A Different Kind of Kindergarten Is Possible

As I visited schools around the country, I saw pre-K classrooms that were warm, joyful, and social, with children talking, playing, exploring, creating, and taking risks. I saw kindergarten classrooms that were quiet and still, with children sitting and listening to the teacher and completing worksheets. Why do kindergartners have such different learning environments and experiences? What did teachers need to ensure all kindergartners thrive? What should state and local education leaders do to better support them?

One thing I was certain about: the gap between what we know about how our youngest students learn and how many currently experience kindergarten is much too wide. Kindergarten needed rediscovering.

As I got deeper into the issues surrounding kindergarten in my work at New America, I became interested in principals. I realized principals were central to a student’s kindergarten and early grade experiences because they create the conditions in the school for teachers. Principals establish the climate and expectations. To do these things well, principals need to understand how young students learn best. But many do not. Even if a kindergarten teacher knows that guided play is one of the best ways for their children need to learn, if the principal does not agree, children will not be able to engage in meaningful guided play.

But in my visits to schools, I also saw something else in classrooms across the country. I saw kindergartners thriving, laughing, questioning, discovering, and collaborating. These were not classrooms in private schools or only in wealthy districts. They were public school classrooms where teachers and administrators deliberately chose to put children’s development at the center. A different kind of kindergarten is possible. I have seen it.

My goal with Rediscovering Kindergarten is to help more educators and leaders get there. The book draws on research on how young children learn and what that means for kindergarten instruction and environments, as well as on the real work of teachers, principals, and state and district leadership who are doing kindergarten well. A principal in Nevada recognized the need to improve the transition between grade levels at their school, empowering teachers to work across pre-K, K, and 1st grade to create greater coherence in children’s learning experiences and environments. A superintendent in Washington state instituted “work time,” also known as guided play, during the core instructional part of the day in kindergarten. Educators across New Hampshire are participating in coaching to understand how to implement the state’s play-based learning requirement in their schools and classrooms. These are not outliers. They are the roadmap.

Rediscovering Kindergarten is for kindergarten teachers who know their young students need something different but aren’t sure what to do or how to make the case for it. It is for principals who want to create the conditions for great kindergarten teaching and learning. It is for state and district leaders who set the policies and expectations that shape what is possible in every public school kindergarten. And it is for parents who can advocate for their children to have a kindergarten experience that meets them where they are. All of them have a role to play.

The gap between what we know about how young children learn and what many children experience in kindergarten is real. But the gap can close. Every child deserves a kindergarten that is warm, joyful, and social. Every child deserves a kindergarten teacher who takes seriously both who they are and who they are becoming. That kindergarten is out there. And I wrote this book to bring it to more children.