Ready or not, incoming kindergartners are now entering the world of formal education, raising the question: What truly defines kindergarten readiness?
Individual kindergarten-readiness “checklists” put out by states and districts vary. But most, if not all, prioritize the ability to self-regulate. For example, “use self-control” tops the expectations listed in the Ohio Department of Children and Youth’s kindergarten-readiness checklist, followed by these bulleted examples: keeping hands to self, sharing and taking turns, cooperating and playing with other children, and using classroom supplies appropriately.
Expecting incoming kindergartners to demonstrate these basic tenets of self-control and civility seems reasonable. But evidence, both anecdotal and research-based, shows that a growing number of children in kindergarten struggle to regulate their emotions and perform other skills associated with this grade level, like cutting with scissors and using crayons.
At the same time, most kindergarten programs have become more academic-focused—leaning into instruction that emphasizes teaching students to read and gain basic math skills and moving away from activities like self-directed play (through centers like painting, blocks, and “dress up”).
EdWeek asked readers to weigh in via a social media poll on the topic. Many respondents attributed early learners’ increasing lack of self-control to kindergarten programs whose expectations don’t necessary align with students’ abilities and readiness.
“They [kindergartners] are having tantrums because they are being asked to do things that 4- to 6-year-olds should not be asked to do,” said Heather Leenders, a former classroom teacher, in response to the poll. “Most, if not all, are not ready developmentally to sit quietly for longer lengths of time to learn in a traditional, passive learning classroom. We all can benefit from learning through play, but it’s essential to these young children.”
Readers call for more play, movement
In the unscientific EdWeek survey posted on our LinkedIn and Facebook channels, we asked readers: “Kindergartners are struggling with self-regulation. What is the most effective way for an educator to help these students?”
More play and more movement dominated the 600-plus votes we received (see chart below). Among the respondents who provided additional feedback, many suggested that the design of today’s kindergarten—not the kindergartners themselves—are fueling emotional dysregulation.
We ask kindergartners to sit and focus for too long. They need play skills to learn social and fine motor skills. Bring back play kitchens and playing games with others. We also expect kindergartners to demonstrate skills which are not developmentally appropriate. Kids are falling apart in school, which some people believe is an issue with self-regulation.
Focus and pressure on standards and measures, sitting and filing into orderly lines 8 hours a day. Five to 6-year-olds need to move, play without adult interference, explore and discover, sing, talk to friends without adult interference, hear stories and rhyme, play games, and get dirty. We focus on getting them to fluently read, write, and do basic addition and subtraction before their minds and bodies are ready to.
Increased standards for kindergartners, less time for play and recess, no nap time. They’re 5, and a lot of the things we’re asking them to do aren’t necessarily developmentally appropriate. Just my two cents (school psych. who has done plenty of ... kindergarten evals. in the last few years.
Teachers reflect on the shift
Many kindergarten teachers—current and former—echoed these concerns.
Jessica Arrow, a longtime kindergarten teacher at Symonds Elementary in Keene, N.H., said she initially taught her students the way she learned in her undergraduate teacher-preparation program: using a lot of explicit instruction, where her students frequently were expected to sit and listen to her for extended periods of time. “I was feeling constantly frustrated because I was constantly redirecting children. They seemed disengaged, they seemed unhappy, and I truly did not feel fulfilled in my work,” Arrow said.
After about a decade in the classroom, she pursued a master’s degree in education with a focus on nature-based early childhood education. Since then, Arrow has intentionally infused more play, movement, and exploration into her kindergarten classroom, an approach that aligns with her state’s vision for kindergarten. In 2018, New Hampshire passed legislation requiring play to be reinstated as a cornerstone to public school kindergarten statewide.
Amber Nichols, a former longtime kindergarten teacher and the 2023 West Virginia Teacher of the Year, recalls when the shift to a more academic-based kindergarten occurred in her district.
In the first half of the 2010s, “we were pushing play out, and play was becoming something that we were having to do secretly,” she said. “There was much less focus on play and social-emotional learning and definitely much more academic-based content.”
After spending 18 years in the classroom as a kindergarten teacher, Nichols now serves as the public relations coordinator for the Monongalia County district in Morgantown, W.Va.
It’s unlikely that kindergarten will ever revert completely to the play-centric introduction to formal education that it once was. But perhaps amid the vocal pushback—from both adults and kindergartners—kindergarten programs will examine more closely the dual goals of meeting academic standards for young learners with a propensity toward playfulness.
“There is an absolute place for explicit instruction in which children are seated and they’re focused, and there is a pencil, there’s a marker, there is a whiteboard,” said Nichols, the former kindergarten teacher. “Kids have to be exposed to the utensils that they’re going to be exposed to in 1st grade. But that doesn’t have to be our entire day, and it shouldn’t be.”
