Laura's vision for an ideal kindergarten classroom.
The following is a lightly edited transcript of the interview.
Emily Garman: Welcome to Early Childhood Chapters, the podcast from Gryphon House, where we connect with leading voices in early childhood education to explore the research, ideas, and practical strategies shaping the field.
Today I'm excited to be joined by Laura Bornfreund, a nationally respected education policy expert, former elementary teacher, and senior fellow focused on transforming kindergarten and strengthening the transition from pre-K into the early grades.
Laura has written extensively on early childhood education for publications including The Atlantic, Education Week, and Slate. She's also the author of the new Gryphon House book, Rediscovering Kindergarten: Embracing Play and Joy in Learning.
Laura, thanks so much for joining us today. It's an honor to have you here.
Laura Bornfreund: Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.
Emily Garman: Well, your book opens with your own daughter's kindergarten experience, and there's almost this feeling of heartbreak over what kindergarten has become in many places. What was the moment when you realized something was wrong?
Laura Bornfreund: Well, for years before, I had been visiting kindergarten classrooms and seeing good examples of kindergarten classrooms, so I knew I wasn't entering the world of kindergarten without an understanding of what it could be and what it was in so many places.
I think the moment when I really felt that something was wrong, that something wasn't quite right, was at the parent meeting in the spring before kindergarten started. They invited us to come and get an idea of what kindergarten was all about.
My daughter had been attending pre-K just down the hall from where she would attend kindergarten the following year. I loved the pre-K so much. It was definitely play-based. There were two teachers. It was just a joyful experience for her.
At the parent meeting, though, the vibe was that kindergarten was nothing like pre-K. It wasn't play. There was no nap. Then there was a discussion of all the things children would ideally know before they arrived, along with a structured schedule of what the day would look like.
It was really about setting our expectations for something completely different.
Emily Garman: You argue that kindergarten has drifted away from what young children actually need developmentally. When did that shift begin, and what are the forces that pushed kindergarten toward this more academic, worksheet-driven model?
Laura Bornfreund: Since kindergarten first became part of the educational landscape, there have been pendulum swings around what it should look like. Should there be more academics? More structure? Or should we hold to those early Froebelian ideas and progressive approaches to education?
Where we really started to see a drift away from what children developmentally need was in the 1990s, when we shifted as a country toward state academic standards.
Then the idea of academic rigor became even more entrenched with No Child Left Behind. That's when we saw the introduction of more testing and accountability requirements that put significant pressure on schools to improve, both in positive and negative ways.
Academic standards are important. They set expectations for what all students should learn. We need assessments to ensure students are mastering those expectations. And it was certainly important to shine a light, as No Child Left Behind did, on students who were not getting enough attention. Schools largely were not paying enough attention to some groups of students.
But there's a significant difference between what pre-K learning guidelines look like and what K–12 standards look like in most states. K–12 standards tend to focus on academic areas that can be measured. Pre-K expectations, on the other hand, take a much more holistic approach.
They also don't just include a high-level look at what teachers should teach. Pre-K guidelines, or early learning guidelines as they're often called because they cover birth through pre-K, also focus on how children learn. They're meant to guide teacher interactions and classroom environments rather than drive specific curriculum and assessment expectations the way K–12 standards often do.
That creates a divide and makes the transition from pre-K into kindergarten more complex, especially for children and families who participated in preschool programs. I think this shift toward academic standards, accountability, and assessment contributed significantly to the drift we see today.
This also connects to the idea of kindergarten becoming the "new first grade," which a researcher at the University of Virginia studied using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. The study began with the 1998–99 school year and surveyed teachers about the kinds of experiences children had access to in kindergarten classrooms.
Researchers asked questions such as: How much time is spent on reading? How much time is spent on math and science? Does the classroom include a dramatic play area, an art area, or a sensory area?
The study was repeated in 2010–11, and what we see is a decline in dramatic play areas, art areas, and sensory areas in kindergarten classrooms. At the same time, we see increases in the amount of time spent on reading and whole-group instruction.
That paints a pretty clear picture of how kindergarten classrooms changed over those years.
That study is actually being repeated now for the 2023–24 school year. It was delayed a bit, but we're hoping to get updated information that will help us better understand the shifts that have happened since then at a nationally representative level.
Another piece I'd add is that in my work at New America, we conducted focus groups with principals to better understand their perspectives on kindergarten and the early grades.
Several principals told us that right around the early 2000s, after No Child Left Behind was implemented, district leaders were telling them things like, "We need to get rid of the kitchens. We need to get rid of some of these toys in kindergarten. We just don't have time for that anymore."
Emily Garman: That's really such a shift from the kindergarten I remember myself. But as a parent, parent to parent, I empathize with what you were saying about your daughter's experience and what you saw when you got into her classroom.
When my child started kindergarten, I heard other parents asking, "How much math will they learn? Will they learn addition? When will they learn to read?"
And I'm thinking, I just want them to play and share and maybe learn how to be away from me for a few hours. It seems so big.
Do you think some of that pressure to push academics earlier is coming from parents?
Laura Bornfreund: Yeah, I definitely think so, especially in big cities like New York City, where there's all this pressure to get your child into the right pre-K and then the right kindergarten so they can eventually get into the right college.
I think there's a lot of pressure both on parents and coming from parents.
But I also think all parents want what's best for their child. When schools and teachers can clearly communicate why they're using play-based learning approaches and what children are learning through those experiences, it helps families understand the value.
I also think worksheets provide easy proof. A worksheet can show that your child recognized certain letters or numbers, and that's tangible evidence of learning.
But we know from early childhood education that there are many ways to document children's growth. Teachers can use photographs, videos, observations, and conversations with families to show progress.
Those are meaningful ways of demonstrating learning, and I think when parents see that, they'll better understand why these approaches matter.
Emily Garman: One thing I really appreciate about the book is that you are not arguing against academics. You're arguing against this false choice between rigor and play. Why do you think people still see those as opposites?
Laura Bornfreund: I think some of it comes from traditional K–12 leadership perspectives. If we think about academic standards, it may not be immediately obvious to district leaders and principals how teachers can meet reading standards, for example, through playful learning strategies.
Many people have a mindset that play means free play or recess. They think that's where play belongs and that's the end of it.
But in reality, we know there's a continuum of play, ranging from completely child-led free play all the way to highly structured learning experiences with no play involved. In between is a wide range of playful learning opportunities.
One area I particularly love is guided play. That's where children are still leading the experience, but teachers intentionally guide and support the learning. Teachers carefully select materials that align with standards and curriculum goals while still allowing children to direct the experience.
For example, a dramatic play center might be set up as a store. Children are playing, but they're also practicing math skills. Teachers can introduce vocabulary, ask questions, and encourage specific kinds of thinking while still allowing children to take the lead.
I think we need more examples of this in practice. Principals especially need guidance on understanding that play is rigor. It is the work of learning.
When school leaders walk into a classroom, they need to know what to look for when play is serving as the primary mechanism for teaching and learning.
Emily Garman: I think one of the reasons you're so respected in your field is that your work is so strongly driven by data. Let's talk a little bit about the work you did in preparing to write this book.
You conducted more than 50 classroom observations in addition to the other research you've done. In those observations, what were the biggest differences you noticed between kindergarten classrooms where children were truly thriving and classrooms where they were mostly complying?
Laura Bornfreund: I think one of the biggest differences is ownership of learning.
Who is driving the learning? Is it primarily the teacher, or do children have meaningful opportunities to make choices and participate in directing their own learning?
That doesn't mean children are doing whatever they want all the time. But they do have opportunities for choice, autonomy, and conversation.
In those thriving classrooms, children are interacting with one another. They're interacting with their teachers. The teachers have spent significant time building relationships with students. They understand who those children are, and they're having deep conversations about what they're learning.
Those relationships and conversations are at the center of the learning experience.
Emily Garman: We talked earlier about the pressure teachers face from parents, legislation, state standards, assessments, pacing guides, and behavior expectations. There is so much pressure on teachers right now.
What would you say to kindergarten teachers who want to get back to play-based learning? They want to do things differently, but they feel like they don't have permission or they're simply being swept along by district requirements.
Laura Bornfreund: I think that's a very real fear for many teachers.
Some are worried about appearing to have a poorly managed classroom. Others are concerned about not meeting administrator expectations. Many are afraid of losing control of the classroom altogether.
For teachers who feel they don't have permission to teach this way, I think it's important to be very clear about why you're doing what you're doing.
When an administrator walks into the classroom and asks what's happening, teachers should be able to draw a direct line between what students are doing and what they're learning. They should be able to explain how the play, activities, and interactions connect to learning goals and standards.
Emily Garman: We talked earlier about the pressure teachers face from parents, legislation, state standards, assessments, pacing guides, and behavior expectations. There is so much pressure on teachers right now.
What would you say to kindergarten teachers who want to get back to play-based learning? They want to do things differently, but they feel like they don't have permission or they're simply being swept along by district requirements.
Laura Bornfreund: I think that's a very real fear for many teachers.
Many teachers are worried about appearing to have a poorly managed classroom. They're worried about not meeting the expectations of their administrators. Some are also concerned about losing control of the classroom.
For teachers who feel they don't have permission to teach this way, I think it's important to be very clear about why they're doing what they're doing, both for themselves and for others.
When an administrator walks into the classroom and asks what's happening, teachers should be able to draw a direct line between what students are doing, how they're playing, and what they're learning. They should be able to explain the learning goals that are being addressed through those experiences.
I've visited classrooms where teachers post questions at each center specifically for adults. If an administrator walks in, there's a clear explanation of what children are working on and questions that adults can ask to engage students in conversation about their learning.
It's a signal that says, "Here's what we're working on, and here's how you can participate."
I think the same approach can be helpful for parents who may be asking why children are playing rather than completing worksheets.
For teachers who feel comfortable doing so, I'd encourage them to have conversations with their principals and share some of the research. NAEYC has excellent resources on developmentally appropriate kindergarten practices. There are resources in my book, and many states have developed guidance documents and policy statements as well.
Nevada, for example, has published statements around developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten. Resources like these can help support conversations with school leaders who may simply not have much experience with the early grades.
Many principals come from high school, middle school, or upper elementary backgrounds. One thing we know is that a lot of school leaders have had very little exposure to kindergarten and early childhood education.
For teachers who are new to play-based learning, I'd also encourage them to start small.
Start with relationship building. Maybe it's a morning meeting where students come together not just to review letters and numbers, but to talk about something happening in the classroom or something that's important to them. Give children opportunities to talk and practice their oral language skills.
I'd also encourage teachers to know their standards and curriculum requirements well. Then look for opportunities, especially during centers and small-group activities, to incorporate experiences that don't require paper, pencils, or devices.
You don't have to immediately transform the classroom into a dramatic play environment with a full kitchen setup. You can start small and build from there.
It doesn't have to be an either-or choice. You can gradually discover what works best for your students and your classroom.
And I will say this: kindergarten is not easy.
The first few weeks of school have to be about getting to know students and teaching them how to be students. They need time to learn routines, practice sharing, work together, and build relationships.
All of those skills require time and intentional teaching. They develop through relationships and practice.
Unfortunately, many schools don't allow enough time for that. But I encourage kindergarten teachers to stand firm and continue explaining why that work is so important.
Emily Garman: I love that idea about putting questions or suggestions on the board for when adults do come in—principals, administrators, even parents—to help them engage with the children. That's another way they can see learning happening.
What you're talking about, too, is relationships. That's something I've seen as a thread throughout all of your work: emphasizing the relationship between the adult and the child. And that's hard to do in a classroom of 30 children.
Smaller class sizes would certainly help with that. But another thing that seems to cultivate those relationships is the movement, exploration, and constant conversation happening in the classroom—between students and teachers, between students and their peers, and through ongoing discovery.
That feels like a through line in your work. Those things aren't distractions from learning because learning isn't just sitting down with a worksheet. Talk a little bit about the science and research behind why we know young children learn this way.
Laura Bornfreund: The science is really clear, and it comes from multiple fields: neuroscience, developmental psychology, and education. What we often refer to as the science of learning and development tells us that young children's brains are in a uniquely sensitive developmental period.
During these early years, all the way through about age eight, the brain is forming millions of synaptic connections, more than at any other point in life.
What drives that wiring is experience, relationships, and active, emotionally engaged experiences—not passively receiving information from a teacher, but doing, touching, moving, asking questions, trying things, and even failing.
And honestly, we know that's important for older students too. I'm not saying older children should simply sit and get information. There are many ways we can make learning more engaging throughout education.
But when we're talking about our youngest learners, play is especially important because their whole brain is engaged.
When children are truly playing, they're making decisions, regulating emotions, using language, testing hypotheses, and collaborating with peers.
Researchers such as Adele Diamond have spent decades showing that play, especially complex, self-directed play, is a primary driver of executive function development. Those executive functions include working memory, cognitive flexibility, and self-control, which are important not only in kindergarten but are strong predictors of long-term success, both academically and in life.
We also know that physical movement, especially open-ended movement, activates the brain for learning.
When children are moving, they're not necessarily distracted from thinking. For many children, movement is part of how they think. They need to move in order to process information and engage deeply with learning.
Then there's social interaction.
Lev Vygotsky gave us the powerful concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, the idea that children learn most effectively when they're working just beyond what they can do independently, with support from a more knowledgeable peer or adult.
Whether that support comes from a teacher guiding learning or from interactions with classmates, those conversations matter.
We sometimes think of conversation as a break from learning, but it actually is learning. Language development, reasoning, perspective-taking, and critical thinking all happen through relationships and interaction.
What gets lost when we strip play out of kindergarten is children's sense of agency.
Young children are wired for exploration and discovery. Science tells us that curiosity is not something we need to overcome in order to teach children. It's something we should harness.
We should be building on that curiosity to help children meet standards, benchmarks, and learning expectations.
Unfortunately, too many kindergarten classrooms have replaced that natural curiosity with passive seatwork.
And when we think about something like the science of reading, which I strongly support, it actually requires the very kinds of language-rich, exploratory, conversation-based environments that guided play and other playful learning practices provide.
These ideas are not in opposition to one another.
They belong together.
Emily Garman: One thing that makes your perspective so unique is that you've worked at the policy level, but you've also been in the classroom as a teacher and you're a parent.
We talked earlier about how many administrators and principals come from high school backgrounds or purely administrative roles and may not have much experience with early childhood education.
How do you think administrators, school leaders, legislators, and other policymakers fundamentally misunderstand kindergarten?
Laura Bornfreund: This seems simple, but I think there's a persistent idea that kindergartners are just smaller versions of older students. They're not.
School is a very new experience for most kindergartners. Even children who attended preschool are entering a new building, a new environment, and a new set of expectations. School itself can feel daunting.
When leaders think of kindergarten as simply a scaled-down version of what works for older students, they're missing something fundamental. What works for older students often doesn't work for our youngest learners.
And I would argue that's true not only for kindergarten, but also for first and second grade, where children are still very much in that early childhood stage of development.
Leaders need to understand that a different model is required.
I also think there's a misunderstanding about what young children need from their teachers.
Kindergarten teaching is not easy.
Helping children learn routines, understand expectations, and navigate school is challenging work. Beyond that, teachers are helping children engage in meaningful conversations, conduct observations and experiments, share ideas, and learn from one another.
That takes tremendous skill.
Sometimes when leaders are hiring for kindergarten classrooms, there's an assumption that because these are young children, all they need is someone who is caring and nurturing.
And yes, children absolutely need caring and nurturing adults.
But they also need highly skilled teachers who can help bridge the gap between children's early experiences and the learning that comes later in elementary school.
Emily Garman: I've interviewed many authors about behavior and challenging behavior, and it seems to be one of the topics teachers are most concerned about when it comes to kindergarten.
You write about classrooms shifting toward compliance and behavior management. Some of that may stem from large class sizes. But do you think some of what we're calling behavior problems are actually children responding to environments that aren't developmentally aligned with how they learn?
Laura Bornfreund: Yes, absolutely.
Some children will thrive almost regardless of the environment they're in. They'll be fine.
But for many children, expectations around sitting still, remaining quiet, and demonstrating self-regulation for long periods of time simply aren't realistic, especially for children who have only recently turned five.
Those are skills that need to be developed over time.
When classrooms aren't aligned with children's developmental needs, behavior challenges often increase because there's a mismatch between expectations and what children are capable of doing.
I also talk in the book about behavior management systems and how teachers are often searching for ways to encourage children to sit still and comply with expectations.
We see systems like moving clips, color charts, or red-light-green-light behavior systems. For many children, those approaches actually have the opposite effect.
Most young children genuinely want to do the right thing. They care about their teachers. They want to be successful.
But sometimes they're simply not developmentally ready to meet the expectations being placed on them, or they need support in a different way.
I've seen teachers who aren't overly concerned with exactly how children are sitting during whole-group instruction. They're not focused on whether children are sitting perfectly still or in exactly the right position.
Because they know their students, they can tell who is engaged and who isn't.
As long as children are attentive, participating, and learning, those teachers don't worry about the smaller details.
Contrast that with classrooms where whole-group instruction stretches to 25 or 30 minutes because the teacher is constantly stopping to correct behavior.
"Sit this way."
"Stop moving."
"Pay attention."
Certainly there are times when correction is necessary. If a child is harming another child or creating an unsafe situation, intervention is important.
But constant correction isn't beneficial for the student being corrected, and it isn't beneficial for the rest of the class either.
It also teaches children who the so-called "problem students" are, which undermines the sense of community we're trying to build.
We want classrooms where students see themselves as a team, working together toward shared goals and learning experiences.
Some behavior challenges also stem from boredom.
Children who attended high-quality pre-K programs, or who had extensive learning opportunities before entering kindergarten, may spend large portions of the day disengaged if instruction isn't challenging or engaging enough.
They're not being invited to explore ideas, experiment, or discover new things.
For some children, behavior challenges emerge simply because they're bored and struggling to remain engaged.
And I'll also add that having another adult in the classroom—whether that's a paraprofessional, assistant, or another support professional—is incredibly valuable.
Especially in kindergarten, a second adult makes it much easier to meet students' academic, social, emotional, and developmental needs.
Emily Garman: If money were no object and legislation were no object, you could create the ideal kindergarten classroom and design it any way you wanted. What would children experience in that classroom?
Laura Bornfreund: One thing I've already mentioned is that there would definitely be two adults in the classroom.
The best kindergarten classrooms I've seen are smaller, so I would ideally keep class sizes under 18 students, with two full-time adults: a teacher and an assistant or another support professional.
In many ways, the classroom would look more like a pre-K classroom.
When you think about it, four-year-olds and five-year-olds aren't even a full year apart when they enter kindergarten. The classroom should reflect that developmental reality.
It should be spacious and include areas for dramatic play, blocks, art, sensory experiences, and other forms of exploration.
Teachers would use those areas not only for free play, but also as vehicles for learning across content areas. Science, social studies, reading, and math can all happen through those experiences.
I'm not going to say there would be no tablets or technology, but technology use would be minimal.
There are certainly some programs that can be useful for intervention or helping students practice specific skills. And teachers can use technology effectively within lessons.
I fully support those kinds of uses.
I also think kindergarten should be a full-day experience in order to provide enough time for everything we want children to learn.
I would include opportunities for outdoor learning, bright and welcoming classrooms that feel inviting rather than cluttered, and teachers who are in regular communication with families.
Families would be welcomed into the classroom whenever possible.
Teachers would actively engage families in exploring children's interests, backgrounds, experiences, and cultures because all of those things are important parts of learning.
Emily Garman: Sounds pretty terrific.
Laura Bornfreund: Just a couple of things!
Emily Garman: Laura, thank you so much for joining us today. Your leadership in this field is incredibly respected, and I think I speak for all of us at Gryphon House when I say that we're honored to publish your important book and to have you here today to talk about it.
I know our listeners will walk away from this episode with plenty to think about as they reflect on what kindergarten can and should be.
Laura Bornfreund: Thank you so much.
Emily Garman: If you'd like to learn more, pick up a copy of Rediscovering Kindergarten: Embracing Play and Joy in Learning by Laura Bornfreund, and explore additional resources on play-based learning, kindergarten readiness, and early childhood education at Gryphon House.
Thank you for listening to Early Childhood Chapters, and we'll see you next time.