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I think tests in these early ages are not appropriate. We can just continue to observe and assess children and their abilities. Tests may have harmful effects on child’s social –emotional life. We should build self-esteem in them .We should let children explore the world at their time and in their way.

I believe learning standards in early education and standardized tests are different things. Standards are broad guidelines on what children should learn and be able to do. They define what should be taught but not HOW. They are a basis for decisions and teachers still have a lot of freedom to find authentic means to assess play based learning. The tests, however, have shown to be very controversial in young children. Young children develop and learn in an uneven way, they have limited language skilss, some are sensitive to context and resist to the idea of being assessed. Therefore, I believe we should give preference to assess young children using different approaches such as portfolios,work products, narrative and non-narrative tools on a daily and systematic way.The challenge is to balance standards with a child-centered perspective.

I have mixed thoughts about everything. There's always pros and cons and two sides to every story. I do believe we are making our children grow up way too fast and putting too much pressure on them. But I also believe we need to start implementing some kind of assessment early on. But I think it's how we go about it and gently do things. Children have many years to take tests, why not just let them have a worry free life for awhile. Because once it starts, it does not stop. It's sad that this generation just keeps doing things younger and younger, with clothing, electronics, and other things that shouldn't matter until you are older. Life is short, but living day to day should be fun for kids. I was probably ruined with tests, because I get so stressed out now, and its hard on me. I wonder if it is worse now, I sure hope not, but it seems like it is. I hope for the kids of the world, that they enjoy their young life. And I hope that everyone else, leaves them alone and lets them enjoy their young life!

Accountability is wonderful. While a test may appeal to some teachers, do we really want to force our children to conform to some test? Let's let children demonstrate their skills and document that through observation. We need to work with the children on their level, not expect them to come to our level.

AND WE WONDER WHY TEEN SUICIDE IS UP IN THE UNITED STATES. Please stop the practice of testing young children, they have to face the stresses of the big world soon enough, allow our children to PLAY without fear of being tested on if they play correctly. Also what message is this giving to the parents whom then also pressure the children to "work" at home and not play. Parents will feel the need to practice with thier young children at home to prepare them for the upcoming tests in Preschool robbing them of the little time they have with their children due to their already busy lifes. We should be encouraging our Early Childhood teachers to set up areas of interest to enhance play which will help our children learn the necessary skills to be successful, not support testing.

I presently have my own day care. i have 2yr olds who are very receptive and rather intelligent. i think it is fair to test young children. Why? because as a teacher i see how easy it is for some children to grasp early childhood education. many of the children i work with are able to identify their letters , numbers as well as reconizing their own names printed on the board.

I have mixed feelings on this subject. I strongly agree with other comments that have been made, especially Linda from Kansas. There has been so much solid research that informs us about how young children learn best through play, and I feel that we have an ethical responsibility to advocate for developmentally appropriate practices. Having said that, I also believe that we could be doing a much better job preparing our young children for the transition into the public school sysytem. Regardless of whether we approve of the way that public schools are run, the reality is that most young children will be part of that system. While there certainly could be better ways to go about it then bubble forms and spelling tests, idealistically ignoring the fact that the children will need certain skills to be successful in school is equally inappropriate. While we are standing up for what we know is best practice, We also need to be open to sensitive collaboration and compromise to best serve our young children.

Children are being robbed of the most important part of their early learning; learning how to play, getting along with others,recognizing and regulating their emotions, and feeling safe in their world. Testing their academic readiness is no predictor for school success if the social/emotional skills are lacking. We have got to stop this trend in testing our very young!! Parents and early childhood professionals need to stand together and call for a stop to this insanity.

I am an early childhood educator and I have been in this line for 11 years. I disagree that pre-schoolers are made to do tests. Why can't they enjoy their childhood by learning life skills that are applicable later in life rather than pressurising them to learn spelling to gauge their competency. I believe children learn what they live. If as adults we don't allow them to experience, explore, learn through their senses, how are they going to learn the facts of life? Hitting the books won't give them knowledge as it is not how they learn, by memorizing facts which they do not experience. If at 6 years old, they are already prepared for SATs and tests, then when can they enjoy childhood which will only be experience once in their lifetime?

As a professor of Child Development and parent of two young boys (5 and 3), what is happening in Kisha Lee's classroom turns my stomach. I understand that she feels the pressure from the poor practices at the elementary school, but testing preschoolers goes against everything we know about best practices with young children. Instead of following suit with the elementary program, Ms. Lee would better serve the children in her care if she educated the parents in best practices, sharing research on how young children learn, and what developmental expectations should be, as well as educating parents in ways to stand up for their children against testing. There are many actions parents can take such as lobbying the school board, getting the PTA involved, forming advocacy groups, and looking for other schools. It is not easy, but it is a fight worth fighting instead of giving into developmentally inappropriate practices. Lillian Katz once said, "If you know you are going to starve tomorrow, do you start practice starving today?" I think most people would feast and those memories of the feast would help sustain them through the hard times. Let children feast TODAY. Don't practice starving them in preparation for what they may or may not face tomorrow. Stand strong. Children are worth the fight.

I agree with ALL of the above, especially carol murray. When we know and understand the value of standardized testing, why do we continue to allow its misuse? Educators who know what learning experiences are appropriate and necessary should be heard. It is all about the money of publishers and government, but we early childhood people especially have to push back! Children need to learn how to learn! And that learning is fun!

The pharse "based on her experiences in public schools" says it all. I do not take spelling tests and fill outbubble sheets in my adult life. 2-Based on public school teaching-does she even have a degree in early childhood education? 3- Does she attend NAEYC conferences/workshops. 4-Obviously, another example where PUBLIC SCHOOLS IGNORE the reality of recognizing young children for what they are-KIDS! 5-Totally innappropriate activity, which ignores sensory-motor-perceptual developemnt of 3&4 year old children. 6-The book by Ed Zigler says it all-"PLAY-the roots of reading". Educational administrators need to get their head out of the spreadsheets or other body orifices/openings and stop shoving symbolic language where it does not belong. 7-verbal language proceeds symbolic language, so they are trying have kids who cannot move or speak with limited gross motor and mechanical dpeech skills and FORCE FRUSTRATION upon them. 8- If my child was in that class, we would be in a boared of education meeting with a lawyer, and copies of NAEYC Standards demanding the woman be removed immediately!!

What happened to children learn through "play"? I use a curriculm based on what children want to learn about! I use educational toys and experiances to ehlp children learn ,not tests! Why make kids grow up faster than they need to!

If early childhood educators don't push the push down curriculum back - who will? Childhood is disappearing in our country - it's our job to educate the society about how young children learn, not to coward under pressure and give preschoolers spelling tests or teach them to fill in bubbles. We need to enlighten the rest of society about the intellectual life of children instead of filling their fresh spirits and beautiful minds with busy work. Most importantly, we need to create worlds where children and childhood is respected.

As with the push-down curriculum so evident in most early childhood programs today, academic testing for preschoolers is a misguided attempt to "help children prepare" for future tests. In fact, it deprives them of the time to develop the foundation they will need for future success on tests as well as in life. We are creating a nation of test takers rather than creative, critical thinkers.....essentially "lowering the bar" rather than raising it.

Testing should always be a teaching tool. Tests are misused for ranking. As for four year old children, letters should be available for play. Letters might be incorporated into a toy with which a four year old might choose to play. (I've noticed that some children really enjoy puzzles that spell words.) However, I think young children should have many opportunities for divergent thinking. Learning that there are many ways to do many things is critical.

One of the most important thing we can give young children is the gift of time to play and explore the world around them. Hopefully, some of this time will be spent with adults and older children who introduce new possibilities, as well as the many possibilities introduced by their own peers.

Instead of standardized testing, we need to find more ways to recognize and help develop the gifts in each child. I think the APGAR is a very appropriate and important tool to determine what assistance the newborn
needs. Likewise, we need to train teachers to observe and recognize the needs, and the gifts of children, and plan age appropriate learning experiences.

Standardized testing as well as text books have become a big business. I think our resources should be put into training and assisting teachers, not into testing.

I understand this teacher's reasons for
including test-taking in her curriculum for
pre-K age children, and I also understand her feelings about having to do it. But to me, it's not so much the testing that is overdone in our school systems, it is the sorting. As we take the effects of sorting down to ages 4 and then 3, there are very important developmental tasks for these children to accomplish, and we are instead using their time by accelerating their learning that puts their later developmental tasks ahead of their current developmental tasks. I can tell that this teacher is
not misusing these children's time, but
many teachers in the schools would see nothing wrong with it.

It is not our job to get kids ready for testing and by succumbing to outside pressure, we are sacrificing what we know is best practice for young children. We need to do a better job of educating parents on DAP so they will link arms with us in the fight against the culture of testing.

Giving tests to early childhood children in order to "prepare" them for taking tests later is completely wrong. It would be like feeding a newborn from a cup just so she'll be able to drink from a cup at 12 months. Prepare children by raising confident, curious, imaginative, communicative learners. And, as David Elkind has written, work to help schools be ready for kids rather than having kids ready for school.

While I, too, decry the type of testing described for preschoolers, we need to understand that appropriate assessment is important. The Apgar test saves lives of at-risk babies by assessing their breathing, pulse, etc. immediately after birth.

It is time for educators to stop going along with the misguided trend in inappropiate testing of young children and to speak up loudly to those in power and advocate for what is developmentally appropriate. Additionally the trend of eliminating outdoor time/recess is growing and must be addressed. Speaking up against what we know is wrong for children and speaking out on behalf of what young children need is our responsiblity. If we as educators don't speak for children, who will?

We absolutely must do what is right for young children. What we need to do is inform the elementary schools, if that is where the pressure is coming from, of why we do what we do, and why testing is inappropriate. If we start testing spelling with preschool children how will they become writers? They will not want to try to engage in process writing because they will be worried about "correct" spelling. is that what we want? Certainly not...

At what point do we as a collective group of child development professionals stand for the rights and Developmentally Appropriated Practices for children, despite cultural norms? We have an ethical responsibility to protect children from practices that are not developmentally sound. Anyone who knows how cognitive development in children takes place can defend the idea that even if you test 3 - 5 year olds it is invalid and unreliable. So then, why do it? If you say it is for exposure and practice, I would question the methods which require mature developmental skills of the child, many which are not even developed yet. Research suggest that just because a child can do something does not mean they should. We do not want to be developoing "splinter" skills which ultimately break down overall sequential noramal development. The other argument of course is that children have specific identifiable needs that must be met (such as social competency, motor development and theory of mind) if they are to ever be successful test takers as they mature. Studies also show that only 15% of an adults success is a result of their IQ and that 85% of their success is due to their EQ or emotional quotient. SO isn't an emotionally, happy, caring, well adjusted 3 -5 year old much more likely to succeed than the good test taker? Let's all protect children from the politicians who know nothing about child development. Curriculum should focus on childhood...play based and supportive of what a child really needs. Just a final note...the Apgar is a passive test and required no preformance or skills on the child's part...much different from what we are talking about.

I am saddened, frustrated, and enraged by this latest example of testing insanity.

How sad that educators who know better, feel forced to prepare children for the worst in education!

Where are our national and regional organizations in all of this? I want to hear and see a LOUD "NO" from everyone who loves, cares for, and is concerned for the well-being of children of all ages! By advocating "No child left behind" we are abandoning EVERY CHILD!

I certainly don't approve of the move to test children academically at younger and younger ages, but I wouldn't put academic testing in the same category as the Apgar Test which has saved the lives of many newborns by indicating that interventions are urgently needed, or may be needed in the child's future. The article puts the Apgar Test in a negative light, and does a disservice to a valuable medical diagnostic tool.

that is utterly ridiculous.
why wont we let our children be children.
i do not agree that children should be tested in preschool, or even reception.
our present labour government is looking into raising school leaving age to 18.
why dont they also look at raising the enrty age of children as in kindergartens within europe.
at the moment we are reviewing the early years foundation stage and introducing a curriculum to include babaies. in the wrong hands this could not be effective in delivering the play based curriculum it intends to be.
children sholuld be still in a play based curriculum till the age of 7 when children have gone through the sensori motor, pre occupational, and stages of concrete and formal operations. i beleie that frocing children too ealry into formal education (even though it seems she is trying to introduce it a fun way) will out children offlearning. they need to learn when tehy are ready in order for it to mean something and for the lesson to stick. children can be put off education and at this present stage when children seem to be truanting more than ever, i beleive that nursey and school must be funa nd appropriate to engage them.

that is utterly ridiculous.
why wont we let our children be children.
i do not agree that children should be tested in preschool, or even reception.
our present labour government is looking into raising school leaving age to 18.
why dont they also look at raising the enrty age of children as in kindergartens within europe.
at the moment we are reviewing the early years foundation stage and introducing a curriculum to include babaies. in the wrong hands this could not be effective in delivering the play based curriculum it intends to be.
children sholuld be still in a play based curriculum till the age of 7 when children have gone through the sensori motor, pre occupational, and stages of concrete and formal operations. i beleie that frocing children too ealry into formal education (even though it seems she is trying to introduce it a fun way) will out children offlearning. they need to learn when tehy are ready in order for it to mean something and for the lesson to stick. children can be put off education and at this present stage when children seem to be truanting more than ever, i beleive that nursey and school must be funa nd appropriate to engage them.

I believe that children need to be children first.
We need to stop hurrying children to grow up.
If they are put through the stresses of testing,
passing or failing at such a young age what kind
of self-esteem are we building for our furture.

Please read "The Hurried Child , Growing up to fast too soon" by David Elkind, PH.D

I am an early intervention teacher. But, as a mother of a 5 year old I disagree with testing of young children. Children are being forced to be little Einstiens before they are able to crawl. My son has learned through play and doesn't even know he's learning anything extraordinary, but he has been reading since he was bearly four. He has been doing simple math since he was two. When testing is brought into the picture it is no longer fun, but hard work to be dispised and dreaded. Why can't we keep the fun in school and let children learn naturally without pressure.

I truely believe we need to help parents understand the importance of their voice in politics. Those of us in the field can shout all we want but until the parents begin to shout and LOUD nothing will change. Parents have a greater influence because they are the clients not the employees!
Secondly, please understand the meaning behind the testing madness. The US standing in the international education rankings are inconsistent. When comparing 4th, 8th, and 12th graders our ranking drops in the upper grades. Why? I think the important question is who are we compared to. The US has an educational system which educates all children, and believes all should have the opportunity to move on to higher education. Are we really comparing US students to the same group in the other countries? Do other countries educate all their children with our same ideals? What part does early childhood play in the countries included in the rankings? We need to be asking these questions if we are to help the powers that be make informed decisions.

Pretend that you wear size 8 shoes. Suppose I told you that beginning in September 2007 the rule will be that everyone will wear size 5 shoes. Would you begin wearing the size 5 shoes now, so that by the time September 2007 comes around you will be "used" to the pain and discomfort? Or, would you rather enjoy being comfortable and wearing your appropriate size until you are forced to change next September? Of course, you would choose to wear your current, appropriate size. Why endure pain and discomfort any longer than you absolutely have to? Likewise, why in the world would we begin inappropriate practice with our children based on the very flimsy justification that they will have to do it next year??!! Just because grade schools do inappropriate things doesn't give us the excuse to start it even earlier. Take a stand and be the voice for young children.

I think that we have forgotten childhood. I am very saddened by the authorities demanding test results who obviously do not have early childhood degrees or if they do they have forgotten the child development classes they took.

How sad it is that the power of the child's mind has been reduced to what he/she can express by filling in a bubble on a piece of paper! What are we reducing our children too?

I say "shame on those who actively support the philosophy or passively stand by and let it happen." It has been my experience that supporters of "testing" agree that it may not be the best thing to do but do so because it is "the way of the world" and we must "prepare" our children. I once expressed this thought and the response that resignates with me, and hopefully with you, is that we should NOT practice developmentally inappropriate practice now to accomidate the developmentally inappropriate practice they will face in the future. We MUST teach our children the skills (in an appropriate manner) to do their best and rise up against the "testing" culture.
Let's work together to make that happen. There is power in the voices of many and the spirits of the little ones.

Doesn't this break your heart?! WE MUST be the voice for the children. Where will they experience the childhood they are entitled to? I am all for accountability, we need to be offering children quality programming, but not at their expense, what does it cost children to engage in such "testing" activities. It is not OUR job to prepare children to succeed in the less developmentally appropriate kindergarten situation. It is our job to advocate for what is good and right for children AND give parents the tools to voice and vote for those who represent the rights of all children to engage in learning through play and authentic assessment that does NOT involve bubble sheets and checklists!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read that research supports the importance of play and hands-on experience for children. If the concern is that children are not doing as well as they used to, perhaps it is because they are not receiving the rich and imaginative play experiences that previous generations did. It is certainly not because they don't know how to take tests. That should wait until later.

We are rushing children through childhood as if they had only a short adulthood and had to prepare for it.... leaving the childhood years without important childhood experiences. We adults have to rethink what we are doing to children. I feel sorry for the current generation.