Education Commons^™

The New Kindergarten: Developmentally Appropriate Practice And Academic Rigor, Rebecca Marshall

Theses and Graduate Projects

Kindergarten has changed drastically since it was introduced to the United States in the 1850s. Recent changes in curriculum and government involvement in educational policy such as the No Child Left Behind Act lead to increased rigor in Kindergarten classrooms. Among other curricular expectations, Kindergarteners are expected to be strong readers at the end of the year. In order to determine how teachers perceive these changes and how they affect their classrooms, 91 teachers were surveyed from across the state of Minnesota. Teachers were asked about the basic demographics and structure of their classroom as well as their familiarity with …