The 60,000-student Boston public schools will begin issuing detailed report cards on kindergartners next month to better document whether children are meeting academic standards.
The reports, which will be handed out to parents or guardians three times during the school year, will gauge how well children know numbers, letters, and rhyming words and are able to follow directions.
Until now, official report cards were not given until 1st grade, even though most kindergarten teachers were already providing parents with some information about their children’s performance.
District officials say they need to be clearer about the academic expectations in kindergarten. But some parents and early-childhood experts still ask whether too much pressure to learn is being put on children too soon.
A format for the report cards had been the topic of negotiations between the district administration and the Boston Teachers Union for a few years. They reached an agreement earlier this month.
