Educating Young Children Volume 1 – Spring 2025 | Page 60

In“ Reimagining Kindergarten:

Restoring a Developmental Approach when Accountability Demands Are Pushing Formal Instruction on the Youngest Learners,” Elizabeth Graue writes that“ a high‐quality program is a hybrid of yesterday’ s and today’ s kindergarten.” Yesterday’ s kindergarten focused on the developmental domains of learning, including physical, social, emotional, language, and cognitive development. Today’ s version focuses on how children learn content and the teacher’ s role in supporting that learning. In addition, NAEYC’ s position statement on developmentally appropriate practice calls for high‐quality programs to consider and support children’ s cultures and individual ways of being and learning.

At a training where we were discussing effective practices, a district director said,“ It sounds like the pendulum is swinging the other direction.” I responded by saying,“ I don’ t think the pendulum is swinging all the way back the other way. Perhaps the pendulum has found its center.” By utilizing a hybrid or balanced model of what we have known about children’ s development, academic content, and what we have learned in more recent years about the science of learning and the importance of considering the cultural contexts of children, families, and educators, we are responding to children’ s development, instructional needs, and cultural contexts, focusing on where children are at present, what they need, and where they are headed in the future.