Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
what is appropriate mathematics education for four-year-olds?
pre-kindergarten teachers' beliefs
+ Author Affiliations
Abstract
This study explored pre-kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the appropriateness of early mathematics education. Thirty pre-kindergarten teachers of four-year-olds, half working with low-SES children at publicly funded pre-kindergartens and the other half with middle-SES children at private pre-kindergartens, were interviewed concerning written vignettes describing two fictitious pre-kindergarten teachers' contrasting pedagogies concerning key issues in teaching mathematics to young children. The low-SES publicly funded pre-kindergarten teachers tended to support a strong focus on goal-based mathematics teaching at pre-kindergarten and at home to get children ready for kindergarten. The middle-SES private pre-kindergarten teachers tended to endorse flexible mathematics education relying on a child-centered curriculum and child-initiated learning and to oppose the instructional use of computers. Both groups, however, were similarly likely to mention that with increased academic demands, pre-kindergarten teachers needed to provide mathematics education, especially in simple arithmetic, albeit in a fun manner, without triggering stress or anxiety. These findings have significant implications for professional development.
Herbert P. Ginsburg on misconceptions about mastering early math
Sharon Griffin and her colleagues have done the field a great service in addressing key issues of mathematics education for young children. First, she clarifies what is meant by learning to understand number. Early “numeracy,” as some people refer to it, does not involve only rote memory. Memorizing the first part of the “number string” (numbers up to about 12 in English) is required, but even more crucial is the linking of spoken numbers with ideas of quantity. Another way of saying this is that from the outset the young child needs to learn abstract ideas about number and to become familiar with the meaning and uses of different kinds of number representations (like the number line on a thermometer). As Griffin has described elsewhere, the child is engaged in learning “central conceptual structures”—deep-seated cognitive principles—about number. Lesson 1 then is that from the outset, learning mathematics is an abstract activity even for young children. No doubt this is also true in other areas of mathematics like spatial relations, shape, and pattern, topics that Griffin has not investigated intensively. Mathematics for little children is not baby mathematics.As is widely known, low-income children do relatively poorly in school and need extra help to succeed there. Griffin argues that these children may not be sufficiently exposed at home to the kinds of activities that can promote the adequate development of the conceptual structures required to serve as a foundation for school learning. In particular, low-income children may have insufficient experience with adult generated language that can help them organize mathematical experiences. In any event, the effective solution is not remedial education after children fail; it is prevention in the early grades.
Many have described the problem; few have done anything about it. Griffin’s work represents a major exception. Her Number Worlds program is a comprehensive, organized attempt to help low-income children, from preschool onwards, to develop the kind of conceptual understanding of number that is essential to education. The Number Worlds curriculum assumes that the low-income children are capable of the work and does not involve them in intellectually impoverished activities.
In implementing Number Worlds, Griffin has learned a great deal about difficulties teachers experience in teaching early mathematics. First, she notes that pre-service students often have a misconception of what it entails: many think that early number is all about manipulating symbols, not understanding them. Further, she observes many inadequate teaching practices in the classroom. For example:
- Teachers introduce written symbols before insuring that children’s number words are linked to ideas of quantity.
- They sometimes ask children use manipulatives to solve symbolic problems before children understand what the symbols refer to.
- Under the pressure of high-stakes testing, teachers sometimes spend more time on drill than on using language to make the material meaningful.
These examples suggest that the one of the key tasks of early mathematics education is to address teachers’ conceptions of what mathematics education requires and to improve their practice. A fine curriculum like Number Worlds cannot succeed without professional development of this type.
Herbert P. Ginsburg is Jacob H. Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
The State of Preschool 2010
The 2010 State Preschool Yearbook is the eighth in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2009-2010 school year. The first report in this series focused on programs for the 2001-2002 school year and established a baseline against which we may now measure progress over nine years. Tracking these trends is essential, since changes in states' policies on preschool education will influence how successfully America's next generation will compete in the knowledge economy.
The 2010 Yearbook is organized into three major sections. The first section offers a summary of the data, and describes national trends for enrollment in, quality of, and spending on preschool. The second section presents detailed profiles outlining each state's policies with respect to preschool access, quality standards, and resources for the 2009-2010 program year.In addition to providing basic program descriptions, these state profiles describe unique features of a state's program and recent changes that can be expected to alter the future Yearbook statistics on a program. Profile pages are again included for states without state-funded programs. A description of our methodology follows the state profiles. The last section of the report contains appendices, which are available online only. The appendices include tables that provide the complete 2009-2010 survey data obtained from every state, as well as Head Start, child care, U.S. Census, and special education data.
State-funded preschool programs represent an important and sizeable component of the nation's patchwork of early childhood education programs. The National Institute for Early Education Research has developed the State Preschool Yearbook series to provide information on services offered through these programs to children at ages 3 and 4. We hope that this report will serve as a resource for policymakers, advocates, and researchers to make more informed decisions as state-funded preschool education moves forward.
While parents strive to guide children's growth and development in the home, state and local governments bear primary responsibility for classroom-based education in the United States. Programs that serve young children operate under a variety of names and auspices, including the federal Head Start program as well as privately and publicly funded child care. State prekindergarten programs will play an increasingly important role as part of this larger array of programs. The Yearbook seeks to improve the public's knowledge and understanding of state efforts to expand the availability of high-quality education to young children in the 21st century.
Competition for Preschool
By LISA BELKINAllison Weeks, a reader in Staten Island who works as a fundraiser, thought she had made a similar choice. She chose an open enrollment program for her son and thought she had avoided the ratchet-up-the-competition-and-the-complications trap.
But as so many of us learn, traps spring in unexpected places. She asked if she might share her story with Motherlode readers, hoping you would use the comments to share your own tales, and maybe parents a bit behind her in the process might not be taken by surprise.
How, she wonders, did we get to the point where competition for preschool is the norm? And what can we do about it?
She writes:
I am a working mom (full time) of a 2 1/2 year old son, and have always been pretty laid back about parenting (no high-end baby gear, expensive recreational activities, flash cards /educational training, etc). It’s both a product of lack of time as well as of confidence that my son doesn’t need anything at this age beyond a loving environment and some free creative play time to develop on track.
Recently, it came time to choose and register for a 3-year old nursery school program. My son has been home with my mom during the day since I went back to work in his infancy, so I thought that the socialization seemed necessary. I selected the YMCA simply because the branch was close to my mom’s house. I assumed that the process, given that it is a non-competitive program, should be pretty straight forward. When I called to inquire, I was told that if I wanted any chance at all of getting him in, I would need to get to the building at 5 a.m. to get a ticket on registration day, then come back at 10 a.m. to complete the registration.
Needless to say, I felt like an absolute lunatic leaving my house at 4:30 a.m. in a snow storm to secure a place in a class where my son would spend 2 1/2 hours finger painting and reciting the alphabet two days a week! And for this privilege, by the way, we’ll be paying $2,000 a year (more or less what my parents paid to send me to private high school in the mid-nineties!).
While chatting with other bleary-eyed parents in line for my ticket on registration day, I learned that this was “civilized” compared to other nursery schools on Staten Island, where fights broke out in line and even overnight camp-outs didn’t guarantee admission. It’s amazing to me that, for the simple act of giving a child a basic school experience, this type of behavior should be necessary. My mom and other women of her generation have been baffled by this. It seems to be another example of how all those over-zealous moms out there have set this impossible standard that all parents now have to keep up with. Or maybe it’s that NYC is not at all equipped to educate the volume of children in the five boroughs any more. I’ve also learned from other parents that this experience will seem minor when it’s time to register my son for public kindergarten in our zoned school, where pre-registration and an interview may be necessary for the regular class!Kevin Shermach, a spokesperson for the YMCA of Greater New York asked for a chance to respond to Allison’s question. Here’s what he had to say:
The other point I’d make is that I was only able to participate in this madness because I have a fairly flexible workplace. For other working parents who absolutely have to be in the office at 9 am, registering would have been impossible.
I am very curious to hear about your other readers’ experiences registering for preschool.
By the way, after securing ticket #10, he’s in! A bittersweet victory indeed!
We’re no stranger to the nightmare stories about applying to preschools in the city; we’re raising kids in the city, too. But we were sorry to hear about Allison’s experience and did some looking.
The scene Allison described was pretty close to accurate. The ticket system went in years ago to avoid just that kind of madness in the wee hours and to structure the first come, first served approach to avoid a giant pileup. Why 5:00am? Because that’s when our doors open for the morning, and we don’t want anyone to have to wait out in the cold a minute longer than they choose to.
We were disappointed to hear that our staff told Allison “in order to have any chance…,” but we do instruct our staff to “strongly encourage parents get there as early as they can” to get a ticket. Making the same information available to everyone takes away most of the unfair advantages. One year we didn’t, and you can’t imagine the disappointment, angry or sad—“why didn’t you warn me?” Let’s face it, all any of us wants to do is give our kids the best. At the YMCA, we want to be a partner to moms and dads, not a source of frustration.
We’re looking forward to having Allison’s son join our YMCA family… and to proving to Allison that he’ll be getting a heck of a lot more out of YMCA nursery school than just fingerpainting and the alphabet!
Who's Ready for Kindergarten?
6 viewpoints from the NYT about Early Education and Kindergarten:
For this year's graduates of preschool, the pressure begins. Most children in those adorable moving-up ceremonies are 5 years old and will start kindergarten in the fall. But in some states, 4-year-olds are in the group as well, and their parents are anxious: Are their children ready for the rigors of kindergarten?
The option of delaying kindergarten, a practice referred to as red-shirting, is popular among upper-middle-class families who want to give their children the advantage of time before they start having to take high-stakes standardized tests in school. Educators and parents have long debated the issue of when children should start kindergarten.
But some children will always be young for their peer group in any given class, and this difference can be particularly noticeable in early grades. How can American educators do a better job of deciding when a child is ready to start school and perhaps even redesign kindergarten itself?
Introduction
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle, via Associated Press
Are these prekindergarten students ready for the big time?
The option of delaying kindergarten, a practice referred to as red-shirting, is popular among upper-middle-class families who want to give their children the advantage of time before they start having to take high-stakes standardized tests in school. Educators and parents have long debated the issue of when children should start kindergarten.
But some children will always be young for their peer group in any given class, and this difference can be particularly noticeable in early grades. How can American educators do a better job of deciding when a child is ready to start school and perhaps even redesign kindergarten itself?
Big Kindergarten Wait List Limits City’s Pre-K Slots
Published: June 10, 2011
By Fernanda Santos
There were more applications for children to enter prekindergarten classes in New York City this year than last, but a smaller proportion of them ended up getting in: 68 percent, down from 72 percent.The increased number of applications — 28,815, compared with 25,487 last year — and long waiting lists for kindergarten led to the higher rejection rate, as crowded schools across the city cut pre-K classes to make room for the older children, portending a potential crisis in early-education services, which have suffered repeated budget cuts in recent years.
Some principals were told they would have to get rid of a prekindergarten class weeks ago. Others found out the day before the letters were sent. Many are worried about running out of space in school buildings that are at or near capacity: a kindergarten class has up to 25 children, 7 more than are allowed in pre-K.
“Either we don’t take any kindergarten students in 2012, which is probably not an option, or I won’t have room for my incoming fourth graders that year,” said Cecilia Jackson, principal of Pioneer Academy in Corona, Queens, an elementary school that has been phasing in a grade a year since opening in 2008.
The city ordered Pioneer, which had the second-largest kindergarten waiting list in the city, to give up one of its two full-day prekindergarten classes and replace it with two more kindergarten classes in the fall. Public School 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, whose building is so crowded there is no auditorium or gym, will trade its only prekindergarten class for more kindergartners.
Students who were not matched can have applications submitted again during the summer for seats that might be vacant or created if the city and the state provide more money for the program.
“This is by no means the last chance,” said Matthew Mittenthal, a spokesman for the Education Department.
The space crunch stems partly from the cuts endured in recent years by the Education Department and the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, which offer prekindergarten services at day care centers.
In 2007, the city got an additional $61 million from the state to pay for two and a half hours daily of prekindergarten services for all 4-year-olds enrolled in children’s services programs. But when the economy foundered in 2008, the city cut its funding to day care centers that provided prekindergarten programs, eliminating about 300 seats.
The next year, children’s services stopped offering kindergarten for some 5-year-olds as a way to save money, sending 3,000 of them into the public school system, helping drive up average class sizes, according to an analysis by the city-financed Independent Budget Office.
Some 60 percent of prekindergarten services in New York are offered outside the public schools, including community-based organizations that receive public subsidies. Betty Holcomb, policy director at the Center for Children’s Initiatives, an advocacy organization, said it enrolled about 36,000 children in the current year in its prekindergarten classes.
Ms. Holcomb said if the budget proposed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last month remained unchanged, 200 more classrooms in day care centers, including many that offer prekindergarten services to 4-year-olds, will be affected.
“We’re just shrinking capacity, and as a result, parents are being closed out everywhere they turn,” Ms. Holcomb said.
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