A blogpost on EdWeek has a very interesting title: Kindergarten is too easy! This conclusion is based on a forthcoming study in the peer-refereed American Educational Research Journal that describes how students make bigger gains in reading and math when they learn more advanced content such as adding numbers and matching letters to sounds.

The abstract of the study:

Little research has examined the relationship between academic content coverage in kindergarten and student achievement. Using nationally representative data, we examine the association between reading and mathematics content coverage in kindergarten and student learning, both overall and for students who attended preschool, Head Start, or participated in other child care prior to kindergarten entry. We find that all children benefit from exposure to advanced content in reading and mathematics and that students do not benefit from basic content coverage. Interestingly, this is true regardless of whether they attended preschool, began kindergarten with more advanced skills, or are from families with low income. Policy implications are discussed.

While this research is very interesting, do note that there is also a pedagogical discussion at the core. Wilna Meijer e.g. has described how while we want to ‘deschool’ secondary and higher education, at the same time we seem to make kindergarten more and more school-like.

My own position is that (young) children can be very curious and it would be a pity if this curiosity isn’t met with interesting input. Still we know play is still very, very important, btw also at older age. Maintaining the right balance is key.