Why are we doing this to our children?

Here is child psychologist Dr. Megan Koschnick on why Early Childhood Standards of Common Core are Developmentally Inappropriate. This is her presentation from a 2013  conference at the University of Notre Dame entitled “The Changing Role of Education in America: Consequences of the Common Core.”

Why do we care if Common Core standards are age inappropriate? Well, you can answer that with one word – stress,

Instead of thinking about what’s developmentally appropriate for kindergarteners, they are thinking college is where we want this kindergartener to end up, so let’s back track down to kindergarten and have kindergarteners work on these skills from an early age. This can cause major stress for the child because they are not prepared for this level of education.

Dr. Koschnick is not alone in her concerns. Read  A tough critique of Common Core on early childhood education which – among other things – quotes ’s  Dr. Carla Horowitz of the Yale Child Study Center as stating, “The Core Standards will cause suffering, not learning, for many, many young children.”

And please check out the Defending the Early Years Project.

Lively Minds: Distinctions between academic versus intellectual goals for young children

Children are not miniature adults. Lilian G. Katz – Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois – argues that excessive and early formal instruction can be damaging to our youngest children in the long term.

Download and read the full report here: Lively Minds: Distinctions between academic versus intellectual goals for young children