The kindergarten round-up is a special event hosted by many elementary schools across the United States to facilitate a child's transition from home to formal education. Each spring, anxious 5-year-olds accompany their parents to get a sneak preview of what going to school will be like. These initial visits also provide teachers a first glimpse of who will be entering their classrooms in the fall.
Most elementary schools use the round-up to acquire valuable information about the new enrollees. Schools learn about children's general health—their immunizations, medications, and allergies. Some schools use the spring visit to screen for school readiness. Although they vary, these assessments routinely ask prekindergartners to name colors and shapes, to skip and hop, or to demonstrate age-appropriate social maturity. Still others use the round-up to make normative comparisons of entrants' readiness as measured by standardized tests. In many schools, the kindergarten round-up has become a time for early school assessment. But because of their inability to predict academic success, these screening practices can be disconcerting.
Assessing for Readiness?
Although there may be merit in knowing colors, shapes, and how to skip, it is difficult to justify how these concepts predict future academic learning. Knowledge of letters can be important; research has found strong relationships between kindergartners' letter-name knowledge and 1st grade reading achievement (de Hirsch, Jansky, & Langford, 1966). Nonetheless, using a child's letter-name performance as a school readiness predictor can be deceptive. Reports from several studies (for example, Scanlon, Vellutino, Small, Spearing, & Wharton-McDonald, 1993) have identified kindergarten entrants who knew all their letter names and then struggled to learn to read in subsequent years. A child's letter-name knowledge is easy to assess, but it falls short of accurately predicting his or her future school success.
Measuring social maturity may also be risky. All too often, teachers are asked to briefly observe and then to recommend 5-year-olds who may be better suited for a developmental program or who may need an additional year before entering school. Despite the good intentions of the recommendations, the notion that children can benefit from spending an extra year in a less challenging environment is unfounded. Interactions and experiences with more mature role models greatly influence children's social development. Therefore, staying at home, in preschool, or in a special developmental program is counterproductive. Entrants who exhibit immature behaviors or demonstrate limited knowledge of so-called readiness concepts need to participate in rich, stimulating programs that enhance both their social and their intellectual development.
Conventional readiness practices often contradict a substantial body of research findings. May and Welch (1984) compared the achievement of students placed in a developmental kindergarten with that of two groups, those who were recommended for other placement but chose to enter regular kindergarten and those who attended regular kindergarten. By the end of 3rd grade, the developmental kindergartners were the lowest achieving group of the three, even though they were one year older. Banerji (1990) examined the effects of developmental kindergarten in a four-year longitudinal study. He found that the developmental kindergartners benefitted from the program in the first two years, but did not benefit in the third and fourth years. Even initial benefits were tempered by the fact that the developmental kindergartners were a year older than their comparison group.
Hence, the extra-year program is difficult to justify. Developmental kindergartens require costly expenditures from schools and irreplaceable time from children—with virtually no guarantee of rewards. In an attempt to link kindergarten practices with empirical findings, the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education issued a "Summary of Principles for Kindergarten Entry and Placement" (1987). The organization recommends that "all children should be welcomed as they are into heterogeneous kindergarten settings. . . .they are not segregated into extra-year programs prior to or following regular kindergarten" (p. 3).
Clearly, kindergarten classes should represent children with different abilities. Just as we expect children to enter schools in different sizes and shapes, we should celebrate their diverse range of skills and knowledge. Students can learn from one another, as well as from good teachers. The immature child observes how more mature children interact with one another and benefits from the observation. The less knowledgeable child shares books with and writes alongside more experienced readers and writers. Today, our best kindergarten programs strive to promote learning for all children. Our mission is not to homogenize the group by requiring standard K-level performance from all children. Indeed, some have already surpassed these standards before they enter kindergarten. Rather, every child should experience a stimulating program.
Children who enter school already reading need to be challenged to expand their abilities at more advanced levels. Others who enter with little awareness of letters or print should be encouraged to learn about literacy concepts. More important, we must realize that these less literate kindergartners are not anomalies—they enter our schools every year. Hence, the only truly predictable aspect of school readiness is that children will enroll with wide diversity in their abilities. The kindergarten round-up can serve as a valuable tool to help teachers prepare to meet these diverse needs.
A Reformed Round-Up
Embracing this perspective on school readiness, I worked with a group of kindergarten teachers to reform the round-up. The teachers were enrolled in our master's degree program in early childhood education at Drake University. In a spring course entitled "Issues and Research in Early Childhood Education," the teachers identified conventional kindergarten round-up practices as problematic and based on a poorly contrived notion of children's learning and the role of schools.
Therefore, we began by establishing our purposes. First, we wanted the round-up to serve as a springboard for continued and open communications with parents. We needed the early visit to set the tone for collaboration. Second, we wanted to use the round-up to check for specific learning impairments that could be corrected before school starts. This meant making arrangements to test hearing, vision, and other conditions on-site. Finally, we wanted to share meaningful information. As teachers, we believed that if we knew more about the new enrollees, then we could make our programs richer and more stimulating. This meeting could also be a helpful and timely way to educate parents on specific practices that would promote children's early learning. With approximately five months between the scheduled kindergarten round-ups and entry to school, we believed that giving parents practical suggestions and materials could greatly influence our kindergartners in positive ways.
As part of the reform, we developed a questionnaire to use with parents (see sidebar). We wrote questions to address each purpose. To promote and maintain communications, we needed to ask parents how, when, and how often they would like to be contacted. To eliminate potential impairments to learning, we composed simple questions about their child's hearing, vision, and health. Although we had in the past asked about health history, we would now focus on current health problems that might impair learning. This information was often not available to teachers until after school started, and they often had to throw together any necessary modifications to the program in a last-minute effort to accommodate the child's needs. In addition, in the past, obtaining corrective options for kindergartners (for example, eyeglasses or hearing aids) had often consumed valuable weeks at the beginning of the school year.
Kindergarten Round-Up Questionnaire
Teachers can use this questionnaire in structured interviews with parents at kindergarten round-up. The questions help schools and parents work together in promoting children's success in school.
What name does your child prefer?
How/where would you prefer to be contacted? e-mail: ______. How often would you like to be contacted?
Do you suspect that your child has any hearing problems? Has he/she ever had a hearing test? When? Where?
Do you suspect that your child has any vision problems? Has he/she ever had a vision test? When? Where?
Describe your child's current health.
Any allergies?
Any medications?
Any restrictions?
Helping your child find acceptable ways to interact with others is a lifelong skill that begins early through parent modeling.
How is your child socially?
Does he/she play well with other children?
Do you have any concerns about his/her ability to get along with others?
How is he/she taught to resolve differences (for example, if someone takes something of his/hers or if someone hits him/her)?
We encourage children at our school to resolve differences without hitting; will this challenge your child?
Reading to children is important because it contributes to vocabulary and oral language development.
Who reads to your child? How often?
When did you/they start reading to your child?
What are your child's three favorite books?
Do you encourage your child to look at books?
Do you encourage your child to tell or pretend to read a familiar book to you?
When you read to your child, do you encourage talk about the story by asking questions?
When you read to your child, do you occasionally pooint out particular letters to help your child recognize alphabet letters?
Do you reread the same books to your child so that he/she can begin to read along with you?
Do you occasionally demonstrate out loud how you sound out a word as you read the story?
Children should be encouraged to experiment with writing before coming to school. Child-initiated writing attempts provide a rich opportunity to interact with alphabet letters and make connections with print.
When did your child first show an interest in writing?
Does your child have access to paper and pencils?
Do you encourage his/her writing attempts by proudly displaying the writing? Where?
Do you display alphabet letters in your house?
Do you compliment writing attempts rather than correct them?
Do you model that writing is valuable by using it in ordinary situations (for example, making grocery lists) in which your child might help?
Do you model how you write words by saying the word aloud and slowly writing down the corresponding letters?
Have you set up an office area for your child?
When did your child start to use letters in his/her writing?
How often does your child write?
Children can learn important math concepts through parental efforts.
Do you help your child learn to count in practical ways (for example, “That's one shoe; this is two shoes; we have three books to read today”)?
Do you point out that you are using the same number in more than one situation?
Do you use the words more than, less than, and same with your child in ordinary situations (for example, “We have the same amount of milk in our glasses”)?
Do you point out shapes to your child?
Do you encourage your child to make attempts to count small numbers of objects, even though he/she may do so incorrectly?
Do you show your child how to count small numbers of objects correctly?
Do you allow your child to see you counting in ordinary situations?
Do you talk aloud as you use measurement around the house (for example, “I'll give you half a cookie now and you may have the other half later”)?
Do you use the words half, third, and fourth in ordinary situations?
Do you show that counting is something you value?
To address our third purpose—to share meaningful information—we decided to expand the questionnaire and add a video. We reviewed early childhood literature and examined the components of our own kindergartens. We targeted four areas for information sharing, which focused on social development and on the early learning concepts associated with reading, writing, and mathematics. We designed the questions not only to elicit important information from parents, but also to promote discussion about practices that help children learn. For example, under the writing topic, we asked parents if their children had free access to paper and pencils. We followed up this question with inquiries about whether their children had a place to write and to display writing samples.
In addition to using the questionnaire, we decided to try harder to educate parents. We made 10-minute videos that clarified some practices. One video, for example, addresses early literacy. A father reads a story to a child, and as he reads, he points at words and pictures. He frequently stops and asks the child questions. Both child and parent talk about the story together, which emphasizes the importance of parent-child interaction during storybook reading. Parents also learn the value of encouraging young children to experiment with writing before coming to school. Samples of children's written projects illustrate the important developmental stages in literacy acquisition. The video also explains the relationship between early writing and reading. It concludes by giving parents practical suggestions, such as setting up an office area, selecting books for children, and engaging children in socially meaningful writing experiences.
Implementing the Round-Up
Ideally, the reformed kindergarten round-up begins with teachers and administrators welcoming families to school. The prospective kindergartner is invited to join others in the classroom for play—with no assessment of his or her social development. Rather, the play familiarizes the child with the classroom and with future classmates. At that time, parents view a 10-minute video prepared by the kindergarten teachers. Parents receive specific suggestions for helping their child in the remaining five or six months before school begins.
Prescheduled conferences between the teacher and parents, lasting 20 minutes each, take place over three days. The structured interview uses the Kindergarten Round-Up Questionnaire to exchange valuable information. Parents query about their child's social development and discuss discipline policies; teachers ask a series of questions about the child's previous experiences with reading, writing, and mathematics. Parents learn more about specific early experiences that can promote their child's success in school, and teachers learn better ways to work with the child and to stay in touch with the family. They also discuss the child's health.
An audiologist evaluates suspected hearing problems. A nurse uses the Snellen Chart to check for nearsightedness. In addition, a paraprofessional uses a measure developed by the teachers to assess the child's vision for reading up close. In this task, the child looks at a set of three-by-five-inch cards, each card displaying a single arrow. Children must indicate the direction of each arrow, presented in varying sizes beginning with an arrow in large 24-point type and descending to an 8-point arrow. If the child is unable to indicate the correct direction of a 10-point arrow—a type size that he or she will frequently encounter—then the teacher refers him or her to be tested further.
Results and Revisions
The kindergarten teachers in our project have made individual attempts to implement in their own schools some or all of the reformed round-up practices. What have been the results? Teachers report favorable responses, particularly from parents. "Parents are more knowledgeable about the program and now know what to do to help their child get ready for school," said Sharon Casey, a kindergarten teacher from a suburban school. Others noted that the new approach encourages parents to work with schools. Parents receive explanations about why teachers use certain methods and policies before their children have problems. Overall, the teachers found that the reformed kindergarten round-up was a positive way to start collaborative efforts with parents to promote success in school.
Kindergarten teachers also reported that the reformed round-up has prompted them to revise their own programs. From the spring discussions with parents of enrollees, teachers quickly learned about the wide range of early experiences among children. Teachers who had once taught all kindergartners a letter each week soon learned that this wouldn't be appropriate for a significant number of children. Even five months prior to school, teachers found that many children already knew some letters, a few knew all letters, whereas still others knew none. Teachers began to plan how their classrooms might support this diversity and still offer stimulating learning environments.
According to the kindergarten teachers, most changes occurred gradually. The most noted change included planning more time for children to engage in experiences relating to reading, writing, and mathematics (for example, counting and measuring). Most of these activities occur at learning centers with heterogeneous groups of children who self-select activities. Because of the importance of learning centers, teachers have improved the centers by adding more materials, such as typewriters, alphabet letters displayed at children's eye level, discarded envelopes, post boxes, plastic letters, and the teacher's presence.
Teachers monitor more closely children's selection of activities. Teachers describe being more cognizant of their children's needs. They now make sure that all their children regularly go to the writing and math centers. Children who were once allowed or chose to avoid these centers are now directed to visit them. Some teachers have also initiated individual conferences with students. These teachers report that they now check to see that each child has specific projects under way. Finally, teachers have replaced dramatic play areas—formerly replicas of housekeeping scenes—with settings that lend themselves to role playing with print activities (for example, post offices, restaurants, and veterinarian offices).
Janis Parkinson, a kindergarten teacher in an inner-city school, also makes packets of materials for parents to use with their children before they start school. After viewing a video, parents receive packets describing simple activities. The packets includes paper, pencils, large alphabet letters and numbers printed on paper sheets, and a few books (for example, an ABC book or a book with rhymes and simple, repetitive text). These materials help parents use the practices suggested in the video. Another kindergarten teacher has made business cards to give to parents. The card lists the best times to call and the appropriate numbers. Parents have responded positively to these attempt to keep communications open.
Round-Up for Success
These changes offer new ways to help schools develop better kindergarten programs for all children. In these reformed round-ups, parent-teacher conferences and video presentations replace readiness tests—assessments are used only to measure potential impairments to learning. Hence, the round-up becomes an opportunity to gather and share information about promoting children's learning and to build collaborations between home and school. In these ways, educators can welcome all children to kindergarten.
